Catapults and Cannons: Are They Worth It?

[garyg]

Catapults and cannons I use more defensively. With their one square range I can never move them quick enough to keep up with my offensive units.
I usually try to find or build a choke point and use the catapults to crush the AI's counter attack.

 

[Rambuchan]

@ garyg: Hint for getting your artillery to the church on time: - boats.

PS. Don't forget the heavy defenders for them.

 

[genghis_khev]

Again I would go with Arty over the earlier versions. It the range of 2 that does it.

As soon as I get Replacement Parts my wars go all WW1 (Inf + Arty). I use my rapidly dating Cav to pick off weakened attackers (after they've been redlined by the Arty) but rarely use them on offence when a stack of 20 Arty and 20 Inf will take ANY city. (My SOD of choice!)

 

[garyg]

@ garyg: Hint for getting your artillery to the church on time: - boats.

PS. Don't forget the heavy defenders for them.

Not a bad idea. Boats could work well in certain situations.

If it's late game I usually have my gang of slaves laying instant rails to the next target and settlers if I need to get a little closer.

 

[ellie]

Im a huge fan of artillery as it has helped me kill off huge enemy stacks of infantry without tanks..arty to knock them to 1 hp. Cavalry to finish them.

I do have problems with its speed though you want to rush on to the next city but have to trundle along the arty / infantry escort..not using enemy railroads is a change with far more impact than id have imagined.

 

[vorlon_mi]

I love artillery, esp. the range 2. One can put a stack on a hill outside
the city, guard with infantry, and redline all the defenders in a metro
over a few turns. Esp. sweet when you get "The barracks of *** are destroyed" Then it's all downhill.

I mostly build catapults as upgrade fodder. As others have noted,
they can be built in cities without barracks, since they have no veteran/elite
status. It's generally cheaper to build them early, and upgrade with gold
to cannons, and then to arty.

 

[Yondaime]

Trebuchets get annoying after a while. My cities start building them and they push my unit support limit over. Plus, they don't really do anything, so yea. Artillery is good if my city's borders are pressed right up against it. When you war, bombard their roads like hell and yea.

 

[101rstImperial]

I like trebs =/, I'm using one right now in a stack against Portugal, bombing there shields & irrigation while using archers to siege the city, *drool*

 

[Abaddon]

Quite simply , the game is a doddle with a good SOD of artillary.

 

[gmaharriet]

I couldn't manage without them!

 

[Daarkseid]

Quite simply , the game is a doddle with a good SOD of artillary.

I agree with this idea whole heartedly. Before I began making heavy use of artillery(from Catapults up through Radar Artillery), my expeditions tended to be more frought with danger and anxiety, since units could be picked off by enemy cavalry, and then I had to usually sacrifice a few units capturing enemy cities.

Now I usually begin my warmaking by building swordsmen and catapults, and not having to replace units has been both a boon and a curse; often times I'll be running a deficit, even under Despotism, because I've somehow managed to produce twice as many units as my cities could support. Previously, my war budget would be partially controlled by losses in the field.

But yeah, with armies composed of large numbers of artillery, I've been able to go to war with almost little effort on my part. Since the slow nature of artillery does limit the pace of fighting, "doddling" would be the perfect way to describe it.

 

[paradur]

Yes, artillery really kicks butt!

I´m not very impressed by catapults and cannons, range 1 isn´t very effective und at that times you only have streets.

But artis together with railroad rocks.

 

[Desertsnow]

Losing improvements in a foreign city you are planning on taking is irrelevant as you will have to reestablish them in your name anyway in order to gain their benefits in either cultural value or game effects. I don't find the earliest artillery-type units as useful as cannon and later, but I do build a few for good measure, then lots of cannon when I can.