Artillery Bombardment Failed

[Greyhawk1]

I recently had a war which involved heavy use of Artillery and Offshore Bombardments. Unfortunately I got the above message so often I really had to question the use of this equipment at all.

Trying to be objective here - here's the Equipment I used:

Offshore Bombardments

Frigate - 95% bombard failed.
Ironclad - 75-80% bombard failed.
Destroyer - 100% bombard failed.

Artillery

H'wacha - 70-75% bombard failed.
Artillery - 50-55% bombard failed. 90% missing occupying units and damaging structures, population.

They were almost totally useless for knocking down defenders.

I remember my stack of 14 mixed Ironclads/Frigates bombarding for 2 solid turns and only getting a single successful hit

Artillery/bombards are useless unless they are in a huge huge stack it seems.

 

[TheNiceOne]

Yes, those bomardment units aren't very effective. You'll need battleships/artillery/bombers for doing what you want, which I think makes sense.

Frigates etc. was never able to do mass damage by bombarding cities - their role is to fight enemy ships - where their bombardment has a useful function.

Artillery is a great help when conducting war in CIV3 - so much that it is unbalancing when used properly, and making it more effective will be explotive IMHO. And realistically, it makes sense that they mostly damage the city and not the military. The current U.S. bombardment against Bagdad shows this - this bombardment isn't even intended to take out the military defenders - that would be close to impossible - instead it's used to take out city improvement and also indirectly takes out citizens, but hopefully mostly by getting the citizens to run from the city.

 

[Shillen]

I've had a battleship fail to bombard a road 10 times in a row before. Very annoying. I hate bombardment. It is useful but I limit how much I use it.

 

[Hurricane]

I think one of the main problems with bombardment is that people expect it to be particularly effective against prepared defenses, which in Civ3 boils down to cities and fortresses. But in Civ3, bombardment works just like any other attack, which means that low-bombardment units like catapults or frigates have little chance of inflicting damage on these targets. However, they are very useful for damaging those stacks of enemy attackers protected by a few spearmen ór pikemen.

 

[BillChin]

The hit rate is going to be low against towns with few improvements and small garrisons. A little higher against cities with many troops and lots of improvements. Naval bombardment is pretty good against other naval units or low defense defenders. However ships have little chance knocking down infantry or better. That's where bombers and artillery are needed, and lots of them, if a player wants to be effective. Cannons and other lower attack value units are useful against Calvary in the field and the like.

Again, towns with small garrisons and few improvements will generate a lot of misses, no matter what is used.
+ Bill

 

[Moulton]

Perhaps some of us remember when the USS New Jersey (BB) was sent to bombard the hills of Lebanon. I was already out of the Navy by then, but IIRC it did not hit much of what it aimed at. I do remember bombarding practice with 5" guns, using tank and truck hulks for practice.... and not hitting many of them.

 

[Ralph-x]

it sucks, I cant see shore bombardment being usful because unlike arty 100 battleships is expensive.

 

[Moulton]

Ships can often find targets of opportunity deep in the enemy territory... coastal, of course. But they can cut roads, destroy iron mines and roads, cut access to a vital resource or luxury, and isolate a populous city to reduce its ability to build reinforcements and/or send them. Occasuionally you will spot troops moving on the coast road, and can decimate them.

 

[zagnut]

Some of the other posters have hit the target. Just because a unit has bombard capability doesn't mean that it is the right unit for all types of bombardment. As TheNiceOne pointed out, Frigates can bombard, but are designed to bombard other ships and not land targets. Naval bombardment is not as accurate as artillery, either in real life or in the game. Neither are expected to be 100% effective.

In the game, bombers and artillery are the most effective bombardment units. They are particularly useful in degrading a cities population and unit hit points. Note that I said useful and not effective. Sometimes, as you have pointed out, you may bombard for an entire turn with no effect. They are useful in reducing the population of the city. Once the population drops below 12 the city is no longer considered a metropolis and doesn't get the 100% defensive bonus.

Degrading strong defensive units, such as mechanized infantry, infantry and riflemen, is also one of the main reasons for utilizing these units. If you are attacking a city over size 12 and defended by infantry, you would be wise to park a stack of artillery on a nearby hill or mountain and bomb the city and its units into submission before attacking. This sometimes requires patience, but will help you preserve your offensive units to fight another day.

Bombard, attack, heal. Advance to next city. Rinse and repeat.

 

[thedirk]

I myself have almost given up on building bombardment units as my experience was the same as Greyhawk's. However, some of this advice is helpful, and I think I now better understand how I can best integrate artillery etc. into my armed forces. Thanks!

 

[Alvin]

The Bombarding units can't kill execpt for the Hawach, that's stupid. Does anyone hate the french if?

 

[Zcylen]

I use bombardment very often and it works fine to me.
specially in naval combat.
I stack 5 ships, the first 4 bombard and the last finishes the job.
I sink about 20-30 ships with no reply.

 

[MummyMan]

I increased the chances of a hit. Much more fun, i could care less about the specific incongruousness that may or may not come along with it.

 

[TerraHero]

i use battleships all the time for shore and naval targets..very accurate btw.....but if u wanna bomb cities use Artillery..there also great defence

 

[Mega Tsunami]

What makes bombardment such a drag is the time it takes for the animation to do its thing.
What I suggest you do is get a stack of arties (25+) position them just outside the city you are after. Go to preferences and switch off battle animation. Hold the B key down and click away merrily with your mouse.
All of a sudden the city of size 16 is size 8 and the units are ‘wounded’.
Don’t forget to switch the battle animation back on. (I always do)

 

[general Patton]

The only way for a cavalry to bet an infantry unit is to use artillery and alot of it. Also you can use artillery to make offensive ships stop bombarding your cities. They will trash a destroyer. Ironclads and frigate are best served to bombard other ships. One ironclad bombards then another attacks

 

[elpadrino87]

Don't forget about the special city improvements that reduce the chances of units within the city from being damaged from land or sea bombardment (i.e. city walls and costal fortresses). And as Moulton mentioned, if you don't have many plans for the city, you could just take out the roads leading to it, so that when the units in the city are damaged, it will take longer for reinforcements to arrive.

 

[Beanzy]

I never even consider bombarding anything until I can get a fleet of Battleships and Carriers (filled with Bombers of course). Then I bombard like crazy to devastation effect. Back them up with Tanks and you have a winning army... but don't waste your time with Ironclads and their pathetic contemporaries ilk!

 

[Mullet Crusader]

I once had a stakc of like, 20 Artilleries and they all fired on a city. Not ONE of them hit, it as disgusting. I wanted to punch my moniter i am seriousely done with Artillery ofr awhile, im gonna stick with bombers for now, since they seem 100 times more effective.

 

[Mega Tsunami]

What is annoying with Artillery is the way the ‘random’ seed works. You sometimes go many shots is a row where only a few hit, followed by the opposite – many hits and a few misses.
The only answer is to have enough arties to get over the long sequences of misses you sometimes get.
IMO 20 artillery is not really enough – I use 25 to 30 in a stack and this tends to even out the hits and misses.

I am sure that if you go 20 shots with little (or no) hits, there will be a lot of hits in the next 10.

I hate the way it works. I just wish it was a random hit or miss (based on a percentage) rather than a string of hits and misses seemingly joined together.