Should I get E:TW?

[Traitorfish]

Wasn't artillery more about manipulating enemy forces anyway? Pinning them down, attempting to force them into particular formations, and so and so forth? I suppose the ideal would be making artillery just as threatening as they should be, while making the AI smart enough to cope with it. Thicker AI and weaker artillery just isn't the same.

 

[Justo]

Artillery can be pretty devastating if used correctly. Initially it can force the AI(or human) player to make a move since otherwise they will be gradually weakened by hits. Forcing them out of good defensible terrain etc. Hitting land near enemy units also lowers moral slightly making the unit more likely to break once contact is made.

When infantry etc charge your artillery canistor shots alone can crush entire units. I have in the past lost battles trying to assault artillery with infantry when that was all I had remaining.

Also Artillery units without any experience may be innaccurate but once they get 2-3 bars of experience they become far more helpful.

 

[W|M]

Once you get the shot that scatters itself (like a giant shotgun), get the enemy in front of the artillery and they're pretty much all dead.

 

[kibbles]

The regions are kind of lame yes, however taking the capital was a way to force the enemy to make peace (except the AI is still diplomatically ********), plus you still have to HOLD the region from all of the rebellions.

Artillery IS useful, get a few batteries up and they can help lower morale, and later on when you unlock better area of attack rounds to use they can help remove some enemies on their way. It isn't going to rape the enemy nor should it nor did it.

Hmmmm... I think that is debatable. I believe some experts think that after armies went through artillery reformation (standardization), they were responsible for a great deal of death and havoc on the battlefield.

Edit: During many multiplayers as the Ottomans or Maratha confederacy. I find that the 64-lbers do very little to help. Even on a flap map like grassy flatlands. Their shots almost ALWAYS fall short or fly over (both shrapnel and round shot). Their have been plenty of instances where they haven't even got a single kill. And that is certainly useless.

 

[germanicus12]

I haven't really had much trouble with artillery, in fact they have been useful for me in numerous occasions;

Once I got my artillery experience to 4 chevrons, they pretty much kept the enemy exactly where I wanted them, and they never require cavalry protection due to the fact that if a cavalry attempted to charge them, they would be obliterated by the scatter shot before they even got close enough.

I have on many occasions won my difficult battles because of my artillery, once my artillery was in place and doing its job. The enemy formation always kept bunching into the center and marching to my center, if they occupied the wings, it was a good chance they would be crushed before the first volley of infantry fire was let loose.