Only way to use artillery

[Basil Fawlty]

* Never group if you have more than one, this will make them bug out and never fire where you want them to, instead they will fire at the enemy closest to them, often resulting in having your artillery destroying your own infantry
* Never select more than one piece of artillery at the time, selecting multiple units and then select a target will make them bug out and ignore your selection, instead the will turn their cannons to enemies involved in fighting your soldiers, and shooting your men in the side or back
* Micromanage them, babysitting at all time. Never trust them, even when their "fire at will" is of, dont trust them.

[Rabidnid]

Or just don't use artillery because it's taking up cavalry slots.

[Insaniac]

The artillery doesn’t just autotarget stuff unless Fire At Will is on, which it shouldn’t be, except in very niche situations. Also, if you’re constantly micromanaging you’re probably not paying attention to stuff going on elsewhere, which can cost you. Also, I have never had any issues involving selecting all my arty at the same time and ordering all of them to fire at a target. I routinely use my artillery to form, “grand batteries.” They’re easier to manage.

[operating1]

Originally posted by Basil Fawlty:

* Never group if you have more than one, this will make them bug out and never fire where you want them to, instead they will fire at the enemy closest to them, often resulting in having your artillery destroying your own infantry
* Never select more than one piece of artillery at the time, selecting multiple units and then select a target will make them bug out and ignore your selection, instead the will turn their cannons to enemies involved in fighting your soldiers, and shooting your men in the side or back
* Micromanage them, babysitting at all time. Never trust them, even when their "fire at will" is of, dont trust them.

Just thinking:

The only time I implement artillery in a group setting is for movement, either with other units, or as an independent artillery group. One reason being is: When artillery is grouped, it can be in the run mode vs walking (the run mode only works for artillery in group mode), maybe with the exception of 3 - 6 lb horse artillery, which can go into the run mode at any time (not sure about French 12(size?) lb. horse artillery (it could be 16 - 18 lb.)).

However, I would agree not to leave artillery in "fire at will" once unlimbered, and not have artillery in group mode once unlimbered. Otherwise, it creates a lot of confusion as to what the artillery will do and what it will not do. Even a friendly ai commanded artillery can be your worst enemy as noted in above posts.

Often I will direct fire to a specific target with a number of artillery batteries with the fire at will "off" with much success, but will go back and double-check that each battery is targeting units that I originally commanded it to target, for it is correct that some artillery seem to get a mind of it's own (as to the reason why, I am not sure).

Yes, "Cornwallis canons" can be a problem, that's where a commander has to make a decision as to if it is a disadvantage or not before changing a battery's command not to fire, or change to another designated target. Yes, micro-management is a must in my battles, especially with multiple batteries.

[pgeerkens]

Originally posted by Basil Fawlty:

* Never group if you have more than one, this will make them bug out and never fire where you want them to, instead they will fire at the enemy closest to them, often resulting in having your artillery destroying your own infantry
* Never select more than one piece of artillery at the time, selecting multiple units and then select a target will make them bug out and ignore your selection, instead the will turn their cannons to enemies involved in fighting your soldiers, and shooting your men in the side or back
* Micromanage them, babysitting at all time. Never trust them, even when their "fire at will" is of, dont trust them.

I disagree strongly. My artillery is grouped all the time - as in EVERY SINGLE TIME, for over 4,000 hours. I don't see the problems you describe, provided:

1. After grouping, Single Line Standard is selected as the group type. This ensures sufficient spacing that my howitzers, when rotating, don't hit adjacent friendly guns.
   
2. Fire At Will is used ONLY:
   
   • For my long guns: when firing Canister; and
     
   • For my howitzers: only when opposing cavalry is swinging wide around my flanks and quarters, and no other enemy targets are available.

Grouping (nearly) all my units in pairs results in having only 10 to 12 distinct "units" to micromanage instead of 20, with:

1. Each group is a vertical pair (occasionally a quadruple) of units in the HUD.
   
2. My battle line is graphically placed in the HUD from left-to-right, giving me a better visualization of my units.
   
3. When my stack has 2, 3, or 4 weak units they are brigaded together in a "frozen group" (ie, fixed relative location). This gives my confidence that they will support each other and not get overrun.

Everyone has their own play style - but for anyone getting overwhelmed by the micromanagement of performing well on higher Battle difficulty, I recommend giving this a try.

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Originally posted by operating1:

...

The only time I implement artillery in a group setting is for movement, either with other units, or as an independent artillery group. One reason being is: When artillery is grouped, it can be in the run mode vs walking (the run mode only works for artillery in group mode), maybe with the exception of 3 - 6 lb horse artillery, which can go into the run mode at any time (not sure about French 12(size?) lb. horse artillery (it could be 16 - 18 lb.)).

Interesting - I never noticed that. I had noticed that with my grouped artillery as above, only Howitzers have Run Mode enabled, and not long guns.

[operating1]

pg, like you, before entering battle do not group until all units have a desired placement which includes spacing between them. Usually setup pre-battle by selecting units from the queue to positions as they may not appear in the queue, meaning: starting from the most left battery is placed on the map as the most left of center of a grand battery and likewise with the most right. Likewise, setup howitzers from left to right with decent spacing both from accidentally causing casualties to their front and as you say damaging one-another doing flanking shots, as well as 180 shots. It takes some time to make the arrangement pre-battle, but well worth it, knowing my artillery on the left is targeting units on it's given side of the line, instead of having the ai setting up the batteries where they cross over one-anothers' field of fire constantly, especially when the enemy is in canister range. Many times I have seen where my artillery is killing one-another if not placed and managed right to my mind's eye, thus the micro-management. Should say: I set up infantry (set-back a little) in a similar manner so they are not in the way of artillery's field of fire. Left infantry from the queue on the left, likewise on the right. The main line OOB may change due to terrain, that may include right and left wing configurations of infantry and artillery instead of a grand battery.

Personally, I like to examine post battle results as to kills and damage attributed to each unit, to learn from my mistakes, or gains in experience.