Cannons

[Lars166]

How many cannons do you have in each regiment ? I mean you can have 24 but atm im just useing 8

[Ashantai]

It all comes down to how much cash and cannons are available, and the ranks of your leaders.

To command a 24 gun battery without efficiency issues you'll need either a brigadier or major general.

Early on 12 gun batteries are best, and as your leaders improve and the difficulty increases, so can your battery sizes.

[Burnin Prograde]

i use a full division with 24 gun brigades in every corp.

[GeneralPITA]

Originally posted by Burnin Prograde:

i use a full division with 24 gun brigades in every corp.

This is not good advice.

[MaGicBush]

So far I have been using all the 24lbr Howitzers I can(all available), and the 12lb Napoleons as well. I have around 55 cannons spread out. They deal some serious damage as well lol.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=853819596

Though I am only to the battle of Shiloh as Union(same battle as CSA). That come out to about 8-12 cannons per artillery. What can I say I like artillery :). Each of those other cannons also had over 500 kills and no deaths.

[GeneralPITA]

Rookie howitzers are effective, but rifled guns are useless until you rank up the firearms skill. Constantly cycle out guns to build up a few divisions worth of veteran parrot/ordnance cannons. You'll capture a bunch of 20pdr parrots in the campaign and they're paperweights unless they are veterans.

Start with 8-10 guns in a fresh arty brigade, give it some 24pdrs and a colonel so it increases stats rapidly. After one battle you should see a significant boost to effficiency and firearms.

Swap those howies out for rifled guns after they get a few thousand kills and create a new bridage with those free 24pdrs. Rinse and repeat until you've got a few divisions of 2 star rifled guns...only THEN should you start cranking up to 24 gun artillery brigades, but try to maintain two star status at all times. 2 star veterans are expensive to buy, but it's worth it to buy some if you have the cash and put points in training.

*The only exception I make is with 12 pdr howitzers and 6pdr field guns because they're so underpowered. I tend to fill those up to 24 guns, but even 1 field gun can do significant morale damage with canister shot. I put them in the exposed anchor points because they are cheap and can take losses.

I always pick logistics for the 1 star perk (duh) and I prefer tactician for the 2nd perk. A mid-rank colonel is enough to give you the logistics perk for a small rookie arty brigade as CSA (50% ammo boost). Rapid rotation perk is pretty hand if you're putting your guns on ground where you're likely to be flanked (and cover bonus is nice, but I'm not certain if that stacks with Defender perk).

Expect 20pdrs to get a boost in the next patch, so strategize accordingly. Don't spam 24 gun 20pdrs because you think they're too weak right now.

I try my best to buy every cannon available prior to each grand battle. You can accumulate 600+ guns by Chancellorsville.

[uhamster9]

Tactical Training stacks with Defender.

Standing on open ground:
24% cover with neither: http://i.imgur.com/oOR81jr.jpg
27% cover with Defender: http://i.imgur.com/xqelTsV.jpg
33% cover with both: http://i.imgur.com/RrxFYro.jpg


With both Defender and Tactical Training an arty brigade gets 100% cover in a town. With neither you get only 69%.
http://i.imgur.com/GKLW8aP.png

[GeneralPITA]

Originally posted by uhamster9:

Tactical Training stacks with Defender.

Standing on open ground:
24% cover with neither: http://i.imgur.com/oOR81jr.jpg
27% cover with Defender: http://i.imgur.com/xqelTsV.jpg
33% cover with both: http://i.imgur.com/RrxFYro.jpg


With both Defender and Tactical Training an arty brigade gets 100% cover in a town. With neither you get only 69%.
http://i.imgur.com/GKLW8aP.png

Thanks hamster. Lt Gen difficulty?

These should be 10 points each, I guess it's 8 points on normal and 6 points on hard? False advertisement I tell ya.

[uhamster9]

It's the custom scenario. I rerolled til Jackson has Defender and disbanded Pelham so I could repick his skills.

[apocal43]

Originally posted by Lars166:

How many cannons do you have in each regiment ? I mean you can have 24 but atm im just useing 8

I start with 12 pieces, let them rank up a bit before going with 16 or 18 (their commanding officer rank depending) then once they get close to two stars, fill them out with 24 guns. Some of them (howitzers especially) I position directly behind the line, at ranges short enough whenever the enemy comes to melee me, my batteries get free canister shots in on both the charge and when bayonets cross. It isn't terribly realistic, but neither is the scaling that allows the CSA to rejuvenate ever-larger brigades of increasing experienced and better-equipped soldiers after an unmitigated string of military defeats, so I take whatever advantage I can get.

Other guns, the big 20lbers and such, I usually mass together (tactically, not organizationally) to form my Grand Battery and army's artillery reserve. Wherever I think the enemy line needs a special dose of softening up, I send them to deliver shells. Particularly useful in battles where I'm compelled to launch frontal attacks into powerful defenses, since I can bleed specific formations white if given enough time.

In either case, go with logistics for additional ammo and if you have a second star, gunnery to put warheads closer to foreheads. Also, between battles it is a lot cheaper to top up artillery brigades with veterans than infantry brigades, so I always prioritize the guns to keep their experience gains made.

Originally posted by Burnin Prograde:

i use a full division with 24 gun brigades in every corp.

Some missions dump random divisions from a selected corps onto the battlefield. So if your artillery "division" rolls the unlucky number, then you get to hold a town with nothing more than your corps' artillery reserve. As funny as that might be, it really isn't a great situation to have happen.

[Blep]

If you use the right cannons at the right time, a group of 24 cannons (for me at least) gets well over 2000 kills.

[CrashToDesktop]

Originally posted by apocal43:

Some missions dump random divisions from a selected corps onto the battlefield. So if your artillery "division" rolls the unlucky number, then you get to hold a town with nothing more than your corps' artillery reserve. As funny as that might be, it really isn't a great situation to have happen.

Not nessesarily - I've played it enough to know that it'll usually pick units from the 1st Division of that Corps. Since most people have their full Artillery divisions placed at the last Corps (to simpify selecting all of them to give group orders), that doesn't happen often, if at all.

[GeneralPITA]

Originally posted by The Soldier:

Not nessesarily - I've played it enough to know that it'll usually pick units from the 1st Division of that Corps.

The OOB for Stones River is a little wonky, but in general I agree with you. Usually your men arrive in order by division.

[scott0007]

I typically use efficiency/5 for my cannon brigades. So as soon as my new unit of 4 reaches effieciency of 25, 30, 35 I add another cannon. I rarely get to 24. I find that the more cannons added at low effieciency slows reload time. With the latest update, rifled guns are doing more damage at short range than my napoleons which I find weird.