To be honest I have never tried using canister vs buildings and I don't think anyone in our group has. First its pretty much impossible to get a battery to unlimber that close and second its so gamey that I don't think anyone in our group would have the nerves to try something that's that unrealistic.
I suggest also that your shrapnel changes are too powerful. The only accounts I have read of it being noticed by the French was in Spain but there the ground was dry and rocky which emphasized the bursts of the balls (ricochets).
I know it seems like a non-answer but I would recommend you just don't unlimber your guns in canister range of fortified buildings! They should always hold back and pound them with roundshot or shell.
Artillery
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Saddletank
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Re: Artillery
HITS & Couriers - a different and realistic way to play SoW MP.
Re: Artillery effected by weather/ground conditions
As far as I can tell the game uses the same artillery and munitions setting for Waterloo, Ligny and Quatre Bras, however, we know that Waterloo took place after very heavy rain and therefore the ricochet effect so important to artillery effectiveness was nullified. Therefore if you wanted to represent the difference between Waterloo and the other two battles how would that be best done? For example for canister should the number of bullets rated to be present be made larger for Ligny and QB and since the ricochet effect adds to the range should that be longer at QB and Ligny? I am not sure how best to change the effectiveness of round shot - perhaps the number of persons a round can kill should be modified.
An interesting point might be whether the Ligny and QB effectiveness should be improved or whether that for Waterloo should be deteriorated. I am inclined to think that Ligny at least should be improved because the impact of French artillery fire on Prussian reserves was an often reported feature of the battle but does not seem to have that much impact in the standard game.
Do KS players use different settings for Waterloo or other battles known to have been fought on damp ground?
Regards
Mike
An interesting point might be whether the Ligny and QB effectiveness should be improved or whether that for Waterloo should be deteriorated. I am inclined to think that Ligny at least should be improved because the impact of French artillery fire on Prussian reserves was an often reported feature of the battle but does not seem to have that much impact in the standard game.
Do KS players use different settings for Waterloo or other battles known to have been fought on damp ground?
Regards
Mike
Re: Artillery
In my opinion increasing or decreasing the effectiveness of the artillery munitions themselves isn't really the problem. The problem is that no matter what you do it wont change the fact that the AI hasn't got a clue how to use its artillery. It does slightly better on the defense, but on the attack its hopeless. The AI could be armed with Cruise missle's and I would still win.
Artillery is the META in Scourge of War. The player knows it, the AI doesn't. That's all there really is to it.
The only way to even things up for the AI is to play HITS. That way at least the AI can mishandle your artillery as well as its own.
Artillery is the META in Scourge of War. The player knows it, the AI doesn't. That's all there really is to it.
The only way to even things up for the AI is to play HITS. That way at least the AI can mishandle your artillery as well as its own.
Re: Artillery
Hi Rob
If you tried your fortress tactic playing as the French against the Allied AI using one of my mods that gives a more realistic effectiveness to Shrapnel you might have rather more problems. The reason why Wellington was able to effectively use your fortress approach with his squares was because most of them were over the ridge from the bulk of Napoleon's artillery. He did less well at Quatre Bras because he had not been able to select the ground where the battle was fought.
I play against AI's that I have created and it usually gives me a fair challenge. One thing I try to do when designing the AI is to have at least 3 variants that occur independently of each other and each of those has at least three more variants within them. This gives a minimum of 27 x variations so even though I wrote the AI I still do not know what is likely to happen next.
By the way I can tell you that if you play the full battle Ligny scenario as Napoleon there is a 1 in 6 chance that Bulow's IVth Prussian Corps will appear against you. I have not looked to see where he actually appears so it might be a far distant map edge but it should happen occasionally. If you are playing as the Prussians then Bulow will not appear although at one stage he does seem to send a message but it appears that the message was never written as it does not exist in the message list. I am not sure what the game does if it tries to read a non-existent message because there is also a non-existent message announcing Bulow's arrival to Napoleon in the playing as the French army scenario so that might cause it to fail.
Regards
Mike
If you tried your fortress tactic playing as the French against the Allied AI using one of my mods that gives a more realistic effectiveness to Shrapnel you might have rather more problems. The reason why Wellington was able to effectively use your fortress approach with his squares was because most of them were over the ridge from the bulk of Napoleon's artillery. He did less well at Quatre Bras because he had not been able to select the ground where the battle was fought.
I play against AI's that I have created and it usually gives me a fair challenge. One thing I try to do when designing the AI is to have at least 3 variants that occur independently of each other and each of those has at least three more variants within them. This gives a minimum of 27 x variations so even though I wrote the AI I still do not know what is likely to happen next.
By the way I can tell you that if you play the full battle Ligny scenario as Napoleon there is a 1 in 6 chance that Bulow's IVth Prussian Corps will appear against you. I have not looked to see where he actually appears so it might be a far distant map edge but it should happen occasionally. If you are playing as the Prussians then Bulow will not appear although at one stage he does seem to send a message but it appears that the message was never written as it does not exist in the message list. I am not sure what the game does if it tries to read a non-existent message because there is also a non-existent message announcing Bulow's arrival to Napoleon in the playing as the French army scenario so that might cause it to fail.
Regards
Mike
Last edited by mcaryf on Mon Feb 05, 2018 12:22 am, edited 1 time in total.