24-lber Guard Artillery

24-lber Guard Artillery
Belongs to	France
Type	Foot Artillery
Guns	3
Firepower	42
Range	400
Accuracy	65
Reload	50
Morale	7
Tech requirement	None
Produced from	Engineer School
Shot Types	Round Shot, Canister Shot, Shrapnel Shot
Cost	1140
Upkeep	280
Turns to Train	3
Unit Cap	4

24-lber Guard Artillery is a type of artillery in Empire: Total War.

Description

Foot artillery batteries are the core of an army on campaign: the weapons that win battles and batter down walls.

Despite the name, foot artillery batteries are towed by horses, not men. The artillerymen march alongside their pieces. All guns are smoothbore, and rated by the size or weight of the solid projectile that they fire: a 12-pounder is so called because it hurls a cannonball weighing 12 pounds towards the enemy! It may not do so very accurately, as the casting of barrels and balls means that there is inevitable a gap (windage) between a shot and the barrel sides. This means the cannonball rattles down the barrel when fired, leading to an inherent accuracy. As technology advances, other types of ammunition can be fired.

Historically, there was limited standardisation between guns, even in the same battery. Parts from one gun would not always fit a sister piece. A gunner would know the quirks of his own weapon intimidately. Cunningly, the French attempted to develop a system of interchangable components for all their guns and field equipment. Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval (1715-1789), the inspector of Artillery, tried but he wasn't entirely successful. Even after he had finished there were still more than 20 different types of wheel in use!

General Information

24-lber Guard Artillery is a superior version of 24-lber Foot Artillery, with much better accuracy, reloading skill, and morale. It is also the only late-game cannon available to the French as they do not have access to regular 24-lber artillery.