64-lber Heavy Artillery

64-lber Heavy Artillery/big cannon
Belongs to	Ottoman Empire
Type	Cannon artillery
Guns	4
Firepower	280
Range	600 run as fast as you can
Accuracy	35
Reload	30
Morale	3
Tech requirement	None
Produced from	Military Engineer School
Shot Types	Round Shot, Shrapnel Shot
Cost	950
Upkeep	230
Turns to Train	3
Unit Cap	None

The 64-lber Heavy Artillery is a type of cannon artillery in Empire: Total War.

Description

These enormous cannons can pound enemies to pieces in very short order. Their size and weight make them almost immoble once emplaced.

As the name suggests, these huge guns fire cannon balls in excess of 60 pounds. The impact of such a shot crushes anyone unlucky enough to be caught, and does terrible damage to any structure hit. That canister shot can be added on top of such a ball is merely piling on the misery for the unfortunate targets. These enormous guns require large-scale support to operate effectively. Indeed, in Indian service they are often towed by elephants rather than a team of smaller draught oxen!

Historically, guns this size were difficult to cast without flaws; the size of gunpowder charge involved in firing these guns meant that any flaw would be fatal to the gunners. Secondly, there was the difficulty of moving these guns to the battlefield. Smaller artillery produced substantial trains of draught animals, additional carts for powder, spares and shots, (all with more draught animals) - and then all of these would need feeding and watering, even before the gun crews were considered. That is was considered worthwhile to produce and then use these guns with all these drawbacks shows just how destructive they were.

General Information

64-lber Heavy Artillery are unique to the Ottoman Empire, although it is near-identical to the Marathan 64-lber Great Gun. They fire the heaviest shot in the game, and have correspondingly the greatest firepower of the cannon artillery. In addition, they have a significantly longer range than most cannon artillery, which is very handy considering how they are fixed artillery.

64-lber Heavy Artillery trade their great range and firepower with their very poor accuracy and their inability to use Canister Shot. These traits make them fare less well against small, mobile targets than their lighter counterparts. However, their range and firepower make them second to none in destroying buildings and walls.