Ordinance vs. Parrotts

[Sykes]

Which artillery piece do you prefer?  For whatever reason, my 10LB Ordnance cannons seem to do more damage than the 10LB Parrott's.  Perhaps I'm deploying the Parrots incorrectly? And also, is it just me or do the 20LB Parrott's seem useless?

Edited February 22, 2017 by Sykes

[jimcarrel]

I don't get much from Parrots, no matter the different ranges... and 24 Howitzers...forget them. A 6 pounder can give 4 to 6 times the kills of a 24 Howitz. Lately even 12 Naps are not much use, at least it seems like it. Right now it appears that the old 6 and 10's are more worth the cost. I can sure remember someone saying they really liked the Parrots, Really?

[vren55]

Never really tried parrots, but if you look at the stats... damage wise the Parrot isn't that good and it isn't that good in reload either. Personally I go with the Ordinance and Napoleons. 

[Sir Texas Sir]

Haven't played much lately since the new patch and added battle.   I have used the Parrots on my Union game to take out other arty at range.  The 24 Howitzers are great for canister shot kills on the front lines.  Otherwise I run the 12 Naps or 10 Ords depending what I gotten for free or paid for on the side.  I tend to put the Ordance in my spare Corps when i'm building them until I get something better.

[Don't Escrow Taxes]

the 10lb Parrot i think actually works pretty well as intended which is as a long-range counter battery.  

 

IMO the best guns are the 24lb H > Napoleon > 10lb Ord  everything else i would sell once I have 10 points in economy.  Keep those napoleons up close for close infantry support they are MURDEROUS at close range 

[waldopbarnstormer]

I have found that my ordinance battery's outscored my Napoleon's consistently. Also my parrots but not by much.

[Hitorishizuka]

Grabbing my tier list from the last artillery topic...

This is independent of cost, performance only!

Tier 1: 24pdr Howitzer

Tier 2: 10pdr Ordnance, 10pdr Tredegar

Tier 3: 12pdr Napoleon, 14pdr James, 10pdr Parrot, 20pdr Parrott, 10pdr Parrott

Tier 4: 12pdr Whitworth, 6pdr Field, 6pdr Wiard (maybe Tier 3), 12pdr Howitzer

 

Comments:

In general I don't find counterbattery fire very useful, which is why artillery that may be better in those circumstances is lower rated. In the rare circumstances you can't just take out the battery with skirmishers or cavalry, you probably have better targets to be shooting at in terms of close range infantry anyway. The AI rarely/never moves up their artillery on offense so it's not doing anything and on defense you could have just dislodged the defenders with grapeshot and moved in on the batteries directly anyway instead of sniping.

I used to also rate 12pdr Napoleons higher but I half suspect they may have been changed somehow a couple patches ago because they're just not performing right now.

Edited February 26, 2017 by Hitorishizuka

[jimcarrel]

1 hour ago, Hitorishizuka said:

I used to also rate 12pdr Napoleons higher but I half suspect they may have been changed somehow a couple patches ago because they're just not performing right now.

Thats exactly my impression, mine used to get 100's of kills in a fairly long battle, but now it can be in the 50"s. Sorta took the fun out of it.

[A. P. Hill]

For the record, there is essentially Zero difference between a 3 inch Ordnance Rifle and a 10lb/3 inch Parrott Rifle.

They all essentially fired the same ammunition and they all used the same size charge, 1 pound of powder. As rifles, they are better at range and not proximity.  Generally as a rule, both sides kept canister out of these guns because it would chew up the rifling and make the tubes ineffective, these guns fired shot, shell, or case at distance. This information is also good for the 20lb/30lb Parrott Rifles, Whitworths and other rifled tubes as well.

Smoothbores such as the 6lb, 12lb Howitzers, 12lb Napoleons, and 24lb Howitzers were primarily canister tubes.  These guns also by nature of what they are, were of limited range in comparison with the rifles mentioned above The bores on these were notably larger, and the charge varied from 1 1/2 pounds to 2 1/2 pounds. The ammunition was round, and also consisted of shot, shell, and case, as well as canister.

For the most part the 12lb Napoleons were created to eliminate the 6lb, and 12lb howitzers that were common in the European artillery units.

[Sykes]

By the way, I found this article online about Civil War artillery pieces.  Thought I would share it with you guys...

[The Soldier]

On 2/25/2017 at 0:18 PM, A. P. Hill said:

For the record, there is essentially Zero difference between a 3 inch Ordnance Rifle and a 10lb/3 inch Parrott Rifle.

They all essentially fired the same ammunition and they all used the same size charge, 1 pound of powder. As rifles, they are better at range and not proximity.  Generally as a rule, both sides kept canister out of these guns because it would chew up the rifling and make the tubes ineffective, these guns fired shot, shell, or case at distance. This information is also good for the 20lb/30lb Parrott Rifles, Whitworths and other rifled tubes as well.

Smoothbores such as the 6lb, 12lb Howitzers, 12lb Napoleons, and 24lb Howitzers were primarily canister tubes.  These guns also by nature of what they are, were of limited range in comparison with the rifles mentioned above The bores on these were notably larger, and the charge varied from 1 1/2 pounds to 2 1/2 pounds. The ammunition was round, and also consisted of shot, shell, and case, as well as canister.

For the most part the 12lb Napoleons were created to eliminate the 6lb, and 12lb howitzers that were common in the European artillery units.

In-game, however, the 3-Inch Ordnance Rifle fired faster than the 10pdr Parrott Gun.  It might have less range and damage, but the Parrott just lags behind the Ordnance Rifle in my experience.  Furthermore, the Ordnance Rifle is cheaper, so it's a no-brainer.  It's one of those things like the 20pdr Parrott Gun - the stats say it can blow shit away at long range, but in reality, the shell range is absolutely nonexistant, and when it does use Shell or Canister, it doesn't get many kills.  It's still useless, by the way.

[A. P. Hill]

In game, the 3 inch ordnance and the 10lb Parrott and the 3 inch Parrott should all have the same stats as they were essentially the same gun.  The 3 inch ordnance might have just a slight edge however.

But given the design of the ammunition used by the 3 inch/10lb rifled guns, (or any rifled gun for that matter, being elongated and not very large,) these guns were pretty much useless in close range conflict.  The reasons the smoothbores worked so much better was precisely the lack of rifling.  But also in a disadvantage to the smoothbores, was a little mathematical thing called "Windage".  That gap between the actual ball circumference and the inside of the bore that allowed for the physical explosion of the black powder charge to blow past the round as it's trying to push the round out the tube, thus making the guns less accurate with less muzzle velocity and making them great close quarters guns especially with canister.

As for the pricing, I'd have to go back and check my manuals and all to verify if the game is costing the guns properly.

However, I do know just by the nature of the manufacture of the Ordnance rifle it was a lighter thus more mobile gun.

[Sykes]

Has anyone tested out the 20LB Parrots yet post 0.76 patch?

[The Soldier]

34 minutes ago, Sykes said:

Has anyone tested out the 20LB Parrots yet post 0.76 patch?

About to do an acid test with 48 of 'em in two Siege Batteries at Picket's Charge.