Size of artillery units and rates of fire

[Garyjd]

Are smaller (less than 24 guns) artillery brigades/batteries more effective than larger ones? Is the rate of fire for smaller artillery units, i.e. 6, 10, or 12 guns for faster than those of larger formations?

[The Soldier]

Refer to this thread:

The rest of your questions are also addressed in the rest of the comments for that thread.

[Garyjd]

Must've missed this thread. Thanks for posting the link.

[Andre Bolkonsky]

18 hours ago, The Soldier said:

Refer to this thread:

The rest of your questions are also addressed in the rest of the comments for that thread.

 

4 hours ago, Garyjd said:

Must've missed this thread. Thanks for posting the link.

The Soldier has a tendency to answer questions before they're asked, and he is usually right; always finding what you're looking for is another trick. 

[JaM]

artillery rate of fire is very tricky question.. Most of the time, you get info about maximum theoretical rate of fire for some artillery pieces, yet these values were achieved only with elite crew and for very short time period.. even during Napoleonic wars, when for example 6pdr gun was supposed to fire at least 2x in minute, actual battle reports give quite different numbers - at Leipzig, Napoleons artillery fired for 8 hours with rate of fire 1 shot every 3 minutes, while his guard artillery fired one shot every 90 seconds, but only for 2 hours...

So technically, while these pieces could be reloaded fast in emergency, typical use was a lot slower,as crew had to be careful to clean the gun properly, cool it down when necessary, get the ammo from ammo caissons, etc... because of that, typical battery had guns divided into sections, while each gun was fired one after another. this way, crew had time for all proper steps and rate of fire was sufficient to deal damage - What it means for Civil War game? that artillery is kinda backwards right now... larger batteries were actually more efficient than small ones, commanding officers could better concentrate fire, as they could better pass orders to gun crews. overall fire control was easier, while large battery could keep some guns in reserve, or divide them into two fire teams and fire with each at the same target at the same time.

What is missing right now is the time factor, which would slow down the rate of fire if gun fired too many times in quick succession (typically canister fire was loaded quicker due to "emergency" nature of short range fire), which actually means that larger batteries should be less impacted by this due to more guns firing one after another (giving crews more time)

Also, i think artillery should be slower to change directions, while its arc of fire should be more strict.. this way, even if firepower is increased, and artillery would do more damage to any unit trying to attack it head on, flanking charges would be possible (artillery would not turn in time)

 

[veji1]

14 hours ago, JaM said:

Also, i think artillery should be slower to change directions, while its arc of fire should be more strict.. this way, even if firepower is increased, and artillery would do more damage to any unit trying to attack it head on, flanking charges would be possible (artillery would not turn in time)

 

Interesting post, in this last sentence do you mean all arty should be slower to change directions or that bigger batteries should be slower, or actually both ?

[JaM]

i mean that it kinda make no sense with artillery deployed in line be able to turn left or right and be able to fire all guns that direction.. technically, you could turn the side guns to face the danger from a flank, but not entire battery. But of course, if you have just 3 guns in a unit, it should be easier to turn than 24 gun battery. (when deployed in line of course, but we dont have ability to adjust the arty deployment so lets assume they are always in single line)