Cannons and their operation

[Legion]

I'm assuming that you are going to make cannons as realistic as possible but will you force players to follow the safe operation of the gun? Like will you require the players to follow proper load order like worming and sponging the gun, (I think those are the proper terms) or will you allow them to skip some steps in order to get a faster fire rate? Because I know that during some cases the soldiers would skip some steps (even though it is risky) in order to get round down range quicker. I think it would be nice to allow players to take those risk and their should be risk to doing this like cannon failure or the gun going off to soon due to the embers in the barrel or the cannon exploding and killing the crew. I just think that these options should be added for game plays sake and for realism.
Also will you add animations for the sequences of operation? Like the number 1 man and the number 2 man having to go in front of the gun to use the ramrods and such? And the gunner adjusting the gun and the range and pulling the string to fire the piece.?

[rebeldestroyer]

The faster fire with a risk is a good idea. Maybe for every time you fire and skip a step the percentage of a malfunction goes up by 10%

[Legion]

That could work. I also think that the speed of fire should be dependent on the players and not on a fixed rate, if the players drill more and get more skilled then they would preform better than someone who doesn't. I'm not talking about skill rank or something just pure player skill with no I game help. That way players determine the effectiveness of a battery and not the game.

[rebeldestroyer]

yes, we discussed that before. Like that there should be keyboard key sequences for the steps of reloading a musket or cannon and if you train you can click the keys faster and thus reload your weapon faster

[Legion]

I wouldn't mind that. It just has to be managed properly because you can only reload so fast no matter how fast you press the keys, as long as they keep it to realistic standards I wouldn't mind but I would hate for there to be super fast unrealistic loading.

[rebeldestroyer]

yes it should be kept above 25 seconds for muskets for sure

[Legion]

yes it should be kept above 25 seconds for muskets for sure
I agree. I also wonder if they will add different ammo. Like buck and ball which was very deadly at close range.

[Hinkel]

I agree. I also wonder if they will add different ammo. Like buck and ball which was very deadly at close range.

There will be smoothbore muskets, which will fire buck and ball, yes. Like the Irish brigade used that type of weapon and ammo.

It might be not included in the first playable version, but definatly in the final game.

[Legion]

Awesome. But will there be an option to switch between them? Like if I'm at a longer range then I would use regular shot and when I get closer then I'd use buck and ball. Because buck and ball would limit my range.

[Simon445]

Awesome. But will there be an option to switch between them? Like if I'm at a longer range then I would use regular shot and when I get closer then I'd use buck and ball. Because buck and ball would limit my range.

Not sure if it would be accurate. Just switching between it, little bit unrealistic if you look at it.

[Legion]

Not really all buck and ball is is a regular ball with pellets added to the shot. It wouldn't be to complicated to switch between the two.

[Zoranny]

Not really all buck and ball is is a regular ball with pellets added to the shot. It wouldn't be to complicated to switch between the two.
Maybe in a way that would not be game balanced. If only certain units get the ability to switch these than they have a high advantage. They would be more flexible in a way.
Complicated wouldn't but IMHO this would be a bit balance breaking :/ ^^

[Leifr]

Buck and ball tended to operate at shorter ranges, Zoranny.

[Zoranny]

Buck and ball tended to operate at shorter ranges, Zoranny.
Ah tanks, so I miss understood. I have interpreted it as a sort of grapeshot. ^^ - sry

[Legion]

I hope they don't have to much balance in this game. I understand it's a game but I hope they keep things as realistic as possible. Also buck and ball shouldn't be limited to only a few units everyone should be able to use it but is should have a longer reload time.

[A. P. Hill]

Just a couple useful links.

http://www.civilwarartillery.com/books/GIBBON.PDF

http://www.paperlessarchives.com/confederate-field-manuals.html

Oh and do a search for Mordecai ... Major

[Legion]

Thanks for the links Snuffy, very interesting read. And what mordecai? Mordecai from the bible?

[Zoranny]

Just a couple useful links.

http://www.civilwarartillery.com/books/GIBBON.PDF

http://www.paperlessarchives.com/confederate-field-manuals.html

Oh and do a search for Mordecai ... Major

First links show only the first side, every others are blank :/

[A. P. Hill]

Thanks for the links Snuffy, very interesting read. And what mordecai? Mordecai from the bible?

No, There was a Major Alfred Mordecai, Jr. who was in the Ordinance department for the U.S. and yes, his last name is Jewish, but no he's not from the Bible. :) (http://www.goordnance.army.mil/hof/1969/mordecai.html)


First links show only the first side, every others are blank :/

First link for me provides a change to Adobe Reader and a 605 page document. It may take a while to load on your machine via your connection. All the other pages are full, trust me.

[R21]

Playability is the key, and the Cannon randomly exploding would probably infuriate a lot of people lol, unless there was some kind of UI indicator that made it blatantly obvious it was going to happen after X point (Think fixed MG's in Games where they overheat and stop firing, this would probaby be a better solution).

Also, speaking of Cannons, i'm hoping Canister Shot will be in the Game and that there is some deviation when fired with round shot (People sniping across the Map with the may become a bit annoying).

[CybrSlydr]

I'm very interested in how Artillery works and will function in the game. I was Army Artillery, so I'm anxious to see Redlegs represented in this. :D

[Theodor Schmidt]

Playability is the key, and the Cannon randomly exploding would probably infuriate a lot of people lol, unless there was some kind of UI indicator that made it blatantly obvious it was going to happen after X point (Think fixed MG's in Games where they overheat and stop firing, this would probaby be a better solution).


I believe it should be a mixture of this and some slight randomness. Say you're a gun crew and an enemy unit is pressing you hard. You will want to get shot down the range as quickly as possible, so you negate to swab the cannon after each round, the "cannon commander" (the guy is aims/fires the gun) - or whatever he is called - can check the gun after each firing, it could provide you with the state of the gun and how likely it is to explode/be not useful.

Each time you check it you will receive a % chance of it becoming out of action, of course with swabbing and other safety methods it will be 0%. However if you start to forget to do this the % will rise, at low % it will not explode but may become unuseful. At higher % it may well explode. This will add a bit more 'skill' and thought into cannoniering(is that a term?). An experience cannonier will know when to start to up the fire rate and when to decrease it again.

I believe this will add in extra skill and also have a bit of realism for cannons, without sacrificing too much playability.


One other thing, what about spiking guns? If you have to abandon an area you should be able to spike it, and blow it up. IF you negate to blow it up could a rival gun crew clean it out and make it usable again, or is that something that is infeasible for the time-frame that will occur in the battles in game?