24-lber Foot Artillery (ETW Unit)

24-lber Foot Artillery (ETW Unit)
Class	Artillery
Unit Size	24 men
Weaponry	24 pdr cannon
Morale
Melee Attack
Ranged Attack
Defence
Charge Bonus
Accuracy
Range
Ammunition
Region	Global
Recruitment Cost	890
Upkeep Cost	220
Turns to Build
Unit Limit
Building Requirements	Engineer School
Technology Requirements	None
Attributes	Slow Moving; Can Hide in Woodland;

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

Overview

Despite the name, foot artillery batteries are towed by horses, not men. The artillerymen march alongside their pieces. All guns are smooth-bore, and rated by the size or weight of solid projectile that they fire: a 24-pounder is so called because it hurls a cannonball weighing 24 pounds towards the enemy! It may not do so very accurately, as the casting of barrels and balls means that there is inevitably a gap (wind-age) between a shot and the barrel sides. This means that a cannonball rattles down the barrel when fired, leading to an inherent inaccuracy. As technology advances, other types of ammunition can be fired.

Historically, there was limited standardization 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 intimately. Cunningly, the French attempted to develop a system of interchangeable 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!

Details

24-pounder foot artillery are the best cannon available to a generic army, although France, the Maratha Confedaracy, and the Ottoman Empire all have better options. They are able to use round shot, canister shot, and shrapnel. In addition, they can deploy some cover around them if they remain stationary on the world map for two turns or more, giving them substantial defense against missle fire; however, setting up such defensive measures robs them of their ability to redeploy and also shrinks their cone of fire by preventing them from turning. This can be a serious issue as enemy armies can simply reposition themselves and approach an entrenched position at a different angle in order to completely bypass any artillery fire.