Old_Warrior wrote:Another thing - my medium cannon fired several times on large pike formations of the Swedes .... no hits. This happened not once but six times. Meanwhile, my arq units were taking anywhere from 10-25 hits from the enemy guns per shot. SMH
The effect of artillery in the game is deliberately very random. The randomiser is skewed towards the lower part of the range, so most shots will be very poor but some will be really good. (Like the historically recorded lucky enfilading shot that took out 30 gendarmes with one ball).
However, it should be borne in mind that the most important effect of artillery is the effect on morale (the -1 cohesion test modifier it causes), even if no hits are scored. Obviously, however, you then need something else shooting at the unit to trigger a cohesion test.
Old_Warrior wrote:I noted in The Battle of Axtorna that the Landscknect Keil infantry unit, while saying that it has a large advantage over the med. ft. arq. units took FOUR melee rounds to finally rout the unit. I kind of find this hard to believe. The losses were similar too. Finally in the last round of combat there was a noticeable loss difference. The enemy unit casualty percentage had finally caught up to them and they caved in.
But why are these units holding up so well to the Keil troops?
Various possible reasons:
a) If the arquebusiers are in rough going, the keils will be disordered when they attack them, and will lose their keil bonus at impact.
b) If the keil is disrupted by shooting before contact they won't be fighting at full effect.
c) Luck.