Do cannons change over time in Pike & Shot?
Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2016 6:15 pm
Really enjoyed seeing the development of foot and horse over time in Pike & Shot. The difference between a Spanish Colunela versus a Swedish Salvo battalion is impressive, even though both are "pike & shot" formations.
Yet cannons in Pike & Shot seem to be the same throughout the entire game: Light, Medium or Heavy. I don't know the underlying stats, but they feel unchanged on the battlefield. I expect about the same results from cannons at Edgehill in 1642 as I did at Biccoca in 1522.
Is this historically accurate? Were field guns really this static during this historical period? Yes, we see the arrival of attached light guns with formations with the Swedes, but for actual field cannon, weren't there improvements in rate of fire, mobility, accuracy over this 150-200 year period? Swedish cannon at Breitenfeld don't feel very different in the game, even though it seems that the actual gunners were achieving a 3:1 rate of fire over their Imperial counterparts.
Imagine there are several possible responses:
1) There were meaningful differences over time and they're modeled in the game stats, I just didn't notice them.
2) There were differences but they were historically insignificant in an open field battle, easier to just model cannons as static across this period.
3) There were meaningful differences over time in open field battles, but it's a game design decision to focus more on the mechanics and gameplay of foot and horse.
Yet cannons in Pike & Shot seem to be the same throughout the entire game: Light, Medium or Heavy. I don't know the underlying stats, but they feel unchanged on the battlefield. I expect about the same results from cannons at Edgehill in 1642 as I did at Biccoca in 1522.
Is this historically accurate? Were field guns really this static during this historical period? Yes, we see the arrival of attached light guns with formations with the Swedes, but for actual field cannon, weren't there improvements in rate of fire, mobility, accuracy over this 150-200 year period? Swedish cannon at Breitenfeld don't feel very different in the game, even though it seems that the actual gunners were achieving a 3:1 rate of fire over their Imperial counterparts.
Imagine there are several possible responses:
1) There were meaningful differences over time and they're modeled in the game stats, I just didn't notice them.
2) There were differences but they were historically insignificant in an open field battle, easier to just model cannons as static across this period.
3) There were meaningful differences over time in open field battles, but it's a game design decision to focus more on the mechanics and gameplay of foot and horse.