Overview
How to use cannons before you get in range like a boss!
Cannons
Anyone that has played the Total War series would know that cannons have range. But what if you wanted to shoot the enemy before they shot you? This question shall be answered in this guide. Go on, read the next section.
The Basics
To enter the cannon view, click on your unit and enter first person mode (default button is H). Then this will appear:
Now you will be able to control one of the cannons in your cannon unit. You can turn left and right freely. To fire in first person mode, simply use the left mouse button. Remember, the cannon WILL NOT fire if the cursor is red.
How to Master Targeting
Enough of all those easy tactics. Here is the harder part.
So, when we go into first person mode, we get a white reticle above our cannon.
Aiming the cannon is pretty hard when you are not in range yet. Pointing it up will abviously help.
1) For accuracy try putting the white reticle on top/in line with the enemy standard. The game will show you where the cannon ball lands. If you miss, try shooting in a different way.
2) If you need to rapid-fire (not actually but you get the idea) shoot in the general direction of the enemy.
3) If you want to kill the enemy cavalry, try to shoot in front/the sides to have the most kills.
4) If the enemy has a huge army, just fire and get the feel of it!
5) Try getting on some elevated terrain! This will give you a more precise location of the enemy unit and make a huge difference in accuracy. Of course, fire lower now.
- You fire too low
- Use your shooter gaming skills and aim like if it was an AK-47.
Other Types of Shots
Round shot is best for destroying cavalry, ships, and walls, but if you want to kill troops, other types of shots will be usefull.
Shrapnel
This shot is great against infantry. As one of the comments has stated, it is glitchy and buggy when used in First Person. To use it, you can try to either do the aiming and let the computer fire the shot, or just use it as a different type of shot. 😛
UNDER DEVELOPMENT
Gatling Guns, the Machine Guns of the Game
“Sir our enemy has gatling guns!”- and all that stuff.
Well, this explanation will be short and sweet.
To fire a gatling gun in first person mode use your left mouse key to fire. It will NOT fire if the reticle is red. So then your gatling gun starts firing like a machine gun. Remember to conserve ammuntion, though! Using a gatling gun in first person mode is useful when you want your men to target the enemy general but they, instead, kill everyone exept the general himself. In FPM you can simply target him/his horse. Gratulor, princeps, iam mortuum!
Also, this has a second use that I would not recommend:
Assasinating annoying soldiers. Just target that soldier and fire for about 2 seconds and he falls down, dead.
Tactics
Why should you use the first person mode in the first place? Using FPM usually gives you a tactical advantage against the enemy who might not know this. Here are some tactics to use while using FPM:
- Fire the cannon in FPM, and while it is reloading, check on the rest of the battlefield. Repeat until the enemy comes near your own troops. Now you have to do some micro managing, not FPM.
- Kill the enemy general.
Siege Battles
First person mode on cannons during a siege battle is semi-usefull. Targeting walls and buildings could be a waste of time as the computer can do that for you but shooting the enemy general or troops in the back or out of range is something that will give you a huge advantage.
Sea Battles
In sea battles, first person mode allows you to reload quicker. This gives you an advantage against your enemy but it should not be used all the time, since it is a battle, not target practice :P. Credit to Silshryk for the part about reloading!
Also, when you are repairing your ship, you can use FPM to fire while without FPM it won’t shoot.
Your enemy will be baffled!
Do you play Ship VS Ship battles?
In Ship VS Ship battles, FPM gives you a clear advantage, as this will just be aformentioned target practice for you. And that target is slow and big.
Afterwards
I know this guide is not helpful right now, but I’ll try to make it better. (The tactics are so basic you probably knew them before.) If you have some suggestions, please tell me.
P.S. I accidently once put this guide on Napoleon Total War just saying xD