Some ideas of renaming/remodeling artillery units

[ArrivedLeader22]

Disclaimer: this is not suggesting changes in the role of existing units.

Premises:
Since vanilla artillery units have not followed the “guard/imperial something” naming convention for their upgrades, but use entirely new names to reflect their technical improvements. However, some of them still do not make much sense to me.
Also, only the crew model changes with the upgrade (aka gained a hat), and the model of the artillery piece does not change. Newer units like leather cannon/infantry gun gain a more modern look (as leather cannon is a very “archaic” thing which did not last into 1700s).


Similar updates to other artillery units would make them look more interesting.

Now let’s talk about the specifics:

Falconet

I think the falconet model actually fits better to its upgraded name “field gun”. Real falconets have much smaller caliber, and are more of a 16~17th century thing:

(source: wikipedia)
So the falconet model could have a smaller caliber and a more 1600s-looking carriage. This makes much sense: as the upgrade into “field guns” grants it larger caliber and improved gun carriages, making it naturally look more powerful.

Culverin

This is the unit that I have the most problems with. I never liked its forced role of “counter artillery” because IRL it was simply another standard field gun. But since the gameplay is very well established I would not suggest changing it.
Also, the model is very archaic-looking especially in the industrial age. The non-adjustable barrels, and the huge wooden sight (?) attached to the carriage, etc. look more of a late medieval thing. I think at least the upgrade should give a more modern model and name than “culverin royale”.
But I am not sure which one would fit the role. It also needs to remain visually distinguishable from the falconet/field gun, but artillery pieces became much more standardized since 1700s. Any suggestions?

Howitzer (Mortar)

Howitzers are not simply “better mortars”. They are more flexible and can function as field guns, as opposed to the huge, heavy early mortars. They are mounted on carriages and some just look like a cannon with shorter barrel (e.g. the Napoleon gun).

The upgrades of the mortar can simply be “heavy/imperial mortar” while the howitzer could turn into a new unit, or a unique RG upgrade of the falconet.

ORGAN GUN!

There are already a lot of posts on this. It is too archaic and does not fit the Portuguese at all.
My thought is it could turn into swivel gun with a similar role. The Portuguese used them and even propagated them to Asia. Swivel guns are barrel-loading and could fire canister shots, justifying their fast firing rate. They are also lighter than regular cannons justifying their faster limbering/unlimbering.

Swivel gun

The upgrade can simply be a light howitizer firing explosive or canister shots (?).

[AssertiveWall20]

I would love more cannon options. Let’s get some mountain howitzers in the mix!

It would also be super cool to get a fire and retreat stance.

[M00Z1LLA]

Alpine Guns could have been a good Italian (or maybe Austrian/Habsburg) unique unit. It would make more sense than the fictional “Papal Bombard”. It could be something like the Leather Cannon or Napoleon Gun, but carried on a mule.

Apparently Napoleon’s troops preferred the mountain guns they captured from Savoy and Austria in the first Italian campaign so they must have been pretty good.

[HoopThrower]

Am pretty sure the mercenary Bombardier already represents those Swivel Guns. Swivel Gun is definitely not very evocative and is more associated with Asia than with the Portuguese specifically, if you want an actual unique unit name, you’d be looking for something like “Berço”.

For the Culverin upgrade that isn’t just “Culverin”, maaaybe I’d go with the Unicorn, but the very idea of a dedicated counter-artillery piece is weird already. Maybe the Volante could work in a pinch.

Your Howitzer issue has the opposite problem, you’re proposing to leave the Mortar upgrade as just “mortar but better”. An alternative could be that the base unit be called Pedrero, which is a cheaper/more archaic version of a mortar which relies on firing literal stones, and then upgrading to mortar proper.

[Bramkurtzio]

The Russians did apparently use an artillery piece called the “Yedinorog” or more commonly known as the “Licorne” (Unicorn) in the 18th and 19th century, which was a howitzer.

The Yedinorog could replace both the [Mortar] and the [Horse Artillery] for the Russians, since some of the models of this howitzer were used for making companies of horse artillery. The special function of this artillery piece is that it could switch between field gun mode and mortar mode. And if the Yedinorog is set to mortar mode it won’t be able to attack land units or it could do so through an ability with a cooldown as suggested by @SirBarnzy1 in the comments below.

[ArrivedLeader22]

I think mortars do not need a name change because they did not advance much in this period. Early mortars actually fell out of use later. They only became viable with the more portable versions in WWI. So they could remain mortars in later ages.
But others sound interesting.

[M00Z1LLA]

This is slightly referenced in the game. Russia has a Unicorn Mortars card that upgrades them.

[ArrivedLeader22]

Yeah and this is another bad representation because licornes are not mortars at all.

[M00Z1LLA]

Fair enough. I think Licornes could work as either a Culverin or Heavy Cannon replacement.

Another possible unique artillery could be giving the British Sakers as a unique Falconet.

[Bramkurtzio]

For anyone who is unfamiliar for what defines a “Howitzer”, it is essentially an artillery piece that is a hybrid between a field gun and a mortar. @ArrivedLeader22 does explain this in the original post, but I just wanted to provide a slightly different explanation to help with making this information sink in better.

@M00Z1LLA

Another possible unique artillery could be giving the British Sakers as a unique Falconet.

@M00Z1LLA The Saker is a good contender for becoming a new unique unit for the British in my eyes. Another unique artillery unit for the Russians could be the “Secret Howitzer”, which can be a military unit that can only be shipped from the Home City just like [Spahi].

The last name of the general who both devised and introduced it into service is included with name “Secret Howitzer”. However, the name for this general gets censored if I try to include it.

[IvanZvania]

Yo quiero ver al cañón del zar en el juego, hay un envío de cuarta edad que se llama " cañón del zar" que te envía un cañón pesado en vez de una bombarda

[Bramkurtzio]

@IvanZvania As tempting it would be to have the Tsar Cannon in the game, I am not completely sure if it would make sense if it was added to the game, since there are a couple of sources that suggests that it was never used in battle like this one. Though the cannon does apparently bear traces of at least one firing according to a group of specialists from the Russian Artillery Academy who made an inspection of it in 1980 while it was being restored.

However, there is another artillery piece called the “Perm Tsar Cannon” which was apparently used for military purposes and was made in 1868. If I were to compare the appearance of the Perm Tsar Cannon with a unit that exists in the game, then it does resemble the [Li’l Bombard] a lot. Maybe the Perm Tsar Cannon could replace the [Heavy Cannon] for the Russians.

[SirBarnzy1]

Love this topic!

I would very much like to see Howitzers as their own unit - they were pretty different in use to cannon and mortars. Let them fire explosive (non cannon ball) bombs at closer range to mortars but with the perk that they can target units (slow reload though)

[HoopThrower]

I mean, if what you want is weird and quirky unique artillery units, I’d go with the Geschwindstück, which were 18th century rapid fire cannons that could be modified to shoot at different angles.
They were mostly discontinued because they were very expensive and cumbersome to fabricate and maintain, but as a quirky mercenary unit, I could totally see them working.
Also no one has even touched on artillery outside of Europe, that’s a whole 'nother bag of worms.

[M00Z1LLA]

@HoopThrower

Also no one has even touched on artillery outside of Europe, that’s a whole 'nother bag of worms.

That’s because they did the Asians civs dirty and gave them the dumb consulate instead of all the cool artillery they actually had.

Ottomans, Mughals, and Persians should all have some kind of Turkish cannon in their roster. I’d like to see them at least have a “regular” Bombard as a Falconet equivalent. The fake “Siege Elephant” could be replaced with Gajnal and elephants towed/carried guns.

China should have Hongyipao instead of Flamethrowers (which were only really used in the Song Dynasty). A Korea civ could also share this as well as other unique artillery like Hwachas.

In southeast Asia there are guns such as Lantaka that could make an appearance with new civs.

If we ever get a Siamese civ, Gatling Elephants could be a possibility.

[HoopThrower]

Persian artillery was nothing to write home about. Like sure, they could have “turkish” cannons But they only ever used the smalles calibers of cannons during the Safavid Dynasty.
You see, they experimented with getting artillery early on, but it turns out it was wildly impractical for the conditions they lived in. There weren’t that many walled cities they had to lay siege to and most of their opponents and wars they fought were against steppe nomads. Even in their conflicts towards the west (by west I mostly mean Caucasian peoples and Ottomans) the terrain was very much not very suitable for big artillery trains.
Now Nader Shah changed this and put a lot of emphasis on improving the capacity of Persian artillery during the Afsharid Dynasty, and if you read online you could be led to believe that meant they had super special, like unique huge cannons. But no, he mostly just focused on getting the Persian artillery up to par with European standards, which sure was a huge success and a large step forward, but still nothing particularly noteworthy on a more global scale.
I ain’t even gonna talk much about the dynasties that followed. Enough to say they really didn’t stand out much for their artillery, most of it was just Zamburaks and the smallest calibers of ottoman guns, Firangi, zarbzan, whatnot.

The idea of these “Gunpowder Empires” is kind of a very eurocentric, orientalist view of how these three states rose up and it very much doesn’t reflect the realities of these territories.

As for the Siamese Gatling Elephants, they are a nice idea for a meme unit, but it must be said that they weren’t actually elephant mounted, fired-from-their-back gatling guns, they just transported Gatling Guns in the backs of elephants to deploy them later as normal.

[ArrivedLeader22]

A little additional thought:
I think there are two types of units in the current roster:
Units that lasted and evolved throughout the game’s period: musketeer, skirmisher, hussar, dragoon, field gun (falconer).
Units that fell out of use in reality, but still accessible in the late game: pikeman, halberdier, dopplesoldner, crossbowman, rodelero, culverin, caravel, galleon, a lot of mercenaries, most Asian units, the entire Aztec and Inca civilization, etc.

It’s really difficult to give the latter a more “modern” look because they are already “frozen in time”, unlike say the musketeer which gain iconic uniforms that progress through time. In the game most of them just got fancier with the upgrade, as a “modern” unit wearing no armour and a shako but carrying a greatsword would look very odd. And you cannot turn it into another unit either.

[StatelyPlayer64]

En general hay varias piezas de artilleria faltantes dentro del juego, y ya que juego el empire total war, me gustaria ver algunas de estas dentro del juego xd

Demi-cannons

Cañones pesados que no son tirados por caballos y quedan suspendidos en una sola zona de disparo. (Disponible para: Todas las facciones europeas)

Sacres

Podrian ser como culebrinas, con un bajo daño de asedio, pero con excelentes bonus de daño contra edificios y infanteria (Todas las facciones europeas)

Ametralladora Puckle

Bueno como una unidad de broma estaria bien xd

Cañon pesado de 64 libras

Estaria disponible para los otomanos y indios, tendria un ataque muy lejano y un daño debastador, pero seria muy lento de mover de disparar y caro de pagar

Pistola organo?

[jaimekuro]

Am I the only one who thinks that “Heavy Cannon” is a very generic name?

I mean, there aren’t heavy and light artillery classifications, all of them are just Artillery, so the prefix “heavy” doesn’t fit at all.

But I don’t find any idea of how to suggest a better name.

[HoopThrower]

On the one hand, yes, heavy cannon sounds generic.
On the other hand, cannon is actually a specific designation of artillery, particularly towards more medieval times, cannons referred to particular calibers that separated them from, say, bombards.

Trying to give the cannon that comes from the Factory a less generic name that somehow fits all civs that can produce them is easier said than done though.