Why does this work like this in the game – any kind of artillery is so weak against infantry. In my opinion, the damage is too low, for one thing, and for another, it should deal large area damage like it did in AOE3. Back there, having two basic cannons meant infantry couldn’t even approach because a single shot could kill 5-7 musketeers. In AOE4, you build a cannon, a bombard, or another heavy piece of equipment, and when you shoot at infantry, you’re dealing 50-100 damage to a single soldier… absurd.
The same goes for artillery infantry, for example, the Japanese – I don’t remember the name, but such units should have a multiplier against infantry – something like x2 or x3 – to make it clear that these are high-value units that stand out and actually make a difference.
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Since the last patch of the Season 9 and the Siege Rework, many cannons units stop being so broken aggainst melee infantry. They are still very powerful aggainst “Ranged infantry” with normally has less than 100 HP.
Also, If you stack enough of them, they are terribly deadly against any infantry in AoE IV. There are combos with HRE, French and Zhu Xi that are deadly if you stack several cannons with their respective unique techs or bonuses.
The thing is that, unlike AoE3, where you produce cannons like candy and they even give them to you for free with shipments, in AoE4 they are very expensive and of Imperial age (IV), so it is difficult to take advantage of good combos with mass bombards or culverins unless you play until Late-Game.
In any case, the difference between the two games has its reasons, although everything is debatable:
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Historical Representation:
– In AoE3, falconets are from a time when most European powers could manufacture light cannons and use them in combat to clear mass infantry. Also, the most powerful cannos are from the Napoleonic Era, so they need to be so broken for thar representation.
– In AoE4, cannons are only unlocked in the Imperial Age (IV), and many are of the “Anti-building” Bombard type, so their accuracy was not adequate to be used as the preferred anti-infantry, they are not falconets. The Culverin type, which only some civs have, is better as “anti-unit” because its rate of fire is higher, so it is well represented, and so is the French cannon.
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Population and Cost Balance:
– In AoE3, falconets cost 5 population, and are only produced in the 3rd age. Besides, in this game, units are produced at an extremely high rate, and many are disposable, you can send them to die as junk units if it is part of the strategy, so falconets are allowed to be so destructive.
– In AoE4, on the other hand, cannons cost 3 population, it is not enough population to justify that they can destroy several units at once, and they are made to destroy buildings, the anti-infantry bonus is secondary. There is another reason, but I will cover that in the next point. Also, Mangonels (Onager form) are the siege unit that supposeddly you use aggainst range units, and Springalds aggainsts melee.
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The case of Anti-cavalry Civs:
– In AoE3 there aren´t anti-cavalry civs, so Cavalry can be used as counter of siege in all cases, but also for that reason some cavalry civs are very broken (French Couriasier Boom).
– In AoE4 the only current counter to Siege are other cannons, or Cavalry, and in a lesser case melee infantry. However, there are ANTI-cavalry civs, such as Delhi, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Ottomans (now that I realize, they are all Muslim). If your cavalry gets destroyed, the only thing left to counter enemy cannons was to use heavy melee infantry. If all cannons had too much damage against infantry, then the combo “Anti-cavalry units” + “Cannons” would be invincible, that’s why the extra bonus from cannons is enough to kill ranged units (of less than 100 HP almost always), but not for melee.
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The case of Native Americans civs:
– In AoE3, the power anti-infantry of siege it’s a huge problem for native civs like Aztecs and Incas, who are weakened if they get hit with a 20 or 30 gun combo, since melee shock infantry doesn’t have enough HP to match the base heavy cavalry and their ranged shock infantry isn’t as effective a replacement for Dragoons, since they usually don’t have anti-siege bonus (Bolas warrior, Eagle Knight)-
– In AoE4, we don’t have American civs at the moment, but it’s going to be a point in the future that will have to be balanced correctly. Although in general, since the season 9 patch, and the end of the Siege War, siege is not indispensable, and I think that now these civs won’t have as many problems as it was before.
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Minimum range
– In fact, if something fails in AoE3 is that many cannons can fire “Point Blank”, without minimum range, which does not make much sense, but that makes them absurdly strong against any ranged unit even if they get close to fight melee.
– In AoE IV, at least siege weapons all have a minimum range in which they must be far away to attack. In fact, there is still debate about whether the minimum range should be even larger, especially for larger caliber weapons (Big Bombards, Trebushet)
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Animation Effects
– This is where AoE3 wins, by sending units that die from cannon shots flying. Consideration should be given to adding this type of death animation to AoE IV.
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