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Skirmish Line: Artillery Rebalance (FotS)

I think if it was possible to make a proper toggle for projectile abilities, I would go with it. But I do not think it is possible, I cannot remember. It would also be a very drastic change.

@ImperialForce9 It's not canister, which bursts upon being fired, but shrapnel, which bursts at a distance set by the gunner, thus increasing its range. It is possible to make it burst earlier. The distance I've set seems to mostly be optimal (bursts 100m from the enemy). I think that was the historical ideal distance as well.

It is possible to replicate canister/grapeshot (actually it is very trivial to do so), and would probably be easier to balance.

Is there any way to make the grape shot go off earlier? Always found it odd it only explodes right in a units face. Just slightly to see if it'd do something noticeable. It's likely not possible to even try and replicate irl grapeshot in-game.

I alternatively might make shrapnel pierce through multiple men. Although that might be too OP.

@MaxRavenclaw Don't expect too much from it. I think HE is still better. I honestly think close range canister would be a more interesting ability than shrapnel, as well as easier to balance, but that might be deviating too much from the core gameplay loop. I'm also not sure if it's possible to have a projectile ability that actually stays toggled on.

Nice. Might pick up FOTS again just for this. Will return with feedback if I do.

Attempted to fix shrapnel in this update.

I've since played a bit more with the guns in campaign and accuracy does improve to acceptable levels once they get some experience. I almost never use shrapnel though due to bad experience with it, but HE can be devastating when it hits, I think even more so than in vanilla. The low arc does make them a pain to use in some instances. They're useless on forest maps, which I suppose is historical, but the game has way too little control over where you fight your battles, so you need to be lucky to get good use of artillery.

What I love the most is the extra range. It really pushes the enemy to always attack you which is nice.

Anyway, once again, great mods, hope you keep developing them, they're really fun and add some serious historical authenticity to the game.

@MaxRavenclaw

Unlike the Parrot guns, the Armstrong guns have to reload to fire their first shot.
As for accuracy, this is intended, although they are still incredibly powerful (almost OP). I changed it because I had decreased the accuracy of the infantry in my mod (I believe without the mod they win 1v1s). While the guns themselves are accurate IRL, it is the crew who aim, and humans are not perfect in their actions.

Shrapnel is a bit weird, I will have to try to fix it when I get time to do so. It can get kills though.

C4nn0nF0dd3r, I've tested the rate of fire in a custom battle with zero experience guns and the numbers you mention seem to be implemented. 60s, Parrot gun shot first (for some reason Armstrong waited a bit) and managed to get in 3 shots just as the minute ended. Armstrong Guns managed to get in 4, though due to the delay I assume a 5th would have been possible.

The guns are incredibly inaccurate, though. The low arc of fire leads to them missing by huge factors, most shells go over the heads of the enemy formation. Using shrapnel basically wasted the ability as no shell hit. This was against a small army, though, of just 2 units. Effects would probably be better against larger armies. Still, given the precision of the guns, it makes little sense the crews would miss so badly. I'll have to experiment with more experience see how things change.

In any case, cool mods you have here. I really liked being able to fight in open order formation using your skirmisher line mod.