Topic: Artillery Range?

I'm using the firearms rules. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see range for artillery. Anyone know what that would be for each size category? Are we talking musket range, longbow range, or something else entirely?

Re: Artillery Range?

I would think that would depend largely on how far you can see, and how reliably you can read the wind, and on your understanding of parabolic flight paths.

Re: Artillery Range?

Yuritau wrote:

I would think that would depend largely on how far you can see, and how reliably you can read the wind, and on your understanding of parabolic flight paths.

But if you want to put numbers on it, try this,

Falconet/Falcon (d6) 88 175 1050 feet
Minion (2d6) 163 325 1950 feet
Saker (3d6) 313 625 3750 feet
Demi Culverin (4d6) 500 1000 6000 feet
Culverin (5d6) 1000 2000 12000 feet
'Split' (6d6) 750 1500 9000 feet
Demi Cannon (7d6) as 'Split'
Cannon (8d6) as 'Split'

You should probably round off some of the short ranges to whole ten's of feet if you like that kind of thing, I tossed this off on a spreadsheet and couldn't be bothered :-)

Last edited by Cutter (2014-02-10 15:52:30)

You people are all alike, you march in here, young, try and touch the local things.
I suppose next you'll be spraying me with one of those cans of paint, smearing poor Tubbs here with excrement.

Re: Artillery Range?

At the game table, if artillery was in play, I probably wouldn't make much fuss over range, unless the players were getting silly with it (aiming for ships at the horizon, trying to fire in an arc over a mountain, etc). If you can see your target clearly enough to make out individual targets, you can hit it. And then just make up range penalties if they make sense. Trying to hit a specific target at a range of 2 km with a Falconet, probably going to be a -4 or more on the attack roll. Indiscriminately targeting a large formation of enemies at a range of 2km with a Saker, no penalty, possibly a bonus.

Re: Artillery Range?

Yuritau wrote:

...And then just make up range penalties if they make sense. Trying to hit a specific target at a range of 2 km with a Falconet, probably going to be a -4 or more on the attack roll. Indiscriminately targeting a large formation of enemies at a range of 2km with a Saker, no penalty, possibly a bonus.

I chose to conform to the Short/Medium/Long convention that Jim had adopted for ranged combat and in that regard I'd stick with the +0/-4/-8 'to-hit' penalties based on range that come with that.

However, for larger than man-sized targets, like formations of men, ships and walled towns (I'm looking at you Karlstadt...) I'm sure you could experiment with +2/+4/+8 style 'to-hit' bonuses based on size of target.

Ultimately it's your call arjomanes, whatever feels right for your game and players.

You people are all alike, you march in here, young, try and touch the local things.
I suppose next you'll be spraying me with one of those cans of paint, smearing poor Tubbs here with excrement.

Re: Artillery Range?

Thanks for the information, Cutter and Yuritau. Yeah I was thinking for purposes of fortresses, cities, and ships. I wanted to know how close PCs would need to get to a fortress/town/ship to start bombarding it. The numbers and comments here will work great for my purposes. Thanks!

Re: Artillery Range?

arjomanes wrote:

Thanks for the information, Cutter and Yuritau. Yeah I was thinking for purposes of fortresses, cities, and ships. I wanted to know how close PCs would need to get to a fortress/town/ship to start bombarding it. The numbers and comments here will work great for my purposes. Thanks!

I revisited my spreadsheet in a spare moment at work and found that I zigged when I should have zagged on one of the calculations that threw everything else off, so here are my revised figures, for you consideration.

SC    CN    HP    SP    EP    SR    MR    LR
                           
I    Falcon    1d6 (x10)    250    25    300    600    3,000
II    Minion    2d6 (x10)    500    50    750    1,500    7,500
III    Saker    3d6 (x10)    750    75    1,500    3,000    15,000
IV    Demi Culverin    4d6 (x10)    1,000    100    2,250    4,500    25,000
V    Culverin    5d6 (x10)    1,250    125    4,000    8,000    40,000
VI    Split Cannon    6d6 (x10)    1,500    150    4,000    8,000    30,000
VII    Demi Cannon    7d6 (x10)    1,750    175    3,000    6,000    30,000
VIII    Cannon    8d6 (x10)    2,000    200    2,000    4,000    20,000

Sorry it's a bit of a mess, my forum-fu is weak.

SC Size Category
CN Common Name
HP Hit Points
SP Silver Pieces
EP Encumbrance Points
SR Short Range (feet)
MR Medium Range (feet)
LR Long Range (feet)

Last edited by Cutter (2014-02-14 16:40:16)

You people are all alike, you march in here, young, try and touch the local things.
I suppose next you'll be spraying me with one of those cans of paint, smearing poor Tubbs here with excrement.