Railroad guns - why bother ? (Full Version)

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Major Bong -> Railroad guns - why bother ? (12/4/2012 2:40:33 AM)

In my last playthrough as Entente I had France focus on Railroad guns from 1914 onwards. After late 1916 I had as much as 4 artillery labs running to speed the research up.

It took until March 1918 for the research to finish and then another 10 turns to build one of them. They are a weaker 3-range version (2ground, 0 shock, 4 bomb) of artillery with a wussy 10 strategic bombard value. For strategic bombing airships are better in pretty much every regard. Considering the time and resources it takes to build one of these guns they are more than underwhelming.

I really think this unit needs a new purpose in an upcoming patch.



CarnageINC -> RE: Railroad guns - why bother ? (12/4/2012 4:43:00 AM)

You sir are absolutely correct! They are a time suck for research and were added IMO just as a 'novelty' item to appease WW1 historian buffs.



jwduquette1 -> RE: Railroad guns - why bother ? (12/4/2012 5:43:47 PM)

Yeah -- agree. In one of my "me as the Central Powers vs. the AI" i had Austria focusing on Rail Gun Research because I was interested in seeing if they were worth the effort. I didn't start the research until early 1915. I purchased a couple of additional labs for Austrian Artillery and selected RR-guns as the focus for arty research. I defeated the AI Entente in late 1917. The Austrians never did complete the research for the RR-Guns so I never got to see them in action. But given the length of time required just to research the things, I don't think I'll be wasting resources and lab research time on them in future games.



m10bob -> RE: Railroad guns - why bother ? (12/4/2012 6:46:59 PM)

Maybe if they affected the civilian morale??



Myrddraal -> RE: Railroad guns - why bother ? (12/4/2012 8:02:40 PM)

There are some special events which do that. If you shell Paris with a railroad gun, I think this triggers a national morale drop (iirc).



Major Bong -> RE: Railroad guns - why bother ? (12/4/2012 9:11:29 PM)

I used my RR gun to shell Berlin and got no such event. I had the Central Powers beaten around late 1917, early 1918 and dragged out the war just to test one of these.

Historically all the major nations had RR guns already early in the war - for example the French used their 400mm Schneider guns to great effect when they retook Fort Douaumont. Make them easier to research, more expensive to buy but shorter to produce (currently they take 10 turns lol). Also give them a hefty bonus against forts and fortifications - maybe less bombardment value than artillery, but a higher shock value, also up the ammo cost. There are plenty of stories about Germans who bravely endured the constant bombardment with normal artillery, but crapped themselves when the 400mm shells started falling.



gunnergoz -> RE: Railroad guns - why bother ? (12/5/2012 4:32:37 AM)

I was wondering about this too. I am playing the Allies and from the first turn had the French focus artillery research on the RR guns. It is now mid-1917 and they are still only about 2/3 done. Meanwhile, the other artillery projects advanced steadily. I figure that, if I had not focused on the RR segment, I'd get the guns sometime around 1920.

Is focus really working in the game? Why can't the game give us some sort of hint of how long a project will take, with and without focus? Even an approximation with a 25% fudge factor would be useful.



Ichirou989 -> RE: Railroad guns - why bother ? (12/5/2012 5:30:56 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: gunnergoz

Is focus really working in the game? Why can't the game give us some sort of hint of how long a project will take, with and without focus? Even an approximation with a 25% fudge factor would be useful.


Focus does work in the game, I've seen it decrease the projected completion time by a turn on projects that are within a few turns of being finished. So it is having an effect, just not a huge one. Also, I'm not sure if there is some sort of diminishing returns in regards to purchasing research labs after a certain point.

One thing I do know is that RR guns are a waste of focus in this game as others here have indicated. And since really, all they were was a handy way to mount big naval guns for use on land, not some highly intricate research project like an atomic bomb, it's rather odd that they are so difficult to research given that both sides had them in use by 1916.



mbar -> RE: Railroad guns - why bother ? (12/5/2012 12:33:43 PM)

Big gun on wheels. Seems that tech was around long before WWI.



gunnergoz -> RE: Railroad guns - why bother ? (12/6/2012 2:55:53 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: mbar

Big gun on wheels. Seems that tech was around long before WWI.


Look up the Paris Gun sometime. That was definitely not 19th Century tech and actually inspired gun designs well into the 20th century (remember Gerald Bull?) I presume that is really the sort of extra long range system that the game research represents, because most WW1 railroad guns were really not that extraordinarily long-ranged. The WW1 versions were mostly used for interdiction or counter-battery which is really part of conventional artillery in the game.

The ultra long range stuff like the Paris Gun were primarily terror weapons that were used against civilian populations and thus had a political impact far beyond their actual destructive performance. Though I haven't used them in the game yet, I think I read that their use against cities in the game triggers certain events or causes war weariness to increase.



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