ACV General Discussion

[Twin-Skies]

That's great. I also had no idea that real life rotary cannons were designed for long range damage.

As far as aircraft weapons go, they're actually relatively short-ranged. Relative, if you compare them to missiles.

Rotary cannons were developed during the advent of the jet age, as pilots found themselves facing ever-decreasing time windows within which to lock on to an enemy fighter to shoot them down. Since they had less time to get a bead on their target, they needed a gun that could put as many bullets as possible with each trigger pull, which led to the development of the 20-mm vulcan in the 60s.

And mind you, the range I was referring to for cannons assumed they're mounted on a stable firing platform, such as a tracked vehicle or an AA emplacement on a ship. Since you're firing it from an AC's arm, which is less stable, expect the range and accuracy to drop.

There's a trick to using howitzers that's pretty funny and neat. Works if you manage to push the defenders into their base. Point straight up and hold down the fire button. It'll rain high damage howitzer rounds on their head. The other heat howitzers shoot more explosive rounds, too. If you have two you can alternate fire to literally make it rain, even with the low shot demo howitzer. Looks hilarious and can do surprising damage to people that sit in groups near their turrets.

All howitzers, btw, are designed to crack strong defenses. I wouldn't try to use them as a standard weapon.

In short, use as an indirect fire support weapon. Any chance of a pure artillery/area saturation AC working, based on your experience?