Cannon (Civ2)

Cannon
Renaissance-era siege unit
Attributes
Domain	Ground
Role	Offense
Subcategory	Siege
Cost	40
Attack	8
Defense	1
Hitpoints	2
Firepower	1
Moves	1
Advances
Era	Renaissance
Requires	Metallurgy
Obsolete with	Machine Tools
Replaces	Catapult
Upgrades to	Artillery

Cannon is a Renaissance-era siege unit in Civilization II, available with the Metallurgy advance. It succeeds the Catapult, and is succeeded by Artillery.

Strategy

Cannon has the same  Production cost as Catapults while being an overall improvement, importantly featuring additional hitpoints that grant it staying power against Renaissance and early Industrial units. Like the Catapult, Cannon's effectiveness wanes against compounded defenses, and multiple units will be needed to overcome such positions. Cannon remains capable against units such as Riflemen, but is much less combat-efficient than Industrial-era Artillery.

Civilopedia entry

Closely following the invention of gunpowder, the development of the cannon caused a revolution in siege warfare. Invented by a German monk in the 14th century, early cannons used gunpowder charges to fire rocks or metal balls. The cannon forced a redesign of most fortifications because the straight, high walls surrounding most cities could be easily destroyed by direct fire. This was the fate of the walls of Constantinople, which had held against countless sieges for over a thousand years. The cannon quickly assumed an important role on the battlefield.

Modding

Main article: Modding (Civ2)/Units

Cannon is defined at Line 25 of the @UNITS section of Rules.txt. It uses the artillery sound suite: FIRE--.WAV at the start of combat, MEDGUN.WAV for each hit animation, and LARGEXPL.WAV on conclusion. In Test of Time, it uses the custom sound Oldcannons.wav.

See also

• Cannon in other games