Culverin

==In game==
Culverin — Vital statistics	Culverin — Vital statistics	Culverin — Vital statistics	Culverin — Vital statistics	Culverin — Vital statistics	Culverin — Vital statistics	Culverin — Vital statistics	Culverin — Vital statistics	Culverin — Vital statistics
 	
*Field gun used to attack structures from a distance, highly effective if used against short-ranged and/or slow-moving units.	
*Field gun used to attack structures from a distance, highly effective if used against short-ranged and/or slow-moving units.	
*Field gun used to attack structures from a distance, highly effective if used against short-ranged and/or slow-moving units.	
*Field gun used to attack structures from a distance, highly effective if used against short-ranged and/or slow-moving units.	
*Field gun used to attack structures from a distance, highly effective if used against short-ranged and/or slow-moving units.	
*Field gun used to attack structures from a distance, highly effective if used against short-ranged and/or slow-moving units.	
*Field gun used to attack structures from a distance, highly effective if used against short-ranged and/or slow-moving units.	
*Field gun used to attack structures from a distance, highly effective if used against short-ranged and/or slow-moving units.
Prereq: 	Build time 	HP 	LOS 	Attack 	Attack speed 	Movementspeed 	 	
  	18s 	675 	30 	70 	Rather slow 	44 	 	
Cost 	Cost 	Cost 	Created from 	Armour 	Weapon range 	Specialty 	 	
Base 	Ramp 	Pop 	Created from 	Armour 	Weapon range 	Specialty 	 	
: 250;: 160 	: 6;: 3 	2 	Shipyard 	9 	33 	? 	 	
=== Overall strategy===
Culverins are slow-moving siege units whose primary purpose is to be used against buildings and slow-moving units. They are great if you use them against buildings (especially Castles and Cities), but are a poor choice to field against enemy units. Equally, like all siege weapons, Culverins are vulnerable to a melee foe which is lucky to come near enough, for it is still vulnerable to cavalry taking advantage of its blind spots.
==History==
Although eighteenth century weapons may seem crude today, at the time they were expensive leading edge technology. Many decades, in fact centuries, of refinements had been made to artillery.
Iron gun barrels were easiest and cheapest to construct but were somewhat heavy, and heavier barrels needed heavier carriages. Guns were pulled by horses. Unless it was readily and reliably available, forage to feed the horses was transported to the army on horse-pulled wagons. These transport horses, in turn, had to be fed, requiring additional horse-transported forage - in a nearly endless cycle! So there were great incentives to reduce weight, and since competing bronze guns had other advantages, by the 1700s iron guns were mainly used aboard ships where weight was less important.
Bronze, an alloy of about 90% copper and 10% tin, was more expensive than iron, probably around six times more expensive. Bronze as a material is actually heavier, but it made a more durable, stronger and thinner barrel which was therefore lighter than its iron counterpart and which therefore required a correspondingly lighter carriage. Bronze was less likely to burst because it was more flexible. It was also more durable, and the metal was more easily reused after the gun was worn out.
Incidentally, in Britain, cannon boring technology made possible the high pressure steam engines which were a vital part of the Industrial Revolution - an event which would make modern Western man as rich as any king of the eighteenth century.
===References===
*Collins A R, British Cannon Design 1600 - 1800
*John's Military History Page, Three Pounder "Grasshopper"