Howitzer

Howitzer is a artillery unit in Cossacks 3, available at the Artillery Depot. It is a siege cannon, extremely effective against fortifications and massed up units, for a very weak range.

Background
The main advantage of a howitzer over a cannon is its lower weight for greater calibres. A howitzer's range of fire is shorter than that of a cannon, but the projectile trajectory is much higher and the bomb weight is much greater than that of a cannonball. Moreover, due to plunging fire, howitzers can shell enemy forces behind obstacles or irregularities in the landscape. In the past, a howitzer's fire accuracy was inferior to that of a cannon, but explosive projectiles (bombs) and its large calibre compensated for this drawback. Howitzers took over mainly in the 18th century and played a great role in battles of those times.

Characteristics

 * Siege cannon.
 * Fires in arc trajectory.
 * Effective against fortifications and massed infantry.
 * Low rate of fire and accuracy.
 * Requires gold for upkeep.
 * When out of gold, howitzers stops firing.
 * Unguarded howitzer can be captured by the enemy.
 * Spends a lot of coal and iron on firing.