Editing Artillery (section)

==Cannons and Early Gunpowder weapons==

As mentioned, the Chinese had various experimentations with Gunpowder. They had weapons like [[Rough Riders|exploding lances]] and basic rockets, the best example of which was the Korean MLRS called the Hwacha, which fired a storm of rocket-powered arrows. The Chinese also had cannons, but it wasn't until Gunpowder reached the Middle East/Europe that the tech really started to find its niche.

In the Middle East, the Gunpowder Empires (Ottomans, Safavids, and the Mughals) were credited with perfecting Cannons, but thats kinda [[bullshit]]. While the three empires were early adopters of Gunpowder into their armies and even used them to devastating effect against their gun-less neighbors (Romeaboos will forever [[Butthurt|cope and seethe]] about how Constantinople was taken down by a big ass gun), but they generally still relied on traditional weapons and tactics in battle. For example, going back to the Fall of Constantinople, there is a story that even though the Ottoman cannons were very good at ''damaging'' the city's famous double-walls, they weren't great at ''breaching'' at it; the rubble caused by the collapsing walls was still in the way, so the besiegers had to keep shooting at the breach until the rubble was removed. 

Generally, Islamic artillery came in two flavors: large and unwieldy bombard types specifically meant for sieges and wall-breaking, and much lighter, man-sized (but still to heavy to carry) cannons firing from emplacements. Field guns were not as widespread in Europe, because the terrain and the style of warfare just didn't make them worth it. 

In contrast, European artillery started out similarly, with cannons being mostly built for sieges, but this soon became an arms race of experimenting with more mobile variants. Swedish King [[Karl Franz|Gustavus Adolphus]] is famous for making Sweden a Great Power simply by adopting smaller Field Guns that could be quickly repositioned by horse; Napoleon did the same much later, advocating for entire companies of mobile, wheeled cannons because multiple cannons enfilading the enemy army was much more useful than a single gun that couldn't even be aimed properly. 

While this was happening, back in Asia, breachloaded swivel guns were the norm. These were much smaller cannons that could swivel in place and incorporated elements from Chinese, Muslim, and Indian weapons. They were breachloaded and used pre-packaged powder and ammunition, and so they could fire off multiple shots in quick succession. These were very popular in Southeast Asia, and the Mongol's fought against these weapons in their failed invasion of Java.

Artillery also included Rockets, such as the Indian Mysorean Rocket, which became the British Congreve Rocket (the Rocket's Red Glare in Traditional Americanese Music). These Rockets were as you'd expect, inaccurate and chaotic, but also spread terror and could be fitted with a variety of armaments. An attacking force would launch a bareage of rockets of different types, some would explode in midair and rain shrapnel, others would set fires, and a particularly annoying type would snake along the ground and stab people in the dick.