Gatling Gun

The Gatling Gun is a special rapid-fire artillery unit that is available in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs.

Game Info
The Gatling Gun is a bit odd compared to the other artillery pieces in the game, but it is the precursor to the modern-day machine guns and has a rapid fire is useful in killing the enemy infantry units at a brisk pace. The Gatling Gun becomes available when you revolt from your European civilization when you reach the Industrial Age.

Real Info
The Gatling Gun is a gun with multiple firing pins and breeches connected to multiple rotating barrels. Each barrel fires a single shot as it reaches a certain point in the cycle after which it ejects the spent cartridge, loads a new round, and in the process, cools down somewhat. This configuration allows higher rates of fire without the problem of an overheating single barrel, though accuracy suffers. The gun was designed by the American inventor Dr. Richard J. Gatling, in 1861 and patented in 1862.

The Gatling gun may have been the first "machine gun" (depending on how 'machine gun' is defined) as it was capable of firing continuously. The first Gatling gun relied on a hand crank for external power. Some time later, Gatling-type weapons diverted a fraction of gas from the chamber to spin the rotating barrels. Later still, electric motors supplied external power.