Great Bombard

A Great Bombard or the Great Turkish Bombard was an Ottoman artillery that are featured in Age of Empires III.

Game Info
The Great Bombard is a slow and heavy unique artillery piece used by the Ottoman Empire, trained only at the Factory. Great Bombards are great at destroying enemy buildings and can kill a good amount of infantry, but sadly fires slowly, which gives an advantage to fast moving cavalry. The Great Bombards can be brought free from the Ottoman Home City or Factory. They also can be purchased in Church, after sending Religious Freedom.

The Great Bombard is a very large cannon in Age of Empires III. This unit is one of the Ottoman unique units. The Great Bombard can be summoned from the home city or created in the factory. It has a very large attack and many HP, but can be defeated by units near it (especially cavalry). No kind of artillery matches its size (except the Fixed Gun). However, some cannons are more effective, such as the Rocket, the Heavy Cannon, and the Fixed Gun. The Heavy Cannon is stronger because it has a faster rate of fire. The Great Bombard is surpassed in power by the Fixed Gun and the Mediocre Bombards.

The Great Bombard can be upgraded to the Imperial Bombard for 1500 Wood and 1500 Gold.

Real Life
The Great Turkish Bombard was designed by a Hungarian engineer named Orban in the year 1450 and became the world's first supergun.

The Great Bombard saw action in the Fall of Constantinople led by the Ottoman, Mehmed II on April 1453 using a force of siege cannons of immense size. Cast in bronze in the country of Hungary, these heavy tubes were 5.18 m (17 ft) long and 17.27 tonnes in weight. Each gun fired 680 kg (1,500 lb) granite stones with a diameter of 762 mm (30 in). 60 oxen and 200 men pushed the supergun while the other 200 men pulled the guns with ropes. The placing and preparing of these Hungarian Cannons took seven days before they open fire.

Seven times a day, each of these enormous guns fired a granite stone that crashed into the walls of Constantinople and soon after 90 days, on May 29, 1453 the Great Bombards breached the walls and the Ottoman infantry launched an attack through the hole and captured the city.

Currently after the Dardanelles Operation, the Great Bombards are now on display to visitors at the Tower of London.