Bombard Cannon

"Powerful mobile anti-building siege weapon."

- Age of Empires II description

The Bombard Cannon is a long-ranged gunpowder siege unit in Age of Empires II that can be trained at the Siege Workshop in the Imperial Age once Chemistry is researched.

Tactics
The Bombard Cannon is very powerful. It outranges all ranged buildings apart from Teutonic Castles, Korean Towers, and Turkish Bombard Towers. A group of Bombard Cannons can effectively destroy a town in a matter of minutes, provided that they are adequately protected. Bombard Cannons are a powerful counter to siege units like Scorpions and Onagers, and can be effectively used against enemy ships and archers, but they are weak against non-ranged units, particularly Knights. They are also a great counter to Trebuchets, but should be moving while dealing with them in order not to be hit. Like Mangonels, Bombard Cannons have friendly splash damage and must be used with caution.

Comparison to the Trebuchet
The Bombard Cannon and Trebuchet are the longest ranged and most expensive siege weapons in the game. The Bombard Cannon is more maneuverable than the Trebuchet, as it does not require the packing and unpacking that are characteristic of the Trebuchet. However, Trebuchets are slightly cheaper, costing 25 less gold and wood than Bombard Cannons (except for the Italians and Portuguese, who get a discount for them) and are available to every civilization, unlike Bombard Cannons, which are only available to some civilizations. Trebuchets are also more resilient, especially to ranged attackers, and can be used to destroy trees.

Comparing their attacks, Bombard Cannons are more accurate and deal splash damage against units, but have shorter range and can damage friendly units. They deal significantly less damage to their targets than Trebuchets, but fire faster and with much faster projectiles. Overall, Bombard Cannons are superior to Trebuchets in terms of versatility as they are effective against both buildings and units, but the Trebuchet's greater range and attack make are unprecedented when it comes to taking down enemy buildings.

Civilization Bonuses

 * Burmese: Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
 * Italians: Bombard Cannons are cheaper.
 * Portuguese: Bombard Cannons cost 15% less gold.
 * Spanish: Bombard Cannons fire faster.
 * Turks: Bombard Cannons have % HP. Chemistry is free.

Team Bonuses

 * A team containing Celts: Bombard Cannons are created 20% faster.
 * A team containing Malians: Researching Chemistry and Siege Engineers is 80% faster.
 * A team containing Teutons: Bombard Cannons are more resistant to conversion.
 * A team containing Turks: Bombard Cannons are created 20% faster.

The Age of Kings

 * The Bombard Cannon technology must be researched before Bombard Cannons can be trained.
 * Bombard Cannons have 50 HP.
 * Turks: Bombard Cannons have +50% HP.

The Conquerors

 * The Bombard Cannon technology was removed from the game, and Bombard Cannons become available as soon as Chemistry is researched.
 * Bombard Cannons now have 80 HP.
 * Bombard Cannons gain +20 bonus damage against siege weapons.
 * Bombard Cannons' projectiles are faster.
 * Heresy introduced.
 * Turks: Bombard Cannons now have +25% HP. Artillery introduced.

The Forgotten

 * Teutons: Ironclad introduced.
 * Italians: Bombard Cannons are 15% cheaper.

The Forgotten

 * Italians: With patch 4.8, Bombard Cannons are now 20% cheaper.

Heroes
There are two heroes in the game with the appearance of a Bombard Cannon:
 * Jean de Lorrain
 * Jean Bureau

Trivia

 * Despite the fact that the Chinese were the first civilization to invent the cannon, the civilization does not have access to the Bombard Cannon. This is most likely for gameplay balance purposes.
 * In terms of gold, wood, and raw resources, the Bombard Cannon is the most expensive unit in the game; the latter two only since Rise of the Rajas, because the Siege Tower was made cheaper.
 * Before The African Kingdoms was released, the Bombard Cannon was the only siege weapon that was created at the Siege Workshop that had no upgrade. In The African Kingdoms, the Siege Tower was added.

History
''Gunpowder reached Europe from China by the thirteenth century and primitive cannons appeared first in the fourteenth century. Bombard cannons were large, ponderous, and dangerous to fire because the guns tended to break and because gunpowder was of uneven quality. They were used mainly in sieges where the time was available to set them up and fire them at a fixed target. By the fifteenth century, bombard cannons firing stone or iron shot were making castles obsolete. Cannons could bring down vertical stone walls quickly by firing shot at high velocity directly into the lower wall sections. Giant bombard cannons manned by European mercenaries were instrumental in the Turkish attack that finally captured Constantinople in 1453.''