An Abus Gun is an anti-infantry unit with long range. It can easily take care of any infantry or cannons. It is expensive, but can focus fire much more easily than the Falconet and Great Bombard. They have a relatively high attack, especially in the Imperial Age where they deal over 80+ damage per hit before damage multipliers, which is similar to the German War Wagon.
As Ottomans do not have access to Skirmishers, they serve much like a high damage Skirmisher. Although the Falconet/Great Bombard is better at taking out groups of infantry, the Abus Gun is more flexible and can pick off those that survive the cannon barrage, due to the slow firing rate of cannons. While available in the Commerce Age, Abus Guns are punished by Hussars and other cavalry, and risky to mass until later ages where the coin economy is more developed and they can be trained in greater numbers. Abus Guns are best paired up with Janissaries and/or Cavalry Archers to take out any hostile cavalry they encounter, as the Abus Gun's damage is reduced when fighting them. The Abus Gun can easily take care of any infantry or cannons if the enemy uses a cavalry/cannon mix while the Janissaries and Cavalry Archers protect them from enemy cavalry.
It is important to note that the Abus Gun's ranged attack is classified as siege rather than ranged, making them excellent at taking out enemy artillery and ships, which have high ranged resistance. Culverins are still better for taking out ships due to their longer range, but take up twice as much population, which an Ottoman player might find problematic when creating an army.
The Abus Gun shares weaknesses with other artillery. Although it has a melee attack, it is not at all recommended to use it as it has half the DPS of their ranged attack and Abus Guns are as mobile as standard infantry. However, compared to other cannons like the Falconet, this allows them to fend off against hostile enemies that manage to reach them. Other artillery have poor chances against an enemy unit that gets close to them. Like their ranged attack, their melee attack also has bonuses against infantry.
Abus Guns share Home City upgrade cards with Grenadiers and other artillery.
Since update 23511, the Abus Gun is tagged as Rifle Infantry, but it does not wield a rifle. This is due to balance purposes, as Ottomans do not have access to the Skirmisher.
History[]
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Abus guns are a short-barreled artillery piece that fired shot about the size of a fist. Ottoman artillery did not seem to conform to any known standards, and their artillery pieces varied widely, from large siege bombards to small Abus Guns light enough to travel with soldiers on the move, rather than sitting in guarded artillery emplacements. Abus Guns are roughly analagous to Falconets, but are considered howitzers because of the low velocity of their projectiles.
Veteran Abus Guns
Guard Abus Guns
Imperial Abus Guns
Flint Lock (+10%)
Cree Tanning (+5%)
Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Counter Infantry Rifling (+1.0x multiplier vs. heavy infantry)
Paper Cartridge (+15%)
Iroquois Lacrosse (+10%, vanilla Age of Empires III only)
Yoga (+5%)
Smokeless Powder (+30% siege attack)
Clenched Fist (+30% melee attack)
Military Drummers (+10%)
Incan Road-building (+20%)
Apache Endurance (+5%)
Town Watch (+2)
Standing Army (-25%)
Incan Chasquis Messengers (-25%)
Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
