The Falconet is a simple yet surprisingly useful and capable artillery piece, which is important because of their early accessibility and impact on early battles, due to its bonus against infantry that combines well with its area damage and versatility. Sent early into the Fortress Age, they can allow friendly infantry to quickly turn the tide of battle as long as they have the needed protection of a nearby force. They are usually used in small groups, such as the early "2 Falconets" Home City Card.
Each shot deals 300 damage to nearby infantry, which are usually packed very densely. Limbered, the unit is also quite fast for artillery, keeping pace with infantry, and can reposition along with an army between battles. Falconets can be easily countered with the Culverin, which is effective against other pieces of artillery. They are also extremely weak against cavalry in melee, both heavy cavalry and light cavalry such as Dragoons, and should be protected by nearby heavy infantry or ranged cavalry, or placed behind obstacles like walls. Light cavalry such as Dragoons also counter artillery at range, but is not as deadly as if the Dragoons go into melee mode and reach the Falconets intact without any heavy infantry protecting the cannons.
In addition to their anti-infantry properties, they are also very well designed for heavier tasks such as destroying enemy buildings. This is because of their high rate of fire, long range, high base damage and multiplier against buildings. This lets them take down buildings quickly and safely while other units such as Musketeers protect them from cavalry. However, they are not as good as Mortars against buildings, which although might have a slower rate of fire and lower speed, have far better range and higher damage against buildings. If the battle drags on, Heavy Cannons or unique equivalents (such as Rockets or Great Bombards) may prove a useful alternative as well. However, in the early game, Falconets on their own are sufficient against buildings if needed and can outrange Town Centers, Outposts, and some base defenses.
They are also surprisingly powerful against ships, performing nearly as well as Culverins. A small group can easily sink stray Galleons and Caravels thanks to the damage multiplier, provided ships somehow come into their firing range. However, Mortars and Culverins can pick ships off more safely from deeper inland with their longer range but slower rate of fire.
Note that all cannons deal siege damage for resistance purposes, which is distinct from the ranged damage of gunfire. This means that units such as Skirmishers, who have 30% ranged resist, do not resist any of the cannon damage, and are therefore easily countered by cannons such as Falconets.
Asian civilizations can get Falconets by allying with British and Spanish at the Consulate, which provides armies and technologies that includes Falconets listed below. Unlike their regular counterpart, these Falconets are automatically upgraded in the Industrial Age and the Imperial Age (see here for the exact values).
Leather Cannons, Falconets, Culverins, Horse Artillery and Heavy Cannons get the Case Shot attack (used against enemies within half of the normal range or closer, which deals 10% of the normal damage with 7 projectiles and +2 AOE, but with a multiplier of ×0.5 against Cavalry and Shock Infantry, and also a ×2.0 multiplier against Infantry for Culverins)
Cronstedt Reforms
Leather Cannons, Falconets, and Heavy Cannons use -1 population
Trivia[]
Although the Portuguese do not have access to Falconet, there are unused voice files for Portuguese Falconet in the game files and in the Scenario Editor.
History[]
“
Falconets were among the smallest artillery. They weighed about 280 pounds, had a six-foot barrel and used about a pound of powder to fire a one pound shot. Still, the small quantity of powder (relative to larger artillery pieces) was enough to make a properly braced Falconet fly back up to 10 yards when fired.
”
Gallery[]
A Falconet in Bombard mode
A Falconet in Limber mode
A(n) (Imperial) Field Gun in Limber mode
A Field Gun in Bombard mode
A real-life Falconet
A 16th century Falconet in the Bauernkriegsmuseum, Muhlhausen, Germany.
Falconet in the original game and in the Definitive Edition
Field Guns
Imperial Field Guns
Professional Gunners (+10%)
Heated Shot (+1.5x multiplier vs. ships)
Town Watch (+2)
Gunner's Quadrant (+6)
Trunion (+15%)
Apache Endurance (+5%)
Quechuan Diet (-10%)
Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)
Coffee Trade (-10% speed, Dutch only)
High Crusade (-5% hit points, Knights of St. John only)
2 Falconets
TEAM Engineering School
TEAM Artillery Hitpoints
1 Falconet
3 Falconets
Engineering School
Gribeauval System
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades
Los Colorados Battallion
Plan of Veracruz
1 Falconet
Artillery Attack
TEAM Inquisition
2 Falconets + 2 Culverins
1 Falconet + 1 Culverin
Case Shot
Cronstedt Reforms
