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This article is about the unit in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms. For other uses, see Organ Gun. |
| “ | Portuguese unique siege unit. Fires a volley of bullets | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Organ Gun is the first unique unit of the Portuguese in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms. It is a gunpowder siege weapon that fires a volley of bullets. Like all other unique gunpowder units, Organ Guns do not require Chemistry in order to be trained.
Organ Guns can be upgraded to Elite Organ Guns in the Imperial Age.
Tactics[]
Note: This section is written for Organ Guns since update 81058.
Organ Guns fire many weak bullets in a single volley in a cone-like spray, each of which deals has a tendency to hit a different unit. Due to each of their projectiles being affected by enemy pierce armor, they perform very well against low-pierce-armor units, but their effectiveness falls drastically against high-pierce-armor units or units with pierce armor upgrades (like technologies from the Blacksmith, Gambesons, Fabric Shields etc.). They also perform poorly against buildings, which naturally have high pierce armor. As such, they are meant to be used against masses of foot units. Their weaker projectiles have attack bonuses against infantry and Skirmishers to help negate the latter's moderate pierce armor.
It is advised to always protect Organ Guns, because their minimum range and slow Rate of Fire leaves them vulnerable to melee and siege attacks. Firing from behind allied units and buildings can prevent incoming enemies from exploiting the Organ Gun's minimum range. Halberdiers and Hand Cannoneers pair well with Organ Guns, and can effectively protect them from melee attacks. They are also vulnerable against siege units, especially Bombard Cannons and Siege Onagers, though Elite Organ Guns can barely survive a hit from a regular Onager. Also, despite having an attack bonus against rams, they deal only one damage per projectile, as the attack bonus simply changes the dynamic from the minimum damage to actual one damage (which only helps when attacking rams downhill). As such, they are a poor choice against them, while the rams can deal devastating damage to an Organ Gun, if ordered to attack it.
Comparison with other similar siege units[]
- Organ Guns and Hussite Wagons fire multiple projectiles which damage different units
- The Mangonel and Bombard Cannon lines fire a single high damage projectile which deals Area of Effect damage to multiple units caught in the blast radius (the secondary projectiles of the Mangonel line are mostly cosmetic)
- Scorpions and Ballista Elephants fire projectiles which deal pass-through damage to multiple units in the direction of the projectile
Further statistics[]
As Organ Guns are unique to the Portuguese, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:
| Strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Infantry and archers in dense formation |
| Weak vs. | Cavalry and siege weapons |
| Conditional matchups | Condottieri, Huskarls, Mangudai, and Eagle Warriors |
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
| Range |  Siege Engineers (+1)
|
| Accuracy |  Arquebus (track moving targets)
|
| Conversion resistance |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max) Heresy (die upon getting converted)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%) Kasbah (+25%, with a Berber ally only)
|
| Team bonuses | |
|---|---|
| Conversion resistance |  Teutons (+3 min, +1 max)
|
| Creation speed |  Turks (+25%)
|
Changelog[]
The African Kingdoms[]
- With patch 4.8, Organ Guns are affected by the Turk's team bonus.
Rise of the Rajas[]
- Organ Guns' minimum range increased (0 (None) → 1) and their anti-infantry attack bonus of +1 was removed.
- With patch 5.7, Organ Guns' secondary projectiles' damage increased (1 → 2) on hit.
Definitive Edition[]
- With update 39284, the Portuguese's gold discount increased, decreasing the Organ Gun's cost (60 gold → 56 gold).
- With update 42848, as a new civilization bonus, technologies that benefit Organ Guns are researched 30% faster.
Lords of the West[]
- With update 47820, missed secondary projectiles deal 100% (2) damage, same as secondary projectiles on hit.
Dawn of the Dukes[]
- With update 51737, Organ Guns' projectile speed increased (5.5 → 7.5).
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 73855, technologies that benefit Organ Guns are researched 25% faster (from 30%).
- With update 81058, Organ Guns are overhauled:
- Primary projectiles deal 16 (20 Elite) → 7 (9) damage. Secondary projectiles which dealt 2 damage are removed.
- They fire more projectiles 5 (5) → 6 (7).
- Accuracy reduced 50% → 0%
- Dispersion reduced 0.75 → 0.25.
- They deal +1 attack against Infantry; +1 bonus attack against Buildings added for Elite only.
- With hotfix 82587, Organ guns receive numerous fixes:
- Secondary projectiles of Organ Guns were removed, making all projectiles primary. This ensured that all projectiles would receive hill bonuses/penalties and that converted Elite Organ Guns would deal intended damage instead of the damage of unupgraded Organ Guns.
- Missed projectiles deal 100%.
- They fire fewer projectiles 6 (7) → 5 (6).
- Dispersion is 0.6.
- They deal +1 attack against skirmishers.
- Fixed issues that prevented their projectiles from dispersing properly and caused their projectiles to pass between units without hitting them.
The Mountain Royals[]
- With update 61321, (Elite) Organ Gun damage decreased from 7 (9) to 6 (8). (Elite) Organ Gun bonus damage vs Infantry and Skirmishers increased from 1 to 2.
Trivia[]
- Before update 81058, of all siege units capable of attacking, the Organ Gun was the only one without an attack bonus against buildings.
- It made up for the lack of the attack bonus with its multiple projectiles which did 2 damage each, irrespective of armor of unit, or misses.
- The Organ Gun is also one of the unique units of the Portuguese in Age of Empires III. Here, it appears as a substitute for the Falconet instead of a siege unit.
- The Organ Gun, along with the Bombard Tower, is the only unit firing multiple projectiles which does not use the concept of secondary projectiles. As a result, all projectiles are equally affected by hill bonuses/penalties and upgrades.
- The Organ Gun, Arambai, Chakram Thrower, and secondary projectiles of Hussite Wagons are the only units dealing 100% damage to mishits.
History[]
An organ gun, most commonly known as a ribauldequin or rabauld, was a Renaissance-era volley gun with many small-caliber iron barrels set up parallel on a wooden platform, in use during the 14th and 15th centuries. When the gun fired in a volley, it created a shower of iron shot, serving mostly as an anti-personnel gun. The name "organ gun" referred to the artillery's resemblance to a pipe organ, a well-known musical instrument.
The first known ribauldequin was used by the army of Edward III of England in 1339 in France during the Hundred Years' War. Nine-barreled ribaults were used by Milan and other participants in the Italian Wars (1494-1559).
Gallery[]
