Worked out · AoE3: DE 100.19.18309
Best artillery
No. 1: Falconet (fights won 47%), then Horse Artillery (45%) and Flaming Arrow (42%). Every regular artillery piece ranked by the share of equal-cost fights it wins (area damage counted on one target).
| # | Name | Fights won | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Falconet | 47% | loses hardest to Retainer |
| 2 |  Horse Artillery | 45% | loses hardest to Retainer |
| 3 |  Flaming Arrow | 42% | loses hardest to Retainer |
| 4 |  Light Cannon | 27% | loses hardest to Retainer |
| 5 |  Leather Cannon | 24% | loses hardest to Retainer |
| 6 |  Culverin | 8% | loses hardest to Retainer |
| 7 |  Hand Mortar | 8% | loses hardest to Retainer |
| 8 |  Siege Elephant | 6% | loses hardest to Veteran Oprichnik |
| 9 |  Gatling Gun | 3% | loses hardest to Retainer |
| 10 |  Organ Gun | 2% | loses hardest to Retainer |
| 11 |  Sebastopol Mortar | 0% |
How this is worked out
Equal-cost fights by Lanchester's square law: strength = (resources ÷ unit cost)² × damage per second × hit points; one hit = damage × the multipliers matching the target × (1 − its resist). Fights won = share of the other 122 regular units it beats.
Assumptions: Base stats: no upgrades, cards or civilization bonuses. Range and speed (kiting) are not modelled, which undersells skirmishers and archers; area damage counts on one target.