Over the years, the factions community has advanced cannoning technology tremendously. Cannons started out with a small and basic design.
They have become much more complex and technical, requiring more time and resources to build.
Therefore, there is much more that goes into cannoning than is discussed here, especially if you ever decide to go and build your own cannon. Nevertheless, we cover some of the basics you’ll need to know to begin cannoning on factions.
NOTE: There are regulations on the types of cannons that can be used. Please refer to the Faction Rules article for what is and isn't allowed on Factions.
¶ The Fundamentals
To cannon into a base, you first need to understand what you’re dealing with. You need to understand the base you are trying to raid and the defenses it has. Most factions use water buckets on their walls to provide it with an extra layer of protection. On its own, TNT doesn’t destroy blocks in water.
How do we go about getting into these watered bases?
To make TNT destroy blocks in water, the TNT needs to be in sand blocks. This concept is referred to as “hybriding”.
This concept is absolutely fundamental to cannoning bases on factions. Without understanding this, you will have much trouble with breaking into an enemy faction’s base. Therefore, make sure that the cannon you’re using stacks sand.
¶ Picking the Right Cannon for the Job
When picking a cannon from your arsenal, you need to take a variety of things into consideration. This includes, but is not limited to:
¶ Type of Cannon
- Nuke / Efficient Nuke - Fully destroys the wall. Depending on the size of the cannon, it may or may not nuke down to bedrock.
- Pseudo - Like a nuke, but leaves part of the wall intact to make repair more difficult.
- Anti-Patch (AP) - Tunnels through any connected patches. Tunnelling range can vary based on size of AP & shooting distance.
- Reverse-Hybrid - Cannon placed at bedrock used to enter a base from underneath (advanced).
- 1 Stacker - Cannon at bedrock used to fire 1 TNT & 1 sand.
Note: This is not an extensive list of types of cannons. This just covers the basics.
¶ Range
- How far away will I be building this cannon from the base?
- If the cannon is adjustable, how far to the left/right or up/down do you want to adjust? This is important to break into certain places and reach where the spawners are placed
- It is essential to ensure that your cannon has enough power to reach the base.
¶ Cannon Platform Y-Level
- How high do you want to adjust an adjustable cannon?
- If your cannon platform is too low for your power to be able to propel the TNT vertically high enough during the shot, it will nuke the corner of your cannon box.
¶ Amount of Sand being Stacked
- A 255-stacker will sufficiently stack sand at any Y level.
- Sometimes cannoneers opt for cannons that stack 20, 40, 60, 80, or any other amount of sand. This saves sand and TNT.
- Be careful using cannons that stack less sand; if you shoot at Y:160 with an 80 stacker, it will take 2+ shots to break each wall. Generally, only shoot at a Y-level lower than the amount of sand the cannon stacks.
¶ Allowed Cannons
¶ Stacked Fusion
- Very simple and common cannon type.
- Typically stacked in one of the following; 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220, 240, and 255. (EX: a 120 stacked fusion cannon will stack 120 sand).
- The hole from the cannon will be at the top of the sand stack.
¶ Rev or Reverse Fusion
- Typically stacked in one of the following; 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220, 240, and 255.
- The difference between a Normal Fusion and a Rev Fusion is that a Rev shoots forwards and the tnt goes upwards where it explodes to make a hole in the wall.
- The main visual difference is that this commonly has 2 skinnier sand comps (stacks of sand in the cannon itself) compared to the normal larger sized single one in regular cannons.
¶ Over Stacker
- Typically stacked in one of the following: 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220, 240, and 255.
- The difference between a normal cannon and an overstacker is that it shoots sand twice, the second time after a short delay. The purpose of this is to throw off players' breadcrumbs (An allowed modification that acts like tracers for TNT and sand only).
- The main visual difference is that it has sticky pistons above the barrel and a cobweb near the bottom of the barrel. Without those two blocks, it will not work.
¶ Anti-Patch
- Stacked in one of the following: 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220, 240, and 255.
- The difference between a normal cannon and an AP (anti-patch) is that it has an extra component that fires tnt to break patching placed. Patching is placing blocks back into walls to prevent or slow down a breach. The extra component in this cannon is in the back, the three layers of pistons and dispensers. It breaks connected blocks (e.g. straight line patching). If they patch sideways instead of straight line, it will not break that patch in the same way.
¶ Disallowed Cannons
The following cannons are disallowed on ManaCube Factions due to the unfair advantage they provide raiding factions. Using an illegal cannon may lead to a Faction Warning Point and a ban on the player(s) account. Please Reference the Factions Rules article to see a list of our Faction Rules and Punishments.
¶ Push Nuke Cannons
Push Nuke Cannons fire in a way that allows the raiding faction to break more than one wall at a time and/or fire faster than every 3 seconds. This is considered a cannon that can “bypass” a factions’ wall.
¶ Worm Cannons
Worm Cannons fire in a way that tunnels through the ground and base walls. The damage it causes is very recognizable as it resembles the type of tunnel a worm or snake would leave in the ground.
¶ U-Fusion Cannon
U-Fusion Cannons fire in a way that can bypass a faction's walls. This happens because it adjusts/bounces off of the guider twice, in two separate locations. The damage it causes is very recognizable as it resembles the type of tunnel a worm or snake would leave in the ground.
¶ Midairing Cannon
Midairing Cannons fire in a way that can bypass a faction's walls. This happens because the sand and tnt blows up in the air instead of against a wall.
¶ Protecting Your Cannon
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It is very important that you protect your cannon with a box and watered walls. If you don’t do so, the defending faction can just pearl over and creeper-egg the cannon. This forces the enemy faction to cannon into your box with a counter-cannon.
A cannon box sometimes has a small structure made of obsidian & cobwebs next to it, commonly referred to as a “guider box”. Cannoneers use a guider box as a means of staying protected while breaking/placing blocks used to adjust the TNT shots to the left or right.
By protecting your cannon and protecting the player with the job of adjusting the cannon’s guider, you will make it much more difficult for the defending faction to stop your raid attempt. They will have to spend time mining out slits for a buffer counter or building an entirely new side counter cannon. As a result, you will have time to defend your cannon and decide on your next move.
When starting to build your cannon, make sure that you claim your cannon and any defenses used to protect it with /f claim. You have to claim chunks of land before you start to build your cannon. Any claim with a cannon built in it to raid another faction is labeled as a Raid Claim. A claim that contains a Counter-Cannon to destroy the raiding faction's cannon is considered an Anti-Raid Claim.