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Originally Posted by Icelander
Cannon need firing mechanisms, just as smallarms do, although I imagine that being so much more expensive than fusils, the PCs will opt to make all the cannon they buy 'magelocks', i.e. fired through an Ignite Fire enchantment and powered by either an Exclusive Powerstone or the Power 1 enchantment*.
Cannons also require carriages where metal is used for such things as axles, screws, trunnions and quoins. This makes them a lot more trouble to construct than just wooden stocks, I imagine.
Cannon round shot is actually not very effective against personnel, at least not compared to the 2-3 lbs. of smokepowder it takes to fire it and how many ca one ounce round balls might be fired from fusils for the same amount of powder.
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The firing mechanism for a cannon is actually rather simple compared to a rifle, which is why cannons hit the fields before muskets. The hard part is getting your metal strong enough to survive the require pressures, and I'm sure your smiths and mages can handle that with ease. As for mobility, well, fixed emplacements on walls just plain scare people, while those on ships only need to move enough to handle their own recoil. And as for not being effective against infantry? Check out some statistics from the American Civil War. The Napoleon Model 1857 could fire solid shot, shotgun-like shot, and explosives at a range of 1,619 yards. Solid shot ended up taking more than a few soldiers out of the fight when they saw it rolling along and thought they could kick it, while fragmentation rounds are just plain bad for everybody.