The Secrets of a Monster Cannon

We are going to make a cannon soon for physics and my job is to discover what are the secrets behind a cannon that fires a projectile for a huge displacement. Obviously the first thing is the angle the barrel is above the ground. After much deliberate the best angle is 45 degrees since sin 45 times cos 45 gives the greatest result compared to other angles. Another factor is to make the paper cup cannon ball more pointy instead of blunt since unlike in our problems there is air resistance. A blunt cannon ball would suffer greater air resistance versus a pointed one. Finally we can have a tall, stable base since it won't due if the cannon falls over and a taller base means the projectile is in the air longer which means it will travel farther.