Seige defences?

[Ironsword]

Anyone upgrade their battlements with barbicans, culverin towers, ringwalls etc??

Just wanted to know whether it's worth it as the AI rarely attacks my castles...

[Martok]

I do so, even if it's not strictly necessary -- I tend to be a bit anal about wanting to max out my defenses. ~;p

That said, it partially depends on the location. I tend to build more additional defenses on castles in my border provinces, but not so much on fortifications in my interior territories.

[Raz]

If I've just caught a province and then a message pops up saying "A Jihad/Crusade is on way to your province" I will put up those extra defences, but otherwise, I don't really see a point. Unless I see a massive enemy army gathering on the borders I will generally just upgrade the entire castle rather than those extras.

[I of the Storm]

I sometimes do in border provinces with citadels. Sometimes I just let them siege assault me with 1-2 halbs in an upgraded citadel just for the fun and the auto-defence inflicted carnage. What reaches my halbs in the inner perimeter then isn't worth mentioning anymore and thoroughly demoralized...:2thumbsup:

[Heidrek]

I do in some cases. I never bother with Fort additions, but at Keep and Castle level I sometimes will if I think there's a danger of them being attacked. I do this so I can leave a small garrison there that can last a while in a siege. That way if the enemy decided to storm they will have bigger problems.

I also tend to improve castles that are as big as I want to make them. For example, If idon't want to go beyong Keep level in this province I'll give it the Curtain wall and Balista Tower upgrades and leave a skeleton crew to defend it.

Likewise if I have a Castle, but don't want to go further, I'll build the Ringwall and Catapult towers. Extra stone walls are very handy when it comes to storming as they have to break down two gates then instead of one.

Very rarely build a Barbican, but I really want to so I can see what it adds in terms of defensibility. Leaving a few groups of footknights/Halb's and some catapults to defend a border province in a big castle is kinda fun. I also like the idea of adding Culverin and Demi Culv. towers. Cannons blasting away at everything in rage while hapless siegers get chewed up at the gates sounds pretty fun to me.

[macsen rufus]

I don't usually bother with the fiddly bits, and tend to upgrade to the next castle level wholesale. I have fought very very few assault defences, as if I ever have to retreat to the stronghold it's to allow for a counter-attack to lift the siege the very next year.

In a province I'm trying to develop for higher-level facilities, then the intermediate castle upgrades only slow down the process.

[Agent Miles]

The 'fiddly bits' allow you to maintain a larger garrison than you could have with the corresponding level of defensive structure alone.

[dknight]

The 'fiddly bits' allow you to maintain a larger garrison than you could have with the corresponding level of defensive structure alone.

This raise the question, what happen to the 'fiddly bits' once you upgrade to the next level ? Do they disappear ? Add to the next level ?

Once in a while in the past, I assault a castle with wooden fence around it. I assume that this is the 'fiddly bits' from the keep/fort levels. However, what happen to the low level 'fiddly bits' once you build the next level 'fiddly bits' ?

[bamff]

This raise the question, what happen to the 'fiddly bits' once you upgrade to the next level ? Do they disappear ? Add to the next level ?

Once in a while in the past, I assault a castle with wooden fence around it. I assume that this is the 'fiddly bits' from the keep/fort levels. However, what happen to the low level 'fiddly bits' once you build the next level 'fiddly bits' ?

I reconciled this in my own tiny mind by assuming that the lower level "fiddly bits" got incorporated into the next big bit...for example, first you have a fort, you add a wooden pallisade, then after a while, you augment the pallisade by adding stone...over time it then is transformed to a stone wall...Indeed, the fiddly bit is really only a temporary "main bit" after all, isn't it?

Of course I could be way off beam, but that is how I had imagined it...

Hmmmm...if that were taken through to it's logical conclusion, an upgrade to a castle with fiddly bits should be cheaper and quicker than an upgrade to a fiddly bit free fortification, shouldn't it?

[macsen rufus]

Hmmmm...if that were taken through to it's logical conclusion, an upgrade to a castle with fiddly bits should be cheaper and quicker than an upgrade to a fiddly bit free fortification, shouldn't it?

:yes: Quite agree, but you still pay the same for a castle whether you're making the leap straight from keep, or keep + curtain wall + ballista towers.

Another bit that bugs me is that when you are on a razzia and trying to raze an enemy province you've captured to make some cash back, when you destroy a castle that has "fiddly bits", all you recoup is the cost of the last upgrade. ie destroy a basic castle you can recoup (iirc) 1000fl, but destroy a castle + upgrade, you only get 200fl or so. This is just wrong. Not that I destroy castles much - it's usually a desparate attempt against a powerful enemy when I have no chance of holding a province from them, or part of a Pope-on-a-rope set up.

I still consider 'upgrades' to be a more expensive way of developing a castle more slowly. :bow: