Autoresolve too kind on the human player!!!

[+DOC+]

Like i say, i believe autoresolving castle assaults is too kind on the human player in these situations, especially when the fortification is castle-sized or above.

In one occasion i assaulted the Sicilians in a Fortress with a Barbican in Constantinople. When i resolved the battle manually i won killing 369 for a loss of 1089 men including my 5 star general, most which were casualties from the castle fortifications. I had 2 catapults and a ballista and was able to bash through two walls.

I reloaded and had a look at what the outcome would be had i decided to autoresolve the battle. In this instance i won killing 369 men for 387 deaths... Almost 3 times less casualties on my side when i autoresolved the battle

This is wrong. Surely, from a gameplay perspective, autoresolving battles should be more costly than carrying out the battle manually?

[A.Saturnus]

Not if you`re doing very bad http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Sandy-San]

couldn't be specific, but i think DOC is right - even while being very cautious, i find castle assualts (espc. fortress level) to produce a kill ratio of something like 1:3 in the defenders favor - no matter how good your troops or your orders. i recently faced a whole 1 spearman holed up in a castle - with the amount of supplies, he was going to be in there for ever, and i wanted him out quickly. cost me 100 or so men to do it, just from the castle defences.

[Daevyll]

autoresolve vs castles is broken; it doesnt seem to take the castle itself into account, the casualties incurred bij arrow towers etc.

[LovelyHaji]

i'm pretty sure the autoresolve on castle assults is broken. I tried assaulting a load of light cav (between 40 and 80 of them) in a fort (or whatever the basic castle is) with 800 men including loads of archers, infantry and a couple of artillery pieces. I got over 300 casualties i was not impressed.

[Mithrandir]

I think that autoresolve is way too hard on human players in normal battles and that it should be an estimate kills/death ratio based on previous manual battles fought and some extra losses, not as much as now

[Wildthing]

I agree, but I also think the difference between killing all enemys in a battle (get the province, no siege) an missing one guy (forced to assult) are to big

Either always have a fortification crew who has to be defeated regardless of any other troops in the castle (0, 1 or 1000) or dont have any fortification crew at all (modify the castle defence based on the number of actual defenders.

[Spetulhu]

I`ve started dragging around a special "siege detail". A small stack with siege weapons and shock infantry that get to handle the castle assaults when the real army has taken the province. Works great, and you can assign any bad heirs to lead this operation from the front http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Ogre de Warrior]

Early in the game, I lose a lot of men to sieges, but as soon as I can get Pavise units, it seems to lessen alot. They just dont take all that many casualities from arrows.

[rpasell]

I usually take 6- 10 culverins in with me, and blast all artillery, arror, and seige towers down.

[Sandy-San]

i tried using pavises to stand in front of my siege engines and stop the arrows (instead of my usual peasant human shield). they proved great at stopping arrows, just not with their shields...

[Thane Talain MacDonald]

If you don't like it, autoresolve the next time the computer assaults YOUR forces. It works both ways.

[Negative]

I've had the game for 3 months and have not yet had the AI assault my castle.

[TheLastEuropean]

Quote[/b] (Spetulhu @ Nov. 27 2002,10:24)]I`ve started dragging around a special "siege detail". A small stack with siege weapons and shock infantry that get to handle the castle assaults when the real army has taken the province. Works great, and you can assign any bad heirs to lead this operation from the front http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I do this. It's something I did in STW. My "Castle-breakers" in STW consisted of a stack of 16 Kenshi. Maybe throw in a couple of Battlefield Ninjas as escorts http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Then I would just auto-resolve. A specialised army is the best way to go about it imo. I don't see any use for archer units on a castle assault.

[MonkeyMan]

Quote[/b] (Negative @ Nov. 27 2002,14:36)]I've had the game for 3 months and have not yet had the AI assault my castle.
yep the AI is an abject coward IMHO. I've only ever been assaulted twice (although i don't tend to lose that many provinces anyway). Both times i was in a standard sized castle (never seen a citadel assault of a fortress one) and i won easily because the AI insists on breaking the wall in one place and sending everything one by one through the hole. I put one unit of byz infantry in the hole and some archers behind and had no problem. If thaey had bothered to breach another point or break down the doors with the 700 other troops just standing around outside i would have had my Byzantine butt spanked.

[rasoforos]

well the AI seems to be handling a siege much better than me , nowadays i am alaways using autosesolve while attacking a castle. Sometimes the number of casualties is so low that it cannot be true. Even when i have siege cannons and destroy the walls in no time i still face more casualties.