Minimum garrison sizes

[o_loompah_the_delayer]

I had battel last night where unusally for me I completely destroyed the enemy, infact only one guy (ballista) got away. He retreated into his Bohemian fortress with the curtain wall and it will not fall without direct assault. Gah

I did assault it and lost some 180 men in the process (compared to 46 in the actual battle). This sems very unfair Would it be possible to restrict these infinite sieges - so for example a fort would need a min of five in the garrison befroe it automatically falls, castle needs 10, fortress 20, citadel 30 men etc?

[Brutal DLX]

Despite what it says in the the description, you could still starve the garrison out, but that may take about 10 years or so. After a few turns you'll find that the message has changed to smth along due to small garrison size and lots of supply, it may take years for this castle to fall.

Alternativly, you could build or hire some artillery and attack the castle with that. I'm sure you'll score a hit on the ballista team sooner or later which will end the battle.

Overall, I'm content with the siege times, most of the times, the castles fall within 3 years, the rest, well, if you really need that province (and soon), then it's probably worth losing a few more men through a direct assault.

[Dhepee]

Use a spy, they can sometimes get the gates open.

[motorhead]

Spy's chance of success depends on castle size, garrison size, and how many years into the siege you are (the more the better).

[Eastside Character]

My advise is - autoresolve such siege assault - you wont loose more than 10 men

[o_loompah_the_delayer]

Usually the sieges I have had also finish of within three years at most, but usually there are around 50 men in the castle. Its just the special case that is bugging me of one guy holding a huge fortress...

I will try spies in future and also assasins but I rarely build very many. I didnt have any siege engines handy -the mercenaries I had hired were busy in Italy and it would have taken 3-4 years to get to Bohemia, but I wasnted the castle and facilities immediately

[Fortebraccio]

To me the best way to quickly end a siege without attrition losses is to bring a high valour Emissary along with your invading force. Right after the battle I send him to negotiate the besieged army's surrender (e.g to corrupt their general.) Corruption cost dramatically decreases when a general is trapped with his surviving troops. Another benefit of this peaceful way to resolve sieges is that no structures are destroyed or damaged...this is expecially useful when conquering rich, developed provinces. You can always bring in 10 culverine crews and have them raze down the castle, if you prefer a more aggressive approach. Maximum carnage, minimum losses, great fireworks. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[o_loompah_the_delayer]

I tried the spy on a save game - with the one man ballista, there was a 100% chance of success http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Then emboldened I tried it on a larger garrison (68 men) - 0% chance of success http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

I have used emmisaries in the past, but only if there is a high command general AND if I have the cash. NEither applies here.

[Qilue]

In MTW 1.1, you couldn't assassinate generals being beseiged, although you can try them for heresy. Has this changed with VI?

[Doug-Thompson]

Quote[/b] (Fortebraccio @ Sep. 12 2003,19:28)]To me the best way to quickly end a siege without attrition losses is to bring a high valour Emissary along with your invading force. Right after the battle I send him to negotiate the besieged army's surrender (e.g to corrupt their general.) Corruption cost dramatically decreases when a general is trapped with his surviving troops. Another benefit of this peaceful way to resolve sieges is that no structures are destroyed or damaged...this is expecially useful when conquering rich, developed provinces.
That says it all.

[The_678]

Wow Fortebraccio I never thought of doing this. This sounds great for those times I attack Constantinople and have to risk destroying some of the buildings. Now that I know it is possible to take a castle without destroying buildings I won't get so mad when I attack a province with Merchant4 and Improved_farmland4 and get stuck with nothing afterwards.