Siege Equipment

[Seven.the.Hun]

and dont forget that one people...
sure some have tried and succeeded, i know i have on occasion...
especially before gunpowder...catapults that are moderatly accurate in a bridge battle?? if u dont need as many unit on field at start, than in an attack or defense something like this could help out, tis at least fun seeing those enemies crished by rocks

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-toff.gif

[Seven.the.Hun]

blah, and after gunpowder, cannon types can be even worse in certain battles, especially bridge ones...

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-juggle.gif

[English assassin]

I think the fact you can use seige equipment in ordinary battles is a bad feature of the game. Is it historical? I guess I can live with ballistae and maybe catapults, but trebuchets and the like had to be built in place over a period of days. How are they supposed to have got to the battlefield? And even if they did, it took quite a long time to reload anything bigger than a ballista. I guess they speeded up the fire rate so we didn't die of old age in seige battles but hosing down cavalry with massed mangonel fire is just stupid IMHO.

I didn't think medieval armies had any field artillery, but I could easily be wrong.

Why I think it spoils the game is the AI seems to think artillery is much better than it is and effectively fields weaker armies because it fills up slots with catapaults or whatever. On defence, well, I guess OK, although it would still do better by replacing them with arbs, but it even does this when it is attacking which is completely stupid as you just form up out of range.

I don't know about cannon though because most of my games are over before too many cannon make an appearance.

[Lil' Timmy]

i agree with English Assassin. seems like it would be better for certain siege engines (mangonels, trebuchets, and bombards esp.) to be something that a seiging army can build before they siege a castle. maybe you can build a 'crew' in the same way, but then when you choose to siege a castle, the game gives you the choice to construct one or more siege weapons (depending on how many 'crews' you have in your army). wheeled weapons should just travel with your armies like normal i guess. tbh i don't use siege enough to know if there are any glaring exceptions to that.. but i think it's a good idea.

[Xiphias]

Why not just have them built as normal but simply not show up in a non-siege battle.

[katank]

it's ok, I like my overpowered siege.

I don't think that mangonels can really hose down cav well though.

I'm always a fan of massed cats though.

bridge battles or set on a nice fat hill tucked away int he corner with plenty of archers and a very heavy spear wall protecting.

let's see anything get near that

in later eras, I love gunpowder.

In the campaign, I think that the most I ever fielded was 8 demi culvs though.

I managed to build to culvs before but not serpentines or organ guns.

[Seven.the.Hun]

well i think its a good one that u can use say trebuchets and mangonels in battle, for versatility at least,
offsetting the 'historic' whatevers, these weapon placements must be perfect to have any effect in a battle,
now the smaller catapult on a hill or near a bridge is a handy thing as it can turn, and if its valour is higher it doesnt miss so horribly,
i guess the crashing rock noises and crushing a few dudes with a massive boulder is just cool i think

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-juggle.gif

[LestaT]

I have never built/use 'ancient' siege weapons. Usually I wait until gunpowder to come out when I used them massively. Medieval cannons are not accurate so I use at least 6 during attack and four during defend. Not just in siege but during field battles also.

The tactic is to place the cannons the nearest to enemy during attack so I can pound them aggresively because cannon fire do have moral effect on enemy. Usually I targeted General units and their best cav units first but don't forget to put at least one spear unit nearby for back up in case the enemy decides to attack instead of defence.

For 6 cannons 9 out of 10 I can kill the General using cannons and I was lucky many times to get their king if I can get my cannons within range. After continous bombardment I will pull my cannons when the have exhausted their missiles and replace them with reserves.

For defence , just lay them onn the highest ground further back and defend with lines or missiles unit and spears, and flank with cavs and swords.

But for ballistas, trabuchets, I cannot commend because I seldom use unless throught bribery.


http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-juggle.gif

[Papewaio]

I find most seige equipment next to useless... unless I am attacking something larger then a castle I don't bother fielding it... even then I might not bother and just starve out a fortress.

[mcv]

Using cannon during field battles is historically acceptable. The English used cannon during the battle of Crecy in 1346. Not very effectively, but it did scare the horses.

Trebuchets during a field battle are silly ofcourse. But easy to avoid, because they can't turn. AIs that use them instead of more useful units should be shot.

And yes, cannon and other advanced units are way too hard to build. As Turks, the only way to get Janissaries is from Jihads.


mcv.

[Neubs]

I always use at least 10 catapults when defending; and these catapults have high valor from past battles. The way I use them is to stagger the fire so there is a constant rolling fire on the enemy. Another thing I do is always target the units closer to me so the rocks bounce and kill more men.

[The_Emperor]

To be perfectly honest I tend not to get Siege weapons higher than catapults.

Trebuchets cannot turn and I find they can be especially annoying even in a siege. Catapults I'd much rather bring along with their ability to turn and everything they can be great fun... Nothing is quite as funny as having the enemy general killed by a flying rock (Struck down by Divine providence) http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

As for cannon, well unfortunately most of my good games tend to be over before the Late period begins, and I'm not a fan of Bombards which have a tendancy to blow up in yer face

[soibean]

well one tip if you're going to use the artillery in a bridge battle that helps on accuracy is just line all the artillery pieces behind eachother so all they have to worry about is distance and now power (fear of projectile hitting before or past the bridge)
I used 5 catapults against a peasant army in this way and it increased the accuracy probably 2x or 3x what it normally was although there was the occasional fire a little bit to the left or right which missed the bridge completely

I dont know if everyone else in the forum knows this and if everyone did then I feel like a moron but hey give me a break

[Lt Nevermind]

Cannons are my best friends when I get my hands in those goodies http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif , especially serpentines. I'd take 4 of them into any battle and do half of the job with em alone.

[Inuyasha12]

I never use siege, basically i always just starve out the garrison. I only fought a siege battle 2 times, and i only used like 3 catapults.

I think siege weapons are a waste of time.

[Neubs]

I don't think siege weapons are a waste of time. If anything, they are a work of art Who knew hair twisted around a pole could do so much damage?

[The_Emperor]

Quote[/b] ]I never use siege, basically i always just starve out the garrison. I only fought a siege battle 2 times, and i only used like 3 catapults.


To be honest i tend to starve out the garissons more often than assaulting.

I find you always come across at least one castle where you have beaten them really, really badly in the field battle and the garisson is now so small that the castle cannot be starved out (especially with besieger attrition added in VI).

At any rate if your assaulting any castle that is higher than a keep, your going to need siege weapons otherwise your going to have to batter down the gate... And suffer the consequences of boiling oil.

[Inuyasha12]

In that situation i usually just bribe them, they are very cheap when they are that weak.