forts: RTW

[Slaists]

last nite, i kept trying to build forts on land-routes coming into my provinces. nonetheless, in the end, the AI would place the fort somewhere slightly aside from the road: not where i intended. even worse, the stinking gauls seemed to be able to march past my fortification :( even when those were built in the middle of mountain passages. anyone here has hints as to how to get the forts built exactly where u want them and how to get them to block passage of enemy troops? thanks!

[Doug-Thompson]

I like forts, but they only seem to work as barriers in very tight corners. Even then, an army can enter the vicinity in one turn then march out on the next. It's not like the fort is a World War I trench line or anything.

For example, I use forts every time as the Brutii to block a passage to Apollonia. If I just send a couple of weak garrison units up there, it's practically an invitation to attack. If I send up an army, I'm tying up an army. But if I move an army up to the pass, build a fort and then move the army out and leave a couple of garrison units up there, that works. I think this is because the AI doesn't know if it's just a couple of garrison units or the whole army. I think the AI is deterred because it cannot see into the fort, not because it's penned in by defenses.

By the time the AI discovers that the army's moved, it's because that army is attacking elsewhere.

Forts are also good for advancing up close to a major city and holding out until reinforcements arrive.

So here's the summary: I think forts should be used as bases of operation and temporary deterrents, not barricades.

[mynameisjonas]

Moving units and charaters on the capmaign map can be really tricky sometimes. The best thing that I have found to combat this is to zoom in all the way so I can see more clearly where the units are going. Forts, it seems, only work well in very, very tight areas, and only as tools to slow down the advance of an enemy army so that you can deploy a larger force to meet the intruding force.

[lars573]

Thing about forts is that you have to place them so that the enemy has to deal with them ASAP. I do this buy placing one on a route that an enemy has used to siege one of my cities before. That way when they come again, and they always do, you have nice big problen in their way. And usually the AI will try and take the fort first.

[Ulstan]

I have had massive armies of gauls walk right by forts and not attack them.

Meanwhile, the peasant/brigand/slave armies (that the forts are there to try to suppress) are quite happy to attack a fort with one town guard in it.

[Blodrast]

well, if a fort would delay the enemy armies by one turn only, then why bother building them at all ? it's seldom that one turn makes that much of a difference, so I'm not sure that the costs are justified (and you may have to rebuild it a few times, too)...

[Empedocles]

I'don't believe that letting an entire army pass away a fort without much trouble is a mistake.
What's a fort? It's a wooden fortification that never passed the 200 meters long and served primarly to support troops, take care of logistics, armour repairement and few other things except for giving armies a rally point to meet!
Can forts blockade a road so well that an army shall not pass to a province? NO!!! Except the passage is no longer than 400 mts, so archers may have a chance to hit somebody who wants to walk by.

Diego, from Argentina
(still waiting to play RTW!!!!)

[ZIM!!]

how do you get an army to Fortify?

[Doug-Thompson]

how do you get an army to Fortify?

The army must have a faction general in it. It also costs 500 dinarii.

The process is almost the same as hiring mercenaries.

Select the general's army. When the round knob showing construction status in the lower right-hand corner is not faded out, you can build a fort. (Just like when the recruitment knob is full-colored, you can hire mercs.)

I think you also must have a minimum number of troops, but I don't know what that minimum is. Also, some terrain won't allow forts.

[mynameisjonas]

well, if a fort would delay the enemy armies by one turn only, then why bother building them at all ? it's seldom that one turn makes that much of a difference, so I'm not sure that the costs are justified (and you may have to rebuild it a few times, too)...

I have a fort with a cavalry unit or two, a little infantry adn a few archers. they were able to hold off an advancing army (albeit not a large one) for three turns, which was long enough to mobilize and deploy a relieving force.

[desdichado]

I'don't believe that letting an entire army pass away a fort without much trouble is a mistake.
What's a fort? It's a wooden fortification that never passed the 200 meters long and served primarly to support troops, take care of logistics, armour repairement and few other things except for giving armies a rally point to meet!
Can forts blockade a road so well that an army shall not pass to a province? NO!!! Except the passage is no longer than 400 mts, so archers may have a chance to hit somebody who wants to walk by.

Diego, from Argentina
(still waiting to play RTW!!!!)

I agree. I built a fort before I besieged Carthage in case something went wrong and I needed to pull my army back. A Fort gave me something close by to retreat to.

If your army comes up against a bigger enemy a fort is quite handy to have as backup to retreat to - if the enemy bypass it it means you have a smaller intact army in their rear to cut off any retreat for when you hopefully bring a bigger army to bear. If they stop to deal with it you have the chance to inflict heavier casulaties than if you met them in the field.

I don't think of forts as something to blokcade a road with.

[Arakasi]

I've not seen the AI build forts yet, but then again I've hardly gotten into my main campaign as the Scythians.

[Lemur]

I've not seen the AI build forts yet, but then again I've hardly gotten into my main campaign as the Scythians.
I've seen the AI build forts. In fact, when I was invading Italy as the Carthaginains, the AI threw up THREE forts between me and Capua, each with two units in it. Meanwhile, while my main army was tied up dealing with their mini-forts, they brought up reinforcements for the main city.

Almost ... clever ...

[Orvis Tertia]

I have not tried this yet, but I'm going to see if it works when I'm playing tonight:

Your army's zone of control is fairly small, but an enemy can't just move through it unless he wants to fight you first, right? So if you want to block a road in a mountain pass with forts, perhaps two forts side-by-side would work. It would be a matter of extending your zone of control completely across the pass so that the enemy could not technically move through it.

[Blodrast]

unless you're forbidden to build a fort within the zone of control of the other fort, in which case you might not have room enough for both of them...but you're right, I reckon it's worth a try ;)