Sieges and city assault - strategy

[Boudicca]

I hope that I did not oversee this topic, but I would like to know on how you deal with city assaults in Rome - total war

- What strategies do you apply

- What units have proved to have great effect in an attack or defense

- Do you use siege towers, ladders or rams to take the walls, and what appears to you to be the best way to perform the siege

As I usually play sieges myself, I am really interested in these things in order to improve my own strategy. So thanks for posting!

[Colovion]

THis thread has some good basic info:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=37648&highlight=siege

[Excalibur Bane]

Well, basically it depends on the level of fortication. Each one has a different strategy.

Basic wooden walls - Construct a battering ram, smash in the gate, eliminate defenders. Capture towers if they prove to be a problem but resistance at this early level is fairly light.

Basic stone walls - Use Onagers to blow a hole through a section of the wall or use sap points if you lack Onagers. This will bring down the walls quite easily. Capture the gate and towers if possible, this will minimize casulties from arrow fire. Do not attempt to approach the gate from the outside, as they will dump burning oil all over your troops. Rush troops to the central plaza, avoid bunching up in the streets if possible.

Large stone walls - Basically, the same strategy as above. It works equally well. You may need more Onagers or you could run out of ammo before taking down a section of the wall. Again, use sap points if needed. Avoid getting close to the towers, as they have autocannon ballista that will utterly rape your troops. Get the towers and gate ASAP.

Epic walls - Again, more of the same. You will need a number of siege weapons to batter down the walls. The towers are further upgraded, which means faster firing ballista fire and arrow fire. Capture as quickly as possible. Sap if necessary.

Siege tips in general - The AI will generally mill about the gates and are vulnerable to javelin and arrow fire from the exterior. They'll just sit there and take it, so if you don't mind losing a few units and your assaulting one of the more basic defenses, bring them right up to the wall and let them loose. Battering rams, ladders and siege towers are generally not a good idea once you get beyond wood as the garrison can easily light them aflame and you'll lose precious troops in a futile effort. It's much easier to sap or batter a section of the wall down. Add several units of Heavy Onagers set to fire missiles, set to engage at will to a siege if your feeling particularly devious.

And that concludes our Sieges For Dumbies guide. Have fun ~;)