AI sending archers up ladders and siege towers.

[Omisan]

I see this happen all the time. :inquisitive:

[Gingivitis]

I'm sure the AI doesn't do it for a particularly smart reason, but sending any unit up ladders at a defended part of the wall is a guaranteed route anyway, might as well not waste a good unit on it that you can use to get through the gate with.

[vonsch]

Heh, what do you want them to send up, their cavalry? ~;)

I think I've been fighting Mongols too much... they don't have much that isn't archer as foot troops.

The Ai sends what it assigns to carry the siege gear forward. Usually that's low value troops, so they get sent up first. Not the smartest tactics, but understandable. Better would be to have the peasants place the ladders and step aside and have the big guys run up from a safe distance and climb them. Meanwhile the archers should be standing off and peppering the battlements with flaming arrows.

But... we work with what we're offered. Easier to kill archers, stop complaining!

[HoreTore]

Well, I do it all the time. Nothing beats 8 siege towers full of ottomans going for the walls, then firing away once they have taken them. One of the most succesful tactics I've found for dealing with sieges, actually.

As for "normal" archers, I do it when I need to. If the siege is hard. What good are they doing standing about in your deployment zone anyway? Much better to send them at the walls where they might do some damage. Who cares if you lose a lot if it means you turn a defeat into a win?

[Gdek]

I'll often build extra ladders, and have a unit or two with a ladder far away from my main attack force. In almost all cases, this will pin 2-5 defensive units at that part of the wall and away from my main attack.

As soon as the main attack starts to succeed, those units storm the walls, and if there's archers in the bunch, are able to fire into the backs of the troops headed to reinforce the main breach.

If you have a situation where a spy has opened the gate for you, it's even more helpful, as you can take the wall uncontested while all troops rush to guard the gates, and cause chaos within the town as the defenders are trying to get their act together.

As an aside, if a spy opens the gate, is it all gates, or just the one you are facing? If the former, you could send a small unit of light cavalry to harrass the defenders from behind.

Gdek

[FactionHeir]

Actually it is smart if its an expendable unit. Reasoning is that it will inflict a few casualties before routing and tire out the defenders so the next batch of troops has it easier.

[vonsch]

I'll often build extra ladders, and have a unit or two with a ladder far away from my main attack force. In almost all cases, this will pin 2-5 defensive units at that part of the wall and away from my main attack.

As soon as the main attack starts to succeed, those units storm the walls, and if there's archers in the bunch, are able to fire into the backs of the troops headed to reinforce the main breach.

If you have a situation where a spy has opened the gate for you, it's even more helpful, as you can take the wall uncontested while all troops rush to guard the gates, and cause chaos within the town as the defenders are trying to get their act together.

As an aside, if a spy opens the gate, is it all gates, or just the one you are facing? If the former, you could send a small unit of light cavalry to harrass the defenders from behind.

Gdek

They open all gates. If you send a troop of fast cav in a side gate, they fall back on the city square.

[Omisan]

What I meant is that the AI sends regular achers up the walls to assault my troops. They get slaughtered all the time so it's obviously a bad idea.

[sapi]

Still, as has been said, they probably do more in doing so than they would by staying on the ground, as archers dont' inflict many causualties firing up onto the wall and usually need to get within tower range to do so.

[Chaos Cornelius lucius]

The AI has done that to me quite a few times in sieges, and it has won several times when I have had low value units defending. When you only have a limited army defending it can be quite difficult trying to hold various sections of wall from ladder and tower assault and defending the gate. To me a makes perfect sense to send to assault the walls,
I have found them pretty pointless shooting over walls so they might as well take part in the assault and tie up units that might be needed to defend elsewhere. And if they take the wall they are on they can shoot at the other defenders.