Spies won't open gates for me!

[Baron Squee]

Hi, illustrious Medievalists! This is my first post - and I'm afraid all I'm going to do is whine!!

I've scoured the forums and checked the bug lists and all that stuff, but I think I have an ailment as rare and debilitating as the ague.

See, getting spies into the enemy cities isn't a problem. Getting enough spies in to get a healthy (80%-ish) chance of opening the gates for me isn't too much of a challenge either. I send my armies in and sure enough, there's the smugness-inducing picture of the open gate to let you know that your spies are on the case.

Cut to the bettle screen, and the camera cuts to the gate itself and you can hear some advisor saying "My Lord, our spies have managed to open the gates and yadda yadda yadda..."

Now I would expect to see the gate opening up at this point, but the camera just kind of moves around it, and it remains closed. Then the camera cuts back to my troops and another advisor says something else about how our spies have thrown open the gates, and there they are, right in front of me, pretty definitely still closed.

Fat lot of good those spies turned out to be! This isn't a one-off either - It happens every time! I'm using the 1.2 patch.

I suppose I really just want someone out there to tell me they've had the same problem, so I don't feel all alone!

[Lusted]

The gates are open, you just have to move your troops towards them. They will open for your troops as you go into the city.

[_Tristan_]

Welcome to the .org, Baron Squee

Have you sent troops to the door ? Did it remain closed ?

Because I have had a few cases of doors remaining closed despite the cutscenes and advisors and opening when any of my units approached them...

[Baron Squee]

Yeah, I rode my brave mailed knights right up to the gates, weathering a storm of flaming arrows. They kind of crashed into the portcullis, then bravely ran away leaving a small mound of seared horse flesh on the ground outside the gate.

Kinda embarrassing, y'know?

[Flavius Merobaudes]

Baron Squee: Sarcasm and aggression aren't appreciated much around here...

The doors are open and you can rush in. But of course they remain shut until you are near them. This whole spy thing has to happen very secretly. If the gates were obviously open before you move in, some defenders would close them, wouldn't they? I always saw it as a logical mistake,that gates were wide open in RTW.:inquisitive:

[Baron Squee]

Oops, not meant to sound aggressive - kind of more like comic self-depracation really! Apologies if I came across like that.

I'm pretty certain my mailed knights got right up to the gates themselves and they still remained closed.

[Flavius Merobaudes]

Well, no reason to panic. Maybe I understood this the wrong way.

I'm not sure, if it's enough to move near the gate. I suppose you must send them inside actually. Have you already tried like ordering them to move beyond the gate in the road that leads to the town square?

If that doesn't work, I'd say it's a bug.

[Baron Squee]

Hmm, well I've had some problems with pathfinding in the past, so I suppose it's always possible my knights actually thought I wanted them to stop right there outside the gate. I'll give it a try later when I get home (by day I am a mild-mannered office worker, but by night I am conqueror of Northern Europe!) and if it's a bug and not me being dumb, I'll come back and let you all know.

If I don't, then you know I'm keeping quiet in embarrassment about reporting a bug that was actually me making a mistake!

[Flavius Merobaudes]

Come back any time!

[sapi]

Hmm, well I've had some problems with pathfinding in the past, so I suppose it's always possible my knights actually thought I wanted them to stop right there outside the gate. I'll give it a try later when I get home (by day I am a mild-mannered office worker, but by night I am conqueror of Northern Europe!) and if it's a bug and not me being dumb, I'll come back and let you all know.

If I don't, then you know I'm keeping quiet in embarrassment about reporting a bug that was actually me making a mistake!
~;)

The ingame advice isn't very good for this particular thing, but what you want to be doing is sending your troops marching at a location inside the settlement, rather than outside near the gates.

This is because the gates are triggered by pathfinding, rather than proximity, so you won't get a visual indication of your spy's success until you attempt to make use of it.

Good luck :grin:

[Baron Squee]

I can just imagine the knights riding around thinking 'why isn't the spy opening the gates?' and the spy inside the city thinking 'why aren't the knights trying to get through the gates? I'll open it as soon as they try...'

I'm beginning to suspect this is a case of user error. If this is the case, thanks to all for showing me the light.

[Flavius Merobaudes]

:laugh4: You're a real noob, aren't you? :laugh4:
Glad we could help.~:cheers:

[Baron Squee]

Ha ha ha! You have no idea how much of a noob! I've played every Total War game on the PC, and am still completely hopeless at them all! And I always find something to moan about! It was overpowered geisha in Shogun, then the collapse of trade in the late game in Medieval 1, then squalor bringing down your biggest cities in Rome. There always seems to be something that's not quite balanced right. MTW2 seems OK at the moment, but as you say I'm new to it...