Pirate Cities

I was playing the British campaign today and got sick and tired of being raided by the two pirate cities near buy. So, I built up some troops and I went after them. They out numbered me by about 300 troops, but with my troops superior training, cannons, and a good general I managed to beat them with only losing 100 troops. Small problem, after the battle was over I was left outside the city. When I tried to re-enter I noticed that they had all 840 troops left. It was as if I hadn't even tried to take the place. Am I not supposed to go after these guys? Or did I just find a nice new bug? Kind of wasted a couple of hours trying to retake the city a couple of times. Talk about frustrating.

Did you assault or lay siege to the city? If you assaulted and won the battle, you should have captured it. If you lay siege and they sallied, they could easily have held on to the city if enough troops survived. And since a portion of their defenders would have been "armed civilians", I think the game engine would just give them those guys again next battle.

You can take those cities, I have noticed sometimes that when you beat back a sally attempt during a computer turn you won't take the city but the next time you try during your turn you get a freshly spawned mob garrison again to fight against. Not sure if it is a bug, but I agree that it can get a little annoying. Best thing is to just assault it on your turn and take it then and there and not seige it.

If you were attacking it and it wasn't a computer sally attempt then I have no idea why it did that and I can't say that I have run into that aspect of the game mechanics.

Edit:Quillan beat me to it, but basically it comes down to sally or assault.

Alright, thanks for the info. I'll have to reload and try again.

VV

If they sally and they have no more turns left till surrender, and you win, then you take the city. I haven't been assaulting generally because I can wait till the turns to surrender are up and then defend when they sally. That will change if I encounter a city capable of holding out for many turns, or if the AI appears likely to pull in reinforcements from somewhere else when sallying.

"Kill them all. Kill them. KILL KILL KILL." Know what movie that is from?

Watch out for their Buccaneers if you encounter any! Those guys are suprisingly good in melee and actually have quite high morale.

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Originally Posted by JRCDave

"Kill them all. Kill them. KILL KILL KILL." Know what movie that is from?

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No but it reminds me of the bit in Jason and the Argonauts when the skeletons are raised and the summoner shouts, "DESTROY THEM! HEAR! KILL KILL KILL KILL THEM ALL!"

Tenuous link: the skull and crossbones.

Just had this happen to me in Antigua, they sallied as it was one turn to surrender, I win the battle and suddenly there is another pirate mob to fight?? I was able to take their first city normally, is there something different about the pirate faction that stops us wiping them out?

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Originally Posted by johnhughthom

Just had this happen to me in Antigua, they sallied as it was one turn to surrender, I win the battle and suddenly there is another pirate mob to fight?? I was able to take their first city normally, is there something different about the pirate faction that stops us wiping them out?

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No, it's to do with sallying battles. It can happen with any faction.

They can sally on the last turn, lose and spawn another army? Interesting...

If they sally and lose I think you go back to laying siege (even if there were 10 turns left) but the troops they respawn are always mob, rather than any true units.

Is the film starship troopers?

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Originally Posted by pdoyle007

If they sally and lose I think you go back to laying siege (even if there were 10 turns left) but the troops they respawn are always mob, rather than any true units.

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My Impression as well, as long as you don't take the city the mob will be respawned which is quite logical if you think about what the mob is. (Does this stop when no more poulation is left? Would make sense...)

Other times when the enemy have sallied on the last turn and lost I have taken the city, exactly like previous Total War games.

I think in previous titles if they sally at any point and lose then the city is yours, now if they lose the civilian population takes up arms, hence a full stack of 'mob'.

Basically you can only take the city when you attack (rather than a defensive battle) or once the number of turns have expired.

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Originally Posted by pdoyle007

or once the number of turns have expired.

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This is the whole point of my post, it was the last turn before surrender, they lost, my turn comes around and they have another pirate mob in the city.

The movie is Road Warrior after the boy lover of the red haired mo-hawk guy is killed with the boom-a-rang. Pretty apt for a besieged city. If they sally out, kill them all and you have the city even if they have turns left on the siege. I think so. I know I did this on MTW2 and RTW. And I am pretty sure I did this to Saxony fighting as Prussia. I killed their whole army, not one escaped, not even the little city people armed with fire-cocks with 2 turns left. Please confirm.

I have seen the issue too...

I have a suspicion that it is linked to the outcome of the Sally battle. I beleive there are multiple possible results. If you lose (as the besieger) then you are driven away. If you win you stay, but I suspect that if you have a close victory then you stay in place but the siege is broken. This then allows the auto-generated garrison to refresh back to full strength.

Just a suspicion...

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Originally Posted by Bob the Insane

I have seen the issue too...

I have a suspicion that it is linked to the outcome of the Sally battle. I beleive there are multiple possible results. If you lose (as the besieger) then you are driven away. If you win you stay, but I suspect that if you have a close victory then you stay in place but the siege is broken. This then allows the auto-generated garrison to refresh back to full strength.

Just a suspicion...

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This sounds plausible. Someone should do tests! (Someone with more patience than I have :tongue:).

I had the same thing happen. I sieged the Leeward (or maybe Windward) Islands and on the turn they had to sally, they did, and lost. The next turn they had the same number of forces in town as they did before, like the whole battle never even took place. Did the same thing on Trinidad and Tobago and after defeating their sally the town was mine. Weird.