defending castle

can someone tell me how can i defend myself from castle? i mean when enemy attacks my land and i retreat to castle then usually passes few seasons of siege which is calculated automatically and then i lose... how can i fight a battle to see and command my troops from my own castle?

i also added few units in crusader unit file(i have VI installed but i play early age) and it works fine except one thing... only the corpses of new units dissapear but i have added them in deadpagecords, when i did same in viking_units and added them in deadpage it worked... where's the catch?

thanx! ~:)

In the campaign, you cannot initiate a castle battle as a defender. A castle battle happens only when the besieging army decides to storm the castle (instead of starving the defender into subimssion). However, you can set up custom castle battle and play as defender.

As regards your other question then, unfortunately, I do not know the answer.

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Originally Posted by stryda

can someone tell me how can i defend myself from castle? i mean when enemy attacks my land and i retreat to castle then usually passes few seasons of siege which is calculated automatically and then i lose... how can i fight a battle to see and command my troops from my own castle?

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To sally out from a castle:

Simply select the units inside the castle by clicking on the castle, then selecting the unit icons in the tray center bottom.

Drag the selected units out of the castle and set the stack anywhere in the province. After you click end turn they will fight any enemy units in the province. You will be the attacker in the battle, but it will not be a castle map that you fight on.

ichi :bow:

and the same thing happens if you move another army into the province from outside. In that case your troops in the castle sally automatically, but once again you play as the attacker and its not a castle map.

IIRC there are mods which make the AI more likely to assault a castle but I am afraid I don't know which, perhaps someone can tell us?

Someone here recently said that they believe the AI is more likely to assault your castle if you play on "expert", but AFAIK there is no documentation to support that - it was more of a hunch.

Beeing almost at the end of my first expert campaign, I'm inclined to agree about the AI assaulting castles more often. I believe it was voigtkampf that mentioned it, in a thread were I asked about the effects of expert setting.

A castle defense related question, I would appreciate if someone could answer :wink: :

Your castle is besieged. You bring troops from outside the province to help the sally forth effort. You happen to lose. In that case do your troops retreat to the castle (thus if more troops are there shortening the siege time since there are more troops eating the reserves) or is your province and castle lost?

Also if the enemy siegeing your castle and you beat 'em back on the siege field I presume the siege goes on (minus the dead soldiers on both sides...?)

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Originally Posted by bretwalda

A castle defense related question, I would appreciate if someone could answer :wink: :

Your castle is besieged. You bring troops from outside the province to help the sally forth effort. You happen to lose. In that case do your troops retreat to the castle (thus if more troops are there shortening the siege time since there are more troops eating the reserves) or is your province and castle lost?

Also if the enemy siegeing your castle and you beat 'em back on the siege field I presume the siege goes on (minus the dead soldiers on both sides...?)

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On question 1 I think it is that the castle troops goes back to the castle and the outside troops goes to the province, but I'm not certain.

And you're correct on question 2. :furious3: (why? See below)

And a tip to make the comp assult your castle more often. Sally only your castle troops (no outside troops!). The comp will often counter-attack the castle instead. It does get annoying if it fails, as you cannot retreat back to the castle (you can retreat to another province though), but need to fail an attack (well withdraw your troops, but it's still not good command-wise) to re-enter your castle.

I lost a 7-star general when I found this out. And as it was Russians vs the horde it was a really heavy loss. Unable to send reinforcements to the siege I tried to retreat to another province on the last turn for the siege. To my horror the evil mongols counter-sieged, but after a heroic defence the fort was still in Russian hands.

The same turn did everyone starve to death :furious3: :furious3: . The lesson? Don't ever wait to the last turn to save your general that way, if the comp counter-attack you're dead, unless you kill ALL enemies.

Cool, THANKS! Just the tip I'm looking for!

I am sorry but I still don't understand your tip after several reading, Ironside. Is it about getting out of your troops from a castle if they are stuck in a non-winnable situation...? I am confused...

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Originally Posted by bretwalda

I am sorry but I still don't understand your tip after several reading, Ironside. Is it about getting out of your troops from a castle if they are stuck in a non-winnable situation...? I am confused...

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Something like that.
You simply move your troops inside the castle, out into the province to sally and don't send any troops at all from another province. This will quite often trigger a counter-siege, so instead of playing a field battle the comp will try to storm your castle.
The odds for a siege is way better when the comp feels like he can win the siege of course.

The only purpose with it is to make sieges more common, unless you really want to save that general.

Awright, now I got it :wink: Actually it is a very good idea because I have never been sieged. Literaly.

It is either I can keep the territory and fight the battle, or I retreat to the castle knowing that I can relieve next turn. OR I see that the province cannot be kept, thus I raze and burn everything and let the enemy take control.

The only drawback of that is the comp somehow sense it, so does not take over the territory by lets it rebel so that it can take the troops with the loyalist rebellion...

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Originally Posted by bretwalda

Awright, now I got it :wink: Actually it is a very good idea because I have never been sieged. Literaly.

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Definetely interesting for a change. :) Although AI is quite bat at storming castles, IMHO. Especially in respect to setting up and protecting siege engines.

Yeah, but if your gung ho on having them storm, get the Viking Invasion edition.

I found that the computer stormed me but let me tell you, THE CPU IS REALLY AWFUL AT CASTLE SIEGES. For instance, the Horde uses almost nothing but Horse and after they broke open the Doorgate, they met my Spearmen in proper formation behind the wall and withdrawn to the outside of the castle. WHERE MY ARROW TOWERS CONSTANT RAINED DOWN DEATH. Lets just say, out of a 10 to 1 CPU advantage, I still won only losing 24 men due to outside archer fire. I can't tell you their lost because it doesn't calc castle fire as you killing them but lets just say if their was blood on the field, you would bathe in it.