Bridge in Kiev

Guys, no bull. In all my recent eastern European endavours in the course of which I took control of Kiev, not once do I remember fighting across any river.
I always favoured the Poles since they seem to start in a seriously tricky position to maintain a bigger set of lands for long. Nigh on every camp I fought with them involved taking Kiev and defending it at least once during each campaign. Even then I felt a mite suspisious about the topography of that province since more often than not I fought on far-stretched plains rather than river bank.
I gave the Byz a shot after long months of warfare in the west and took Kiev in anticipation of upcoming confrontation with the Horde. I set up my defences in Kiev only to fight across a bloody praire again.
Did it again with the Turks. Nope, no river neither.
Out of sheer curiosity I arranged a custom battle in Kiev - you guessed it. No bridge, no river, no nothin'.
I only write it cause I've just read up tactics on defeating Mongols and many involve setting up a large welcoming force in Kiev since it features a bridge.
I am well confused now.
~:confused:

The maps for each border crossing may vary from one version to another. You didn't make it apparent whether you are using MTW 'out of the box' (v1.0), MTW patched (to v1.1) or with Viking Invasion expansion ("V.I." aka v2.01).

For comparison purposes, I'm referring to VI (v2.01).

If you click on Kiev to highlight it and look at the info parchment, you should see :-

"Armies meeting here can expect to fight on the following terrain" and a description (my emphasis). This will only apply to battles as a result of local rebellions or faction re-emergences which pop up within this province.

Leaving Kiev highlighted and the parchment open, hover your cursor over each neighbouring province and you'll see the map type applicable if you attack out of Kiev.

Now click on, to highlight, Crimea, for example. Open the province parchment again and hover your cursor over Kiev. Last time I looked, that said river. Try other neighbouring provinces in a similar way. I think Khazar->Kiev is also river and that's generally where the Horde will be attacking Kiev from.

Kiev->Khazar is not a river and there seem to be several examples of this, where the terrain applicable to a border crossing differs according to which direction the attack is going. Strange but true.

HTH

It depends which province the troops come in from, that is what decides terrain and water features, etc.

It's not the province you fight in that determines whether or not the battle occurs at a bridge. Rather, it's the border that the attacking army crosses. For example, if Kiev is attacked from the west, the battle will not take place at a bridge because there is no river on that border. If it is attacked from the east, there battle will usually take place at a bridge, although there is a hole there somewhere that an attacking army can get through without crossing the river (I think the province is called Peraslav or Chernigov or something). Try right-clicking on Kiev to bring up its stats, then moving the mouse over neighboring provinces, watching how the words at the bottom change. Then you'll see why some battles in Kiev involve a river, and others don't.

People garrison Kiev against the Horde because attacks from Kazar into Kiev do involve a river.

Every day you learn something new.
Big thanks mates, duly noted
:bow: