The nanual says "put troops close to the towers" and my archers and melee units were on the walls, but nevertheless I got the message "Our battle machines are idle, sir! We need to man them".
Printable View
The nanual says "put troops close to the towers" and my archers and melee units were on the walls, but nevertheless I got the message "Our battle machines are idle, sir! We need to man them".
You have to be about 20 metres away - you can tell when you're close enough because the flag pops up on the top of the tower.
I had that happen to but forgot what the trigger was. Was it a spy that opened the gates? As long as a tower has a flag above it your good to go.
Perhaps the message you heard was about something completely different - and it's been referred in the bug list (AFAIK).
I heard it first time ("Our battle machines are idle, sir! We need to man them") when I killed the AI units manning a ram - and it made me rofl, yeah, sure, capture that abandoned Mongol ram right now and trample those Heavy Horse Archers, that'll teach them! :dizzy2:
For the towers - any towers, but not cannon ones in citadels, you won't get them, that's also referred in the bug list :wall: - just place unit/units on walls close to the towers, you'll see your flag happily blobbing over those buildings. And they'll fire at enemy in range (friendly fire included).
And for a really humorous aside, if the unit causing the tower to be manned is currently affected by rotting cows tossed from a trebuchet, the flag on top of the tower will also flash green.