City Defence

[Duke Bart]

I also go for the u shape but then the problem is that a single unit of heavy infantry will tear up all of my spearmen and that narrow corridor suddenly becomes a deathtrap.

Therefore i always try to leave myself an out for two reasons, First of all if it is clear that resisting is a waste of time, i leave the city for the AI and go for hit and run methods because they are so intent on just marching to the center. This way i take few losses and they take many so i can just retake my city in notime.

The other reason i try and have a side street or two available is so that i can move my units around so i can counter superior troops with better positioning. Even dismounted knights will lose when trapped like that.

[Rhyfelwyr]

I find schiltrons slaughter cavalry, although I also keep some Town Militia to counter enemy infantry. I've noticed Town Militia can even cause significant casualties to Armoured Sergeants, because the sergeants cavalry bonus works against them when fighting infantry.

Nobody else a fan of the defensive Ballistas then? Come on, 500+ casualties...

[Pater Familias]

Desperately short of defenders (400+ Mad Hungarians at the gates of Iasi vs. about 200 brave Russian lads), I needed something using fewer troops than a U-formation (I had two militia and a spearman, plus my general). So I set my spears at a 45% angle just inside the gate, with my bodyguard a short distance opposite them.
The attackers coming through the gate turned toward the spearmen ... then took a full cavalry charge from the rear/left flank.
Result: Routing, confusion, dead enemy general, more routing and heroic victory.
It's high-risk to commit your general in the first charge, but it worked.

[Ramses II CP]

I always sally out to stop the ram and then hold them on the walls. Having the defensive bonus on the walls is better than having the infinite morale of the town square nine times out of ten. The AI is pretty much incapable of capturing Huge Walls from you without a ram, so stop the ram = win. I haven't lost a siege in vanilla in so long I can't remember the last time, which is why I go after the AI in the field.

[ReiseReise]

[Monsieur Alphonse]

@ReiseReise: that is a beautiful piece of art and it explains how to defend a wall.

@Caledonian: I prefer a catapult over a ballista because a catapult can fire over the heads of your men.

@Ramses: I prefer the enemy to breach the gate. In that case I am certain that I will slaughter the enemy.

[Ramses II CP]

@ReiseReise: that is a beautiful piece of art and it explains how to defend a wall.

@Caledonian: I prefer a catapult over a ballista because a catapult can fire over the heads of your men.

@Ramses: I prefer the enemy to breach the gate. In that case I am certain that I will slaughter the enemy.

I sympathize with you in that your way leads to a more fun battle, but (Presuming huge walls) you can defend a city against multiple AI stacks simultaneously with any 4-6 random freebie militia companies if you stop the ram instead.

[Cadwallon]

Stakes. Any bowmen with stakes are the best defenders. I had the polish bowmen following a successful crusade in Antioch, and absolutely wiped out the Mongols when they invade with their typical cavalry heavy stacks.

You initially position your archers on the front gate, position your spearmen and melee infantry in a u shape and then start the battle. Send you archers back up on the walls, wait for them to smash down the gates and the killing field starts. Stakes seem to kill cavalry - even heavily armoured elite mongol cavalry - so easily this function must be broken. Even elephants seem to succumb.

[makkyo]

Stakes. Any bowmen with stakes are the best defenders.

Agreed. As the English I had to keep Hamburg horribly undermanned while my concentrated the bulk of my forces south toward the remnants of the HRE. That castle had 1 unit of longbows, 1 levy spearman, 1 family member, and 2 dismounted feudal knights. Being such as tasting target for Denmarked, I was besieged a couple of times by half-stacks comprising mostly of war clerics, crossbowmen, and town militia (maybe with some artillery thrown in).
1 placed my longbowmen's stakes right in front of the gate and had a unit of dismounted knights right behind it. In the beginning of battle, I sent my longbows up onto the walls and my other unit of dismounted knights. The AI had a ladder and a tower, so (obviously) the ladder got there first. By the time my knights had dispatched the troops sent on the ladder, I shifted them to the other side of the gate were the tower was just about to hit.

Once the gates broke down the AI usually charges with the unit that sent the ram, followed by a cavalry charge. The entire attack never got past the gate and the area outside was littered with bodies thanks to my longbowmen. I would only take minor losses to my 2 dismounted knights. Those stakes transformed any unit behind it into some sort of invincible phalanx. Really, this shouldn't happen because in campaign battle you can't put spikes on roads... but you can on paved city streets.... Either way that is a strategy that works every time.