lost features

[caravel]

I never build upgrades as I never intentionally retreat to the castle. I tend to fight battles in the open and drive the enemy off with great slaughter... [jk]hiding behind walls is for women and belongs in the realm of ancient warfare.[/jk] I've never yet sat in a citadel and fought off the mongols either. Being under siege or sieging just goes against the grain. I find that 9/10 times that you go under siege, the AI will choose to sit it out until your men starve, and having a large enough garrison to withstand a siege means that the siege will probably only last two years at which point you'll be forced to sally with your units under strength. I will fight siege defences every time though when it comes down to it. When I'm sieging I tend to starve out my enemies when possible, or I will assault immediately and auto resolve or send in a spy to open the gates, but because I never play sieges, siege equipment is useless to me.

My preferred fortification type is probably the fort and motte. It's simple and you can get your missile units positioned on the slope with your spears facing the gate and swords, flankers to the left and right with the cavalry behind. The whole trick to this is turning on/off fire at will and making sure that your melee units don't get too ambitious and flood through the gate chasing routers. I've racked up massive kills using this technique against numerically superior foes. Even if you cannot win it's good for a pyhhric victory (makes it harder for the attackers to hold onto your province with the reduced troop numbers).