understanding a sally

[spqr_arcani]

I was wondering what are the criteria for having a successful sally.
Obviously, the sally where you make the enemy retreat is a successful one. Specifically, I'm only interested in one where I can do damage only to the enemy, but not make them retreat.

This involves using the ESC key and opting to quit before the end of the battle. Sometimes I get the note saying,

a. "if you quit now, you will lose this battle",
and sometimes I get,
b. "your sally was successful" (or something to that effect).

If I get a., then the game auto-resolves the battle (with me losing) and also auto-kills a bunch of my troops.

If I get b., then I leave with the casualties to both sides being exactly what was inflicted during the battle.

So, what are the criteria for getting to b.? I've always tried to guess it but not being able to fully isolate it.


Thanks!

[Cullhwch]

To get a successful "draw" sally, you just have to have all of your units within your walls when the battle ends. In a draw, no casaulties will recover, as there is no clear winner.

[tsidneku]

thanks a bunch. i was wondering about this as well. :)

[spqr_arcani]

To get a successful "draw" sally, you just have to have all of your units within your walls when the battle ends. In a draw, no casaulties will recover, as there is no clear winner.

Thanks Cullhwch.

Just came back from a sally a minute ago (lots of my cities under siege).

Just so I'm clear, you did mean having a "draw" sally after ESC-aping out early, right? The reason I ask is that in my last battle I got a "draw" because my troops were still fighting outside the city walls when the battle timer was up.

Either way, I'm going back to try my next sally, ESC-aping/quitting out early with all my units back behind the walls.

[SwissBarbar]

what if you have no battle-time limit?

[Cute Wolf]

The best sally forever is when you got a lot of archers (especially the syrian ones), sit on your stone wall, and just launch their misssile to skewer enemy army who walk aimlessly under my walls... and get the thorakitai ready on the wall when they land their towers here...

but some of them died the ext turn because they didn't have much food left....

[spqr_arcani]

I had a great night playing EB because of the newfound appreciation for sallying.
The RTW manual doesn't seem to address sallying adequately, iirc.

So, now that the ambiguity is gone, sallying is no longer a finicky venture nor do-or-die battle (if it's not the last siege turn). You can actually do guerilla warfare to shave the enemy down to a more manageable number before they assault.

Makes me wonder why I haven't asked sooner.