forts: RTW

**lars573** · 09-30-2004, 03:22

Thing about forts is that you have to place them so that the enemy has to deal with them ASAP. I do this buy placing one on a route that an enemy has used to siege one of my cities before. That way when they come again, and they always do, you have nice big problen in their way. And usually the AI will try and take the fort first.

**Ulstan** · 09-30-2004, 16:09

I have had massive armies of gauls walk right by forts and not attack them.

Meanwhile, the peasant/brigand/slave armies (that the forts are there to try to suppress) are quite happy to attack a fort with one town guard in it.

**Blodrast** · 09-30-2004, 17:33

well, if a fort would delay the enemy armies by one turn only, then why bother building them at all ? it's seldom that one turn makes that much of a difference, so I'm not sure that the costs are justified (and you may have to rebuild it a few times, too)...

**mynameisjonas** · 09-30-2004, 18:20

Originally Posted by Blodrast

well, if a fort would delay the enemy armies by one turn only, then why bother building them at all ? it's seldom that one turn makes that much of a difference, so I'm not sure that the costs are justified (and you may have to rebuild it a few times, too)...

I have a fort with a cavalry unit or two, a little infantry adn a few archers. they were able to hold off an advancing army (albeit not a large one) for three turns, which was long enough to mobilize and deploy a relieving force.

**Empedocles** · 09-30-2004, 17:36

I'don't believe that letting an entire army pass away a fort without much trouble is a mistake.
What's a fort? It's a wooden fortification that never passed the 200 meters long and served primarly to support troops, take care of logistics, armour repairement and few other things except for giving armies a rally point to meet!
Can forts blockade a road so well that an army shall not pass to a province? NO!!! Except the passage is no longer than 400 mts, so archers may have a chance to hit somebody who wants to walk by.

Diego, from Argentina
(still waiting to play RTW!!!!)

**ZIM!!** · 09-30-2004, 17:43

how do you get an army to Fortify?

**Doug-Thompson** · 09-30-2004, 17:54

Originally Posted by ZIM!!

how do you get an army to Fortify?

The army must have a faction general in it. It also costs 500 dinarii.

The process is almost the same as hiring mercenaries.

Select the general's army. When the round knob showing construction status in the lower right-hand corner is not faded out, you can build a fort. (Just like when the recruitment knob is full-colored, you can hire mercs.)

I think you also must have a minimum number of troops, but I don't know what that minimum is. Also, some terrain won't allow forts.

**desdichado** · 10-01-2004, 08:02

Originally Posted by Empedocles

I'don't believe that letting an entire army pass away a fort without much trouble is a mistake.
What's a fort? It's a wooden fortification that never passed the 200 meters long and served primarly to support troops, take care of logistics, armour repairement and few other things except for giving armies a rally point to meet!
Can forts blockade a road so well that an army shall not pass to a province? NO!!! Except the passage is no longer than 400 mts, so archers may have a chance to hit somebody who wants to walk by.

Diego, from Argentina
(still waiting to play RTW!!!!)

I agree. I built a fort before I besieged Carthage in case something went wrong and I needed to pull my army back. A Fort gave me something close by to retreat to.

If your army comes up against a bigger enemy a fort is quite handy to have as backup to retreat to - if the enemy bypass it it means you have a smaller intact army in their rear to cut off any retreat for when you hopefully bring a bigger army to bear. If they stop to deal with it you have the chance to inflict heavier casulaties than if you met them in the field.

I don't think of forts as something to blokcade a road with.

**Arakasi** · 10-01-2004, 08:38

I've not seen the AI build forts yet, but then again I've hardly gotten into my main campaign as the Scythians.

**Lemur** · 10-01-2004, 14:44

Originally Posted by Arakasi

I've not seen the AI build forts yet, but then again I've hardly gotten into my main campaign as the Scythians.

I've seen the AI build forts. In fact, when I was invading Italy as the Carthaginains, the AI threw up THREE forts between me and Capua, each with two units in it. Meanwhile, while my main army was tied up dealing with their mini-forts, they brought up reinforcements for the main city.

Almost ... clever ...

**Orvis Tertia** · 10-01-2004, 16:07

I have not tried this yet, but I'm going to see if it works when I'm playing tonight:

Your army's zone of control is fairly small, but an enemy can't just move through it unless he wants to fight you first, right? So if you want to block a road in a mountain pass with forts, perhaps two forts side-by-side would work. It would be a matter of extending your zone of control completely across the pass so that the enemy could not technically move through it.