The reason to take walls rather than destroy them :)

[Dorkus]

well, easier to sap and take the walls, imo.

you ahve to select one and only one unit to get up on to a wall. if you try to get a group up there, or if you select multiple units, the cursor grays out on the walls.

annoying when you want to send multiple infantry units up a wall. though in truth multiple units aren't that useful on walls in any event.

[hoof]

The number one reason against sapping for me is arrow fire from the defending towers. Nothing is more annoying than the steady drain on your soldiers as they march near the walls.

I usually create a mix of ladders and siege towers. The towers are to distract the wall defenders, while the ladder troops deploy far from my main force to minimize the chance of defenders on their wall section. Once up, I charge them to the wall fight, and can usually pincer the defenders. An added bonus is if they can sieze a gate on the way, allowing access to the inside for the regular troops.

If you sap a wall, silencing the towers becomes much more complicated. If the sappers choose to sap a wall section with towers on either side, the breach will prevent access from one tower to the other w/o climbing down first. Thus you need two units of infantry, or a bigger chunk of time while the one unit clears out tower 1, then tower 2.

However, for quick access to the town, nothing beats sappers. Siege towers are way too slow (those guys take an eternity to climb the tower to fight, by the time they're done, the battle's over). Ladders can be faster, if they can sieze a gate without much resistance. This is usually not possible if the defenders have a decent-sized army (they will usually not oppose a single ladder team, but will defend a ladder team backed up by an assault force) I've avoided the ram-vs-gate approach or going through a gate opened by spy for fear of the oil, thus I don't know how bad it is to try to get in via a hostile gate (other than wooden wall cities that don't have oil).

[Slaists]

However, for quick access to the town, nothing beats sappers. Siege towers are way too slow (those guys take an eternity to climb the tower to fight, by the time they're done, the battle's over). Ladders can be faster, if they can sieze a gate without much resistance. This is usually not possible if the defenders have a decent-sized army (they will usually not oppose a single ladder team, but will defend a ladder team backed up by an assault force) I've avoided the ram-vs-gate approach or going through a gate opened by spy for fear of the oil, thus I don't know how bad it is to try to get in via a hostile gate (other than wooden wall cities that don't have oil).

my experience has been a bit different: if i use a number of seige towers from different directions and sappers simultaneously. the guys with the seige towers are usually on top of the walls first. given that they silence all the sections they occupy and then make them fire at the defenders: i think, it's a bonus.