Another seige AI flaw

[DisruptorX]

I just found a way to automatically win any seige, though I've only used it with wooden walls, there seems no reason why it wouldn't always work.

All you have to do is sally out the first turn they beseige you, so they don't get seige weapons. You deploy your entire army in your town square and have a cavalry unit near the gate on the opposite side of the castle from the enemy. The enemy will send their army at that one unit and are annihilated by towers. Once they are within a dangerous distance, retreat back into the castle. Your towers will make a mess of the enemy. Of course, you can sally out as many times as you want in the same turn. Or, alternatively, turn off the timer for more conveiniance, although I wouldn't recomend it. The AI doesn't always send everything at you, so its best to do several battles.

After losing most of my army in a failed breakout attempt, I used this tactic that I had developed torwards the end of that battle to defeat over 2000 enemy troops with my 60 men later that turn.

Silly computer.

[HicRic]

This has been mentioned somewhere before, I believe. Oddly enough I thought of trying it once (because I know how it's possible to trick AI with these things) and it worked like you said, got a bunch of free kills from towers. However, it has NEVER worked for me ever since! It's almost like the AI learnt from it's mistake... (I'm sure it didn't, but it sure looks like it did..)

[SwordsMaster]

Silly, but some 1300 carthaginians destroyed my 1105 man strong army. I destroyed their walls quite consistently, I buried all their men except the general bodyguard and a unit of peasants that was guarding the plaza. The final moments are like follows:

My general dies in a (silly) attempt to cross the city under tower fire. The acces to the plaza is completely blocked by my hastati (3 units, some 120 men in total, playing on LARGE).BTW, the only units I had left were the ballistae, 3 units of archers without ammo, those 3 hastati units and 25 gladiators who survived the walls (they personally climbed the walls and cleared some 200 archer-skirmishers. So I unleash the pila against the peasants over and over, then, when Im trying to put forward a unit of hastati that still had some pila left, the enemy general charges into the mess. I order everyone except the gladiators (and the archers) to charge the gen, but the first unit of hastati runs, then the second one runs, the 3rd didnt even get to engage. I charge my gladiators in, but they look as the enemy charges them head on and leg it! Anyway, the enemy pursued me and I lost the battle, coz I didnt actually want to charge the archers in.

But the next turn I unloaded an army of 5 legionary cohorts, 3 archers, 3 auxilia, 2 ballistae and some merc hoplites/slingers. They took the city losing about 7 men in total.

Of course this time the scipii were there with about 700 men, and I let them take the losses (as all good allies do... ) But I took the plaza first.

BTW, if you didnt know this already, if 2 allies attack the same city and win, the biggest army gets the province. Like MTW IIRC.

BTW, I just too the title of the thread to point out that the AI isnt THAT dumb, and its perfectly capable of defeating the player. And I also wanted to whine about my defeat, the worst in my history. And of course I massacred the population afterwards.

[DisruptorX]

This thread isn't complaining about the AI, I'm just pointing out another flaw to abuse.

[Oaty]

BTW, if you didnt know this already, if 2 allies attack the same city and win, the biggest army gets the province. Like MTW IIRC

According to the readme text or the manual, it is the one who initiates the assault. So if your besieging and them your ally comes along and assaults they get it not you. Or you can play dirty and attack a town that your ally has besieged