Quote Originally Posted by ajaxfetish
Earlier this year someone (possibly Procrustes? can't remember for sure) was experimenting with defensive sieges, upgrades, etc. He seemed to find one unit of Royal Knights & several organ guns an effective and virtually unstarvable garrison. If you wish to test your upgraded defenses, you may try leaving just those in a province to encourage invasion and then see if they will assault you.

Perhaps someone with a better memory will correct my errors, or you can search for the thread, as it had a lot of information relevant to the topic.

Ajax

Hi,

Sorry - it wasn't me... But all this discussion is making me want to comment - forgive me if I ramble a bit.

I recently used a couple of organ guns in a massive citadel defense - they caused tremendous casualties, but remember they only have eight shots (if you don't turn limited ammo off.) What I've found works really good is just some sturdy AP infantry - vikings, MS, halbs with some valor - heavy sword infantry works great, too. You get the advantage of a big moral boost because there is no-where to retreat - this really helps your pole-arms shine. I love to use dismounted knights, but they count as two men (because of the horse) when it comes to how many can fit in the fort. I like bringing a missile or two, too - some arbs will cause a steady stream of casualties.

You can always get the horde to assault you - stuff your fortification with as many men as you can and be prepared for an all-nighter.

The most important upgrade to get if you think you will be assaulted is the stone wall around your keep.

Consider using a cheap unit as bait - run up to the gate so that it opens and try to entice a couple of units to chase you back inside. If the gate closes behind them then you can swarm them. Kinda tricky, but fun - works best if there isn't a mass of enemy units right outside the gate or they will just keep streaming in and it won't close.

I really think that if you upgrade to the next level fort, all the interim upgrades appear whether you built them or not. I mean, if you go directly from a keep to a castle and then your castle is assaulted you will find you have ballista towers - even though you didn't build them separately.

One big advantage of any upgrades is that when the province changes hands after an assault the fortification will generally be degraded one level. If it has an upgrade, the upgrade disappears but you still have the fortification - otherwise the fortification is knocked back one level. (Will cost you a lot more to rebuild.)

Thanks for letting me babble. I'd appreciate any comments that come up - especially if it seems like I got something wrong.

Best,