Stashing Stockpiles?

[professorspatula]

The more people you have defending the stronghold, the less time the stocks last. If you have a large castle and only a handful of defenders, there's enough grub there for them to happily munch on until the enemy gives up or bashes down the doors many years later. If you intend on keeping a few hundred defenders in a keep, well even with the best upgrades, they'll starve within very few years. Keep a minimal garrison if you want to sit out the siege for many years and have your relief force come from somewhere else.

[NodachiSam]

That's right, bigger castles can hold more food and soldiers and more soldiers consume food faster. Agricultural production is not so important.

Those sieges will end eventually, maybe 20 years or so which is perhaps an unreasonable time to wait. Unfortunately, I'm not a reasonable person and when I wish not to suffer massive casualties waiting for a dozen soldiers who are hiding in fort knox and I rarely have siege equipment handy. At least a few of my soldiers have probably seen their babies get married while they wait for those bastards to starve. Sadly I am both cheap and patient when I can be.

That is a good reason not to kill all the enemies who rout when they will be forced to hole up in a castle. Remember, you get no extra valour anyways. Actually when I can get away with it financially I prefer to just bribe the army inside and keep the city intact.

[Del Arroyo]

I like to go for maximum killage, because even if the survivors are so few the siege lasts forever, at least they won't be killing my men in the meantime. Attrition to the sieging army is determined by total numbers inside the castle... and a small garrison can often be bribed... or the doors can be opened on it by a spy, after a few years. If you choose to assault and you have the appropriate equipment, losses are usually not so bad.

Also, if you get them all before they get to the castle, then they won't be able to sally next year with outside help and kick your butt! And, if worse comes to worse, you can always retreat and then re-attack with a small unit or two, and this time get ALL the little flockers!

DA

[Weebeast]

Oooohhh

I should've thought of that. I thought army size didn't matter anyway. I had large garrisons but my enemies are huge. The reason I keep hiding is that I prefer being assaulted rather than sallying. This way my enemy brings in all his reinforcement and its best troops, and I get to kill a lot of 'em...I mean my arrow and barbican towers get to kill a lot of 'em. I won't be able to kill that many when sallying.

[EatYerGreens]

I don't know if it is a new change which came with VI or not. Either way, I didn't get the opportunity to see this option (below) until recently.

If you get caught off guard and your ruler or a high-stars general ended up trapped under siege but your best relief force is nowhere near big enough to win the province back before he's starved out, you at least have the option, now, to activate a sally battle but click an option to abandon the province and escape intact!

For whatever reason, the AI never seems to pull this stunt when I'm sieging them....