Org Mobile Site
View Poll Results: When besieged, what do you do?
I've modded out the sieges entirely, so I only have field battles.
0
0%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 63. This poll is closed
With phalanxes nothing is sweeter than a street-fight.
If I have good odds I'll sally quickly rather than being starved out. Usually I wait and see if the AI builds some siege-equipment and thus is going to assault. Otherwise I'll sally immediately - ideally with some outside aid.
If I have good odds I'll sally quickly rather than being starved out. Usually I wait and see if the AI builds some siege-equipment and thus is going to assault. Otherwise I'll sally immediately - ideally with some outside aid.
I voted that I always sally out immediatly. That's what I usually do, except for these special cases:
- Settlement has 100% peasant garrison -> I wait for a relief force.
- I either have only infantry, or am outmatched like 10-1 -> wait for them to attack me.
Whether I fight on streets or walls depends on the type of units I have. If I have legionaries then I defend the walls. If I have just phalanxes then I fight on the streets.
When sallying, I usually leave my infantry out of the battle entirely, put my archers on the walls and use my cavalry to attack the enemy units one at a time. If they start chasing my cavalry then I retreat back to the walls where my archers and the towers will punish the chasers. Using these tactics I can win heroic victories against armies 5 times bigger, without major casualties to my own forces. It makes very boring and long winded battles though.
- Settlement has 100% peasant garrison -> I wait for a relief force.
- I either have only infantry, or am outmatched like 10-1 -> wait for them to attack me.
Whether I fight on streets or walls depends on the type of units I have. If I have legionaries then I defend the walls. If I have just phalanxes then I fight on the streets.
When sallying, I usually leave my infantry out of the battle entirely, put my archers on the walls and use my cavalry to attack the enemy units one at a time. If they start chasing my cavalry then I retreat back to the walls where my archers and the towers will punish the chasers. Using these tactics I can win heroic victories against armies 5 times bigger, without major casualties to my own forces. It makes very boring and long winded battles though.
I usually attack from the walls, my cities usually have 5-6-7 units of archers, 2-3 cav's, rest inf. units.
Often the attackers go to right side of the field (dont ask me why), and will do that sort of in formation therefor coming within range of the archers on the wall,.. this will kill 3-400 of then in the first few minutes of the fight.
what I then do depends on the fact if I am attacked by 1 or more armies.
if it is one, I sally out for all my forces making a nice tight line with all archers behind then slowly creeping up on the army, decimating a lot of their units. What is left is then easy to kill with the infantrie and cav.
If there are more armies, you often know from what side they will join the fight, after the first sally of arrows from the walls I move my archers to side of the wall the other army has to pass killing perhaps 20-30% of them.
if the remaining army is to big I will lure unit to my walls with my general, teasing them to attack (if I have still arrows left). When nothing is left I turn game speed to max and wait the draw out...
this I will do till the sieging armies are defeated or till a supporting army arrives....
Often the attackers go to right side of the field (dont ask me why), and will do that sort of in formation therefor coming within range of the archers on the wall,.. this will kill 3-400 of then in the first few minutes of the fight.
what I then do depends on the fact if I am attacked by 1 or more armies.
if it is one, I sally out for all my forces making a nice tight line with all archers behind then slowly creeping up on the army, decimating a lot of their units. What is left is then easy to kill with the infantrie and cav.
If there are more armies, you often know from what side they will join the fight, after the first sally of arrows from the walls I move my archers to side of the wall the other army has to pass killing perhaps 20-30% of them.
if the remaining army is to big I will lure unit to my walls with my general, teasing them to attack (if I have still arrows left). When nothing is left I turn game speed to max and wait the draw out...
this I will do till the sieging armies are defeated or till a supporting army arrives....
I only sally when the enemy are trying to starve me out and I usually do it on the last turn.
A heroic all or nothing attempt
If they don't then I wait for the assault.
And when they attack I will fight them on the walls and streets.
Usually put half of the infantry on the walls and the rest on the streets.
A heroic all or nothing attempt
If they don't then I wait for the assault.
And when they attack I will fight them on the walls and streets.
Usually put half of the infantry on the walls and the rest on the streets.
Originally Posted by Conqueror:
I voted that I always sally out immediatly. That's what I usually do, except for these special cases:
- Settlement has 100% peasant garrison -> I wait for a relief force.
- I either have only infantry, or am outmatched like 10-1 -> wait for them to attack me.
Whether I fight on streets or walls depends on the type of units I have. If I have legionaries then I defend the walls. If I have just phalanxes then I fight on the streets.
When sallying, I usually leave my infantry out of the battle entirely, put my archers on the walls and use my cavalry to attack the enemy units one at a time. If they start chasing my cavalry then I retreat back to the walls where my archers and the towers will punish the chasers. Using these tactics I can win heroic victories against armies 5 times bigger, without major casualties to my own forces. It makes very boring and long winded battles though.
Word for word is exactly what I do.I voted that I always sally out immediatly. That's what I usually do, except for these special cases:
- Settlement has 100% peasant garrison -> I wait for a relief force.
- I either have only infantry, or am outmatched like 10-1 -> wait for them to attack me.
Whether I fight on streets or walls depends on the type of units I have. If I have legionaries then I defend the walls. If I have just phalanxes then I fight on the streets.
When sallying, I usually leave my infantry out of the battle entirely, put my archers on the walls and use my cavalry to attack the enemy units one at a time. If they start chasing my cavalry then I retreat back to the walls where my archers and the towers will punish the chasers. Using these tactics I can win heroic victories against armies 5 times bigger, without major casualties to my own forces. It makes very boring and long winded battles though.
Save and load.
The poll should probably be simpler:
1) Mostly sally out immediately
2) Mostly fight on the walls
3) Mostly fight in the street
4) Mostly wait to sally out (w/ relief force)
I've probably done all of the above at times, but sally out immediately 90% of the time.
1) Mostly sally out immediately
2) Mostly fight on the walls
3) Mostly fight in the street
4) Mostly wait to sally out (w/ relief force)
I've probably done all of the above at times, but sally out immediately 90% of the time.
Like others here, it's situational.
If the besiegers have lots of archers and I have a fair amount of cavalry, I'll sally and try to wipe them out.
If I see them building siege engines, I'll wait for the assault since it's like defending a bridge battle: cake.
If all I have are peasants, I scoot a relief force as fast as I can.
But I voted wait for the siege since that's what applies about half the time.
If the besiegers have lots of archers and I have a fair amount of cavalry, I'll sally and try to wipe them out.
If I see them building siege engines, I'll wait for the assault since it's like defending a bridge battle: cake.
If all I have are peasants, I scoot a relief force as fast as I can.
But I voted wait for the siege since that's what applies about half the time.
I sally immediately if there is no sally force nearby, unless a victory is impossible. For example I won't sally a unit of principes against a stack or half a stack unless it is extremely peasant heavy. If there is a relief force within a couple of turns I will wait for it if I think I'll need the extra edge in a battle, but that doesn't happen too often.
After responding in this thread, I had the nightmare sally scenario unfold: I was playing Numidia on VH/VH. Egypt besieged me in Siwa before I could get any long range units...still I sallied...three times...Egypt was reinforced and we fought in the streets/square where I was narrowly beaten by the surviving egyptian family member.
Initial battle, Sally 1:
Numidia (me): 1 mid size family member, 2 Numidian Mtd. Javs., 4 Numidian javelinmen (1 a merc), 2 Desert Infantry, 1 Peasant. Relatively large army, but NO long range units were available.
Egypt: ~2 mid size family members (chariot archers), 1 chariot archer, 3 bowmen, 1 javelinman, 1 slinger, 1 Numidian Cav merc., 4 Nubian spearmen, 3 peasants.
This should be an impossible match up for Numidia as it is massively outranged and would be severaly outclassed in melee both on the mounted side, and on the infantry side. However, the AI has no idea how to use all those archers or its phalanx units...and I know that.
Tough fight, but I managed to catch the bowmen on the run and kill all but 30 of them. Killed some of the peasants, which are a nuisance on VH. Set my javs loose on the chariot archer unit cutting it down to 1/3rd. Also used javs to weaken the Nubian phalanxes. Killed off the merc. cav. Losses due to chariot archer missiles were high but I still killed better than 2:1 before withdrawing.
Sally 2:
My decent general got caught by some chariots and was killed in this sally (running down bowmen and being slowed by remaining peasant speedbumps...which allowed the chariots to catch him,) fortunately I was "reinforced" by a family member coming of age in the settlement. Now with reduced morale, I couldn't keep my javs from routing, but did cause more damage to the phalanx units, etc.
Sally 3:
Situation desparate. Weak general. Pushed forward with javs to kill off phalanx, and hoped that chariots would try to engage. Nubians nearly dead at the end, chariot archer unit dead, only the two Egypian family members and a few scraps remained...but I couldn't face them until my troops were re-equipped with missiles and morale.
Assault:
AI reinforced with two units of slingers and 2 more nubian spearmen. I'm down to scraps: small general unit, small numidian cav, 2 javelinmen, 1 spearman. I sally out with puny cav force as the rams approach killing 3/4 the slingers manning them. General gets caught by an Egyptian family member and is of course mauled but makes it back into settlement. One ram makes it to the wall, my javs close to the wall inflict heavy losses on the spearman. I withdraw to the square. Rout all units of phalanx spearmen at the square, and kill the enemy general, but finally succumb to the remaining enemy family member.
Conclusion:
Had my main general not been killed in the 2nd sally, I would have won. The reinforcements Egypt received were then pivotal. Still came close to pulling it off. The AI has no idea how to use its forces. There was no way for me to reinforce, so I risked nothing by sallying. In the end I destroyed nearly a full Egyptian's stack worth of men, giving me time to take out the remaining Carthaginians in Africa at Lepcis Magna, and prepare a *real* army to meet the Egyptians near Cyrene.
Initial battle, Sally 1:
Numidia (me): 1 mid size family member, 2 Numidian Mtd. Javs., 4 Numidian javelinmen (1 a merc), 2 Desert Infantry, 1 Peasant. Relatively large army, but NO long range units were available.
Egypt: ~2 mid size family members (chariot archers), 1 chariot archer, 3 bowmen, 1 javelinman, 1 slinger, 1 Numidian Cav merc., 4 Nubian spearmen, 3 peasants.
This should be an impossible match up for Numidia as it is massively outranged and would be severaly outclassed in melee both on the mounted side, and on the infantry side. However, the AI has no idea how to use all those archers or its phalanx units...and I know that.
Tough fight, but I managed to catch the bowmen on the run and kill all but 30 of them. Killed some of the peasants, which are a nuisance on VH. Set my javs loose on the chariot archer unit cutting it down to 1/3rd. Also used javs to weaken the Nubian phalanxes. Killed off the merc. cav. Losses due to chariot archer missiles were high but I still killed better than 2:1 before withdrawing.
Sally 2:
My decent general got caught by some chariots and was killed in this sally (running down bowmen and being slowed by remaining peasant speedbumps...which allowed the chariots to catch him,) fortunately I was "reinforced" by a family member coming of age in the settlement. Now with reduced morale, I couldn't keep my javs from routing, but did cause more damage to the phalanx units, etc.
Sally 3:
Situation desparate. Weak general. Pushed forward with javs to kill off phalanx, and hoped that chariots would try to engage. Nubians nearly dead at the end, chariot archer unit dead, only the two Egypian family members and a few scraps remained...but I couldn't face them until my troops were re-equipped with missiles and morale.
Assault:
AI reinforced with two units of slingers and 2 more nubian spearmen. I'm down to scraps: small general unit, small numidian cav, 2 javelinmen, 1 spearman. I sally out with puny cav force as the rams approach killing 3/4 the slingers manning them. General gets caught by an Egyptian family member and is of course mauled but makes it back into settlement. One ram makes it to the wall, my javs close to the wall inflict heavy losses on the spearman. I withdraw to the square. Rout all units of phalanx spearmen at the square, and kill the enemy general, but finally succumb to the remaining enemy family member.
Conclusion:
Had my main general not been killed in the 2nd sally, I would have won. The reinforcements Egypt received were then pivotal. Still came close to pulling it off. The AI has no idea how to use its forces. There was no way for me to reinforce, so I risked nothing by sallying. In the end I destroyed nearly a full Egyptian's stack worth of men, giving me time to take out the remaining Carthaginians in Africa at Lepcis Magna, and prepare a *real* army to meet the Egyptians near Cyrene.
Originally Posted by Geoffrey S:
Save and load.
Heh.Save and load.
Usually I try to relieve the besieged city and fight them in the field. I sally only if I have superior numbers and troops or where I am left with no other choice.
Single Sign On provided by vBSSO