castle defense

**myz** · 09-26-2006, 05:27

are the new castles pretty much impregnable now? It seems from the readings of the previews that there are now 3 layers of defenses the attackers have to breach. You can camp archers in the outermost and innermost layers, and pikemen in between and everywhere else, whoever attacks will either die off trying, or suffer huuuge losses. So how is this castle defense handled? is it possible to win clear victory in storming castles?

**Polemists** · 09-26-2006, 05:37

I think. I think that while it's true Castles are much heavier fortified realize you have better weapons to knock down there walls. Sure when you try a straight on charge you'll suffer huge losses, and yes catapaults and trebuchets will prolly run out of ammo before you completely take down first ring.

Then again keep in mind that not everything is a castle, we have castles and cities. Plus I'm quite sure no one will have three ring walls starting you have to build up. So strike early or bring gun powder, and lots and lots of men. Blood strewned battles feels, ahhhhhh

**Hochmeister** · 09-26-2006, 05:41

Yes it sounds like it will be bloody but not impossible which is how it should be. Did you read in the Sicilian review about Mortars, sounds like they will be a handy unit for castle defence as well as attack due to their high trajectory.

**hoom** · 09-26-2006, 05:44

Or do the historically accurate & just blockade them till they surrender

Should be interesting, I always assaulted early in previous TWs, never found much satisfaction from use of wall destruction in RTW so almost exclusively have just assaulted the walls.

**Furious Mental** · 09-26-2006, 05:53

I believe the developers said somewhere that it will probably require multiple battles to take the largest castles, i.e. you'll have to break through one layer of defense at a time.

**TB666** · 09-26-2006, 06:06

Also you can note that in order for the towers to fire you need to have a unit standing next to them.

**hoom** · 09-26-2006, 06:34

Oh, thats interesting, where did they say that?

**Kourutsu** · 09-27-2006, 03:17

Castles are easily breached! All you have to do is send your finest soldier up the latrine run-off shoot. And I say this with all seriousness. Happened at castle Gaillard in France I think.

**Polemists** · 09-27-2006, 03:22

Yes and one time Romans were saved by the flight of geese, when the stupid birds honked as intruders approached from a cliff, Needless to say these factors arn't in. These are on average how did castle assaults go. While some you seem to want this wayyyyy easy, I don't think it will be. Personally I'm glad it's not, I don't want to build three rings just to have someone surround me for 18 years.

Hopefully AI will be intelligent enough to send armies from else where to break seiges. If they could do this in Barbarian Invasion i dunno why not in MTW.
PREPARE FOR BLOODSHED

**Bob the Insane** · 09-27-2006, 11:33

BI did show greater willingness by the AI to assault, and it usually built a combination of Ram, Ladders and Tower to do it... Of everthing the Ladders are the scariest as they are indestructable and when there are 3 or 4 full stacks of a horde out there your only chance to keeping them outside the walls or they will do you will sheer weight of numbers...

I think the dismountable cavalry will make a bif difference in M2TW too, as you could often see off a an attacking Hunnic horde if you could decimate their merge infantry. But if all those HAs and generals out there could start the battle dismounted then there would be much more to worry about...

**Grumfoss** · 09-27-2006, 12:51

I'm sure that castles in this period rarely had huge garrisons. For example most of the castles in Wales had very small garrisons of maybe as small as 50 men. The castles were designed in such a way that a small force could defend them against a much larger force.

I think that the idea of having wall towers operational only if they have a unit next to them is great. However I do think that if you have one unit on the walls then all the towers should be active, until that unit either routs or is destroyed.

**Furious Mental** · 09-27-2006, 15:02

Since fortifications can sustain a number of militia units for nothing it shouldn't be too difficult to have enough troops to keep the fortifications firing. It also means not having to worry so much about a city with a one unit garrison being taken by FREAKIN BANDITS!!!

I noticed in some screenshots of building types that there are "improved towers" and "castle_cannon" (obviously not a final name). If the cannon are indeed cannon, hopefully they will know not to fire at one's own walls.