Sigh. Annoying Siege Battles

[Quickening]

Okay so I tend to besiege my enemies rather than lose lots of men in an assault. But sometimes something happens that really annoys me.
The AI comes out to break my siege as you'd expect. But after I defeat them they flee to the centre of their citadel and do nothing. If I haven't breached the first wall by running my men through as the AI flees through the gate, them Im screwed. I have to quit the battle with results in a loss for me.
Even if I was lucky enough to get some men through, I have to wait an age for my infantry to get all the way to the centre of the city. This is stupid. Since Im laying siege, and have just defeated the enemy which was trying to break said siege, I should be able to get back to the campaign map and the siege should continue from there.

Thoughts?

[dismal]

Use the Time limit.

[Quickening]

Use the Time limit.

I don't like the time limit. But I suppose I have no choice really. Although it still involves sitting there twiddling your thumbs for about half an hour.

[HoreTore]

Uhm... Just wait until the time limit expires.

You'll get a draw, and if it was in the last turn of the siege, you'll get the province(or maybe if you kill all but a couple of the enemies too, not sure on that).

Turn it up to 3 times speed, and go make yourself a nice cup of tea. When you get back, the battle will be over :)

[dunno]

When an enemy sallies and is defeated you no-longer have to wait for the timer to run out in-order to win.

Unless I'm interpreting this wrong, it looks like it is being taken care of in the upcoming patch.

[Forward Observer]

First of all, I never attempt a seige without an engine or two regardless of whether I plan of assaulting or not, and I also do not play with the timer on.

I also rarely besiege a settlement when I have not already sent one or more syies ahead to give me a shot at having the gates opened. I'm not sure if this function works when the enemy sallies, but at least it lets me know what kind of army I am up against.


In your case, why don't you go ahead and simply cue up the building of seige towers, rams, and ladders when you first besiege a settlement.

It doesn't cost anything but some free points based on your army size, and even if you don't plan on an assault you will alway have them to overcome the situation you just described. Once you have men over the wall and inside the settlement, everybody else can enter.

Cheers

[Foz]

In your case, why don't you go ahead and simply cue up the building of seige towers, rams, and ladders when you first besiege a settlement.

It doesn't cost anything but some free points based on your army size, and even if you don't plan on an assault you will alway have them to overcome the situation you just described. Once you have men over the wall and inside the settlement, everybody else can enter.

Cheers

Well put, FO. As you say it's free to do, and at least then you're ready to assault should you decide you want to, and can bring down the walls or climb them if they sally and then retreat. I've taken to just queuing up my normal assault materials when the siege screen first comes up. I figure If my army has to sit there idly for years at a time, they might as well at least make wooden implements of death while they're at it. I also may decide to assault before they give up if enough men starve, which is yet another good reason to have the necessary tools at hand.

[Whacker]

Good points about the siege equipment, making it a habit to automatically queue stuff up will often help out as FO and Foz said.

That said, I think the best way to handle this type of situation is to force a battle timer, even if the player has it set to off. That way, the sallying force has some incentive to actually DO what they're doing. If they fail or second guess and decide to retreat back to the town square and wait it out, the timer will expire and a draw will occur, and neither side gains or loses anything except any battle casualties. It's either this, or somehow giving the player the option to start a timer manually in this situation when playing a timerless battle. /shrug

[Dreadnought1]

First of all, I never attempt a seige without an engine or two regardless of whether I plan of assaulting or not, and I also do not play with the timer on.

I also rarely besiege a settlement when I have not already sent one or more syies ahead to give me a shot at having the gates opened.

[clipped]

In your case, why don't you go ahead and simply cue up the building of seige towers, rams, and ladders when you first besiege a settlement.

Cheers

In regard to bringing along a seige engine or two, I agree wholeheartedly.
Even a single ballista to beat the hell out of the gates will generally do the trick. If the enemy sally and you have ballistas/culverins/catapults, you often get to flail them with fire and iron as they're all grouped together coming out of the gate ("Yah, lots of kills and extra experience for the crews!")...

With building rams and towers, I've done that only to find they get in the way when the enemy do sally forth - then it becomes a race to drop them and reform a decent line. Yes, they are "free" but they can be a pain sitting in front of one of your units....

In the case of all the enemy routing back into the castle/town and closing the gate behind them, I suppose a single ram would generally suffice but if an enemy unit rallies and stays near the gate, you'll cop return fire!

I find it easier to bring at least one ballista/artillery piece along for the siege. If you're going to party, make sure you bring the right gear!

Cheers,
Dreadnought1

[R'as al Ghul]

I'm playing with time limit=on. I've never run out of time and I play all battles myself. I hardly need half of the timer whether defending or attacking. I often put the timer on 3* to speed up the second half if I haven't already routed or destroyed the enemy. It's plenty of time, I'd try it.
I've also disabled the ballistas ability to shoot at walls and I've made all walls and gates stronger. This makes sieges a bit more worthwhile for me. I'm also using Darth's siege AI mod. I've even lost a siege attack due to moral penalties.
I don't build artillery buildings as a rule and I seldom build artillery from captured buildings. When sieging, I queue up rams and towers or ladders for 1-2 turns, then I'll attack. It's more difficult than being able to conveniently destroying towers etc. and more fun to me.