I've never seen this fps drop on sieges of this type, and my specs are similar to most people's on here. (2gb RAM, nvidia 6800 256mb video card, 3.0ghz processor) I've also never seen the severe lag that people complain about with ladders, although the other part of that problem, units of 150 men grouped around one ladder and only using one when there are 3 free ladders next to them. And that is the real problem I have with sieges. They don't work. You get hundreds of good infantry assaulting a wall with ladders and only climbing up one at a time, so they get slaughtered by the militia at the top. You get pathfinding in the streets which is an absolute joke. Pike units won't advance through the streets, or defend them, in close cohesion, even though let's be honest men trained like that should be a human barricade. You can't order a cavalry unit into a block of much more than 4 abreast when there's clearly room in the street for more. The game is very temperamental about deployment within the city/castle, so you can never quite get that perfect defensive formation there.
Added to this, sieges are dull. Dull as dishwater. In the early game they're practically all you do, and later on there's still way too many of them. Playing a basic capture the flag scenario doesn't cut it for me. Leave that to FPSs. I want an open field, rolling hills, room to maneuver, room for the enemy to maneuver, and I want somewhere where my men will deploy in the formation I want as and when I want. There's no joy in winning a siege in this game, whilst winning (or losing) a well fought open field battle can be exhilarating.
And that's why I auto resolve sieges.
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