it work in 1.4 on m/m and dont know if it a bug or feature but it seems that rebels in settlements dont have fire at will turned on and there are no more arrows chasing at you, so basically to capture settlements you need large portion of archers doing one volley, escape and replay. It takes long than usual full attack but this way you can lose less than 10 men fighting againts settlements with 6 archer units(dogs).