Quote Originally Posted by JMRC
That's life, buddy... you acted as a hot-headed commander

1. you should have used guard towers and/or spies to have early warning on the border;

2. you should have abandoned the fort before the enemy army arrived and then joined up with a reinforcing legion;

3. even then, you could still wait for the assault. The catapults might have brought down the walls and gates, but your legionaries and illyrian spearmen (in guard formation) could still stop the assault and maybe even rout a few enemy units. An assault always produces more casualties to the besieger than a sally from the besieged.

When the AI assaults, it usually doesn't stand still outside the gates, so they come in waves. Blocking some bottleneck inside the fort/settlement with strong defensive units might be enough to win the battle. As soon as they start routing, it's tough for the AI to effectively regroup and attack in an organised way.
I don't believe it was a hot-headed decision, just a wrong assumption that the AI will ever give me peace. Doesn't matter now, I promptly drained the coffers and sent Rome into spiraling debt and wiped the Epeirotes off the face of the earth. They will trouble neither Romanoi or their fellow Greeks again.

1) I did, they've marched by before. We've been allies for years with no problems, they seemed to have no interest in restarting the war and since they hadn't attacked me when I was weaker, I assumed this time would be no different. The AI took the army the same route they always did.

2)Had I been expecting war, and if the reinforcing legion couldn't come in time, I would have just pulled back into the city and defended from there.

3)Unlike in a city, if you wait three turns, your entire army just dies, general or no (and my general was back on the peninsula for a bit to get some re-inforcements from recently available units). There is no assualt to defend from.

If the AI had assualted, I probably would have won, I'd say I'm a competent defender.