Which Units Do Better On Walls?

[Galain_Ironhide]

I'm not sure if anyone can back me up on this, but when I am attacking a wall, I always get my heavy unit (say for example - dismounted English Knights) on to the wall usually by ladder. Then instead of letting only 3 or 4 guys fight the defenders while the rest watch on until their comrade falls (and then the next guy joins in and so on), I always get my unit to move or run through the defenders unit along the wall until they are totally mixed through with the defending unit and then of course, suddenly your whole unit is fighting and the defenders tend to take a beating.

As a result I almost never lose a battle on a wall. Never to any low armour type (eg. peasants, archers, militia's etc) units and almost 3 out of 4 battles with matching heavy defending units I'll win as well.

Mixing my units through seems to wipe out the defending units advantage out, as suddenly they are being attacked properly.

I stand to be corrected by this, but I do this on H battles every fight with no problems.

[WhiskeyGhost]

I'm not sure if anyone can back me up on this, but when I am attacking a wall, I always get my heavy unit (say for example - dismounted English Knights) on to the wall usually by ladder. Then instead of letting only 3 or 4 guys fight the defenders while the rest watch on until their comrade falls (and then the next guy joins in and so on), I always get my unit to move or run through the defenders unit along the wall until they are totally mixed through with the defending unit and then of course, suddenly your whole unit is fighting and the defenders tend to take a beating.

As a result I almost never lose a battle on a wall. Never to any low armour type (eg. peasants, archers, militia's etc) units and almost 3 out of 4 battles with matching heavy defending units I'll win as well.

Mixing my units through seems to wipe out the defending units advantage out, as suddenly they are being attacked.

I stand to be corrected by this, but I do this on H battles every fight with no problems.

I do similar things, since if you leave them to work on their own, they just bunch up and engage with 2-3 men on either side at a time, and slowly get eaten up by arrows.

[ReiseReise]

I do the same, mostly because even if only 4 of the men in the unit are fighting, the whole unit loses stamina. If you have a small number of units you need to be able to defeat one unit and move on to the next, which doesn't work so well when they are exhausted.

[Fisherking]

I took the question to be about defending the walls. It is very difficult to micro manage all of your units when repelling multiple attacks, & I have not seen a defender advantage in doing this.

Attacking and taking settlements has never been a problem. Holding them has and still is to some extent.

Citadels are easier with extra walls and gates but cities that should fight better are usually better served by sallying than standing the siege.

[Alpedar]

Aginst AI I sucesfully use tactic where i put at leaast three melee units behind gate forming empty square with one side being gate. (I know, nothing new.)
Sometimes i've seen enemy run through gate and panic without countact.

But this works becose AI in general sieges stupid way - does not try to flank with towers/ladders, so player can concentrate his defense on one side and dont bother with rest.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Against a full stack of elite (although early period) Venetian troops led by a great general, I found that only 7 town militia did the trick in Vienna.

Firstly, town militia took out their ladder unit as it climbed, routing their Venetian militia spearmen. Then two units of town militia took on the seige tower's forces from both sides, and took heavy losses before the Venetian unit routed.

Next, I had three units line up in front of the gate in a 5 or 6 soldier-wide, deep unit formation, set to GUARD. Then, the unit which repelled the laddermen came down and stood on the left flank, in the same depth formation, set to attack, aligned towards the gate itself.

Next, I pulled my remaining town militia off the wall after routing the seige tower's forces, and set them to attack in a complimentary fashion from the right flank.

Finally, the ram broke through the gate and I had the two flanks charge the unit coming through, making contact simultaneously from both sides, forcing an almost instant rout.

Then the general broke through with his heavy militia spearmen and his mounted guard, and forced a pocket to form. The units in guard mode held formation while the flankers attacked from the sides, stopping the advance and also simultaneously wore down the enemy morale.

Slowly, one by one, the general lost his guard units, but even more than that, the surrounded enemy could not fight off my inferior, unupgraded, novice town milita. This was on very hard, very hard by the way, as the Danes in a recent posted campaign.

Finally I slew the general himself, after approximately 37 percent of his force was already dead. Routing did not follow immediately, as I had to slay even more of his elite troops. Even after 81 percent of his army lay dead, routing units continued to return against me.

Finally I ended up sallying against his remaining hundred archers and spearmen who stopped routing and started peppering me with arrows. It was a heroic victory.

(I'm familiar with the grammatical usage of 'an' heroic victory, but I feel it is an outdated and inconsistent rule, therefore I aim to eliminate its usage)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I say that town militia are all you need except against late period units... but by that time, I have too much territory to bother defending anything, merely seeking and exterminating any and all who attempt to resist my rule. And against the Hordes, I prefer an active, aggressive defense over seige defense anyway. Night fighter and high chevron generals paired with infinite mercenaries/veteran spearmen/heavy cavalry.

Guarding walls? Militia units and archers are all you ever need. The game rightly gives defenders an advantage on the walls. This is the militia men's home, they will fight to the death to protect it from an invader, especially while they still have the walls in their possession.

Version: LTC (not latest version, however) and latest vanilla.

[ReiseReise]

Nice post pizza, as usual, but weren't we talking about attacking?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Which units do better on walls? Was the thread title, for one.

Second, the conversation had turned to defense. I found that the units dont matter unless they are GROSSLY overmatched AND out numbered.

On that note, town militia are all you need until the point in the game where you arent concerned with defense anyway.