Siege machines

[I of the Storm]

Concerning return fire: I found it most useful to deploy 2-4 archer squads in loose formation in front of the artillery to function as arrow sponges. The towers almost always target the closest units, the exception being if your general is within their range (here seems to be a hidden target priority list somewhere). This way you'll only loose quite a few cheap archers. Remember to advance them with your assault troops until you reach the breaches. Saves some casualties among the heavy inf.

[seireikhaan]

Concerning return fire: I found it most useful to deploy 2-4 archer squads in loose formation in front of the artillery to function as arrow sponges. The towers almost always target the closest units, the exception being if your general is within their range (here seems to be a hidden target priority list somewhere). This way you'll only loose quite a few cheap archers. Remember to advance them with your assault troops until you reach the breaches. Saves some casualties among the heavy inf.

Na, don't use archers. Most archers will frankly die way to quick for my tastes to be meat shields. Vanilla spearmen, especially with a little extra armor, are the way to go for this role. Relatively cheap unit, you get 100 in comparison to 60, and the addition of their shield means that the towers won't mow through archers before your siege machines are done with their work.

[Ironsword]

- Also, whatever you do, don't take trebuchets, mangonels or seige cannons to a field battle, unless you're absolutely sure they will be facing the right way! Yes, they look real pretty, but the amount of times I've fielded them out of desperation only to have them at right angles to the enemy...

Catapults, demi culverinns etc. are a lot more forgiving.

[Martok]

Good point, Ironsword. With the exception of Organ guns on bridge battles and the occasional catapult, I pretty much never use artillery in field battles.

Of course, part of my reluctance to use siege weapons in defensive battles also has to do with artillery crews' almost-supernatural ability to hit enemy generals. As much fun as it is to kill an AI commander with a big ol' rock to the head, I find it a little too easy overall (and therefore consider it an exploit).

[m52nickerson]

Good point, Ironsword. With the exception of Organ guns on bridge battles and the occasional catapult, I pretty much never use artillery in field battles.

Of course, part of my reluctance to use siege weapons in defensive battles also has to do with artillery crews' almost-supernatural ability to hit enemy generals. As much fun as it is to kill an AI commander with a big ol' rock to the head, I find it a little too easy overall (and therefore consider it an exploit).

.....but picking off that Jedi general who is alone hold up in his fortress gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside.

[Knight of the Rose]

Siege isn't too bad in field battles.

When defending, I find the AI will try to avoid being in harms way when approaching your position, and with the superior range of siege machines, I've managed a couple of times to force the AI to enter my hill at a steeper point than normal.

They generally kill to few though, to be worth the while.

/KotR

[Roark]

Pre-Gunpowder: Sieges only. The only engines you really need in order to be effective are catapults and Mangonels. I usually hire Mangonel mercs, as the build requirements are pretty huge. These are for big walls (like Constantinople). Catapults are easily available and, more importantly, they can swivel. In sufficient numbers, these should be able to smash anything smaller than a Citadel enough for your boys to get in through a couple of different points/holes.

Gunpowder: On defence, serpentines and organ guns can be absolutely devastating in numbers, but keep in mind that, for every siege engine you include, that's one less unit of actual fighting troops to hold off the foe. Also, with Organ Guns, it is critical that you place them in a precise strategic defence point, as the range and reload are pathetic. A hill is essential, to allay cavalry charges, and you need to pack some flanking spears/polearms close by to defend your gun crews if necessary. Having said all that, I've seen a pair of organ guns vaporise an entire unit of Lancers in one round of shooting.

For sieges, anything except bombards and mortars will do the job well for any size of fortress.

For offence, ummm... you can pretty much forget about siege engines overall. Even if you guess the enemy's starting position correctly, he will almost always move to a better defensive position on Hard or Expert. Don't bother.