Disturbing Sieges

[war is hell]

Let me start off by saying most sieges are a little weird for me, but this last one was especially disturbing...

So I'm playing as Carthage and I've just overrun most of Egypt with 2 elite stacks. For some reason they love attacking me over and over and over again even though I massacre them every time. Anyway I'm about to pullout because I cant afford the occupation and I think to myself "hmm" I'm gonna try and sack Alexandria before I do.

I'm setting up for the epic siege about to take place which is rare for me. I haven't really ever had a fun one yet, mostly they all really annoying with Numantia the only exception for me so far. However, this one had the makings to be a good one, since a full stack was approaching from the east. Also there was a half stack of elite troops with a FM commanding from within the city. At this point I was pretty pumped if you know what I mean.

I'm setting my up my pieces and being extremely careful where I place them, analyzing every possible scenario that could unfold. I probably spent 30 min just setting up this disaster

This is where it gets weird...

While I'm setting up I notice these odd looking objects in the distance. "huh I wonder what that is?

Anyway I'm pumped, I hit start and the battle is under way. "siege towers" I nod accordingly to myself...

I send in the siege towers, while I focus my attention elsewhere. All is going according to plan. My timing unparalleled. I was thinking "Man! I am definitely on my A game tonight"

I return to the towers thinking they should have hold of the walls by now, and I notice they were doing something weird. "Huh" I zoom way in to investigate, and I tell you it was like they forgot how to climb in, just marching around in front and not getting in. I say disturbing because I tend to imagine these sorts of things in real life and I'm sure the gaesatae were as confused as I was. Long story short. My awesome army was massacred and my faction heir, who I had been training forever was murdered. And those weird objects were some kind of sky hole you could march over. That's the best way to describe it.

I'm sure it promptly auto-saved immediately afterward.

Is there a fix for this? I don't want this happening again.

[athanaric]

I return to the towers thinking they should have hold of the walls by now, and I notice they were doing something weird. "Huh" I zoom way in to investigate, and I tell you it was like they forgot how to climb in, just marching around in front and not getting in. I say disturbing because I tend to imagine these sorts of things in real life and I'm sure the gaesatae were as confused as I was. Long story short. My awesome army was massacred and my faction heir, who I had been training forever was murdered. And those weird objects were some kind of sky hole you could march over. That's the best way to describe it.

I'm sure it promptly auto-saved immediately afterward.

Is there a fix for this? I don't want this happening again.

Alexandria is heavily bugged for some reason. The sky-holes are harmless though.
About the siege towers: There are some spots before Alexandria's walls where your siege towers can't "land" (look for uneven ground!).
Now your problem sounds as if it were caused by the classical RTW siege tower bug (that is, units running around the siege tower and not getting in). There is a way around this: right-click your unit on the wall in front of the siege tower. Some soldiers will now climb up. Repeat the right-click on the wall until all of the soldiers eventually climb up. This may take a while but it will help secure your victory.

[Atraphoenix]

simply starve Alexandreia the army that besieges her is damned by Pharaohs and soul of Alexander

[war is hell]

Ok thanks guys I guess I'll have to try this, since there is no adequate fix.

[Weebeast]

There is a way around this: right-click your unit on the wall in front of the siege tower.

Funny how I thought that's how it's supposed to be. The tower isn't "the ground" but the wall is and I want my troops on the wall. That's how I see it.

[Aemilius Paulus]

So what makes Alexandria so bad? Is it the location of it, surrounded by water? Alexandria is always a place of odd CTDs, mysterious pre-battle deployment scrambling, peculiar battle bugs... I daresay it is the Bermuda Triangle of EB!

But why? Is it just the campaign map placement that makes the settlement so buggy, or is there something else?