Is there any way to mod fort defense?

[sandman2575]

First off, thanks to Darth for all the incredible work that he has been putting into this mod. I enjoy it a lot (although am playing on the 'vanilla' troop numbers version due to shortcomings of my computer.)

Playing yesterday as Spain -- H/H -- my artillery fort in St. Augustine was completely obliterated by the Cherokee. It took them all of 15 minutes to do this.

I don't know if this is something that can be modded, but improving the fort sieges would be a *massive* improvement to gameplay.

I had a decent force -- couple of units of Line Infantry, militia, pikemen, 2 demi-cannons, general, citizen militias, native american cavalry. The Cherokee did outnumber me, but not by much -- defintely not by 2:1. I had my units fairly well deployed to try to take advantage of the fort's guns, buildings, cavalry hidden outside the fort in woodland. Demi-cannons & pikemen in the main courtyard to try to create a kill zone if the enemy should breach the defenses.

The Cherokee had no artillery (as well they shouldn't). What basically ensued was a slaughter. It looked like a swarm of army ants raiding some enemy colony. They rapelled up the walls so quickly that there was no reason to man the guns to begin with. And this drives me crazy: other units just walk in the main gates. Shouldn't they be barricaded? Or at least, um, locked???

The idea that a native american army with no artillery -- and no firearms for that matter -- just bowmen and melee and horse!!! -- could completely overrun a reasonably well-manned fortification in a matter of minutes is pure nonsense.

i know this is not at all the fault of Darthmod -- it's just as bad on Vanilla. But the Cherokee move so quickly on Darthmod that it made trying to defend the fort that much more futile.

Isn't the point of a fort that a small but well-supplied & equipped force can stave off even a large besieging force?

Is there any way to mod, for example, the speed at which enemy units can scale walls? It should be slowed down by a factor of 20. at least.

An army without artillery should not be able to take a fort without massively outnumbering the defenders. And even then they should suffer high casualties.

As it is now, there is no reason at all to build or man forts in ETW. Amazingly, CA created a situation where it's actually a *liability* to defend fortifications. And this is to say nothing about the pathfinding of units manning walls, etc. It's a complete bungle.

[Lucius Tiberius Vorenus]

The whole rope climbing nonesense drives me crazy. It's all Vanilla, and I'm sure it's impossible to mod.

Have you ever tried to climb a wall with full combat kit just using a rope? Much less a wall that's about 30 feet high? I have, and I'll tell ya if you make it to the top, your hands are going to be minced meat, and you'll be physically exhausted. I've boarded large ships wearing assault gear from the waterline using a 30 foot caving ladder , and every foot during the climb you're teetering between falling off and physical exhaustion as the climb progresses. I had a buddy that fell from about 15 feet and hit the deck of our assault boat, ruptured a disc, broke 3 ribs and punctured a lung....

BTW it will take you longer than the 5 seconds it takes in game to cover the distance from ground to the top of the wall. In addition not every man in the platoon/company/regiment would be able to make the climb because it would be too physically challanging for many regular infantrymen.

Wooden ladders ala' Rome would be more believable for me in Empire, versus this "every mans an elite mountaineering commando" rope climbing rubbish. At least you'd have a chance to kill the ladder bearers from the walls, or with cavalry, like you could in Rome.

Even more aggrivating, gates magically swinging open, when there's not even an enemy troop within 100 yards of that gate.

There's so much potential for fort sieges, both for the attacker, and the defender. It's a total shame what we have in game now.

[Scorpius_Brutii]

Vanilla bug, essentially.

Basically if the enemy has more soldiers than you on the walls, your entire fort gets taken over and all your bases are now belong to them.

Annoying as hell yes. I also don't see the merit of friggin grappling hooks. What the heck is the point of walls then.

It should be ladders, but only at turn 2 of the siege, turn 3 for grappling hooks.

[akinkhoo]

all you really have to do is to camp in the fort to win.

[Lucius Tiberius Vorenus]

all you really have to do is to camp in the fort to win.

Not a hit on you akinkhoo, you are correct in your response, due to the fact that the pathing on fort walls is so completely broken. The whole purpose of having fortified walls, is to be able to fight from atop the wall, and deny the enemy access, neither of which can the player accomplish in Empire.

It seems there's really no reason to have walls. You cannot effectively engage the enemy from the top of the wall. You cannot deny the enemy access because there's simply no mechanic in place. So the player is forced to unrealistically "game the game" and fight from the ground inside the fort. Tactically this makes no sense what so ever, but due to broken game mechanics, this is the best way to defeat the attacker.

The walls are more of a "speedbump". With what we currently have in game, defending a city could be better accomplished by fighting in the open, the defender placing calvary stakes, and fortified firing positions(earth or wooden berms).

[akinkhoo]

to be honest, 18th century wall are not design to stop infantry but artillery. they are suppose to be much shorter in height, with a slope to bounce cannonball and thick enough to not break under bombardment. it would actually be wrong for them to make 18th century wall look like 16th century wall.

if you think that the wall is short and sloping, it would make more sense, pity they didn't design the wall correctly to reflect the warfare of that time.

[sandman2575]

I'm still amazed at how completely CA botched the fortifications aspect of ETW. I'm not a military historian, but wasn't the 18th century essentially the 'golden age of fortification' where combat was concerned? They took fortification to a whole new level -- as evidenced by the 'star fort' -- it was a major engineering feat to design and build these things. It's not that they were impregnable, but that a sophisticated, modern fortification could dominate strategically important areas and essentially 'force' an enemy army to engage them. You couldn't just flank & ignore them like the Maginot Line in 1940.

There absolutely no sense of this ETW. Forts are at worst a liability and at best a nuisance. The balance is completely wrong: it's a challenge for the *defender* to hold a fort, not for the *attacker* to capture it. Amazing.

I wish there was some way to mod out grappling hooks. Or at least to *greatly* reduce the speed at which units can scale walls and, as Lucius Vorenus says, make them very tired if not exhausted if they're lucky enough to get to the top.

And will someone please lock the gates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!