Starving out a coastal city

[Hippias]

City with a port i.e. Athens - if it is besieged by an army, but the port is still open, does it seem reasonable that it could be starved out?

Surely as long as the port is clear they can get supplies that way? Probably hardcoded, but much better if you have to blockade the port with a fleet to win - leading to some real important naval battles as you try to run the blockade.

[DimeBagHo]

Many cities did not have protected access to their ports. If they were beseiged they could not be resupplied by sea. Athens was an exception - they actually built a wall leading to Piraeus, and around the port itself. That was the main reason why the Athenians were able to hold out in the Peloponnesian war, even though they could not beat the Spartan main force on land, and even though the Spartans pillaged their lands every year.

Unfortunately this is hard coded - there's no way that I can think of to represent this sort of thing in the game.

[Hippias]

Fair enough

Different question, but one that occurred to me at the same time - naval mercenaries? When you click to see what mercs are available in a costal region like cilicia or rhodes (both famous for pirates) what about the option of recruiting a 'pirate fleet' (all of us must have seen 'Spartacus' at some time). Handy for landlocked nations like parthia and armenia when they read the Meditaranean but haven't yet captured a port city?

[Warmaster]

Great thinking Hippias!

I dont know if the naval mercenaries is a feasable option, but it'd be so cool if it could be done

[DimeBagHo]

That is a cool idea, but I doubt if it will work. Hired mercs appear on the general, which obviously wouldn't work too well on land, and you can't place mercs at sea (no regions). It would be possible to add them as AOR units though.