Who/what do you garrison with?

[morteduzionism]

How do you garrison your border cities? Do you put a full mercenary army in it(because it will be inevitably attacked multiple times)? A light garrison? A lot of the cheapest units(Peltasts, Peasants, etc)?

[Calyptus]

with the greeks, armoured hoplites and regular archers, I have the cash anyway.

With numidia, whatever I can get because I'm strapped for cash and got crap units to this date. Luckely jullii attacked carthage and they had to pull back to carthage to defend.

[guyyug]

I usually fill my border cities with mainly light infantry and archers, maybe some heavy infantry and one or two units f light cav to chase routers. if I'm bordered with barbarian factions, against more deadly factions archers and some heavy infantry with light cav again for routers. I hate putting anything that takes 2 turns as garrisons unless the unit is below 33%.

[morteduzionism]

I usually fill my border cities with mainly light infantry and archers

So are you constantly reconquering your border cities? Or do you not keep the same borders for any extended period of time?

What do you do when the city is attacked?

[LeonidasOfSparta]

So are you constantly reconquering your border cities? Or do you not keep the same borders for any extended period of time?

What do you do when the city is attacked?

Defend it....lol

I keep many archers and if possible hoplites, if I'm not Greece then spearman of any kind.

Leonidas

[morteduzionism]

Defend it....lol

I keep many archers and if possible hoplites, if I'm not Greece then spearman of any kind.

Leonidas

Ok, maybe we're not talking about the same thing. With @4 units how do you defend against 2 full stacks of enemies?

In my campaigns(Illyria, Gaul, Macedonia and Carthage) attack me relentlessly...back to back to back to back to back...you get the idea

I run through armies at an alarming pace...my current tactic is to keep an army in the bodering province to defend the city...when it needs relief I move up my Latium Legion(kept in Latium for just this purpose) to hold the line while the other returns for retraining...90% of the time I'm attacked before I can get my Legion back...

That's why I'm wondering should I begin using a whole Mercenary army for a garrison...

[EK Maxmias]

Here's the breakdown...

Any Roman faction: 5 archers, 2 first-level calvary (to chase down the fleeing cowards).

Greeks: 2 Heavy calvary, 6-8 Plain hoplites. (defend the town square. MEAT GRINDER).

Macadon: 5 archers, 2 light lancers.(shower with arrows until they retreat or time runs out. Rinse and repeat).

Pontis: 6 pikemen. 2 cappadocian cavalry. (a bit pricey, but I'm rolling in 2 million denari. I'm in vanilla and utilize the 150 year tribute "cheat" since I'm in it for the war, not management).

Thrace: 6 pikeman, 2 cavalry (as you expand, a good garrison helps maintain peace at interior cities as well).

Armenia: 6 heavy pikeman, 2 cataphracts (another money-wize faction that lacks long range archers for the walls. Late in the game you can't win a shooting match with archer auxilia).

Parthia: 6-8 hoarse archers. (with no decent footmen or long range archers, you need to take the fight to the invaders. Once they get in you can't stop them).

Selucid Empire: 6 levy pikemen, 2 light cavalry (Selucid archers are not so good as Macadonian archers for some reason. So I wait in the town sqaure with cheap but affective road blocks).

Egypt: 5 Pharoas, or plain Archers , 2 desert cavalry. (as a rich faction this is reasonable. Desert cavalry chase down runners with great affect).

Numidia: 5 archers, 2 medium cavalry (Not long range archers, but the best, cheapest garrison available. Desert spearman can't hold the town square so well. One of many reasons I like the challenge of Numidia).

Carthage A: 5 slingers, 3 medium cavalry (worst defence available, can't use sacred band to defend every town.)

Carthage B: 5 archers, 2 medium cavalry (yea, I activated the archers. Hey, there already skinned and everything).

Spain A: 6 Iberian infantry, 2 medium cavalry (you need to activate the cavalry. A weak defence against a large army, so I have my cavalry lure the stupid enemy to my tower arrows. Takes a long time)

Spain B: 5 carthaginian archers, 2 medium cavalry (did I mention I activated "numidian archers" for spain too? They have carthage skins though. I also gave all barbarian factions 1st level stone walls(which look really cool in barb settlements) and paved roads to speed up the game).

Gaul: 5 archer warband, 2 chosen cavalry (mostly on active borders. Expensive but unbeatible on those stone walls. I like to replace interior city garrisons with 5 basic warbands).

Britania: 5 warband, 2 chariot archers (very crappy defence force. really forces you to stay on the offensive).

Germania A: 6 spear warband, 2 barbarian cavalry (you need the fast horses to catch the ground meat that runs away).

Germania B: 5 chosen archer, 2 noble cavalry (with stone walls in the late game. Long range hell for the invaders).

Dacia A: 5 warband archers, 3 barbarion cavalry, 4 warband (large garrison for crappy early situation. Usually take high casualties in the best battles).

Dacia B: 5 chosen archers, 2 noble cavalry (Same as the Germans).

Skythia A: 6 hoarse archers (much like Parthia).

Skythia B: 5 chosen archers, 2 noble cavalry (much like Germans and Dacians).

Unless I have pikemen, I always sally forth to avoid the loss of my walls. If I have pikemen, I let them in without a fight, block the entrance to the town square and shread them. I know the barbarian walls are a questionable addition, but it sure speeds up the game by letting me dispatch my enemy quicker.

[EK Maxmias]

Here's the breakdown...

Any Roman faction: 5 archers, 2 first-level calvary (to chase down the fleeing cowards).

Greeks: 2 Heavy calvary, 6-8 Plain hoplites. (defend the town square. MEAT GRINDER).

Macadon: 5 archers, 2 light lancers.(shower with arrows until they retreat or time runs out. Rinse and repeat).

Pontis: 6 pikemen. 2 cappadocian cavalry. (a bit pricey, but I'm rolling in 2 million denari. I'm in vanilla and utilize the 150 year tribute "cheat" since I'm in it for the war, not management).

Thrace: 6 pikeman, 2 cavalry (as you expand, a good garrison helps maintain peace at interior cities as well).

Armenia: 6 heavy pikeman, 2 cataphracts (another money-wize faction that lacks long range archers for the walls. Late in the game you can't win a shooting match with archer auxilia).

Parthia: 6-8 hoarse archers. (with no decent footmen or long range archers, you need to take the fight to the invaders. Once they get in you can't stop them).

Selucid Empire: 6 levy pikemen, 2 light cavalry (Selucid archers are not so good as Macadonian archers for some reason. So I wait in the town sqaure with cheap but affective road blocks).

Egypt: 5 Pharoas, or plain Archers , 2 desert cavalry. (as a rich faction this is reasonable. Desert cavalry chase down runners with great affect).

Numidia: 5 archers, 2 medium cavalry (Not long range archers, but the best, cheapest garrison available. Desert spearman can't hold the town square so well. One of many reasons I like the challenge of Numidia).

Carthage A: 5 slingers, 3 medium cavalry (worst defence available, can't use sacred band to defend every town.)

Carthage B: 5 archers, 2 medium cavalry (yea, I activated the archers. Hey, there already skinned and everything).

Spain A: 6 Iberian infantry, 2 medium cavalry (you need to activate the cavalry. A weak defence against a large army, so I have my cavalry lure the stupid enemy to my tower arrows. Takes a long time)

Spain B: 5 carthaginian archers, 2 medium cavalry (did I mention I activated "numidian archers" for spain too? They have carthage skins though. I also gave all barbarian factions 1st level stone walls(which look really cool in barb settlements) and paved roads to speed up the game).

Gaul: 5 archer warband, 2 chosen cavalry (mostly on active borders. Expensive but unbeatible on those stone walls. I like to replace interior city garrisons with 5 basic warbands).

Britania: 5 warband, 2 chariot archers (very crappy defence force. really forces you to stay on the offensive).

Germania A: 6 spear warband, 2 barbarian cavalry (you need the fast horses to catch the ground meat that runs away).

Germania B: 5 chosen archer, 2 noble cavalry (with stone walls in the late game. Long range hell for the invaders).

Dacia A: 5 warband archers, 3 barbarion cavalry, 4 warband (large garrison for crappy early situation. Usually take high casualties in the best battles).

Dacia B: 5 chosen archers, 2 noble cavalry (Same as the Germans).

Skythia A: 6 hoarse archers (much like Parthia).

Skythia B: 5 chosen archers, 2 noble cavalry (much like Germans and Dacians).

Unless I have pikemen, I always sally forth to avoid the loss of my walls. If I have pikemen, I let them in without a fight, block the entrance to the town square and shread them. I know the barbarian walls are a questionable addition, but it sure speeds up the game by letting me dispatch my enemy quicker.

[Towelie]

Depends who you play, but i allways like to have and at last 1 unit of dogs (good for either, attacking or defending cities) and their upkeep rocks

@Leonidas: Yeah, that seem to be the best way for defending settlements, 1 unit of phalanx for every road to main square and general.. winning combination

[LeonidasOfSparta]

Yeah upkeep's 50!

Leonidas

[Lord Romanus III]

Light missile cavalry. Go out the front or side and pelt them....And get like 4-8 cheap light infantry units to mob them at the square.

Cordially, Lord Romanus III

[morteduzionism]

@Leo

OK, see I never fight those battles on the map...I always autobattle...case in point: Aleria(Corsica); I had 1100+ soldiers(95% Peltasts) and was attacked by @400-600 Carthaginians(some Cavalry and a general)...

I autobattled it...it was a (bleeping) draw...I lost @700 soldiers

So I rerecruited/retrained and replenished the garrison...end turn...another 1100+ for a garrison...another auto battle and...

Another (bleeping) draw costing me another 600-700 soldiers...

WTF is up with that!?

Depends who you play, but i allways like to have and at last 1 unit of dogs (good for either, attacking or defending cities) and their upkeep rocks

For a second I thought you were trying to be funny! I said, "Dogs!? Aint no damned dogs in the game!"...lol...then I remembered RTW: Vanilla had
dogs...I can't even remember where they came from or anything about them(shows how long it's been since I played that)

[LeonidasOfSparta]

@Leo

OK, see I never fight those battles on the map...I always autobattle...case in point: Aleria(Corsica); I had 1100+ soldiers(95% Peltasts) and was attacked by @400-600 Carthaginians(some Cavalry and a general)...

I autobattled it...it was a (bleeping) draw...I lost @700 soldiers

So I rerecruited/retrained and replenished the garrison...end turn...another 1100+ for a garrison...another auto battle and...

No offense but If you are under siege and you sally you draw you are still under siege, while you are under siege you can't retrain. Anyway why you autobattle it only loses in most cases battle your own battles!

Leonidas

[celtic_warlord422]

I always garrison my border cities with half-decent troops like Warbands, Hastati, Auxillia, Hoplites, Iberians and some other sorts of cheap troops.

[morteduzionism]

No offense but If you are under siege and you sally you draw you are still under siege, while you are under siege you can't retrain.

well that wasn't the deciding factor anyway...but I'm glad I know this now

Anyway why you autobattle it only loses in most cases battle your own battles!

Because otherwise it'd be battle after battle after battle...that's too much...

I fight most of my field battles...but...

Here is my current situation:

Carthage every other turn(almost literally) attempts to land soldiers(mostly full stacks) on Corsica(for the most part I've been intercepting with my navy but some get through) which they immediately lay siege to

Illyria every other turn(almost literally) attacks Segestica(with 2 stacks) and the fort located near the city.

Illyria every 4th turn attacks Bonia(city located in Cisapline Gaul) which has no walls yet so they roll into it at will...with a full stack...not even going to mention when the break off a piece of their army and attack any soldiers I have in the area

This could happen in consecutive turns which means back-to-back-back-to-back...that's too much

Never autobattle siege battles, since battle calc seem to suck, so you will allways have bigger chances defending city by yourself.

More often than not I relieve the siege with a nearby army, so I rarely actually auto battle "sieges" per se...however, this is becoming tiresome...that's why I'm trying to figure what, if any, type of garrison could defend itself...

I've already started keeping governors(former military commanders) on the borders to provide a command presence if/when the city is attacked...but I haven't settled on the type of garrison yet

*Question: if my city is under siege...and "I" sally...meaning "I" attack the enemy...that means my army leaves the city to fight, correct? Now if the the battle screen comes up WITHOUT me attacking that means the enemy had a spy open the gate(or they got the gat opened with a ram) and this battle will take place within the city, correct?

[LeonidasOfSparta]

Here is my current situation:

Carthage every other turn(almost literally) attempts to land soldiers(mostly full stacks) on Corsica(for the most part I've been intercepting with my navy but some get through) which they immediately lay siege to

Illyria every other turn(almost literally) attacks Segestica(with 2 stacks) and the fort located near the city.

Illyria every 4th turn attacks Bonia(city located in Cisapline Gaul) which has no walls yet so they roll into it at will...with a full stack...not even going to mention when the break off a piece of their army and attack any soldiers I have in the area.

*Question: if my city is under siege...and "I" sally...meaning "I" attack the enemy...that means my army leaves the city to fight, correct? Now if the the battle screen comes up WITHOUT me attacking that means the enemy had a spy open the gate(or they got the gat opened with a ram) and this battle will take place within the city, correct?

You should build your full stacks but while you do that you'll need strong navy and blockade every enemy port and destroy all their ships currently on sea. If you blockade they'll not be ale to sail forth to your city of Caralis.

About second thing, yes, it is as you say.

Leonidas

[morteduzionism]

You should build your full stacks

So you're suggesting put the 'full stacks' on the borders?

but while you do that you'll need strong navy and blockade every enemy port and destroy all their ships currently on sea.

I put my navy(Corvus Quinquiremes + 4 Quinquiremes) in the Strait of Sicily and destroy transport ships...I rarely, if ever, blockade

If you blockade they'll not be ale to sail forth to your city of Caralis.

Are you sure? It seems that I was able to leave a blocked port with one of my ships(I'm pretty sure it happened but I could be mistaken)

[Herr Schnitzel]

The easiest choice is with the Greeks/Macedon...
Just put a few units that can form the phalanx, they even don't have to be strong (levy pikemen, regular hoplites etc.).

I use a very simple yet efficient strategy...
Let them take your walls, gateway, whatever... Just put the phalanx in the position to block the street that leads to the plaza. An almost impenetrable barrier (especially if they have long spears).

[][Xyphos][ - Lee]

when using a hoplite faction i always keep about 4 units of hoplites and some archers, a town is very easy to defend with some hoplites and archers, even against larger stacks.

[Towelie]

@ morteduzionism: Never autobattle siege battles, since battle calc seem to suck, so you will allways have bigger chances defending city by yourself.