Army Makeup.

[Wheelchair]

Hello, I have pondered this questions for a long time.

A) Does anyone bother to include Catapults or Trebuchets in their armies? I would find they would take up a slot where a useful unit could be placed.

But one of the advantages being you could attack a castle right away instead of waiting 1 turn for siege equipment.

B) Would you use the siege equipment in open field combat?

[Pontifex Maximus]

A) Occasionally, if I have to capture a city with huge walls and I want to take down the towers. I usually always make seige equipment just in case. What if for some reason a unit of archers killed all the men in the unit? Pandemonium.

B) No. That would be a waste of a slot.

[Wheelchair]

I see, so I probably will start using siege equipment during sieges =]

Only makes sense.

[Theseus1234]

1) I usually use artillery when I want to assault and capture a city/castle right away (i.e. blitzkrieg)
2) nooooo way unless my sieging army is being attacked by another army

[Robo1992]

I use ballistas in open battles they are really affective against infantry. and i carry siege equipment when I'm going for a city.

[Knight of Judgment]

in the siege of jerusalem i had

4 ribault , 4 mortars and 12 feudal knights

the result was clear victory . the enemy had the archers and the infantry in the walls and the ribault kill all of them . after this the feudal knights attacked the cavalry in the city and i win

[Korlon]

Perhaps trebuchets, but not catapults.

I would only use siege engines if it were a bridge battle. You all know just exactly how powerful they are in such a location.

[fieldmarshal]

The only time i use siege equipment is when I know I have to capture a settlement within one turn. This is especially true, if you play as a Catholic faction, because if you wait a second turn, and if your enemy is catholic, there is a good possibility that the pope is going to tell you to call of the siege.

[Iustinianos]

A)Only when I attack a settlement. I usually use 1-2 trebuchets/cannons.

B) I never use them in open combat, only in bridge battles. It's annoying that the movement points of the army decreases when you have a siege unit in it.

[Ruprecht]

Hello, I have pondered this questions for a long time.

A) Does anyone bother to include Catapults or Trebuchets in their armies? I would find they would take up a slot where a useful unit could be placed.

But one of the advantages being you could attack a castle right away instead of waiting 1 turn for siege equipment.

B) Would you use the siege equipment in open field combat?

As of late i have been making good use of ballistae, initially i thought they were very uneffective, but if properly commanded they can turn the tide of many battles in many different circumstances.

Wether it be open field or sieging a settlement, i have learnt to manipulate the enemy and confuse them, in the case of sieging a settlement i always split up my army so as my main army distracts the enemy at the main wall, while my seige equipment and some archers go to the flank where my ballistae kill 50 % of their forces without lossing a single man. sure this is time consuming but very effective if you want a good victory, and a single stack commanded like this can take many settlements without any retraining.


So to answer your question more directly, i always include siege in any army open field or seiging.

Even when defending a city, siege can be most usefull, this does depend on the layout of the settlement, but in most cases it works.

[DashSia]

1. i use trebuchets or cannons if i can for taking a city. but it is not really important.

2. my army may have a open field battle on the way taking city.

[clandestino]

Neah, the artillery and siege weapons just slow your armies down. The army with artilery weapon moves twice slowlier than army consisted just of cavalry units and half slowlier than mixed infantry/cavalry armies . I use onley serpentines in defending armies, placed on a higher ground behind front lines they are quite effective.

[Dr. Croccer]

Catapults very early are quite handy. Especially when you are fighting against factions with hordes of spearmen. Artillerly in M2TW is far more powerful and accurate so having at least one in your entire army (of your faction) early on is a wise decision. It's handy when your enemy holds starefights with you.

Same goes with ballistas.

I'm not sure what the cow ammo for trebuchet does. Does it weaken the enemy or demorilize them?

[clandestino]

I think that's better to use a unit of archers than ballista. You can put archers behind your front line and save them from casulties while ballista can't shoot when placed behind first line.
[

[Legion12]

I almost always include siege weapons where ever I am. I bombard their lines first then use it as covering fire, works wonders against the aztecs.

[The Sundance Kid]

I take siege weapons for various reasons alreayd stated -- if you're Catholic, the Pope may call off your siege if you wait a turn, and if you're any faction, they may bring reinforcements by the time you've built equipment at the walls. One time I bunnyhopped from one city to another in a single turn, capturing both, as I had some trebuchets and full movement points right next to the first one. I think they were Genoa and Milan, and I unloaded from ships right next to Genoa. A good turn, in all.

And I only ever move armies if I'm looking to take a city, i rarely have field armies marching about, so they usually always have at leats a trebuchet or catapult for good measure.

[Kietharr]

Yes to both. The AI is absolutely dumb and will literally stand in place while you pummel them with artillery. I bring bastillas and trebuchets because all other artillery is too inaccurate. I only take them on the war path towards cities though because artillery slow an army down too much when you're facing nothing but huge stacks of infantry that is just as easily killed by horse archers or heavy cavalry.

[Harry Lime]

Moved to Battle Planning

[JuanZ223]

I use a Mangonel to burn as many infidels as i can (Yes, retrofit mod with unit add on)

[crackerjack1348]

I can't believe nobody uses siege units in field battles. Serpentines ANNIHILATE the enemy. A battery of 2 or 3 serpentines will route an enemy unit before it gets to your lines. I don't use non-gunpowder siege weapons, but I love the serpentine. I'm playing against a modded AI, but it uses trebuchets against my field armies all the time. I usually don't have much cavalry because I like to fight defensively, so once when I was fighting the moors and they attacked and I had no cavalry to get to their trebs and they pounded me to pieces.