Clarification on Forts.

[Brianside]

Hi, Does anybody know if there are any strange issues involving Forts?

I was playing as Pontus, at War with Macedon, TSE and Sarmatia. Macedon had already got to Scandanavia and were heading east. I met up with them just south of Heracleia and built a fort close by with my Faction Heir and some decent units.

A Huge army besieged the fort and after 5 turns or so, simply took the fort as if it was empty, there was no trace of my army defending the area. My faction heir had 'died in battle'..

I had no hope really but i would have liked an attempt. No auto-resolve came up either!

Has anything like this happened to anyone else, or is it a bug. Or do i need to attack the besieging army as soon as possible (i.e before they decide to assault the fort)

Cheers.

[Clearchus of Sparta]

A fort is like a town in that in can survive a set number of turns before it is automatically captured and your army destroyed.

You have to attempt to break out before then. If you lay seige to a city the same would happen if the enemy did not "sally out"

Its not a bug

Welcome to TWC and RTR by the way

[LeoDowner]

That may actually be a bug, I had something very slightly similar. As the Bactrians I sent my faction leader Sautes out to defeat a rebel army holding one of my watchtowers. It took one turn to get him there and on the next turn he had apparently died in battle and his small army vanished along with the rebel army too, I definitely didn't fight a battle though and there was no flash flood or anything like that which could destroy two armies.

Perhaps Aliens took them ? :hmmm:

[Quinn Inuit]

Rome-com: Mysterious Flying Thing Defense

Nah, doesn't have the same ring to it.

[horatius]

Yes, I am pretty sure that losing the fort was just your men starved to death (like a town), as Clearchus said. However, I once had like 4 or 5 family members together in one group and I was moving them somewhere. Suddenly, they disappeared. Woosh, they were gone. It was a while ago, and I don't remember what the family tree said. I was just disappointed I lost them. There was no battle, or natural disaster, or anything. Strange.

[LeoDowner]

Before your army starves to death on the last day of the siege though the game should give you the option to fight the attackers. Sounds like that didn't happen and his army just dissapeared.

[Clearchus of Sparta]

Before your army starves to death on the last day of the siege though the game should give you the option to fight the attackers. Sounds like that didn't happen and his army just dissapeared.

Ive never seen that

[Mikail Mengsk]

nover seen that too

[LeoDowner]

I thought forts were like Towns ? When it's under siege it will remain under siege until you choose to go out and attack them or until the final day of the siege when really you have to attack or everyone inside dies. I'm sure you get the option to fight them on the final day.

[Jamey]

I've never taken a fort defense to the point of my troops starving or sallying out. I normally use forts defensively and keep a larger force within a few turns of movement to fight off the sieging force.

My current example is that I've got a fort NE of Patavium that cuts off both the northern and eastern routes to the settlement with only a warband defending it. I have a larger force in Bononia which I can pull as needed to defend the fort. That force acts both as a defense against the Romans and against possible attacks from the east.

[LeoDowner]

Nice idea, I might try that one.

[Vectis]

On the question of forts I thought that if you didn't occupy the fort for a turn it disappeared. In a current game I was moving an army through Macedonia and built a fort to give it a little extra protection. The Macedonians beseiged the fort and I defeated them. After the battle I moved on. In the next turn, however, the Macedonians, instead of attacking my army occupied the fort with a full stack, and have remained there ever since. I didn't know you could occupy the forts of others.

[Clearchus of Sparta]

@ Vectis

Yes you can, it will only disapear if there are no units inside it. (I believe that a diplomat and a spy count, tho it needs confirming). It doesnt matter whos units are in there as long as there are some

[Sardaukar One]

I besieged one of the Rebel cities in Arabia with a full stack army. They had maybe half that. I waited them out(four or five turns) and took the city without a fight.
The enemy didn't sally forth.
This doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it usually happens when you have a lot more troops thant the enemy.
I only recall doing this to rebel cities though.

Forts have three turns before they are starved out.
If you don't pay attention to how long they can last, they are taken without a fight.
Same with cities.

A couple of times, I fought a siege where I beat a small relief force, and then took the city. The much larger besieged force simply disappeared without me fighting them.
Again, I think this only seems to happens with the rebels. But I'm not sure.
I'm pretty sure that how long a city can endure a siege had nothing to do with it.

[Artax]

I besieged one of the Rebel cities in Arabia with a full stack army. They had maybe half that. I waited them out(four or five turns) and took the city without a fight.
The enemy didn't sally forth.
This doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it usually happens when you have a lot more troops thant the enemy.
I only recall doing this to rebel cities though.

It works with all settlements whoever controls them. AI probably counts its chances to win by sallying if the odds are greatly against them then they will just starve till death.

Rebels can't lose. If they lose a battle, no matter for what reason, they simply disappiers.

[Brianside]

Thanks for the help everyone, thats been cleared up nicely!

Upon reflection i think i have taken forts (and settlements) from enemy factions with very similar results. I don't tend to use forts that often, so i thought i would check to see what people thought.

Thanks again.