city/castle square time limit?

**Vae victis** · January 15, 2009, 09:08 PM

Just wondering how many of you SS players have ever won a battle because of the 3 minute timer countdown when you occupy the city or castle sqaure?

In most of my assults on castles and cities, I have to kill every person that is defending, no matter if they are in the city/castle square or not. Some of my recent battles have got me wondering how realistic the city/castle square countdown timer is, and if it could be modded or removed?

If anyone knows what the timer is supposed to represent in medieval warfare, or if you know how to modify or remove it please let me know. Thanks

**lordextra0** · January 15, 2009, 09:22 PM

I sometimes only kill 10%-20% of the enemy by sneaking a random unit through the fighting and
occupying the square, it's really unreaistic but I think it's hardcoded

**Caesar Clivus** · January 15, 2009, 09:43 PM

You can edit the plaza capture settings in battle_config.xml. You can edit the time it takes to capture it as well as the ratio of attackers to defenders required to start the capture. I guess you could either set the time limit to something rediculous to that you have to take out all enemy combatants or set the ratio so that even if there is one enemy soldier there, the capture countdown won't be triggered. Not sure if you can turn if off altogether though.

**Sonny WiFiHr** · January 15, 2009, 10:39 PM

Actualy I sometimes spare defenders and reduce my losess.

**Vae victis** · January 20, 2009, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by Caesar Clivus

You can edit the plaza capture settings in battle_config.xml. You can edit the time it takes to capture it as well as the ratio of attackers to defenders required to start the capture. I guess you could either set the time limit to something rediculous to that you have to take out all enemy combatants or set the ratio so that even if there is one enemy soldier there, the capture countdown won't be triggered. Not sure if you can turn if off altogether though.

Ok thanks I see where I can change it.

I might leave it at 3 min for the RC 4 sub-patch. In RC 3 I was being attcked all at once by multiple stacks and having a hard time defending both the walls and the square. RC 4 uses a differant money script which might make my job easier. If I do change it, I'll post back and let you know the effects.

**Cleitanious** · January 16, 2009, 12:01 AM

Ive recently started pushing for the square to cut back on shrink... i mean casualties...

**Deadly Rabbit** · January 16, 2009, 12:52 AM

hahaha. If I can get a unit onto a side wall and into the square undetected while the main struggle goes on at the main gate I do. The ai does the same thing frequently in my experience. I think it's quite realistic, as the square is meant to represent the focal point and government centre of the city. There are many examples from military history of a small force capturing an enemies hq thus hastening their defeat while a diversion was on at the gates.

**Yoda Twin** · January 16, 2009, 01:16 AM

I find it really usefull if the defenders have renforcements, saves me having to defend it as well as attack.

**ConquerAll** · January 16, 2009, 12:48 PM

I once won a siege by sending a lone cavalry unit with only one unit remaining to the town center. I'd sieged the town with a meager cavalry force (yes, yes... H.A. spam) waiting for the infantry to join on the next turn.

Well, once my turn ended the enemy sallied forth. I thought I might as well give it a shot. The battle went poorly for my small force and the archers had run out of arrows and were engaging hand-to-hand. In the meantime I managed to sneak that lone unit (of course the unit had started the battle with more men) behind the defenders into the empty town center. The enemy did try to scamper back to the center but the bulk of my cavalry had lured them out so far off that they never made it back in time. I ended up capturing the town though I lost a lot of cavalry.

So this feature can definitely be exploited.