Broken sieges even on fail

**Ecthelion** · March 23, 2009, 07:55 AM

Has anyone ever gotten this weird little bug before?

Basically, you lay siege to a city and on the turn that they're supposed to surrender or sally forth, they sally forth. You annhilate the attacking army, decisive victory, BUT your siege is still broken, the firelock militia is replaced anew and your siege has to start from step 1 again.

It has happened so many times to me that I've just stopped having sieges. Instead, I just banzai charge the city on turn one.

Speaking of Banzai charges, does anyone else find themselves wanting to scream "BANZAI" every time one orders a bayonet charge?

**MyOwnSling** · March 23, 2009, 08:08 AM

Yes, this is a fairly common bug. I also stopped bothering with sieging and I just attack and autoreslove most of the time.

**schatzi** · March 23, 2009, 08:38 AM

been there, done that - a few times..

true, instant attack is the only thing that works. no point in sieging, if they replenish troops after sallying.

**MyOwnSling** · March 23, 2009, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by schatzi

been there, done that - a few times..

true, instant attack is the only thing that works. no point in sieging, if they replenish troops after sallying.

There is still a slight advantage in that you get to be on the defensive when they sally and after you win that you can autoresolve against the crappy firelock mob and capture the city.

**DanMLee88** · March 23, 2009, 10:08 AM

BANZAI!!!

yea cut 'um up brotha

**blank** · March 23, 2009, 10:13 AM

Well you can wait a little with the assaulting - for example, if it takes 5 turns for the city to "surrender" (as in, sally forth), wait 4 turns and then attack. This way their numbers will be diminished somewhat from the attrition.

**HomelessDepot** · March 23, 2009, 10:18 AM

I hate this bug... sometimes I want to, you know, actually play the game's main selling point and fight the battle myself. BUT, I have to either auto-resolve, fight offensively, or spend 20 minutes wrecking the sally but worrying that it's all for nothing.

-HD

**eatme** · March 23, 2009, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by Ecthelion

Has anyone ever gotten this weird little bug before?

Basically, you lay siege to a city and on the turn that they're supposed to surrender or sally forth, they sally forth. You annhilate the attacking army, decisive victory, BUT your siege is still broken, the firelock militia is replaced anew and your siege has to start from step 1 again.

It has happened so many times to me that I've just stopped having sieges. Instead, I just banzai charge the city on turn one.

I did sieges in my 30 yr campaign 2 times only. They worked alright.
I think compared to MTW2 sieges are way easier, there re no walls to hamper. So if I attack a settlement in ETW - I usually storm it at once.

**blank** · March 23, 2009, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by eatme

there re no walls to hamper. So if I attack a settlement in ETW - I usually storm it at once.

Yes there are. If the enemy has built them (which they rarely do, admittedly).

**Faris ad Din** · March 23, 2009, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by Ecthelion

It has happened so many times to me that I've just stopped having sieges. Instead, I just banzai charge the city on turn one.

Speaking of Banzai charges, does anyone else find themselves wanting to scream "BANZAI" every time one orders a bayonet charge?

More often I just assault the city, even if I don't have very superior forces, as on a stategic level I feel I don't have the time to spare either giving an enemy more time to build up and organize, tie up my troops, and otherwise delay the concerted operations of the theater. (They're delaying my possession of the city, the tax revenue I can get from it and my building plans for the region - and armies are very expensive to maintain!)

I'm a conductor - the show must go on!

For my part, I feel like yelling "FIX BAYONETS!" as in Colonel Joshua Chamberlain's orders to the 20th Maine Volunteer Regiment to charge down Little Round Top against superior Confederate forces in the Battle of Gettysburg.

**Sailor** · March 23, 2009, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by Ecthelion

Has anyone ever gotten this weird little bug before?

Basically, you lay siege to a city and on the turn that they're supposed to surrender or sally forth, they sally forth. You annhilate the attacking army, decisive victory, BUT your siege is still broken, the firelock militia is replaced anew and your siege has to start from step 1 again.

It has happened so many times to me that I've just stopped having sieges. Instead, I just banzai charge the city on turn one.

I thought it was a new gameplay mechanic...

They sally forth to try to break the seige. They lose, and retreat back through the gate, closing it behind them. Your army needs a little rest before marching again. Once you get there, they've managed to raise a few more troops from the citizenry to desperately try to keep you at bay even though their army was decimated in battle.

**borschwanger** · March 24, 2009, 01:47 AM

Originally Posted by Sailor

I thought it was a new gameplay mechanic...

They sally forth to try to break the seige. They lose, and retreat back through the gate, closing it behind them. Your army needs a little rest before marching again. Once you get there, they've managed to raise a few more troops from the citizenry to desperately try to keep you at bay even though their army was decimated in battle.

except they fail to break the siege and therefore should get no new supplies and surrender since the allotted turns have expired. except this doesnt happen.

**Rickster11** · March 23, 2009, 12:08 PM

Yeah, its annoying. But, you can avoid it if you caught off their retreat. You have to keep a bunch of cav on standby to run them down.

**the count** · March 23, 2009, 12:29 PM

very nasty indeed, mostly I can have those firelockes with the remaines of my army after I crushed my enemy but sometimes my army is to small. I lost some terrible important battles by this.

**CtrlAltDe1337** · March 23, 2009, 01:09 PM

I don't think this is a bug, just a bad way of introducing multi-battle sieges. Think of it as your troops retreating to another part of the city/another fort surrounding the city (there are 4 on the campaign map icon, so thats not unrealistic I guess).

**Ecthelion** · March 24, 2009, 01:39 AM

So I am not the only poor sap suffering from this. Good to know!

And yes, if sieges worked, I would do them more often since if there are actual significant units inside the city then getting them to storm your lines is far more effective than digging them out of fortified houses. Some of those houses take forever to level, especially if all you have is 6lbr horse artillery.

And "BANZAI!!!" is way cooler than "Fix bayonets!"

Notice the extra two exclamation marks. Those alone make "BANZAI!!!" cooler. This is a scienfically verifiable fact.

**EmperorJulian** · March 24, 2009, 01:48 AM

The "win siege/lose siege" but doesn't even fire all the time. Though it does so for me in 9 cases out of 10, sometimes you win the siege and you really DO win the siege. I usually attack/assault right away myself but sometimes it's not the best decision, if you have weaker forces, or fewer forces for example. As Russia my line infantry can't go toe to toe with say the Prussians easily so sometimes I like to wait things out and act on the defensive. I'm also not convinced this is truly a bug, it may actually be a poorly implemented game mechanic. I've had situations in which fewer than 20 enemy soldiers escape the battle, but I "lose" and then the city has about 7 units of fresh flintlock militia ready to go for seconds. Who can say what's really going on, except it's surely not limited to just one of us.