How am I supposed to fight siege battles as the Ghaznavids?

[D.B. Cooper]

This is early game, and I can't win siege battles without taking errible casualties. Again, I'm Ghazni, and my infantry is very lightly armoured, save a small core of decent spearmen granted to me from the beginning. Even a few units of half-decent axemen can hold out in a small gate breach against my forces. My horse archers are fantastic, and the elephants are very useful, but they are of little use when trying to shoot over tall walls. So far I've been waiting out most of my sieges, letting the enemy face me in the open field where I can fight better. But this takes time, and the Khwarzemids are somehow creating a huge empire, larger every turn, while I expand very slowly.

How can I fight sieges better?

[Strelac]

by outnumbering, playing on easy settings, prepare for siege with heavy units and mercenaries,...

[NoFrag]

Autoresolve or mercenaries ^^.

I personnally always wait up sieges, It cripples their armies and they start disavantaged when they come out. Unless I really need to storm a city because renforcements are on their way, I found it better to wait.

[ToussaintL'Ouverture]

Alot of times I wait, like at the castle of Firuz or Herat, but you are wasting valuable time if you wait out every siege.

You can try enticing the enemy out from the walls by sieging with a smaller force, or I find alot of times autoresolving leaves with fewer casualties than a manual assault, especially if you have elephants (which the computer tends to overvalue when autoresolving).

[teh.frickin.pope]

Daylami Axemen help a lot.

[Bull]

I didn't know that Ghazni fielded very lightly armoured spearmen.

If you are storming a city/castle, expect terrible casualties. So only storm a castle when you are in a hurry, otherwise wait and outlast them. That goes for every faction, not just for Ghaznavid.

Having said that, there are a few factions which are better at storming castles, such as Ghorids, Ayyubids, Kwharezmia, and Armenia (when they get their dismounted Nakarhar). Even so, casualty will be heavy due to the defending units' bonuses.

[knight of virtue and valor]

This is early game, and I can't win siege battles without taking errible casualties. Again, I'm Ghazni, and my infantry is very lightly armoured, save a small core of decent spearmen granted to me from the beginning. Even a few units of half-decent axemen can hold out in a small gate breach against my forces. My horse archers are fantastic, and the elephants are very useful, but they are of little use when trying to shoot over tall walls. So far I've been waiting out most of my sieges, letting the enemy face me in the open field where I can fight better. But this takes time, and the Khwarzemids are somehow creating a huge empire, larger every turn, while I expand very slowly.

How can I fight sieges better?

I am currently playing a Ghazni Campaign my self. I made an army of Infantry that so far I have been able to crush everything in both field and siege battles with minimal casualty's. it is made up of three components: 1: my best genaral. 2: seven units of Daylimna infantry. 3: the most important part, and the one that makes the army so darn great, is twelve units of Ghulimn infantry, those beautiful mace armed archers. the general does what all generals do, the Dayilimna form shield walls and take Calvary charges and man siege engines, and the Ghulimn infantry make clouds of arrows, clearing each wall, and, since they are very deadly with the mace as well as the bow, are not a liability like most archers, and will stoutly turn the tide in melee one the enemy has been weakened or in the Rare case the enemy won break under the dayilma shield wall and the clouds of arrows. they also can get in to sieges if the dayilmna cant do it by themselves. I find that in most battles at least thirty to forty percent of my enemy are dead before the even get close to me or my siege towers reach the walls. I have almost wiped out those little buggers called the Kharwasams. hope this helps

[Bull]

Good strategy knight, but I think shield wall break the cavalry charge, but still sustain a lot of casualties. Luckily casualties by cavalry charge tend to recover more than those of melee.

[knight of virtue and valor]

Good strategy knight, but I think shield wall break the cavalry charge, but still sustain a lot of casualties. Luckily casualties by cavalry charge tend to recover more than those of melee.

heavy Calvary charges do take ravenous chunks out of the dayilma infantry, but after that the AI usually lets its Calvary be bogged down in melee, and, as I said earlier, if the Dayilma cant take it by themselvs, the Ghulimn infatry can be rushed in fairly effectivly as the impact has already been taken. thanks for pointing out that weakness though.

[Bull]

No worries, that's not really a weakness. And I am sure that composition will decimate most infantry based armies, and you're right about the AI as they have no idea how to use cavalry properly.

Personally I've always had a 3-line formation involving spearmen, daylami infantry, and archers. I think I'll try your style for a change and see how that goes. Ghazni is just so awesome I never get sick playing them, and Kwarezmids come a close second.

[frontier-auxilia]

For beseiging settlments, the Ghavanid is more of a defensive faction, they win by grinding the enemy down in a war of attrition, going on the assualt is difficult as they aren't made to hit hard. In early siege battles, i recommend you bring more man present for the job but if you manage to get hold of high tier buildings, be sure to grab the dalaymi infantry. Those guys are technically the bastard offspring between a roman legionnaire and danish house carl so they are much better material to stomp the walls then the spearmen.

[knight of virtue and valor]

Ghasvids are awesome, and your tactic sounds good too.

[knight of virtue and valor]

the Ghazvanid army composition that I use is pretty much good for anything, including sieges. they really rip up enemies on the field. I never like rushing in with crappy early infantry.

[clandestino]

I'm just playing with Ghaznavids ( my favourite faction BC ) and I have captured 10 provinces in straight role without siege battles, I captured 8 settlementd by waiting and only two times rebels attacked me from inside the settlement. One tip for Ghaznavids: if you want to stop Khwarezm and your other neighnours expanding to much you should take rebel settlements in this sequence: Balkh-Tus-Birjand-Zaranj-Saravan-Turbat-Kandahar-Bost-Firuzkuh-Herat; by taking first Balkh and Tus before Khwarezm you will stop them expanding further to south and you will secure Birjand, Zaranj and Saravan for your self. Then you should take Turbat and Kandahar and then the provinces in the midle:Bost, Firuzkuh and Herat will be your for certainly and you can take them without haste. Complicated...

[Kabudhan]

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this yet, but if you're besieging a city with a garrison that won't sally, have your family member leave the stack until you've worn them down or built siege equipment. The game gives generals poor traits if they're sieging for a long time. It's sort of an exploit, but I find this 'feature' mostly unrealistic, so I follow this method on occasion.

[paradamed]

Hold the siege until the enemy is forced to attack you. Or maybe use cavalry archers to shoot some arrows while the infantry is progressing. Force yourself through the gate and use cavalry. Just a few suggestions.