i dont like assaulting, prefer starving

[eugenioso]

thats my tiny contribution. i always hate assaulting a settlement. in 99% of the cases i simply starve them out, which allows the enemy plenty of time to bring their armies to me so i can destroy them all in one shot.

when i have to assault is when there is something like 5 militias defending a citadel, and i dont feel like autoing and losing a chunky number of knights.

and with siege weapons, its just slow as sh!t. 20 minutes to knock all the towers and walls down.

why? because whenever i go to war with my English men, i make a very balanced army designed to win field battles, not fight sieges. 4 knights including bodyguard, 12 dismounted knights (armored or feudal) and 4 longbow archers. i can happily siege and destroy france with a single one of this armies.

[Muagan_ra]

You don't have to destroy all the towers, when the enemy retreat from the walls the towers stop firing.

[Lennert]

I would happily siege with the army you're describing. A lot of heavy inf. is always good in a siege assault.

And indeed, why would you destroy every wall and tower? Just knock down the gate, and maybe the two towers that accompany it.

Also, how is that army you're describing "really balanced, designed to win field battles, not fight sieges" ? I can see that it might work against france, but against the eastern factions.. not so much. For sieges on the other hand, this army will always work.

[eugenioso]

the best army is the one that you are most comfortable of, as well as the most balanced. if im attacked by easter faction i simply shoot their cavalry archers down while my knights smash the enemy archers. and my archers are protected from the enemy's medium inf by my dismounted knights.

against the mongols, now thats a different story. i can hold them back a couple of turns however.

[Lennert]

Ofcourse, but don't you think you could go with 8? for instance, instead of 12. Have you tried 8 heavy inf. with 8 longbow units? It would give you alot more firepower in field battles and you would be able to make two defensive squares, which you will notice is a very hard nut to crack for the AI.

[jukeness]

You need to assault sometimes, otherwise reinforcements could come.

[melkor1861]

I prefer seiging with about a half-stack and enticing the enemy to send reinforcements or sally forth. Then i destroy them in a pitched battle and occupy the city/citadel

[Muagan_ra]

Assaulting castles and cities is a fine art; a common mistake, I think, is sending your best troops through the breach first. Sure, Dismounted Knights are tough - but the fight immediately inside the gate is usually the toughest, and is going to cause alot of casualties however you do it. Best to send in a good number of sturdy spearmen first, and knock another hole to the flank of the defenders, and then use your heavies when their charge will have the best effect.

[Loki_999]

Assaulting castles and cities is a fine art; a common mistake, I think, is sending your best troops through the breach first. Sure, Dismounted Knights are tough - but the fight immediately inside the gate is usually the toughest, and is going to cause alot of casualties however you do it. Best to send in a good number of sturdy spearmen first, and knock another hole to the flank of the defenders, and then use your heavies when their charge will have the best effect.

Indeed, use the right tool for the right job. Same goes for the point about army composition.

Besides, one point against waiting is that your army is costing you money sitting there. Take the settlement either immediately with siege equipment (catapults, whatever), or a turn later with ladders etc, and take the settlement. Get that additional income much sooner than waiting.

[Jianadaren]

Indeed, use the right tool for the right job. Same goes for the point about army composition.

Besides, one point against waiting is that your army is costing you money sitting there. Take the settlement either immediately with siege equipment (catapults, whatever), or a turn later with ladders etc, and take the settlement. Get that additional income much sooner than waiting.

Yup. Assault and lower your opportunity costs ezz!

[E.K]

Assaulting castles and cities is a fine art; a common mistake, I think, is sending your best troops through the breach first. Sure, Dismounted Knights are tough - but the fight immediately inside the gate is usually the toughest, and is going to cause alot of casualties however you do it. Best to send in a good number of sturdy spearmen first, and knock another hole to the flank of the defenders, and then use your heavies when their charge will have the best effect.

I agree. Althought it depends on what troops the enemy has where the breach is. for example one siege battle I fought the rebels and they had peasants plugging the gap. I just charged em down with my mailed knights.

[nvm]

How did you do that? My knights never succeed charging, especially through breaches!

[Loki_999]

That's because they slow down when the encounter obstacles. If its gates then they don't charge through very well, if its a fallen wall then the gap is bigger so the charge is more likely to be successful.

Also make sure you are formed-up before charging (units have stopped moving, all facing the same direction - towards the gap). If the unit does not have wedge formation then make sure their formation is set to a thinish column rather than a stretched out line so you fit through the gap easily, otherwise you will not be effective in the charge.

eg:

^^^^
^^^^
^^^^
^^^^
^^^^
^^^^

NOT

^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Voodo chile]

Loki_999 awesome sig!!
Did you make that up or got that of somewhre

[Loki_999]

Loki_999 awesome sig!!
Did you make that up or got that of somewhre

Copied from somewhere. There are others. Do an image search on Google for animated lord of the rings signatures or something like that.

[Muagan_ra]

mmm... Knights need to be in proper formation to have full effect - I use knights in sieges to mow down the routing units. Run them through the streets to cut off the retreat.

[alung2k]

I like to starve where possible as the fight is so much easier as they are the aggressor. The bigger cities are just not possible though as you have wait so many turns!

[Stolet]

With a well-planned attack you can easily get two armies, one to siege the city, and one to patrol around for incoming AI reinforcements. When you see AI reinforcements on the map, if they're not close to the city, you can always pick up your besieging army (leave just one unit to siege the city), go fight the battle with your two armies, merge one army with that one unit you left to besiege the city. This was you can eliminate enemy reinforcements and prevent the city garisson from joining the battle. It is good to have a spy so you see the reinforcements coming, your besieging army must not get attacked, cause that way the garisson will join the battle. Starving can be great during Crusades, you get to have free upkeep armies for some turns. I had a Jihad on Constantinople as Egypt, so I got 5 full stack armies, made of top quality units, and starved out Constantinople (12 or 13 turns I think), in the meantime I've built A LOT of expensive buildings in my cities cause I had cash pilling up from all the free upkeep. In the end, I prefer starving.

[Paladin94610]

I don't like assaulting fortresses and citadels but do assault the one tiered fortifications, even though that take high casualties because the AI usually send up 1 1/2 stacked armies on Medium diff. And I'd like to open up a wide assault with three armies assaulting three cities. But sometimes I like assaulting citadels because you are in mind that your units will be retrained in your captured citadel in a few turns and just lock your weakened army in the citadel. So I don't have to worry of high casualties. But most of the time I prefer starving.

[Kripox]

Depends. A single wall is easy to deal with, but a three layered citadel with some sensible unit placement by the AI is really tough, especially when you use small armies. Still, what I hate most of all is small villages without walls. At that point I usually have very weak forces, and the enemy just hunker down and wait in the central plaza. No matter what I do, I'll have to enter a massive, unavoidable slugfest. At least I have decent armies by the time Citadels become a problem.