Rebel garrisons move out on T6 - why?

[Gorrrrrn]

Noticed that on T6 nearly all the rebel garrisons move out and hide in the countryside.
Is that a feature of Savage CAI or something else?

[Sea_Snipe]

In my SS 6.1 Savage AI campaign, they did things like that, laying ambushes in the woods, sending small armies to camp over and disable my watchtowers, block bridges, etc. Whether or not all of those were done as the result of Savage's work or because of some flukes I don't know. I recall that they sometimes went back to their settlement, too.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

Noticed that on T6 nearly all the rebel garrisons move out and hide in the countryside.
Is that a feature of Savage CAI or something else?

With Gracul AI they are also not fond of staying indoors.

[YourOnlineHero]

I once had found a rebel army hiding in the woods. I planted a watchtower next to them and defeated them. A few turns later they come back and hide in the same spot, right under the watch tower. It's been a rebel hide out for at least 15 turns, nomatter how many times I send my units there to rake up some experience, more rebels come to hide in the same place.

[k/t]

Next time don't build a watchtower next to their gang hang-out.

If they're that attracted to a watchtower, maybe they're Jehovah's Witnesses.

[Stario]

They always leave atleast x1 stack in city. So if you besiege them the hidden stack come at you. The rebels act more like independent sovereignties; they even have their own merchants. I quite like this new feature.

[k/t]

I've noticed it with 6.2 RR/RC.

[newt]

The campaign_db has a line:

<min_turn_keep_rebel_garrison int="5"/>

Which means they will stay there for 5 turns.

Vanilla M2 is 999

[Gorrrrrn]

there are pros and cons to rebel garrisons staying put or coming out.

I got a nasty surprise when I visited Visby with a half stack army - they got ambushed the minute they stepped off the boats.
And I expect the point about them being outside is that they can do that sort of thing.

Downside is that it leaves settlements relatively undefended.
and most regions have multiple access points.

only exceptions tend to be settlements that are immediately under threat.

thanks to newt for the info - maybe a change to T50 perhaps to prevent early easy gains?

[bɑne]

there are pros and cons to rebel garrisons staying put or coming out.

I got a nasty surprise when I visited Visby with a half stack army - they got ambushed the minute they stepped off the boats.
And I expect the point about them being outside is that they can do that sort of thing.

Downside is that it leaves settlements relatively undefended.
and most regions have multiple access points.

only exceptions tend to be settlements that are immediately under threat.

thanks to newt for the info - maybe a change to T50 perhaps to prevent early easy gains?

The reports until know (at least the ones I read) indicated increased resistence then easy gains.

They always leave atleast x1 stack in city. So if you besiege them the hidden stack come at you. The rebels act more like independent sovereignties; they even have their own merchants. I quite like this new feature.

[gracul]

Perhaps changing it to turn 20, because at about turn 15 factions start declaring war.

[Fakir]

I'm loving the 7 finance Rebel merchants!

[Gorrrrrn]

I've done an amended campaign_db.xml file (my old RozMod one with all the extra bits) amended to T20 for emergence.

not sure it makes a lot of difference - it also disables building of forts as it was for the perm forts mod.
(which seems to result in a more fluid game.)

some rebel regions last a bit longer and the AI builds bigger armies to capture them.

[Stario]

It appears to me (on VH anyway) that the AI rebel factions (that are assigned to a city i.e. Irish rebels NOT Brigand rebels) tend to stay within their respective borders (at least so far in my campaign). Even when the city is defended with only one stack by the time i can assault the settlement the next turn the rest of the rebel army is back reinforcing. IMO the ability of the rebel AI being able to ambush is a good thing because you dont see the AI (non-rebel) factions grabbing the rebel settlements as if it was a "free" land rush; i.e. previous SS versions. I suppose as long as the rebel settlements can still defend themselves as well without the ability to ambush or camp on land bridges (seen them do this too) then changing it to T20 would be fine.

The only downside I see with rebels that leave their settlements is that sometimes they tend to stand right next to the settlement; this means if a player assaults the AI the settlement garrison acts as reinforcement, this makes it a lot easier for the human player to assault settlements as defeating both rebel armies wins the settlement in the same turn. I'am thinking changing campaign_db back to 999 might still be best if the player isn't able to police oneself from capturing settlements in this way, while the current version adds to role play IMO, but some self policing is required.

[bɑne]

The only downside I see with rebels that leave their settlements is that sometimes they tend to stand right next to the settlement;

Question about that: The AI recruitment behaviour seems to be that unit that exceed the stacksize get pooled up right next to the city / that exceeding the garrisonsize leads to a stack right beside the town. Basicly wouldn't forcing the garrisons to stay increase the occurancerate of those scenarios?

[Gorrrrrn]

kungfool - let us know how you get on if you make the change to T999.

[Gorrrrrn]

bane - one problem is that I don't actually know how the rebel faction works its recruitment -
does it do it on a region by region basis?
(I suspect so as they rarely move outside their region.)
Bigger problem is that depending on units available, towns can get a stack spear militia and nothing much else.)

[bɑne]

Bigger problem is that depending on units available, towns can get a stack spear militia and nothing much else.)

What are the thoughts on rebel specific unit pools? Limit the pool size for spear milita and in exchange add archer milita even on lower tier buildings?