3 gameplay questions...so far!

[The magical wonder pigeon]

Fire arrows in naval battles!

Exactly how effective are they? I always use my bow ships fire arrow ability when it's available, but the fire easily gets put out. So are they less effective when putting out the fire (IE, they stop shooting), does it even damage the enemy ships hull, and does it affect the enemy morale after the fire has been put out (or is it a temporary only morale shock)?


Castle levels!

I keep getting into a pickle on the campaign map. I keep getting confused over which castle upgrade = how many levels they have on the battle map. I've more than once looked at the map and gone "Oh, i'll be ok from this oncoming stack, i have a Stronghold!" only to realize the stronghold is weak and has puny wooden walls >.<

I've only fought about 5 sieges so far, i tend to auto resolve at the moment as i figure i'll get plenty of fights later.

So does anyone have any pics/links of what each level of a castle upgrade looks like on the map?



Reinforcements...how do they work?

I carefully manuevered 4 stacks to fight 2 stacks of the enemy ('twas the army parked outside of Kyoto, and the garrison from inside it). My first 20 units got wiped out pretty quick (it was a map, not a siege) and got reinforced by about 14 units...and that was it, only 14 units. Even though i had 60+ units all within reinforce range, and on the pre-battle screen i could browse through all 4 and drag/drop to say which ones would be reinforced first. I'm confused why it only let me use about 34 units, instead of 60+.

[Prof]

My experience tells me that you need at least 2 bow ships to set an enemy vessell on fire. And if they cannot put the fire out they will surrender the ship.

Only level 1 castles have wooden walls. Level 2 castles have 2 rings of stone walls, level 3 castles have 3 rings of stone walls, etc...all the way up to 5 rings.

You get 1 reinforcement unit for every unit that has routed or was wiped out. All 20 slots will be used at all times. If a unit is routing but didn't leave the battlefield, it is still occupying the slot. (this might be the reason for you only getting 14 units)

[The magical wonder pigeon]

The reinforcement thing: All the original 20 were off the map completely, but i only got 14 as reinforcements. I was wondering if it had something to do with my general dying in the initial battle and unable to call for reinforcements, but that can't be it...surely:S

I'd still like to know if anyone has campaign map/battle map pics of the different level castles. Just so i can see what they look like. Every battle i've played so far has been a stronghold! >.<

Also are the castle levels listed somewhere, so i can look at the name (IE, fortress) and say "Ok, that one has x levels/tiers in it"?

[The magical wonder pigeon]

According to the encyclopedia there's 5 stages of castles:
Fort
Stronghold
Fortress
Castle
Citadel

Fort is the wooden walled puny pathetic thing.
Stronghold is the same as above, but it has 3 wooden towers.

I've not fought any Fortress, Castle, Citadels, so was just windering what they looked like so i can plan what troops are best for defence.