Allied armies in sieges

[Sitalkes]

I find that allied armies in sieges (from the same faction) often just sit there and do nothing until my general's army has got to the plaza, when the allied army suddenly wakes up and starts attacking (sometimes they don't even do that). Doesn't matter if I put them on Aggressive, Defensive, or Shooter settings. If I change the setting from Defensive to Aggressive they often just spend time milling around changing formation. Other times I can't stop them from attacking and they spoil my whole battle plan by throwing cavalry against spears before the rest of my carefully organised attack has gone in. It seems that it makes a difference if the allied army is commanded by a general but even then he can just sit around and do nothing. I think it is because the AI has trouble working out how to get over the walls especially if the gates have been opened by a spy. Has anybody worked out a way to control allied armies every time? Sometimes it seems to help to click on the allies and click on a location to move them to, other times if you click on an enemy it helps. I have similar issues in battles, getting AI controlled allied troops to go where I want them, can anybody suggest how it is supposed to work?

[Macunaíma]

Check the box "control this army on the battlefield". It gives you a minimal control over them, but it's better than nothing...

[complete noob:(]

Check the box "control this army on the battlefield". It gives you a minimal control over them, but it's better than nothing...

If I'm not mistaken, you only get control of those allied units after one of your units gets destroyed or routs, so they act as reinforcements rather than an actual army attacking with you

[Macunaíma]

If I'm not mistaken, you only get control of those allied units after one of your units gets destroyed or routs, so they act as reinforcements rather than an actual army attacking with you

No. This is other box (it is below the one you mentioned). They're still AI, but you can move the entire army (like it was one unit) anywhere you want, set them to aggressive, defensive, shoot... Of course it's not perfect, but better than nothing.

[Sitalkes]

If I'm not mistaken, you only get control of those allied units after one of your units gets destroyed or routs, so they act as reinforcements rather than an actual army attacking with you

yes you are mistaken. Your choices are:

1. don't tick any boxes

This means that you only get your general's troops plus any that will fill any empty boxes up to your normal maximum of 20. So for instance you have your general with 5 units and an allied army with 6 units then you get your five units instantly and the other 6 as reinforcements. this is the best choice as you get total control over the reinforcements. However if your general has a 20 unit stack and your ally has a 6 unit stack then you only get one 20 unit stack until one of your general's units routs off the battlefield or is destroyed. You then have a 19 unit stack so there is an empty spot. Then you 1 replacement unit from the allied stack that you can then control. I think if the allied stack has a general you may get that general only to do something unitl the main army takes losses.

2. Tick only the AI Control box

This means only the AI can control the allied troops and you can't do a thing with them

3. Tick both the AI control and the player control boxes

This means The AI controls individual units but you can attempt to get the entire army to do something like "you lot go over there!" and you get the choice of shoot, defend or attack.

I always choose No. 3 if I have more than 20 units in my main general's stack but it is frequently difficult to get the allied stack to do anything. I think the personality of the allied general may affect it but I'm not sure.

[Adamat]

if you knock 3 holes in the wall, they often go into full attack with me.

[Aeratus]

I find that the AI reinforcement armies usually obey orders (aggressive, defensive, shootout) during a siege assault. As a general order, they don't always obey orders, so maybe you just ran into one of those situations that they didn't.

[Sitalkes]

I find that the AI reinforcement armies usually obey orders (aggressive, defensive, shootout) during a siege assault. As a general order, they don't always obey orders, so maybe you just ran into one of those situations that they didn't.

How do you get them to do that? Do you just leave them to do their thing, or do you click on the army then a destination, or try to get individual units to do something?

[Aeratus]

Oh, I only meant that they obey the three command statuses (aggressive, defensive, shootout). You obviously can't command allied armies directly.

Also, my recollection is based on SS. In Kingdoms, the AI may be iffy in sieges. In SS, if they are on defensive, they will sit there. If they are on aggressive, they will use ladders, towers, and rams to siege city.