Using horse archer in siege

[Satrio Eko]

I'm currently playing campaign as Turks,because their lack of infantry i must depend on the horse archer & foot archer. while they perform well against byzantines on the field,they became almost useless while besieging a city/castle .they became an easy target for spearman while fighting on the street
So,any strategy for maximize the use of horse archer in siege?

[Highlander of Scotland]

use jannisaries, mercinaries, saracen milita, halberd milita, siphias, ottoman infantry. The turks have awesome foot units. You only use them on small setllements or let the ai sally out.

[YuriVII]

I play Eastern factions quite a bit. I usually have a field army of made up of cavalry of varying types and line infantry and a smaller army of infantry and siege weapons. I siege with the field army and when the reserve army catches up (because siege units slow down map movement) I replace the cavalry with the units of my reserve army. Sometimes though that's not an option for whatever reason. If I choose to use horse archers ill attack multiple points of the castle walls with infantry. Once I break through the gate I can have my horse archers come in with skirmish mode off an have them shoot at the back of the wall defenders while they are being pinned by troops attacking the wall.

[SorelusImperion]

Make the enemy sally out by sieging with about 1-3 Cavalry units. Wait for all enemy units to leave the city and then focus on one enemy unit to break it's moral and follow that fleeing unit right up through the gates with one of your Cavalry units.
Now if its one of the lower wall levels (those where soldiers can't stand on top of) you'll get control of the gates once your units are inside and close enough to the gate. Make use of that by rushing all your remaining cavalry units inside the city and take control of all the gates before the enemy does once that is managed you can move to the center and win the battle by siezing it.
If the walls are of a higher level it's not as easy but still doable (at least in Rome it was). Just keep your reserve cavalry outside and distract/prevent the enemy army from following you to the townsquare.

[Maklodes]

I don't know whether this is too much of a fun-killer for you, but I find that often with sieges auto-resolve is the best way to go. Not with lots of horse archers, but with as big a stack as you can manage of saracen militia and spear militia. Toss in a general, declare a jihad against a Byzantine city, and recruit a few ghazis and mutatawwi'a. Auto-resolve basically treats all battles as open field battles, so long as you have some siege equipment. This means that 1) you don't face the disadvantage of trying to take their walls, and 2)You don't have to kill every enemy unroutable enemy soldier in the town square: as with a field battle, if you go in with 700 soldiers while they have 300 defenders, you might lose 100, they might lose 150, and 150 will effectively be "routed," -- except they won't actually retreat anywhere and will just disappear.

[Sitalkes]

There's definitely no fun to auto-resolve. Horser archers can shoot well and move fast, so take advantage of that ability to use them to attack doors at the sides and rear of the settlement. Use spies to break in if you can (that way you can get in without infantry or siege engines). Rush into the centre and the defenders will collapse, rushing from the walls to the centre. Then the horse arher's router-catching ability comes in. Yes, keep them out of combat, but if you can put them behind another combat unit, their shooting will do well. Once they have a bit of experience, they don't fight too badly, either.

[Dr. Conquest]

Horse archers are especially useful for those situations where you attack a city with only a General's Bodyguard unit defending it, or when the enemy have retreated to the town square and have no missile units of thier own. You can have the horse archers pick off the enemy troops and skirmish away if they make a move towards you (they will almost always return to the town centre after chasing you just a few metres). Use your remaining forces to pick off any survivors in melee if you happen to run out of ammo.

It's extremely tedious, as you have to co-ordinate it manually to make it work, and you have to make sure the clock doesn't run out. However, being able to develop this tactic was the one reward when I made the mistake of playing a campaign as Hungary! (It was the first time I had ever tried playing a faction with horse archers).

[Sitalkes]

Yeah, take advantage of the long range and reasonable damage done by horse archers to use them like ordinary archers to shoot at troops on the walls or behind them. For more hints on how to use them in sieges, consult the M2TW Settlements and Sieges Guide http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...php?p=12220924

[Silverheart]

You can also use Horse Archers in tandem with the low-level infantry that the Turks have from the beginning while smashing through breaches.
Just send in a thick mass of infantry (like Azabs or Spear Militia) to establish a foothold, and let the Horse Archers walk in after them. In that position, your infantry will hold the enemy forces back, while the Horse Archers fire over them. And the more cavalry you use for this, the better will the effect be.
After you´ve won at the breach, just move your Horse Archers in one big group along the streets and let them clear the way before them with rain after rain of arrows.

Notice that this is essentially the same tactic that the Mongols and Timurids use when assaulting a breach, and that it is a tactic which comes with the risk of heavy casualties for the infantry - but it is nonetheless a good tactic for using Horse Archers effectively in a siege.

[Kaiser Nonsense]

Blast those Horse Archers, I hate them, I hate to fight them and use them both.