Your old RTW siege strategies.

[Travisfv]

So I just wanted to get everyone talking about what their strategies were in siege battles in the original RTW.

they don't have to be historically accurate, I bet mine aren't. But if they are I think everyone would love to hear it just the same. So just go ahead and tell everyone what nation you were, who you would be fighting, and what was your general strategy when fighting a battle to take or even defend a city, and how you think your strategy will change with rome II

i'll go first, and make it short. Basically as the Julii, fighting the Gauls, I would use an initial attack of onagers breaking up soldiers on the walls, followed by archers forcing them back while 2 rams broke through two close segments on either side of a gate. When both were down, four cohorts would form two walls on the inside of the captured area. Creating a strong defensive staging area. Then reinforcements would take position behind those holding the line, while the general and his personal bodyguard (yeah I role played a bit and used a cohort for his defense) would stay just behind the wall and increase everyone's morale. If a cohort was weakened, it would be replaced.

In order to take the square, the two walls of men would slowly push out and I would send units out to flanking areas, and cavalry around behind the square. Then it was just a matter of time before the enemy was surrounded, fighting on all sides, and takin massive casualties.

With rome II's capture point system, I think I'll make a bigger effort to keep my army together. Ill probably try to use some modern military tactics such as sweeping through a city as one solid unit. Keeping a basic line of attack together and using reinforcements to swap out units who have been in the thick of the fighting. With the new line of sight system, I think it'll be necessary to try and control not just the points you capture, but also to secure all areas before pressing forward with the attack on the next point.

So who's next?

[BunnyPoopCereal]

Lining up archers in the front. Destroy half the enemy BAI even before the gates/walls were breached.

[Eofor]

Wait, people used strategies in Rome 1 sieges?

[BanditKS]

knock down a wall and kill every last enemy soldier inside.

[Sharpe]

Heavies in the tower and expendables on the ram.

[vietanh797]

Armoured hoplite to the siege tower time to take the wall, no archer(oh wait I did bring 4 onagers to shot down their general from outside the wall)
siege stack was like 1 general 4 onager 2 cavalry the rest was armoured hoplite

[jamreal18]

I have a question, what if you only have 2 units left and enemy 5 units left and if there are 3 capture points, just in case... How can you win??

[Travisfv]

I have a question, what if you only have 2 units left and enemy 5 units left and if there are 3 capture points, just in case... How can you win??

I assume that you mean you have 2 full strength units and the enemy has 5 weakened ones? If so then just kill the enemy. And I also assume that capture points don't need a unit to sit on them. So then just capture and move on.

Sorry for the double post, this site is acting a bit hinky for me.

[Romans]

I have a question, what if you only have 2 units left and enemy 5 units left and if there are 3 capture points, just in case... How can you win??

That's like saying "what if you only have 1 unit left and enemy 14152 enemy units left"........

Don't lose your units, simple as?

[Travisfv]

I think those new capture points will make siege battles a lot more interesting. Think of them like in modern military terms, a "hard point". A spot easily defensible that is of major strategic or even symbolic value. You won't be able to just get in then attack the town square or city center and win the battle. You'll have to take and hold each point, securing and moving to the next objective. Think about battles in any location in WWII. The allied forces couldn't just Bum-Rush Berlin (tried and failed). They had to work their way toward it, fighting and securing their line the entire way.

[vietanh797]

I think those new capture points will make siege battles a lot more interesting. Think of them like in modern military terms, a "hard point". A spot easily defensible that is of major strategic or even symbolic value. You won't be able to just get in then attack the town square or city center and win the battle. You'll have to take and hold each point, securing and moving to the next objective. Think about battles in any location in WWII. The allied forces couldn't just Bum-Rush Berlin (tried and failed). They had to work their way toward it, fighting and securing their line the entire way.

The fun is German bum-rush Paris and success

[Travisfv]

The fun is German bum-rush Paris and success

Silly French and their Maginot line. Invested too much into static defense and forgot the very skillful and sacred ancient art of, "let's go around, shall we?"

And also sticking to the gold standard kind of killed their economy. There was no way they could keep up with Germany.

[Cresilia]

Silly French and their Maginot line. Invested too much into static defense and forgot the very skillful and sacred ancient art of, "let's go around, shall we?"

And also sticking to the gold standard kind of killed their economy. There was no way they could keep up with Germany.

Actually the French dropped the gold standard, it was Hitler that kept it. He was able to do it through the draconian expansion of the German state, which allowed the Reich to control monetary policy to a degree unheard of at the time.

[Travisfv]

Actually the French dropped the gold standard, it was Hitler that kept it. He was able to do it through the draconian expansion of the German state, which allowed the Reich to control monetary policy to a degree unheard of at the time.

I have to disagree. Germany left the gold standard from 1933-1948 I believe, relying on the new Reichsmark, this basically ended unemployment in Germany as hitler geared up for war. France returned to it in 1928-1936, and only left when she realized Germany was spending an extraordinary amount on her military budget.

[jamreal18]

From what i have seen in e3 video, you can re-capture points... Is it the case in sieges?

What if you both have weakened units? You have 2 units left while defender has 3 units left... there are 3 capture points just in case...

You merge your units because you might lose if you let them on their own. The defender has done the same with his two units. The 3rd unit of defender is guarding capture c...
What if you has captured point a and while capturing point b, the enemy recapture point a. While you recapture point a again the enemy recapture point b again?
How can you capture the capital city then without capturing points at the same time?...

[DJPenguin]

Make general unit legionary cohort w/ battering ram. Ram down gate. Unleash 19 units of war dogs into the city.

[jamreal18]

Make general unit legionary cohort w/ battering ram. Ram down gate. Unleash 19 units of war dogs into the city.

haha, soldiers will just hide in houses so they wont get bitten by angry dogs...

question, can dogs differ friends from enemies in real life in time chaos?

[✠Ikaroqx✠]

Split my army into two or three evenly matched sections depending on the size and availability of siege equipment. Then I siege different parts of the city at once so spread the enemy's defences as much as possible. Once in the city I take control of all the streets, and as much as possible try to isolate the defenders and attack them from two directions.

[vietanh797]

Anyone remember how accurate the onager was when we order them shot enemy general?
I kill enemy generals with 4 onagers 10 out of 10 battles

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

Eh siege battles were really easy on any difficulty in RTW, basicly the attacker had the advantage if he used siege towers since they had internal ballistas that you just put on fire at will, by the time the towers reached the wall the defending units were already reduced to nothing by the siege towers. Once on the walls you just ran around the whole wall capturing towers and turning them on the defenders, then the towers pretty much killed every last enemy whilst they retreated to the plaza. Then you just brought in whatever missile units you had or surrounded the plaza with legionary cohorts, put fire at will on, everything on the plaza died without a fight under a shower of projectiles. Rarely lost more than 2-5 individual soldiers on huge unit scale in siege battles (those who fell whilst approaching the walls) so yeah siege battles were really easy, especially since in 90% of the cases there were rarely more than 5 defending units.

Even easier for settlements that just had a palisade, just line up your archers and bombard the settlement until everything is dead.