In RTW/EB1, there was a difference between the human player and the AI in siege mechanics which was (unfairly) in favour of the human player.

If a human player besieged an AI city in turn 1, they could start building siege equipment immediately. On turn 2 the siege equipment would be ready and the human player could assault the city. Therefore the AI had only 1 turn to respond to the attack and bring reinforcements to the city.

If the AI besieged a city (human player’s or otherwise, but human player’s is relevant here since AI vs AI balanced out), they built no siege equipment in the turn they launched the siege. On the AI’s second turn of the siege they would start building siege equipment, and on the third turn they could assault the city. Therefore the human player had 2 turns to respond to the AI attack.


I believe the above was a result of the way movement/build orders were structured and was probably an inadvertant consequence.

In EB2 this discrepancy has been corrected – when an AI besieges a city, they begin constructing siege equipment immediately and on their next turn the equipment is ready and the city can be assaulted. So everyone now only has 1 turn to respond to a siege.

The fact the gameplay is now balanced between AI and human is excellent news (I am not sure if this is a M2TW correction or EB2 correction, but either way it is good). However…I would recommend / suggest for gameplay purposes that it should have been corrected the other way round, by giving both AI and human player 2 turns to respond to the attack.

IMO having only 1 turn to respond is too harsh. It means that if a city is besieged by a stronger force, you either need 1) a sizeable military force already garrisoning the city, 2) a supporting army already close by, or 3) a nearby family member with a truckload of cash to hire mercenaries, to save the city. Whichever way, you only have 1 turn of movement to save the city (which can be very bad in winter especially and in areas where settlements are less concentrated).

Offering 2 turns to relieve the city would be highly beneficial IMO:

1) Arguably more realistic
2) Leads to more field battles rather than city battles
3) Makes it harder for human player to launch opportunistic quick strikes
4) Generally encourages more realistic use of armed forces (less stacking in cities and more field armies defending a region)
5) Better gameplay e.g. don’t necessarily need to muster a force to march in winter, give AI more chance to defend its cities (against human player and other AIs) so you have lower risk of an AI being crippled by losing a key settlement to direct rival

Happy to hear and discuss ideas. How easy/difficult would this be to implement in any case? Can it be done by the campaign script or through traits (e.g. if character end turn besieging a city and movement points < 100%, build points -500)?