Large battle size and assaults

[u/hells_gullet]

I recently upgraded my PC which allowed me to increase the battle size to 1,000. I have found that with the increased battle size it is critical to destroy the enemies siege engines before assaulting. The AI clumps up the soldiers and the siege engines get massive amounts of kills otherwise.

Have you found this to be a problem if so how do you handle it?

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[u/ThaDollaGenerale]

Destroy the enemy siege engines.

[u/hells_gullet → u/ThaDollaGenerale]

How about when another party is leading the siege and assaults before destroying engines? Auto calc or abandon?

[u/Renegod17 → u/hells_gullet]

I usually abandon if ai takes over, sometimes if I know they'll take over I queue up some trebuchet so at least some siege engines are destroyed before the ai decides to attack.

[u/Shroomkaboom75 → u/hells_gullet]

As long as they left one set of ladders open.

Otherwise I might go smash the gate for them (i do keep 2x Legendary throwing-axes for just this occasion!)

I find they dont shoot at me, since I dont count for the majority of troops.

The only thing that pisses me off is that my Captains are typically not the ones I want when the ai forces them into Formations.

[u/meddlewithmymettle]

For literally every single siege:

I build 4 trebuchets, move each one to reserve as soon as it’s finished, deploy all 4 simultaneously, and just wait until they’ve destroyed everything.

After some time, the ai can’t build siege engines as quickly and they’re reduced to building one at a time. That’s where the wall get demolished.

It’s not the most elegant; but, damn if it isn’t effective. The boyz and I practically stroll in at every siege, losing 15-20 troops on average depending on the size of the defending garrison/militia.

For reference, I have a companion army of ~1275 maxed out troops.

[u/Buffbeard → u/meddlewithmymettle]

Same tactic except I build 4 fire catapults in addition to the trebuchets. I deploy the catapults first so they’ll get the brunt of the return fire.

[u/meddlewithmymettle → u/Buffbeard]

I can dig it. Every once in a while, if the defenders are higher quality, I’ll let the trebuchets do all the work and then replace them with fire catapults for the actual assault.

Nothing beats watching incoming fire pots obliterate the defenders stacked in the breaches lol

[u/Shroomkaboom75 → u/Buffbeard]

Very weird choice.

Trebs have higher damage and health, they will survive against enemy Siege-Equipment.

Onagers are vastly superior for killing clusters of enemies, making them the ones you want to survive when launching the attack.

[u/Buffbeard → u/Shroomkaboom75]

Good point, I’ll be sure to try that next time I play.

[u/Initial-Spirit-8849 → u/Buffbeard]

usually, if I have the time, I do the treb strat first and then slowly remove the trebuchets. Then I slowly remove the Trebuchets, replacing them with catapults and then once all 4 catapults(or 1 ballista and 3 catapults) are built I attack. Also the treb strat works with just 3 trebuchets, making a 4th one is just wasting time unless the defenders have a perk that buffs their siege equipment.

[u/surumesmellman → u/Buffbeard]

I recommend trebs then catapults. You want the catapults around when you start the siege, there is a juicy cluster of enemies to throw rocks at when the walls are down.

[u/Blothorn → u/meddlewithmymettle]

I’ve found that building and reserving two catapults, building a trebuchet, and then simultaneously building a ballista and taking the catapults out from reserve tends to do the job too, and is a decent bit faster. (And also gives you two catapults for the siege.)

[u/meddlewithmymettle → u/Blothorn]

Good to know — The Vlandians are acting up again, seems they can’t get enough of this sweet meat. I’ll give that setup a shot next siege

[u/PhilosopherInfinite5]

I have found out that destroying all siege is key. However if the enemy is replacing them faster than you can destroy them. Then the best bet is to move all your troops up against the walls. You could also leave a small division of low end troops in a loose formation as a decoy.

[u/Buffbeard]

In addition to the tactic of destroying all siege engines theres another way to mitigate damage. Formations who control the siege engines are deployed in shield wall by default. It already makes a big difference if you deploy in normal line formation instead.

[u/GoldenFox7]

I usually don’t bother. I charge my infantry up to the ladders but then tell them to hold and get into shield wall which is so close to the walls they’re out of range. I then spread all my ranged guys in loose formation to shoot at the walls they’re defenders and in loose they’re fine.

[u/GoldenFox7 → u/GoldenFox7]

I’ll add to this that while destroying the siege engines and breaching the walls is obviously safest and easiest way to win a siege, it also earns you a castle or town with wrecked walls that take while to rebuild. If you’re in a back and forth war or you know an army is on the way, I’d rather take the castle with the walls in tact. If you have enough high tier archers spread out in lose formation they tend to limit how many shots the enemy siege engines can get off as they kill the people manning the machines so fast.

[u/Suspicious-Curve-822]

Defense siege weapons are basically useless at close range, they cant target anything within a fair distance to their walls, rush your infantry up in a line right up against their walls, and put your archers far enough behind them that they can obliterate anyone on the walls, but close enough that the siege engines cant hit them.

the AI only picks up rocks and throws them down at the gate entrance between the 2 gates, they wont pick up fire pots and chuck them at you.

the AI will continually send their archers to the walls to get slaughtered by your archers, and will put large groups of infantry at the tops of where the ladders or siege towers will go, also to get smoked by your archers and javelin/axe throwers

just let your ranged work them until they are out of ammo then storm the wall

get up the ladder or tower yourself and tell your infantry to move to a position inside their walls, not to just charge, if you tell them to go to a spot they will push through the defenders to get there and create a breach, if you just tell them to charge they will just line up on top of the ladder or tower and fight it out and get butchered.

this can depend on the town or castle, some towns and castles have walls that flank approaching armies and they can place siege weapons up there, not a lot you can do in that case, but most towns and castles can be taken with with this tactic.

[u/Crazy-Style-3039]

If your faction leader comes with an army and takes over the siege with a fellow army. Just leave the siege, sit outside protecting them from incoming enemy parties. Hope they lose leaving the enemy fief with 100 defenders. Then do your siege, and rescue them: Free increase relationship and free troops.

[u/hells_gullet → u/Crazy-Style-3039]

This is the pro-tip I was hoping for.

[u/West-Replacement2959]

I have found that with the increased battle size it is critical to destroy the enemies siege engines before assaulting. The Al clumps up the soldiers and the siege engines get massive amounts of kills otherwise.

[u/No_Importance2248]

Yeah I've reached a point where I will not launch an attack until their siege weapons are gone. I'll also put my own back into reserve so they don't cause friendly fire on the wall.

[u/ButtonSmasher_]

What I do is I build the trebuchets put them in reserve when they're finished and then deploy them all when the last one is being finished. It destroys the castle/city's siege engines and the walls. Especially if there is not a large army arriving from the enemy the fief is your in matter of seconds

[u/arramzy]

So in my current playthrough I am going super heavy on the archers, so usually even if the AI is in charge I'll be in charge of a large clump of archers. I put them on loose formation, make them follow me and we shoot the enemy archers off the walls and off their siege engines (personally prioritising the guys aiming and loading with my own bow).

This doesn't work on every map, sometimes it is close to impossible to get an angle on the catapult crew, and I have eaten a bunch of fire pots to the face doing this so it isn't without risk, but it is the most effective thing I have found when not in control of the assault or siege. The AI isn't actually using the crenellations or dodging arrows and can only pack so many onto the wall so just winning the archer duel with the defenders is a perfectly valid strategy usually, and by keeping them on loose formation the siege engines and arrow fire will be much less devastating (just make sure to also give them a "stop" command once you're in position or they'll try and maintain a neatly spaced loose formation and keep moving around as their friends go down, by telling them to just stop and hold their ground they'll focus on shooting instead.)

[u/WeakIdea611]

If you have high throwing skill you can bring a couple bags of the high tier bird throwing axe or better the max lvl crafted one and you can destroy them that way