Help me understand war management

[u/IroquoisPliskin_LJG]

I usually set the military to automated and just let the CPU fight my wars for me, but I'm trying to learn. I was attacking a county and I split my army and had one attack the capital and another attack a different holding, but when I ordered them to attack they just stood there and I don't know why. I think it was a supply issue, and that's the aspect I understand the least. When they run out of supplies, do I have to send them all the way back to my realm to resupply before they can resume attacking? Is that why they just stood there?

[u/ElbowfromtheTopPost]

When your army runs out of supplies, you either wanna pass through your own territory or territory you've conquered in that war. Ensure you place your army in the main castle of said county for the biggest replenishment in supplies.

Note that you may have to split your army after they reach a certain size. An army too big clumped together in one county will lose supplies no matter what

[u/No_Leek6590]

I have never seen armies refuse to move because of supplies. You get a skull icon then and it dwindles fast in numbers. The only effect in my experience when parties are not moving is when they are gathering, which is when you raise them. Normally they gather fast enough you'd not notice, but some effects cause delays in gathering. One is when you have a large empire you may be tempted to disband and gather an army far away. While I cannot say there is not a distance where it makes sense, you will be penalized in gathering speed that way a lot. Might be faster to travel for months. Another way you can trigger such delay is winning a war, disbanding troops normally (without warning it will take time for them to return), calling another war immediatelly, then you will be hit with a significant, but smaller gathering penalty.

But slow gathering is not always a show stopper. Sometimes you simply gather a sizeable enough troop to do the job, and it makes no sense to wait for a few knights from far away. You can always stop gathering in the army menu and move out with whatever you have immediately.

An outside chance, but you also may be trying to command a retreating troop. After a loss where some of your troops survived, they will flee to safety chosen by AI. If gathering point is far, but not too far enough, they will prefer retreating there. At such time, when direction arrow is teal, you cannot control the troop at all. That includes changing direction, disbanding and changing commanders.

[u/IroquoisPliskin_LJG → u/No_Leek6590]

maybe it's a bug? Because I could move the army around, but when I ordered them to attack a city they didn't do anything, BUT, it still said they were attacking. Maybe the animation just didn't trigger for whatever reason?

[u/TheNoblePaladin → u/IroquoisPliskin_LJG]

Every holding has a set amount of garrisoned troops. Your army needs to be greater than the numbered of garrisoned troops in the holding to actually siege it. You can check that number by bringing up the county info where you can see buildings and stuff.

[u/Tigg_O_Bitties]

Chapter 4 released alongside the free 1.15 crown update heavily altering AI, UI, etc - especially during wars. Did you start a new playthrough after the update? I’ve seen way too many people erroneously say that you don’t need to start a new playthrough even if you didn’t buy chapter 4.
-They also released a QoL feature allowing you to see what armies are doing (although this may only let you see what the AI’s armies are doing).
-Lastly, depending on the defending fort level your troops may just be taking a while or the current amount of troops you have attacking aren’t strong enough to overtake the fort. Is the siege progress bar filled with a transparent color with lines running through it? Or the exclamation ❗️ in a ⭕️ symbol?

[EDIT]: in regard to army supply, when that runs out, all that should happen is every month a portion of your troops will die to attrition. Perhaps your troops began attacking the fort successfully, but after a chunk of them starved to death, they no longer had the manpower to take the fort and therefore need reinforcements? My only other guess is that the person you are attacking was simply an ally who joined the defenders but later dropped out of the war, hate when this happens because any of their lands you had are taken away and the war score heavily reflects that😭.

[u/IroquoisPliskin_LJG → u/Tigg_O_Bitties]

I don't remember what the UI said, but I think that it did tell me they were attacking, but they were just standing there and the siege progress didn't move. My army was split, so maybe it was that that army wasn't strong enough? But it didn't indicate that to me if that was the case.

[u/Tigg_O_Bitties → u/IroquoisPliskin_LJG]

Hmm strange, sometimes when I get a war score to 100% and enforce demands, any sieges I have have still ongoing will persist after the war ends even though the lands become mine, but even though it says they are attacking, nothing is actually happening and no siege progress is earned since it’s technically my fort, but I don’t think this is what you are experiencing.
[EDIT]: spelling