AI sieges are broken

[Ahad88]

AI sieges are concluded too fast and attackers somehow have unrealistic advantages. One of the reasons for snowballing is that sieges are concluded too fast. Attackers with just a marginal advantage quickly build engines and then quickly take the city without losing half their army. This is broken. I once was leading a siege with a 1000 man and by the time I breached the walls I looked back and half my realm was already conquered. This completely negates the role of fortifications in game.
Also vassal who are rewarded a fief should have a claim to it so once it's re captured you can't give it to somebody else.

 

[Schmutz]

I agree, sieges are waaay to easy for the attacker. I think the spread of the troops doesn't help either, but I think the bigger problem is the radius of the unit collision once again, because the small Bannerlord radius makes it easier/faster to get up the walls...
Of course the simulation side of it is a whole other beast.

 

[Zncon]

Came here looking for a discussion on the same thing. Fully upgraded city with a garrison of 100 rank 3-4 ranged and infantry as well as over 300 of the default militia. Lost to an attacking force of 250 in less then two days in game. That's absurd, by the time you even start moving to respond to a settlement under attack it's already gone.

Castles and cities are not fortifications, they are sitting duck loot pinatas.

 

[JustinTime49]

I think it's a mix of things. Sieges are clearly unfinished.

In the simulation, the majority of the garrison is complete garbage, which negates the defending bonus troops would usually get. The AI knows this, which is why they attack settlements they think they can take(which is basically all of them) with relatively mediocre sized armies.

On top of this, there is clearly an unfinished feature of castle rations, and right now if you besiege and look at the top, you'll see it isn't found for the defenders. I THINK that this is the reason lords refuse to either retreat or help garrison settlements right now because they think they will end up starving. It's either that or a clearly flawed feature

Now If you yourself are on the defending side in the actual scene, then these are probably the most impactful issues.

• AI and Formations: Right now, they suck. The AI automatically delegates the gatehouse unit into the broken shieldwall formation which causes troops to simply stay defensive and stationary, meaning if they get flanked or attacked from the side, they won't bat an eye and will just accept death. That, along with the constant reinforcing to different parts of the siege sounds great on paper, but during these migrations, they won't attack and are easy pickings for attackers already in the settlement.
• Layers: They talked about layers in fortifications, but currently it dosen't seem implemented, most likely because not all scenes are completed. You can actually spot the layers from the overworld map if you look closely, and within some scenes there are clear layers, but right now there is no proper AI to tell its troops to retreat to the second layer, so on so forth.
• Rout: Routed troops retreat to the keep, but because there is no keep battle implemented, you just lose anywhere from 40-100 defenders to thin air.