Anyone else wish you could set who and what goes where to defend your castle.

[Teala]

I really wish we had some kind of way to position our people in our castles.  Like show some kind of floor plan and then we can say archers go here, and infantry goes here.  That way when the seige starts we can get the most effect from our archers and our infantry.  Plus if needed we can force the enemy to have to take the whole castle.  By being ableto place our defenders at various locations in the castles at stategic points it would make it a lot harder for lords to take a castle from you.

 

[acutedeath]

Since we don't have this flexibility, I get the best result from "Everyone, hold this position" at the very top of the ramp. If they are densely packed enough, no-one will get through.

 

[Jorimli]

Damnit, thanks for saying that. Now I am going to be wishing that I have everything neatly organized in neat lines, with infantry in front, archers behind, cavalry on the wings. God, I miss Medieval 2. Gotta start playing it again

But really, that is such a damned good idea, it would add a lot more strategy into the game. Like your press, I dunno... B and you zoom out over the battle field paused and drag and click on your units to tell them where to go, what to do. But then it would make the game less of a RPG, and more of a RTS. But still a damned good idea.

 

[SnorriSturluson]

Stronghold worked like that and it defending a castle was much more effective.

 

[ponty94]

chuck all infantry at front and archers on side bits and tell archers to retreat to the keep if they break through

 

[Dryvus]

It would be nice. An inefficient, but sure way of doing it would be to flag points on each castle that you could send your men to via another command from the number keys. Then you could select your archers and tell them to 'Take defensive position' or something like that.

 

[DremoraLord]

Since we don't have this flexibility, I get the best result from "Everyone, hold this position" at the very top of the ramp. If they are densely packed enough, no-one will get through.

For most castles, you can usually tell them all to charge, and they'll pack up even tighter at the entrance, they won't get out on the ramp...

 

[Pellagus]

It's best to leave your archers where they are when they spawn. Tell your infantry to stand close at the breach and you should be okay.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Damnit, thanks for saying that. Now I am going to be wishing that I have everything neatly organized in neat lines, with infantry in front, archers behind, cavalry on the wings. God, I miss Medieval 2. Gotta start playing it again

But really, that is such a damned good idea, it would add a lot more strategy into the game. Like your press, I dunno... B and you zoom out over the battle field paused and drag and click on your units to tell them where to go, what to do. But then it would make the game less of a RPG, and more of a RTS. But still a damned good idea.

In open battle you can pretty much do this already.

2 - select infantry. F1 hold this position.
3 - select archers. Ride behind infantry position and hit F1 hold this position
4 - select cavalry. ride to one side and hit F1 hold this position

In fact that is pretty much how I start most battles unless I have overwhelming odds, dody terrain (a river right by the spawn point) or a reckless ally to support.

Sadly you can't split cavalry and have it on either flank. You can also do it by hitting backspace and using the map - but it feels much more real to fight without the overhead map (plus on my machine at least once the map is on it seems to affect the speed I can turn at)

In a castle you rarely have time to do that kind of micromanagement before the battle commences, but as Pellaus says Archers already spawn on the towers and the ramparts with infantry around the top of the ladder, so it generally works out pretty much as you'd want it anyway.

 

[mat2d2]

Also like in the above if you want to keep your nice rank and file system without messing it up when you want to get closer to the enemy you can press 1 then F6 to move everyone forward 10 paces, also nice for getting the spaceing for melee and archers:
1->F1->2->F6. Will place your infantry 10 paces in front of your archers starting from where you are standing then you just have to worry about moving and placing calvary.

 

[Dryvus]

plus on my machine at least once the map is on it seems to affect the speed I can turn at

The turning speed of the camera is slowed when the map is up, but that's not your computer. You can still manipulate your character normally with the WASD keys.

 

[Jorimli]

Damnit, thanks for saying that. Now I am going to be wishing that I have everything neatly organized in neat lines, with infantry in front, archers behind, cavalry on the wings. God, I miss Medieval 2. Gotta start playing it again

But really, that is such a damned good idea, it would add a lot more strategy into the game. Like your press, I dunno... B and you zoom out over the battle field paused and drag and click on your units to tell them where to go, what to do. But then it would make the game less of a RPG, and more of a RTS. But still a damned good idea.

In open battle you can pretty much do this already.

2 - select infantry. F1 hold this position.
3 - select archers. Ride behind infantry position and hit F1 hold this position
4 - select cavalry. ride to one side and hit F1 hold this position

In fact that is pretty much how I start most battles unless I have overwhelming odds, dody terrain (a river right by the spawn point) or a reckless ally to support.

Sadly you can't split cavalry and have it on either flank. You can also do it by hitting backspace and using the map - but it feels much more real to fight without the overhead map (plus on my machine at least once the map is on it seems to affect the speed I can turn at)

In a castle you rarely have time to do that kind of micromanagement before the battle commences, but as Pellaus says Archers already spawn on the towers and the ramparts with infantry around the top of the ladder, so it generally works out pretty much as you'd want it anyway.

I totally knew that! But still, my laptop is crap when it comes to placing units. But I just usually put infantry behind archers, let the archers have a better view, then once the enemy gets closer advance infantry 10 paces, allows me to pelt them a bit more. Then I grab all my cavalry, tends to be about 15-25 units. Not a big cavalry fan, never have been. Then skirt around behind the enemy and hit em in the ass.

P.S: Love your avatar

~Rory

 

[Headshot!]

For most castles, you can usually tell them all to charge, and they'll pack up even tighter at the entrance, they won't get out on the ramp...

That doesn't always work, i've sometimes seen my men go charging down the ramp and beyond to meet the next wave.  It works better when they can form a bottleneck, and have something to 'charge' against, and when that current wave is beaten back, you can hit hold position again to stop their eagerness taking over.

I've had great success in some sieges, by letting the enemy come up unmolested, but if you have an open courtyard and the enemy have to walk round to get to you, I can mow them down as they come up and round.  I usually place archers facing this route, while I get any infantry and myself placed at the bottom of the stairs they come down.  Works well in castles that have this layout and can afford to utilise this sort of tactic.

Positioning obviously works well in different castles, with the best option usually to leave the arches alone (they often get positioned in murder holes, and on top of towers etc) and to collect infantry to use as a grinder.

 

[HardCode]

It sounds like a good idea to manually place troops at a castle, but it would be very tiresome to have to first manually place 200 troops, and then have to re-assign new troops as you garrison them. Then, repeat per holding.

 

[Fayd]

Damnit, thanks for saying that. Now I am going to be wishing that I have everything neatly organized in neat lines, with infantry in front, archers behind, cavalry on the wings. God, I miss Medieval 2. Gotta start playing it again

But really, that is such a damned good idea, it would add a lot more strategy into the game. Like your press, I dunno... B and you zoom out over the battle field paused and drag and click on your units to tell them where to go, what to do. But then it would make the game less of a RPG, and more of a RTS. But still a damned good idea.

In open battle you can pretty much do this already.

2 - select infantry. F1 hold this position.
3 - select archers. Ride behind infantry position and hit F1 hold this position
4 - select cavalry. ride to one side and hit F1 hold this position

In fact that is pretty much how I start most battles unless I have overwhelming odds, dody terrain (a river right by the spawn point) or a reckless ally to support.

Sadly you can't split cavalry and have it on either flank. You can also do it by hitting backspace and using the map - but it feels much more real to fight without the overhead map (plus on my machine at least once the map is on it seems to affect the speed I can turn at)

In a castle you rarely have time to do that kind of micromanagement before the battle commences, but as Pellaus says Archers already spawn on the towers and the ramparts with infantry around the top of the ladder, so it generally works out pretty much as you'd want it anyway.

i always say screw the tactics, charge.

then again, my army is always 100% cavalry.

 

[Sayyadin]

A battleplan would be great before the battles this way you can also tell the KI how to behave and would make battles without you better. Just because you don't fight yourself does not mean you did not give orders before. Would make it more tactical before the battles and also ensure that you do not loose too many troops in a battle when not playing yourself.

The attack and defense of a castle would be more easy without you playing it all the time. Battles are great but sometimes I just want to get it done and know the numbers are enough to get it done. Also putting someone in charge would be awesome who then does give orders. At the moment if you say you won't be in the fight there is nobody in charge at all and your guys just suck.

Give orders before attacking or defending would be great, also saving orders like:

First order (1.) hold position 1 for troop infantry, position 2 for archer and position 3 and 4 to cavalry.
Second order (2.) Fall back to position 2 and hold ground for all troops. 3. spread

Then while in battle you give do second order and all your troops know what to do and move to the archers and do hold the ground. That would be awesome.

 

[Pellagus]

plus on my machine at least once the map is on it seems to affect the speed I can turn at

The turning speed of the camera is slowed when the map is up, but that's not your computer. You can still manipulate your character normally with the WASD keys.

You can only turn round or look up and down as the mouse hits the edge of the screen when the map is active.

 

[Tyfedo]

When defending a castle, the best option is to tell your infantry to charge. That way they don't try to move in position, while taking hits. They will also stand in a much dense formation. The "charge" option works however only in castles/cities where the units can't attack down the ladder.

 

[Durandal]

When defending a castle, the best option is to tell your infantry to charge. That way they don't try to move in position, while taking hits. They will also stand in a much dense formation. The "charge" option works however only in castles/cities where the units can't attack down the ladder.

Just make sure they won't move down the ladder unless you really want them to. Otherwise, you're giving up a really critical advantage.