Defending against sieges

[Yukmouth++]

Probably the most entertaining fights in Mount and Blade is defending against a siege. I have yet to experience one in Bannerlord so far. Every single time the ennemy breaks their siege and run away.

Bring back Siege defenses please.

 

[Sword_of_Light]

I've done it once, and lost, as I was defending with a 10-1 disadvantage. But the last game I was present for a siege defense, the enemy army broke siege several times, for no reason I could tell, never actually attacking the walls once.

 

[benefactr]

Seems like unless the attacking AI has a great advantage they won't attack. Seems like when you move your army in to help defend the AI will most of the time leave unless they still have a big advantage. Has anyone helped in a siege defense when it's in the castle or town and actually won? Not if they sally out or you attack them on the field. So many entry points now you can't just stand at the one point like in warband and hack the enemy as they come in.

 

[remorse]

The AI won't assault unless it has a strong advantage in autoresolve, and siege autoresolve is generally much more favorable to defenders than actually playing out the battle.
So any siege the AI will attempt is very unlikely to be winnable manually.

 

[Worlok]

Is there any point to do it? The only real strategic defense against AI sieges is offense. Even if the enemy takes the castle I take 2 towns of the enemy in the same time.
In most cases they stop the siege and run to me.

 

[Blood Gryphon]

Is there any point to do it? The only real strategic defense against AI sieges is offense. Even if the enemy takes the castle I take 2 towns of the enemy in the same time.
In most cases they stop the siege and run to me.

Thats not the point, the point is it's rare to get to play one of the most fun parts of the game, defending a siege. When the AI do stick around for a fight its always unbalanced, so you never get the giant siege defense battles (a ton of fun on custom battles). Fighting in an unbalanced scenario would be ok if they could recreate the autocalc results in the actual ingame battle, but right now defenders dont come close to killing as many troops as they do in autocalc. So you are absolutely right that there is no point to do it in the current state, but thats not what OP is getting at.

 

[Julio-Claudian]

It should be possible to hold out against a much larger force if you're defending a castle

 

[Maximuuus]

The only one I played was something like 100 VS 800.
Not funny

 

[TechnoSarge]

I agree - siege defense in M&B was fun! But I've not allowed myself to be caught inside a town or castle by an enemy in Bannerlord.

 

[Bob Gnarly]

Still waiting to do one in hundreds of hours. Been wanting to tryout the ballista or catapult against groups of enemies. My guys have been on the receiving end a few times.

 

[MostBlunted]

I guess I only had 2 defensive sieges in all of my games, I had no chance to win them. In all other cases the AI never attacked.

 

[TheSlain]

In my recent playthrough i have a castle "LLanon Henc" (sp?) as the only last standing castle in enemy Battania territory. As many of you said a lot of times they break the siege for no apparent reason. But recently they have attacked my 200 strong garrison with 400-500, and gave up when they lost around 300 troops (I've had about 80 left). I replenish the garrison and this happened a few times. Finally i had enough money and food to wait in the castle and try to get the siege defenses lead by myself!

My thoughts when i actually lead the siege, i get absolutely ANNIHLATED. My archers aren't fully deployed on the caste walls, when i try to control my infantry units all hell breaks loose, the AI runs from important areas on the walls that are being taken, and the units at the gates of the castle aren't very effective! Argh its all so frustrating, i should be able to win a 300 garrison against 600, my troops are top tier with nearly 60-70 Imperial Palatines and good mixes of infantry. I really hope they improve siege AI in an upcoming patch. The IDEA of it looks amazing but execution falls very short.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

It needs so much work... I don't know I think really some kind of revamp to the structure of walls and placement of troops and your ability to place, control and format them. It's really really bad to fight in a siege defense right now, let alone as everyone has said the AI mill likely just back off.

It's just easier to sally out because you have better control of you troops.

 

[TheCalradian]

It makes sense to me that sieging a castle does not mean to try to capture it. That is basically what sieging is: winning by depriving the city of food or other acute essentials.

If an army is strong enough to handle the defenders sallying out but not strong enough to capturing it, then the siege could be for a long time.

A sieging army breaking siege and resieging is probably due to another army in the proximity that considers a siege a high priority defense but a fleeing army not worth their while. Thereby the two of them will juke back and forth.

 

[TechnoSarge]

Some historical sieges went on for months. None of us would sit through a siege in this game, if it looked to go on like that.

In the game, it's common to find the defenders have no food (because they haven't fixed that yet) but the paint you're watching will dry before they surrender due to starvation. It won't force them to sally in desperation or surrender either. So basically there isn't a mode for a siege to deliver realistic results. For that reason, I assault just as soon as I have the equipment built. For Level 1 Walls, I go with just ladders. For Level 2, I'll build a Siege Tower. Usually for Level 3, it's 2 Siege Towers and a Ram.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

In the game, it's common to find the defenders have no food

Because I buy and hoard all the food.
They will slowly drop off though if you just sit there blowing up their siege stuff. I think it's funny to just sit thier beating all the armies that show up while the militia slowly depletes. Eventually they almost always sally out. Often it's as soon as I fire trebs on the walls but sometimes it's just at a random times that seems to offer no advantage to them.

Anyways, being the attacker in a siege is working better then defending for sure. There's lots of amusing things to do to them when you're the attacker. But being the defender sucks because you just can't use your troops in an effective way.

 

[Liffy]

seige defense in warband had me rubbing my hands together. I used mainly nord trained footmen and khergit skirmishers as garrison troops. I could hold off enemy climbing ladders with just companions and a few top tier troops. Used to be an xp bonanza. A lot of work to be done with bannerlord seiges.

 

[stevehoos]

Probably the most entertaining fights in Mount and Blade is defending against a siege. I have yet to experience one in Bannerlord so far. Every single time the ennemy breaks their siege and run away.

Bring back Siege defenses please.

The enemy had a 3 to 1 advantage on my army and still broke the siege. I was waiting for 10 minutes while the AI finally made up its mind. It never attempts to attack unless the odds are 10 to 1. Warband sieges are better than this. The funny thing is the defender in Bannerlord has the disadvantage in the battles, it's counter intuitive.

 

[ogredpowell]

if enemy is sieging a castle, sometimes you can 'break through' to aid the defenders. this is the only way ive been able to fight a defensive siege battle.

 

[stevehoos]

if enemy is sieging a castle, sometimes you can 'break through' to aid the defenders. this is the only way ive been able to fight a defensive siege battle.

I know, but the AI will sometimes retreat away if you add even a little size to the garrison present.