Problems with sieges, retreat and unit reinforcement wave mechanics in 1.9

[Totalgarbage]

I overall like the changes made to the reinforcement and sieges, but yesterday I realized that siege defences become even more easy to defend. If you make the enemy retreat once (which is quite easy from my experience, destroying siege towers and/or rams do wonders) the enemy won't go back to the siege preparation screen to remake the siege tower and battering ram, making it incredibly easy to defend. The town I was staying in also had 0 days' worth of food left so going back to the siege prep stage would've been even more advantageous for them.

There's also the persisting issue of attacking side's archers bunching up in the back and therefore only 10-20% of archers shooting at once if they're not given any orders/ are being auto-delegated. This issue happens for both the player and the AI in offensive siege battles.

I've noticed an issue with the AI army joining another AI army that's besieging a settlement (this may only be happening when the player is in the said settlement, so I'm not sure of the scope of the problem). I was at war with the Khuzaits and I had just taken a town from them with only my party of 445 men. I wanted to test how siege defences work so I waited for a bit in the town I just took. Just as I thought, an army of 750ish men came to besiege the town and another with 550ish men on the horizon were coming to join. However, just as the smaller army was about the join the larger one in besieging, they changed their mind and went back, only to come back in the next 10 seconds and then changing their mind again. I tried reloading and the same thing happened. This issue "fixed" itself only after a third army was looking to join the siege. The second army then decided to join the besieging army and they attacked, so I couldn't test whether the 3rd army would also change their mind at the last second and then decide to come back again to change their mind again.

Finally, while the new AI movement overhaul is a massive improvement, I noticed that infantry units bunch up over the walls (I had destroyed the ram in the previous siege attempt) and were not letting me move, or at least making it very hard for me to pass through them to go towards the ladders. The level of crowdedness at the walls also caused a bit of jittering when me and the units were defending the walls by attacking enemies coming up via the ladders (though not as much as the previous patches, thank god). This crowdedness also caused a few units to fall down to the ground near the enemies and then die. The soldiers didn't listen when I commanded them to go in loose formation (but they obeyed when I ordered them to move somewhere else). The crowding at the walls definitely needs a bit of work.

 

[Lesbosisles]

The AI should at least be able to carry the ladders if all siege machines were destroyed.

 

[Totalgarbage]

They actually try to attack the gates if both siege towers and the battering ram is destroyed/not built (if they don't retreat). The issue is that the AI doesn't try to rebuild its siege engines for the second assault and instead they try to only use ladders, so it becomes too easy do defend unless you're outnumbered 5 to 1 or something. Honestly siege preparation step can use a whole lot of work, especially on the AI side. The AI should try to starve the garrison out more often if they have ample amounts of food. Since they can't put engines in reserve, they won't destroy the walls 99% of the time.

 

[geala]

I don't see the problems, except for the crowding on the walls which is sometimes really bad. It should be very difficult to conquer a town/castle with ladders. Perhaps ladders should not be usable against tier 3 walls at all.

 

[Totalgarbage]

It should be hard for taking towns and castles, but it shouldn't be hard because they AI shoots itself in the foot. The biggest issue is the AI armies not joining other armies' sieges but instead coming to the towns' gate and then going back only to come back again to go back again, and so on. I think it's only an issue that occurs when the player is part of the defence.

 

[Lesbosisles]

doesn't try to rebuild its siege engines for the second assault and instead they try to only use ladders, so it becomes too easy do defend unless you're outnumbered 5 to 1 or something.

I can't really imagine how should this be implemented, to be honest. You destroy their siege engines and then you go force-loadscreen to the world map? Might be irritating, plus, by the time they build new engines, they may receive a reinforcement, while you can't, so, the fight 1000 vs 500 people may become 2500 vs 470 (because you've lost a few men during the last assault attempt)...

 

[Totalgarbage]

Oh no nothing like that, sorry it seems like I couldn't explain it properly.

Let's say the enemy has 2k troops and they lose 500 troops, lose their battering ram and 1 out of 2 siege towers and retreat. In 1.9, the game takes you back to the screen where you choose to join the battle, autoresolve or surrender after the enemies have mass retreated or you've surpassed the reinforcement limit (it's unlimited by default I believe) and they still have significant numbers. If you choose to join the battle again, they will have no siege towers left despite only losing one because they retreated.

My suggestion is for the attackers to choose to rebuild the siege engines after their troops have retreated unless they have an overwhelming advantage in numbers/strength or a large relief force is near the besieged settlement.