siege defense loadouts

[danthegreat]

Hey i was wondering what everyone uses to defend their cities/castles since well mine just inst working very well. Im a dshar lord right now and own sarelon and 2 surrounding castles. I have 200-300 troops in the castles of 50 bladesmen 50 pendor armoured archers and the rest are armsmen, various sarleon archers, and empire crossbows. In my city sarleon ive got basicly same thing only 100 instead of 50 and around 500 soldiers. I was wondering how everyone can manage the costs and how to get the siege defenses to work since ive already lost 3 castles to almost 3000 man armys and the defenses arent holding up even close to as well as they did when i took them.

ps. sorry if u cant understand im not good at typing what i mean

 

[Mattrim]

I usually use a Morning Star in two-hand mode and a siege xbow with 2 quivers.  If you need to adjust, you'll have plenty of shields, ect., to choose from off the dead.  Constant over the head swings crushes through most shields and weakens them enough that the troop gathered at the top can finish stuff off fairly easy if my blow doesn't do it.  Pretty much anything two-hand with enough damage is what you're looking for defense.  The opening is so narrow that you can stand off to the side and swing away with relative safety. 

Also, I throw everything I can into my cities/castles garrisons.  Bunch of misc troops I just rescued from someone... into a garrison you go.  I try to favor more archer/xbow users with elite infantry to hold the opening though.  I put any type of heavy cavalry into a garrison too.  Meaning heretic worshipers, adventurers, ect.  Their upkeep is cut in half and they're good defensive units.

hmmm other than that... I dunno heh. 

 

[Lokloklok]

For the opening i have to words for you. Fierdsvain Huscarls

I generally also do the method the poster about me does. 500 farmers actually help (I personally put farmers and the like into the fodder category and make them charge down the ramp at any possible moment. That split second that they are held up equals more time for the empires finest to kill another)

Ranged troops usually empire crossbowmen and ravenstern rangers.

 

[danthegreat]

but thats the problem i have a few elites in the breach even though I have all 50 of my bladesmen at the top of the list but theres always the few craptastic troops that let the enemy through and behind my troops

 

[Lokloklok]

but thats the problem i have a few elites in the breach even though I have all 50 of my bladesmen at the top of the list but theres always the few craptastic troops that let the enemy through and behind my troops

Hmm All i can really think of  at that points is find another choke point and attempt to steer the battle to it.

 

[Mattrim]

That's what you and your big, heavy, two-hander are for; stopping those breaches.  Also, there have been times, when I've been thankful that some of my elite troops had waited until the end to spawn.  They've mopped up tons of lesser units and saved me a castle many-a-times because of it heh.

Also, I think most of my games I've been a merc for every faction at one point or another, so I keep the tides balanced until I'm ready to break off and form my own kingdom.  I've yet had to deal with 3000+ men armies because I capture/release so many lords that their army size stays small enough to handle.  I sure wouldn't want to face a 3000 ferdy army.  Especially if Valdis is in the mix with his Huscarls.  *shudder*

 

[Lokloklok]

That's what you and your big, heavy, two-hander are for; stopping those breaches.  Also, there have been times, when I've been thankful that some of my elite troops had waited until the end to spawn.  They've mopped up tons of lesser units and saved me a castle many-a-times because of it heh.

Also, I think most of my games I've been a merc for every faction at one point or another, so I keep the tides balanced until I'm ready to break off and form my own kingdom.  I've yet had to deal with 3000+ men armies because I capture/release so many lords that their army size stays small enough to handle.  I sure wouldn't want to face a 3000 ferdy army.  Especially if Valdis is in the mix with his Huscarls.  *shudder*

If a 3000 strong fierd army shows up at your door you

1. Offer up all the women and riches in the castle.

2. Pack up the troops and go.

 

[danthegreat]

yeah thats basicly what ive been doing evacuating any troops ive had that are of any use. but yeah i dont really like 2 handed wepons and cant stand being in the front of the ladder since A i cant manual block at all and B the troops that are up in the front hem me in so much i cant move. Also the fact that the enemys swings can glitch through the walls when my cant is very annoying.

 

[Gr. Adm. Thrawn]

You won't survive a 3000 man assault no matter what you do; because at some point you will get knocked down and won't be able to participate in future breach attempts, and then it is just auto calculate which means you will be captured. You don't want that of course.

One thing you can do is fill your castle with farmers and peasant women. Fill it with a 1000 of them. This will give the enemy a better target: some other lords' castle. I always fill my towns with at least 1000 guys, usually 1500+, to deter any attackers. Though if they do decide to attack they will come with 2500+ men, so in rare cases this might not work.

One thing you can be sure that works is being a sneaky commander. Pack up to your retreat castle, and assault and re-take your castle immediately after they leave.  You will get loot, prisoners, morale, experience, women and a friendly hug from your king.

 

[The Zue]

something i like to do..

aside from the ping pong of taking back what you give away.

if there is an invading army somewhere close..  lure them to the area of the castle your defending.   takes a little time and sometimes it doesnt always work.  but nothing more satisfying than watching that 2k+ lord force get wittled down by a fat juicy slow moving heretic/snake/jatu army.

with this.. it also helps seperate that mass force, making it easier to split off a couple lords and deal with them yourself.

i also like to train my companions to shield 3-5, get thier one handed prof up to 200+ and give them 2 shields and heavy iron axe, and maybe something to throw.  doesnt work to well on tower defense, but ladder defense, sure is nice to stop them piled up on the ladder while my archers pick em off.

just some ideas 

cheers
zue 

 

[danthegreat]

yeah thats another problem i had today i had all my troops as infantry and only my companions as archers. Also does this happen to you guys when u atuo calc, when u attack and auto attck u lose everything and the defenders lose 20 men and the same thing happens when u auto calc on defense i lose 300 troops and they lose 20

 

[Gr. Adm. Thrawn]

That's the 'incentive' for the player to take field.

 

[danthegreat]

but still i got head shotted in the first 2 secs by an empire crossbow

 

[Lokloklok]

but still i got head shotted in the first 2 secs by an empire crossbow

Is this a consistent thing or just a lucky shot?

 

[danthegreat]

ud be surprised how many times it happens

 

[Lokloklok]

ud be surprised how many times it happens

Just raise your shield first thing/ get behind shield wall. Or is it so fast that you cant even do that? In my about 70 hours of pendor i haven't had this happen once. Even with ravenstern.

 

[danthegreat]

no i catch one bolt in the side when im up by the ladder then another one comes right after it since my shield would be down

 

[Lokloklok]

no i catch one bolt in the side when im up by the ladder then another one comes right after it since my shield would be down

Id suggest going up the ladder in the middle of your army, the bolts from front wont hit you and you can concentrate shield to the side with most xbows.

 

[danthegreat]

yeah ive been hiding behind my troops for a while now

 

[Gr. Adm. Thrawn]

but still i got head shotted in the first 2 secs by an empire crossbow

That's the way it always happens to me as well.

That's why the moment the battle starts I move. Run, jump, slide, hide whatever, I move. If I am still on my feet after the first five seconds it is the normal exchange of arrows from there, and I can give orders relatively safely.

For me it's the same in field battles as well (in Mount and Blade, in Warband, in every single mod I tried and of course in PoP); if I had a dollar for every time I got shot in the head from an archer I could barely see as a dot, I'd get a new car. Seriously.