Sieges battles are easy and boring, here's my suggestions

[brognar]

What do we prefer?

1- Accurate representation of siege battles.
2- Fun siege battles.
3- Cinematic siege battles.

I think we can have two, but not three.

I'd like 2 & 3 please, Mount&Blade doesn't really strive for realism beyond vague historical similarities. Mods have always been great for those who want more realism.

 

[ZydrateTheSmoothCriminal]

Gonna copy this from a thread:

Layers of defense, one of the main principles of castle layout and design, lack of which in Warband and now also in Bannerlord seriously saddens me. In its current state, sieges are basically over once the first attacker has climbed the walls, which yes, is devastating for the defenders (especially in city defense) but shouldn't be final, there are much more layers in defense than just the first layer of walls and castle gates, there are moats, drawbridges, second or more layers of walls (which I have seen in a number of castles, but the defenders dont take advantage of them), the courtyard, the keep, murder holes between gates, multiple gatehouses, and so many more. Historically, besieging well-constucted castles would be a huge annoyance, they would waste so much time, which is what they're meant to do, meaning the most viable option is to starve the castle out.
The reason I've always loved MP sieges in both Bannerlord and Warband is because it utilizes this principle. When the gate / walls have fallen, players retreat to the second layer of walls and take more defendable positions, if even that layer is lost they retreat to the keep and make a glorious last stand. Especially in high numbers, it feels so immersive with all the projectiles flying around and the constant pressure from the attackers, it's all exciting stuff but in SP the AI just goes into a panic mode once the first layer of walls have fallen, not to mention the terrible siege AI and the defenders retreating to the keep never to be heard from again.

I would suggest first of all fixing Siege AI, and secondly make the AI take advantage of this principle, if the walls and gates have fallen for example the defends would retreat to the second layer of defense. (I understand this might also be an issue with numbers, as most of the time the defenders will have lost half their units before the enemy has even made any significant progress into the castle. But this is a much larger issue I have with the game overall, that is most battles having less than 500 units in total, which isn't the future I imagined for Bannerlord but hey, there is yet time and hence hope.)

Some further improvements, ideas include:

- Make starving out a castle a more preferable option when the besiegers have the advantage in numbers.
- Deserters from the castle, stealing supplies maybe, chances for them to get caught by the castle patrol or the besieger patrol.
- Defenders sounding horns to disrupt the attackers' sleep, and consequently their morale.
- and so on.

 

[badman]

What a bunch of bull****. Please go outside, light up a stick and throw it. See how long it stays lit.

They would have put something flammable on the fire arrows, like a rag soaked in pitch, it would stay alight and help to ignite whatever it hit but it would also affect the flight of the arrow and make it penetrate less, so it would have a very specific use. I think fire arrows are over-represented in media.


Right now armies are overpowered because its so hard to take them down for long periods of time, and siege defenses are underpowered. Adjusting one or the other or both is definitely going to make conquering garrisons more difficult. So I expect it will happen eventually. They can't possibly tweak it to many attacking any more easily.

 

[Leviathonlx]

Gonna copy this from a thread:

There's also the fortified lords keep in both the castles and city but especially the cities. There are historical moments where a city was taken but it couldn't be held since the attackers could not take out the fortress in the city.

 

[Booyja]

I doubt they will put anything you mentioned in the game.

In the end it will be the modders who make this game .... again.

 

[Earth Dragon]

I doubt they will put anything you mentioned in the game.

In the end it will be the modders who make this game .... again.

If it was so easy to put together the frame work, Mount and Blade would have a lot more copy cats.

And half of the stuff people complain about, in this thread and others, are clearly on the docket.

I personally don’t want sieges to take hours of my life just to take a castle. I have not experienced what many posters claim. Archers have posted up in position both attacking and defending. All ladder points have been assaulted simultaneously, along with a battering ram moving forward. The AI is, in fact, launching multifaceted assaults.

The biggest issue, as of now, is getting better usage out of what’s already in place. AI isn’t dropping rocks in attackers in the gatehouse. A handful of recruits should be assigned to do this. The “shield wall” in front of the door isn’t counter charging and trying to reinforce the door. I know hit boxes are fickle things in a game, but it might be nice to have crossbowmen at the gate shooting at folks while they chop at the door.

My main point is that some AI tweeks could already really liven up the sieges. Folks wanting multi-day events should go back to playing flight simulators where they fly a commercial plane from Dallas to Boise.......because that’s how fun sieges would become if half of this threads ideas were pushed into the game.

 

[Booyja]

If it was so easy to put together the frame work, Mount and Blade would have a lot more copy cats.

And half of the stuff people complain about, in this thread and others, are clearly on the docket.

I personally don’t want sieges to take hours of my life just to take a castle. I have not experienced what many posters claim. Archers have posted up in position both attacking and defending. All ladder points have been assaulted simultaneously, along with a battering ram moving forward. The AI is, in fact, launching multifaceted assaults.

The biggest issue, as of now, is getting better usage out of what’s already in place. AI isn’t dropping rocks in attackers in the gatehouse. A handful of recruits should be assigned to do this. The “shield wall” in front of the door isn’t counter charging and trying to reinforce the door. I know hit boxes are fickle things in a game, but it might be nice to have crossbowmen at the gate shooting at folks while they chop at the door.

My main point is that some AI tweeks could already really liven up the sieges. Folks wanting multi-day events should go back to playing flight simulators where they fly a commercial plane from Dallas to Boise.......because that’s how fun sieges would become if half of this threads ideas were pushed into the game.

They created the engine for Bannerlord, so they should have been able to do better than this. There really is not much difference to Warband sieging, wich is dissapointing. And i doubt there will be at this point.

 

[Earth Dragon]

They created the engine for Bannerlord, so they should have been able to do better than this. There really is not much difference to Warband sieging, wich is dissapointing. And i doubt there will be at this point.

That's a rather disingenuous statement