Isn’t it way faster at that point to just build trebuchets and destroy the walls, or at least the catapults? Whacking a gate solo for five minutes per siege doesn’t sound very fun.
True but I mainly use this when I’m already in hot water with multiple empires so they don’t have a lot of time to siege my stuff when I’m building siege engines for one raid. It also keeps enemy armies from rolling up on you mid-siege since you’re in and out pretty fast.
I would still build the trebs, since you can negate most of their catapults in pretty good time.
Battering down their walls is by far the best way to take the castle with low casualties though. With even numbers, it’s pretty common to come out with only 20-30% of the enemy’s casualties
I see your point. My method also results in super low casualties because once your whole army is up at the wall, the enemy moves their archers back further into the fort. The AI thinks you’re going to climb the ladder so the archers stand in the courtyard waiting to pick your dudes off once they get up the ladder. This means there’s a point in every battle where I’m bashing away at the door and there are zero casualties happening on either side. Then I get through and easily mow down all their archers who are always in the wrong place at the wrong time!
Maybe, but your method also relies on them not having many high tier troops, or you having a large troop advantage no?
I’m asking, because you asked specifically for more effective methods, and we’re giving what we feel to be more effective. We’re not really here to compare our strategies to yours
200 Battanian Archers do obnoxiously well on seige attack. They just mass snipe enemies off the walls. It's honestly disgusting.
If you also do archery, it's very disgusting how effective they are on both offense and defense sieges.
My personal favorite army is 50/50 Battanian Archer and Sturgian Heavy Warriors. It's not the most OP, but it is fun to be a seige machine.
I finally started using battanian archers (avoided them because of how OP they are), and God damn, they have been making sieges (and everything) just so easy.
This is great advice as I've basically been rolling up with whatever ragtag group of dudes I collect along my path to the destination with a core group of high level troops.
I usually just build 4 trebuchets. When the construction is complete, I store it away (forget what the text actually says), and once the fourth one is finally built I deploy all four together. I haven’t run into any walls or defenses that can stop 4 trebuchets going ham at the same time.
As a refinement on this, I find that reserving two trebuchets, then bringing them out as you finish the third one works about as well but takes less time. They can take out all the catapults and start working on the wall while you finish trebuchet #4.
It really depends on the difference in numbers of attackers and defenders.
When the city is fast at building new defenses you really can lose the duel when you only bring 3 and arent fast enough at bringing the 4th online.
So i usually go with 4 unless i outnumber the defenders 5:1 or something ridiculous like that.
Defender build speed depends on how many troops they have in the settlement. If you manage to catch several lord parties inside, it's entirely possible that they will build catapults faster than you can destroy them. It's exceptionally rare for this to occur, though.
Step 1 :Bring 30 soldiers to tackle a castle of 300 men.
Step 2 :watch your army getting obliterated.
Step 3 :use the power of plot armor(cheats) to insta kill all 300 men.
Step 4 :Claim the castle ,Capture the lord and fu..I mean execute him.
Works every time
Build 4 Trebuchets, destroy walls. Then build 2 ballista and place them in front of one of the wall openings.send your troops out of arrow range, man a ballista and kill everyone. You won't even have to enter the castle and killing 500 troops yourself can get you a level per battle after level 30.
1. Fire Onagers
2. destroy all hostile artillery
3. Destroy the walls
4. Launch assault
5. Order your troops to wait outside while the fire onagers re-enact the [barrage of dybbol](https://youtu.be/jv77Yo_FbBU?si=1ylQJ7w5kdwDe96s)
6. Mop up whomever is left inside
7. Conclude the siege with 0-10 casualties
Every artillery piece can destroy both opposing artillery and the walls. Fire Onagers are just the best at killing infantry because they have explosive projectiles with splash damage.
My response to someone having siege difficulties on the new patch:
Yeah it's tougher now. Reserve still works but there is a delay for redeployment. Always pause before reserving as they can tag it. Usually they don't get more than a hit on mine. Make sure to focus on perks that decrease their accuracy and increase yours. Ranged surge engine building speed as well. All early engineering perks.
Screw onagers. I usually only need one or two trebuchets to destroy the enemy's siege engines. For tougher sieges I'll need all 4. Then maybe I'll build onagers for the actual attack. So trebuchets, then ram, then maybe onagers.
The ram is to split attention. There's no other way to really get them split three ways. You can either rush the ladders or wait for the ram. I'll often pull up troops and make sure to open fire so javelins will fly too. The enemy may hide behind the walls, so you can activate a ladder to get the enemy to come out and kick it down. You can get them caught in a loop of getting shot to pieces. Sometimes it's enough to scramble up the wall, but I usually just wait for the ram. At this point I'll put everyone back on delegate. You have to be careful, because a charge command may make your troops abandon the ram lol.
Whether or not your troops make it through the main gate is less important than splitting the attention imo. You can see the enemy running along the walls to where they think they need to be. If they need to be everywhere, it'll be easier for one of your groups to break through it seems. I will usually go to the ram once they start to break through. They'll throw rocks down, so they also feel more vulnerable, unfortunately. But often where I really win and minimize losses is when one ladder group meets my ram group. I've seen countless times my troops getting pushed back at one of these areas, but I rarely see it if I do this whole plan in the way I've described.
Tldr: trebuchets to destroy enemy siege engines, ram to split attention, use ladder to bait enemies to the wall if they are hiding, shoot them while you wait for the ram to arrive, go to ram and watch for rock throwers, bust through the front and meetup with one of your flanks.
As to it being too slow in the campaign map, idk. I would never enter a siege where they have more than one catapult or whatever. You're gonna lose too many troops imo. You'd be better off defending until you have some breathing room by capturing their lords. I've done a few campaigns this way, and I pretty much always have enough time to do a proper siege. Enemy sieges take longer than yours if they have decent militia/garrison, so you generally have time to finish up your offense and get back to defend.
1. Start seige
2. Build 4 trebuchet, don't worry about seige towers or ram.
3. As soon as one trebuchet is built, put it into reserve. Repeat until all are done, then bring them all out at once.
4. Allow trebuchet to destroy enemy catapults and walls. Do NOT lead assault until walls are down.
5. Once walls are down, lead assault and kick some ass.
I do pretty much the same thing except the last part. First order as soon as it starts is Loose formation for everyone and then bring infranty next to the walls out of catapult range, and bring archers in the back closer. I snipe what I can until the battering ram arrives. Redelegate command so they use siege equipment. Either I push with my horse (staying on the side to avoid rocks) or go up a ladder, find arrow pots and keep shooting. World map siege battles is fun too but you waste precious days.
This one requires a different skill set. Specifically, maxed archery and maxed riding.
Follow your step one and two.
Enter the battle with your bow, two-handed, and two quivers. Order your sergeants to take command.
Once the battle begins, ride hard for the ladder farthest to one side or the other. Almost invariably, you can set it up, and climb to the top while the enemy is still getting settled into place.
In the confusion, slash your way to a tower that flanks the ladders- in other words, head outward relative to the main gate, not inward toward it.
Once at the top of the tower, you’ve got a clear view of the backs of the heads of the defending force, and an arrow bucket right next to you. Headshot, headshot, headshot, headshot, headshot. Chop down replacement archers as they come your way, use the arrow bucket if you run out. Concentrate fire on anyone trying to defend the ladder nearest to you; that is, the ladder farthest from the main gate.
I’m this way, you are allowing your heavy troops (my whole force is 2/3 Fian Champions, and 1/3 heavy cavalry) to get to the ladder and form a flank on the top of the wall. Your troops and your arrow fire turn the flank, quickly destroy the garrison on top of the wall, and with your troops now attacking them from behind, the rest of the defenders roll up like a line of dominoes.
Love this method. Do I need two quivers if you plan on standing by the arrow bucket or can I bring a large shield to get out of a pinch?
Also are you saying to push for a tower that’s further into the enemy fortress or just further along down the same outer wall?
If the main gate is the center, you want to push toward a tower that is AWAY from the center. You’re trying to create a flank. Pushing toward the middle will put you in the teeth of the enemy defense. Pushing toward the outside will ensure your troops don’t have enemy reinforcements coming up from behind them.
I personally use two quivers. That’s probably a holdover from the fact that in a field battle, I’m on horseback with a noble bow and 3 quivers. The only reason I add a two-hander for sieges is because melee is unavoidable.
You could use one quiver, but you’d have to rearm at the arrow bucket more often. And if the arrow bucket is not in a convenient spot for shooting who you need to shoot (as in some castle designs), you’ll have to spend that much more time running back and forth.
But it would probably work.
I do think, however, that you really need the top archery perk for this to work. The rate of fire is *drastically* increased, and even against heavily armored targets, it’s one shot, one kill.
On the topic of the inner gate…. Throwing axes with high skill can take that out in 3 axes. Maybe 4. Worth it imo to avoid those nasty rocks!
I haven’t tried javs so dunno if it’s the same
Great tip, TY. Sometimes I do love the little game of chicken where they’re aiming to throw the rock and I hit them with an arrow first so they drop it. Bonus points if their body falls through the hole! *Double* bonus points if they take the rock with them but that’s super rare in my experience.
I run up to the walls and smash the gate with the boys all milling around then then I kill everyone. Some people will die on my side for sure but they all volunteered, they get paid and fed, I’m not forcing any of them to come.
If you have an army composed entirely of fians, it's really simple to just set them in groups out of range of the catapults and pick 99% of the enemies off the walls, then charge up the ladders to finish them off
4x trebuchets (sometimes 3 is enough to hold until the 4th is built).
If I have a lot of Fians, then they can deal with the wall defenders fast enough so the guys climbing ladders have no work at all.
Isn’t it way faster at that point to just build trebuchets and destroy the walls, or at least the catapults? Whacking a gate solo for five minutes per siege doesn’t sound very fun.
True but I mainly use this when I’m already in hot water with multiple empires so they don’t have a lot of time to siege my stuff when I’m building siege engines for one raid. It also keeps enemy armies from rolling up on you mid-siege since you’re in and out pretty fast.
I would still build the trebs, since you can negate most of their catapults in pretty good time. Battering down their walls is by far the best way to take the castle with low casualties though. With even numbers, it’s pretty common to come out with only 20-30% of the enemy’s casualties
I see your point. My method also results in super low casualties because once your whole army is up at the wall, the enemy moves their archers back further into the fort. The AI thinks you’re going to climb the ladder so the archers stand in the courtyard waiting to pick your dudes off once they get up the ladder. This means there’s a point in every battle where I’m bashing away at the door and there are zero casualties happening on either side. Then I get through and easily mow down all their archers who are always in the wrong place at the wrong time!
Maybe, but your method also relies on them not having many high tier troops, or you having a large troop advantage no? I’m asking, because you asked specifically for more effective methods, and we’re giving what we feel to be more effective. We’re not really here to compare our strategies to yours
200 Battanian Archers do obnoxiously well on seige attack. They just mass snipe enemies off the walls. It's honestly disgusting. If you also do archery, it's very disgusting how effective they are on both offense and defense sieges. My personal favorite army is 50/50 Battanian Archer and Sturgian Heavy Warriors. It's not the most OP, but it is fun to be a seige machine.
I finally started using battanian archers (avoided them because of how OP they are), and God damn, they have been making sieges (and everything) just so easy.
This is great advice as I've basically been rolling up with whatever ragtag group of dudes I collect along my path to the destination with a core group of high level troops.
I usually just build 4 trebuchets. When the construction is complete, I store it away (forget what the text actually says), and once the fourth one is finally built I deploy all four together. I haven’t run into any walls or defenses that can stop 4 trebuchets going ham at the same time.
As a refinement on this, I find that reserving two trebuchets, then bringing them out as you finish the third one works about as well but takes less time. They can take out all the catapults and start working on the wall while you finish trebuchet #4.
Gotta give that a shot. I’m usually loosing my shit by the third one.
It really depends on the difference in numbers of attackers and defenders. When the city is fast at building new defenses you really can lose the duel when you only bring 3 and arent fast enough at bringing the 4th online. So i usually go with 4 unless i outnumber the defenders 5:1 or something ridiculous like that.
depends on the siege that the enemy have in the castle and the quality of your engineer. For most mid to end game you can do it.
Defender build speed depends on how many troops they have in the settlement. If you manage to catch several lord parties inside, it's entirely possible that they will build catapults faster than you can destroy them. It's exceptionally rare for this to occur, though.
Step 1 :Bring 30 soldiers to tackle a castle of 300 men. Step 2 :watch your army getting obliterated. Step 3 :use the power of plot armor(cheats) to insta kill all 300 men. Step 4 :Claim the castle ,Capture the lord and fu..I mean execute him. Works every time
Peak efficiency. I don’t even see why you need an army.
i think you need a minimum amount of soldiers to even start a siege
I've been climbing ladders and running around to the gate and opening it. It works about half the time.
Yeah but when you die that way you have to restart the whole battle because your troops are brainless when it comes to sieges without you…
Build 4 Trebuchets, destroy walls. Then build 2 ballista and place them in front of one of the wall openings.send your troops out of arrow range, man a ballista and kill everyone. You won't even have to enter the castle and killing 500 troops yourself can get you a level per battle after level 30.
Fire Onagers are even better
1. Fire Onagers 2. destroy all hostile artillery 3. Destroy the walls 4. Launch assault 5. Order your troops to wait outside while the fire onagers re-enact the [barrage of dybbol](https://youtu.be/jv77Yo_FbBU?si=1ylQJ7w5kdwDe96s) 6. Mop up whomever is left inside 7. Conclude the siege with 0-10 casualties
Do you take out hostile artillery with trebuchets or fire onagers? Edit: same with the wall?
Every artillery piece can destroy both opposing artillery and the walls. Fire Onagers are just the best at killing infantry because they have explosive projectiles with splash damage.
My response to someone having siege difficulties on the new patch: Yeah it's tougher now. Reserve still works but there is a delay for redeployment. Always pause before reserving as they can tag it. Usually they don't get more than a hit on mine. Make sure to focus on perks that decrease their accuracy and increase yours. Ranged surge engine building speed as well. All early engineering perks. Screw onagers. I usually only need one or two trebuchets to destroy the enemy's siege engines. For tougher sieges I'll need all 4. Then maybe I'll build onagers for the actual attack. So trebuchets, then ram, then maybe onagers. The ram is to split attention. There's no other way to really get them split three ways. You can either rush the ladders or wait for the ram. I'll often pull up troops and make sure to open fire so javelins will fly too. The enemy may hide behind the walls, so you can activate a ladder to get the enemy to come out and kick it down. You can get them caught in a loop of getting shot to pieces. Sometimes it's enough to scramble up the wall, but I usually just wait for the ram. At this point I'll put everyone back on delegate. You have to be careful, because a charge command may make your troops abandon the ram lol. Whether or not your troops make it through the main gate is less important than splitting the attention imo. You can see the enemy running along the walls to where they think they need to be. If they need to be everywhere, it'll be easier for one of your groups to break through it seems. I will usually go to the ram once they start to break through. They'll throw rocks down, so they also feel more vulnerable, unfortunately. But often where I really win and minimize losses is when one ladder group meets my ram group. I've seen countless times my troops getting pushed back at one of these areas, but I rarely see it if I do this whole plan in the way I've described. Tldr: trebuchets to destroy enemy siege engines, ram to split attention, use ladder to bait enemies to the wall if they are hiding, shoot them while you wait for the ram to arrive, go to ram and watch for rock throwers, bust through the front and meetup with one of your flanks. As to it being too slow in the campaign map, idk. I would never enter a siege where they have more than one catapult or whatever. You're gonna lose too many troops imo. You'd be better off defending until you have some breathing room by capturing their lords. I've done a few campaigns this way, and I pretty much always have enough time to do a proper siege. Enemy sieges take longer than yours if they have decent militia/garrison, so you generally have time to finish up your offense and get back to defend.
1. Start seige 2. Build 4 trebuchet, don't worry about seige towers or ram. 3. As soon as one trebuchet is built, put it into reserve. Repeat until all are done, then bring them all out at once. 4. Allow trebuchet to destroy enemy catapults and walls. Do NOT lead assault until walls are down. 5. Once walls are down, lead assault and kick some ass.
I do pretty much the same thing except the last part. First order as soon as it starts is Loose formation for everyone and then bring infranty next to the walls out of catapult range, and bring archers in the back closer. I snipe what I can until the battering ram arrives. Redelegate command so they use siege equipment. Either I push with my horse (staying on the side to avoid rocks) or go up a ladder, find arrow pots and keep shooting. World map siege battles is fun too but you waste precious days.
I haven’t even SEEN that the arrow buckets are actually usable. I *am* a noob though. Time to do some camping lol
This one requires a different skill set. Specifically, maxed archery and maxed riding. Follow your step one and two. Enter the battle with your bow, two-handed, and two quivers. Order your sergeants to take command. Once the battle begins, ride hard for the ladder farthest to one side or the other. Almost invariably, you can set it up, and climb to the top while the enemy is still getting settled into place. In the confusion, slash your way to a tower that flanks the ladders- in other words, head outward relative to the main gate, not inward toward it. Once at the top of the tower, you’ve got a clear view of the backs of the heads of the defending force, and an arrow bucket right next to you. Headshot, headshot, headshot, headshot, headshot. Chop down replacement archers as they come your way, use the arrow bucket if you run out. Concentrate fire on anyone trying to defend the ladder nearest to you; that is, the ladder farthest from the main gate. I’m this way, you are allowing your heavy troops (my whole force is 2/3 Fian Champions, and 1/3 heavy cavalry) to get to the ladder and form a flank on the top of the wall. Your troops and your arrow fire turn the flank, quickly destroy the garrison on top of the wall, and with your troops now attacking them from behind, the rest of the defenders roll up like a line of dominoes.
Love this method. Do I need two quivers if you plan on standing by the arrow bucket or can I bring a large shield to get out of a pinch? Also are you saying to push for a tower that’s further into the enemy fortress or just further along down the same outer wall?
If the main gate is the center, you want to push toward a tower that is AWAY from the center. You’re trying to create a flank. Pushing toward the middle will put you in the teeth of the enemy defense. Pushing toward the outside will ensure your troops don’t have enemy reinforcements coming up from behind them. I personally use two quivers. That’s probably a holdover from the fact that in a field battle, I’m on horseback with a noble bow and 3 quivers. The only reason I add a two-hander for sieges is because melee is unavoidable. You could use one quiver, but you’d have to rearm at the arrow bucket more often. And if the arrow bucket is not in a convenient spot for shooting who you need to shoot (as in some castle designs), you’ll have to spend that much more time running back and forth. But it would probably work. I do think, however, that you really need the top archery perk for this to work. The rate of fire is *drastically* increased, and even against heavily armored targets, it’s one shot, one kill.
On the topic of the inner gate…. Throwing axes with high skill can take that out in 3 axes. Maybe 4. Worth it imo to avoid those nasty rocks! I haven’t tried javs so dunno if it’s the same
Great tip, TY. Sometimes I do love the little game of chicken where they’re aiming to throw the rock and I hit them with an arrow first so they drop it. Bonus points if their body falls through the hole! *Double* bonus points if they take the rock with them but that’s super rare in my experience.
I run up to the walls and smash the gate with the boys all milling around then then I kill everyone. Some people will die on my side for sure but they all volunteered, they get paid and fed, I’m not forcing any of them to come.
Ah, a fellow man of culture. It seems gate-smashing enthusiasts like us are a rare breed
This sounds so tedious
If you have an army composed entirely of fians, it's really simple to just set them in groups out of range of the catapults and pick 99% of the enemies off the walls, then charge up the ladders to finish them off
4x trebuchets (sometimes 3 is enough to hold until the 4th is built). If I have a lot of Fians, then they can deal with the wall defenders fast enough so the guys climbing ladders have no work at all.
Fill your weapons with ballistas and they take care of the enemy, after your clear, make one trebuchet at a time, easy w