Trick to fort wall defeders?

[Marchalis]

Hi,

So, i'm trying to defend a big fort and I put units on the walls but in no way can I figure out how to get them to line up at the walls to fire at the enemy underneath...

It seems nothing like Shogun2 wall defence lol, where it's a simple click and you can tell where they are going to go with Ctrl, and you can spread them out more with shift. right on the wall always ready to fire.

I'm finding none of these features in Empire.. work... it shows where they will go but it's rarely where I want them :S is it a different button combo? or is it just pot luck what your units do on walls depending on where you click? lol Wall seem useless, I might as well just do a field battle at this point.

[Xautos]

it isn't just wall defenders not lining up as they should, but generally formations in this game really let it down more often than i like. it is most noticable in fights when your unit reforms and just sits there until they engage again or given the order to despite the fact they are not in guard formation. the top left unit is where you know how to place your unit, so click just the left of the left most cannon on the wall cannons and they should get to work after that,

[Insaniac]

Don't bother defending the walls themselves. It's usually more effective to build your defenses within the walls. That way you're sheltered from artillery fire, and aside from the one unit that climbs the wall to capture the gatehouse, all other enemy units will just try to funnel in through the gates, meaning you can inflict colossal casualties on them using very small forces. Oh, and of course you'll incur fewer pathfinding issues when not on the walls.

[Ant]

Yeah what he said ^
It's by far the best tactic to use, nothing beats cannon blasting canister shot into a small gap where hundreds of men are pushing through.
And deploy your stakes at the breaches and main gate and watch all the cavalry suicide. Haha.

[Xautos]

Originally posted by XIII Antonius:

Yeah what he said ^
It's by far the best tactic to use, nothing beats cannon blasting canister shot into a small gap where hundreds of men are pushing through.
And deploy your stakes at the breaches and main gate and watch all the cavalry suicide. Haha.

That i MUST try at some point hahah xD

[Shogun]

1. If you select a line infantry unit than put them on the walls while you press right mouse-click and spread their formation so far as you can. Then (normally) they automatically split themselves up and goes to the edge of the wall (now they are in range/fire-mode. But only one line instead of three line formation :/ -> so they are not very effectiv. But sometimes the AI is braindead enough and bring the own units into front of your wall and they will get shooted. -> ez win, ez life :D
2. If the enemy has no artillery you can try to camp on the walls. If the enemy infantry wants to climb up the wall, you put your infantry direct at the same place and goes into melee-fight (with bayonetts). Sometimes you can beat a line infantry-regiment with two militia-units because they are in higher numbers (only the infantry of the indian faction can make problems because they have huge moral).
3. I prefer to fight in the small forts instead of the big forts because the big forts are very difficult to defend if the enemy has far bigger amry then you. In small forts you can defend nearly every frontlines with low trash units and can hold the lines.
4. Use the trash units like militia wisely -> if the AI is not attacking you and is only camping in a siege battle, u can use the trash units to pull the enemy army.

I hope it helps :>

PS. the cannons on the walls of a fort a neary useless... they get very seldom lucky shots

[-A-]

Protect your side walls from flanking forces. making sure to click on shield icon so they're in defence mode. Select unit and click 'n drag across top wall region where you want them to be located. (you can start them at front of fort and run them to sides as enemy starts flanking.) Always move them across gate region once enemy flankers reach that area. Despite what others say, fort artillery point blank shots will quickly demoralise enemy lines. Select sword mode only when enemy begins to breach across top of walls. Once your flanks are guraded then place two units of artillery, backwards from centre flag, and have shrapnell shot turned on (your own canon balls will destroy your own walls from the inside). Turn off their fire-at-will. Have one unit of infantry either side of artillery, fire-at-will turned on. Let enemy forces get over front walls. As they come into inner grounds, forward of your artillery, turn your artillery's fire-at-will back on and then select to attack which ever enemy force needs to be hammered. (Turning your artillery's fire-at-will off will stop them following enemy and blasting your own troops....friendly fire is very bad for morale.) Howitzers are great for initial cut down of massed enemy at start, light infantry and for far off reserves entering the field. Keep cavalry protected early on and use them to break up howitzers and retreating troops later in game. Always cut down as many retreating troops as possible. This prevents enemy experience building up and shatters them entirely. It also helps your troops build up experience at low cost.

[Marchalis]

thanks guys.
Game crashed so i'm giving it a break for a little, lol. but I did get a good seige defence going before it did.

Cheers

[Inardesco]

Blow a hole in your wall

Set troops in a nice looking formation aka killbox

Wait

Have some troops on the walls to prevent the AI from being stupid and climb the wall