[HELP] How to properly defend your city or castle?

[legeis90]

So I'm new this is the first M&B game I have ever played. So I have a city that I cannot defend for the life of me. I ended up with a fairly large city early on by accident (Ortysia if it maters) and keep getting attacked. 6 times so far.

• 2X allied armies in my kingdom help defend it
  
  
• 1X I convinced the attacked to defect
  
  
• 2X I actually lost it and had to retake it
  
  
• and now I am just recovering from the last time I retook it and an army of 900+ is about to take it away again!!!

What do I do! Is there a way to discourage armies from attacking me? Is there a quick way to bolster defenses so the city can defend itself? I am starting to get really frustrated!

[Khamal]

Upgrade the cities fortifications and militia(buildings), raise security levels by perks or buildings
Lastly,increase your garrison size
I keep generally 200 troops for my garrisons to deter common armys

[»Matrim Cauthon«]

This portion of the game isn't well implemented yet. The cities resources management trends twowards starvation preventing you from building up a decent garrison size, essentially locking you close by your city.

Theoretically breaking a companion out into their own party and having them stay there helps with this, but I've never tried it so I don't know how effective it would be.

Additionally, having a powerful faction as an opponent makes it nearly impossible to hold onto a city due to them being able to field large armies.

That said, with high quality troops you can hold off a siege multiple times your size, and you can also barter them away, but that's not working well at the moment (and against a 900 size army would probably cost a cool million or more).

[legeis90]

Originally posted by Khamal:

Upgrade the cities fortifications and militia(buildings), raise security levels by perks or buildings
Lastly,increase your garrison size
I keep generally 200 troops for my garrisons to deter common armys

Yeah the highest ive been able to get the garrison in between attacks is 150-200ish curently because I just took it back its closer to 80-90ish (including my troops in my party)

Similar problem with upgrades.

also dose this just make it easier to defend from attacks or dose it also discourage attacks from happening?

[»Matrim Cauthon«]

Originally posted by legeis90:

Originally posted by Khamal:

Upgrade the cities fortifications and militia(buildings), raise security levels by perks or buildings
Lastly,increase your garrison size
I keep generally 200 troops for my garrisons to deter common armys

Yeah the highest ive been able to get the garrison in between attacks is 150-200ish curently because I just took it back its closer to 80-90ish (including my troops in my party)

Similar problem with upgrades.

also dose this just make it easier to defend from attacks or dose it also discourage attacks from happening?

It discourages, but it won't really discourage a 900 army, though it might make them more likely to hit a softer target.

Well, it helps with defending too.

[Khamal]

200 discourages, 900-1200 army will still attack, but say for instance if you sat near your castle with 200-300 ontop of the 200, theres a chance with enough renown i think,they will cancel siege/attack you,or regroup sometimes, what I found helps the most when struggling is to attack their party head on at the siege camp/not defend castle, pillage their numbers down and retreat, rinse and repeat if needed
Putting a companion as governor I also think raises security by a point or more

Lastly you can always toggle recruit difficulty, get a ton, put back to normal to buildup garrison

[legeis90]

Originally posted by Khamal:

200 discourages, 900-1200 army will still attack, but say for instance if you sat near your castle with 200-300 ontop of the 200, theres a chance with enough renown i think,they will cancel siege/attack you,or regroup sometimes, what I found helps the most when struggling is to attack their party head on at the siege camp/not defend castle, pillage their numbers down and retreat, rinse and repeat if needed
Putting a companion as governor I also think raises security by a point or more

Thanks

Any specific type of troop I should be aiming for? I mean of course ranged type troops would be best for defending but is there a best type I should be aiming for? Also any tips for raising large numbers or troops to garrison? Usually by the time I can raise 100+ I get attacked again

[Khamal]

I generally go for all imperials
Cavalry help immensely for pressuring
100 of my cav can fight 400 soldiers for instance



For troops, make recruit campaign easy mode, go to a bunch of villages, or any city with 8 recruit slots if you know them, easiest method
Second harder would to note a hideout,let them accumulate prisoner troops(ones you can hire after defeating bandits)

[legeis90]

Originally posted by Khamal:

I generally go for all imperials
Cavalry help immensely for pressuring
100 of my cav can fight 400 soldiers for instance



For troops, make recruit campaign easy mode, go to a bunch of villages, or any city with 8 recruit slots if you know them, easiest method
Second harder would to note a hideout,let them accumulate prisoner troops(ones you can hire after defeating bandits)

Well yeah cavalry are definitely op in battles but I meant specifically to garrison in the city. I assume if I am pressuring them before the siege it will just be whatever is in my party.

[»Matrim Cauthon«]

Originally posted by legeis90:

Originally posted by Khamal:

I generally go for all imperials
Cavalry help immensely for pressuring
100 of my cav can fight 400 soldiers for instance



For troops, make recruit campaign easy mode, go to a bunch of villages, or any city with 8 recruit slots if you know them, easiest method
Second harder would to note a hideout,let them accumulate prisoner troops(ones you can hire after defeating bandits)

Well yeah cavalry are definitely op in battles but I meant specifically to garrison in the city. I assume if I am pressuring them before the siege it will just be whatever is in my party.

As far as I know, deterrance is purely numbers based, so filling the garrsion with recruits is just as effective as filling it with legionaries.

For actual battle, archers and heavy infantry are the best IMO.

[Khamal]

Cav are just good if you want the enemies to flee, morale breakers