Sieging is pointless

[walrus]

edit: a bit off the mark on some of this but the core point still stands, that waiting for a siege to finish is often a waste of time since the AI can muster half their kingdom to come after you before you've even built a pair of trebs.

Siege camp mechanics are completely broken right now. The best way to take a settlement is to just build a ram and instantly assault. Building any siege weapons is pointless- the AI starts with a wall full of defenses which instantly destroy any siege weapon you build, you can only build one at a time, and the speed at which you build is the same no matter if you have 100 men or 1000 men in your army.

The only way to use siege weapons right now is to build it and instantly move it to reserves, and you need at least 8 siege weapons in your reserves before you can even think about beginning bombardment due to how many you will lose.

Oh, and while you slowly build up siege engines (you can only build one at a time, and the speed is not modified by how many men are in your army) your food supplies are running out and you have to spend influence to keep your army from breaking apart.

Militia and garrison do not suffer attrition to starvation right now either, so there's no point in sitting in camp and waiting- YOU are the one eating attrition from food and influence lost. And the AI is probably gathering men to come stop you, so the longer you wait the less chance you have to take the city. Either you can take it with just a ram and ladders, or you may as well not bother with a siege at all.

I get that sieges are not supposed to be "easy" but when the optimal tactic is to just... not siege and rush the walls, it needs some work still. (yes yes early access i know)

[1337Dude]

Actually, the amount of siege equipment a settlement has depends. I've Sieged multiple places and had siege equipment superiority.

[walrus]

Originally posted by 76561197970290021:

Actually, the amount of siege equipment a settlement has depends. I've Sieged multiple places and had siege equipment superiority.

Oh even better. Very cool that you can attack a settlement with a full wall of siege weapons yet be unable to pre-build your own before attempting the siege.

Siege weapons should be a commodity and be very, very heavy to slow your army down while carrying them.

[kesat]

You can put siege engines into reserve once they are built. This way they won't get destroyed by the enemy ballista/onager.

You build up several siege engines, put them in reserve - and (if you like) deploy them once all of them are finished to start bombarding the walls.

But I agree that the balance right now is off and it is indeed easier to just build a ram (and siege towers once AI Pathfinding works properly) and not use ballista, onagers and trebuchets at all. From time to time i use them, but pretty much just for the flair...

Originally posted by DC:

Originally posted by 76561197970290021:

Actually, the amount of siege equipment a settlement has depends. I've Sieged multiple places and had siege equipment superiority.

Oh even better. Very cool that you can attack a settlement with a full wall of siege weapons yet be unable to pre-build your own before attempting the siege.

Siege weapons should be a commodity and be very, very heavy to slow your army down while carrying them.

Siege weapons (at least trebuchets and so on) where built on spot, not carried around though. They were simply too cumbersome to move from one place to another. But iirc trebuchets were supposed to out-range enemy defensive capabilities... so that's another problem in the game ;)

[Pappus]

I build 4x trebuchet and it flattens everything all the time. Not sure why you need 8

[walrus]

Originally posted by kesat:

You can put siege engines into reserve once they are built. This way they won't get destroyed by the enemy ballista/onager.

You build up several siege engines, put them in reserve - and (if you like) deploy them once all of them are finished to start bombarding the walls.

But I agree that the balance right now is off and it is indeed easier to just build a ram (and siege towers once AI Pathfinding works properly) and not use ballista, onagers and trebuchets at all. From time to time i use them, but pretty much just for the flair...

Yeah I know, said that in the OP. You need at least 8 to even contemplate attacking a fully defended wall right now from what I have seen.

[walrus]

Originally posted by Twitch/Pappus:

I build 4x trebuchet and it flattens everything all the time. Not sure why you need 8

Onagers on walls beat trebuchets. Your siege equipment misses constantly while theirs is laser accurate.

[ViiK]

Most of the siege engines where build on a spot because it's impractical to haul them around. On top of that, many campaigns where exploratory, meaning that a siege of a castle or a city wasn't necessary a part of some grand strategy.
The exception was metal cannons. Wooden cannons where made on the spot as well.

[Redmacinton]

would be interesting if siege equipment would cost hardwood, tools and iron depends on what you want to construct.

[walrus]

Originally posted by ViiK:

Most of the siege engines where build on a spot because it's impractical to haul them around. On top of that, many campaigns where exploratory, meaning that a siege of a castle or a city wasn't necessary a part of some grand strategy.
The exception was metal cannons. Wooden cannons where made on the spot as well.

The romans moved around with ballistae and onagers in their armies when necessary. Siege towers and larger siege weapons were indeed built on the spot.

[ViiK]

Originally posted by DC:

Originally posted by ViiK:

Most of the siege engines where build on a spot because it's impractical to haul them around. On top of that, many campaigns where exploratory, meaning that a siege of a castle or a city wasn't necessary a part of some grand strategy.
The exception was metal cannons. Wooden cannons where made on the spot as well.

The romans moved around with ballistae and onagers in their armies when necessary. Siege towers and larger siege weapons were indeed built on the spot.

Yeah but Romans are not in middle ages. There are many things that Romans did that where not done for next 1.5 thousand years. Like highly disciplined and professional armies.

[TomOfFinland]

Originally posted by DC:

Originally posted by 76561197970290021:

Actually, the amount of siege equipment a settlement has depends. I've Sieged multiple places and had siege equipment superiority.

Oh even better. Very cool that you can attack a settlement with a full wall of siege weapons yet be unable to pre-build your own before attempting the siege.

Siege weapons should be a commodity and be very, very heavy to slow your army down while carrying them.

Can you present me a few examples where in history an army built onagers, trebuchets, siege towers or battering rams before a siege and moved them all the way from where they were built to the siege site.
I'm pretty sure they were always constructed on site since it would be a logistical nightmare to move those in all kinds of terrain.

They did that with onagers yes, but their range was just really short and therefor in bannerlord, they would get fired at before they even get in range, since the defenders are in elevated position.

[Vyrex]

Originally posted by DC:

Originally posted by Twitch/Pappus:

I build 4x trebuchet and it flattens everything all the time. Not sure why you need 8

Onagers on walls beat trebuchets. Your siege equipment misses constantly while theirs is laser accurate.

I agree with him tho my onagers are more accurate than their with 4 onagers you can take more than 4 of their catapults out they actually miss alot. And the garrison does go lower the longer you siege. I sieged a city with 500man with 400 and wiggled them down with constant onager bombardment and since 4 is enough to kill all 4 catapults you have the advantage after that even if 1 onegar gets destroyed you other 3 will cover enough for the fourth to be build again and so on. But yeah the longer you siege the enemy might show up with a force of 500-1k thats the only downside.

[Seb]

A high engineer skill should help.

[Redmacinton]

Originally posted by Seb:

A high engineer skill should help.

havent seen any good engineer companions.

[ForwarD]

Originally posted by Redmacinton:

Originally posted by Seb:

A high engineer skill should help.

havent seen any good engineer companions.

After last patch I found a guy with 60 Engineering. Not sure if it's max or not.