siegecraft?

[georgeshaw2]

how do you get siege equipment?It took me about six months to take a city with a stone wall.it was my first real siege,so it was kinda fun.there is alot of italy left to conquer and it will get old fast because stone walls are becoming more common.i have advanced warfare,but the only thing i can buildare ships.what am i missing?

[Fristi61]

I'm sorry but you don't get siegecraft in this game. Basically, onagers etc weren't invented yet during the time period.

The Greeks do get some primitive ballistas, but those are more anti-soldier ballistas that shoot arrows. More powerful ballistas capable of filling a more anti-building role don't seem to be around yet either.

Siege warfare in this time period was really in its infancy, and the game represents that.

However, sieging a city with stone walls needn't take 6 months. Basically, you'll want to get a few heavy infantry units such as heavy hoplites or triarii and upgrade them with missile resistance and sieging bonuses. Basically have a few brigades that are specialized to be your siege units.

Also, AI factions can't usually afford to put stone walls on every single city they own, I think.

[georgeshaw2]

what about scorpions?they are on the unit list and manuels says you can build them in cities and forts.it was a well stocked and garrisonned city.thanks for the response

[Fristi61]

Scorpions are what I meant when I mentioned the Greeks' primitive ballistas. Only the Greeks get them, and they're mostly meant to be used against units.

[Gekkibi]

The bar will go down extremely fast if you're able to starve them out. Basically get rid of their supply lines and wait until they have no food left (it can take longer than brute-forcing it, but at least you don't have to babysit your troops so that they don't run out of food).

[georgeshaw2]

i know how to siege.im just impatient.i was excited when i saw that siege equipment in the manuel.its very vague, makes it seem like there are several you can build.the city that gave me trouble could only be assualted by two units at a time.,

[Gekkibi]

Personally I blame Total War games for giving the false impression that back in the less civilized era assaulting fortifications was a popular past-time hobby.

But ya, there should be the possibility of assaulting a settlement...

[Fristi61]

I think the way you should approach sieging a city is very situational in this game (in my opinion a good thing).

Cities that are kind of nested in a mountain range are very defensible as there's not much room to assault them but, on the flipside, they'll be much easier to cut off from supplies as they only have one or two accessways that you need to block.

Cities located on an open plain have many supply routes going in all directions so they're harder to cut off from supplies, but much easier to assault because you can fit more troops against their walls.

[georgeshaw2]

i agree with you gekkibi.there were singular incidents where greeks took cities with siege equipment.i remember one guy was known as "the city taker".i think they were capable of building siege equipment,but for some reason they preferred brute force or guile.the greeks at least.some kind of cultural mindset i guess.i agree with you too fristi61.sometimes the situation doesnt give allow for the time needed.winter is always on the way and at certain points in my expansion i desperately need the farms a city commands.

[Fristi61]

Well, the Greeks definitely developed the first advanced siege equipment. But even with such engines, taking a city by force was costly. It's not like they were cannons or something similar that can reduce a wall to dust in a few shots.

The thing is the game takes place just before these engines become really widespread.
The game is modelled roughly on the 500-300 BC period, I'd say.
The Greeks start developing the first primitive ballistae around 400 BC, and they keep being gradually improved upon until around 300BC. And this technology doesn't exactly spread instantly to Italy either, and certainly not to the non-Greek inhabitants.

This is why the Greeks are limited to the more primitive light ballistae that shoot arrows, not the heavier ones that shoot stones capable of knocking down buildlings. Those heavier ones may have been around towards the far end of the time period but likely not widespread enough to see a lot of use in Italy yet.
And even those lighter ballistae haven't really spread to the Italian natives yet, so only the Greeks have them.

Were the game based on a period a couple of centuries later, then yes I would expect to see more siege equipment from both the Greeks and Romans.



Indeed, sieges are costly in food supplies for both the attacker and the defender. If winter is close, it can sometimes be better to retreat and come back next spring to finish the job. That too kind of mirrors the decisions a general in history would have had to make.

[georgeshaw2]

I usually spend the winter consolidating and colonising ,only playing defense ,to give it a little historical flavor.hegemony gold spoiled me.catapults from the get go.

[georgeshaw2]

does it matter where you disband colonists?

[georgeshaw2]

i meant hostages.does it matter if you disband hostages in their home city or can you do it any where?