What happens when the battle timer runs out?

[Imhotep]

I couldn't find an answer to this.

Say Army A attacks Army B. On the battlefield, both armies sit on a hill and do not engage with each other.

What happens when the battle timer runs out?

[Eat3n]

Army B wins. It's Army A's job to attack, if they don't do it, they lose. It's a weird thing that's happened in every Total War game i've played since Rome 1 where sometimes you'll get attacked by someone and they just sit there and never do anything. Free win and you don't lose troops? i'm not gonna complain.

Because that can happen, always set your game to have a battle timer because if you have no timer you'll just be stuck there until they (doubtfully) attack or you have to attack them.

[Imhotep]

Originally posted by -EAT3N-:

Army B wins. It's Army A's job to attack, if they don't do it, they lose. It's a weird thing that's happened in every Total War game i've played since Rome 1 where sometimes you'll get attacked by someone and they just sit there and never do anything. Free win and you don't lose troops? i'm not gonna complain.

Because that can happen, always set your game to have a battle timer because if you have no timer you'll just be stuck there until they (doubtfully) attack or you have to attack them.

Thanks.

What happens to attacking Army A's soldiers, though, if the timer runs out?

[BastardSword]

Army B wins but Army A loses without taking any casualties. So it's basically like nothing happens. Usually the AI will attack if they know the clock is against them, but sometimes they definitely will derp out and just sit there doing nothing.

[Mile pro Libertate]

This actually happened irl too, funny enough.

Historically, it was not uncommon for two sides to march against each other, but then be reluctant to commit to a battle. Armies are expensive to raise and maintain, and decisively destroying the enemy usually entails the risk of unacceptable losses for oneself.

The Kwanakajima battles between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen illustrate this well. Over the course of eleven years, they marched against each other five (or six, depending on how you interpret things) times, in the same operational area. Of those five or six encounters, only two resulted in pitched combat, and of those two, only one (the fourth encounter) was actually posed to be decisive. This is the battle that pretty much everyone usually refers to as the "Battle of Kwanakajima," eg. the Shogun 2 historical battle available through the front end.

This 4th encounter was so bloody for both sides that it was strategically indecisve: Kenshin is often regarded as having won, but lost c. 15-20% of his force, while Shingen lost c. 20-25%. It was a testament to why samurai leaders tried to avoid large, pitched battle as much as possible.

The next time that the armies met again, there was no pitched combat. At 5th Kwanakajima the two sides skirmished and taunted each other for about two months, then withdrew.

This same type of behavior happened all throughout the Classical West and Medieval West and Near East as well, into the Modern Era. The Greeks against the Persians in their second war; Greeks against Greeks in the Peloponnesian wars; Hannibal and Fabius et al faced each other many times without actually starting battle; Caesar against the Gauls and Britons; Caesar and Pompey; Constantine the Great and his enemies; Normans against the Welsh; East Franks against their enemies; De Montfort against the English crown; the Crusader polities against the Caliphate; the Hundred Years war has many examples; etc. all the way up through the Eighty Years War, War of Spanish Succession, etc.

Pitched battle is dangerous and has often been a high-risk-low-reward proposition, so most wars have consisted in maneuvering, skirmishing, and raids.

[Imhotep]

Originally posted by BastardSword:

Army B wins but Army A loses without taking any casualties. So it's basically like nothing happens. Usually the AI will attack if they know the clock is against them, but sometimes they definitely will derp out and just sit there doing nothing.

Thanks.

Originally posted by Mile pro Libertate:

This actually happened irl too, funny enough.

Historically, it was not uncommon for two sides to march against each other, but then be reluctant to commit to a battle. Armies are expensive to raise and maintain, and decisively destroying the enemy usually entails the risk of unacceptable losses for oneself.

The Kwanakajima battles between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen illustrate this well. Over the course of eleven years, they marched against each other five (or six, depending on how you interpret things) times, in the same operational area. Of those five or six encounters, only two resulted in pitched combat, and of those two, only one (the fourth encounter) was actually posed to be decisive. This is the battle that pretty much everyone usually refers to as the "Battle of Kwanakajima," eg. the Shogun 2 historical battle available through the front end.

This 4th encounter was so bloody for both sides that it was strategically indecisve: Kenshin is often regarded as having won, but lost c. 15-20% of his force, while Shingen lost c. 20-25%. It was a testament to why samurai leaders tried to avoid large, pitched battle as much as possible.

The next time that the armies met again, there was no pitched combat. At 5th Kwanakajima the two sides skirmished and taunted each other for about two months, then withdrew.

This same type of behavior happened all throughout the Classical West and Medieval West and Near East as well, into the Modern Era. The Greeks against the Persians in their second war; Greeks against Greeks in the Peloponnesian wars; Hannibal and Fabius et al faced each other many times without actually starting battle; Caesar against the Gauls and Britons; Caesar and Pompey; Constantine the Great and his enemies; Normans against the Welsh; East Franks against their enemies; De Montfort against the English crown; the Crusader polities against the Caliphate; the Hundred Years war has many examples; etc. all the way up through the Eighty Years War, War of Spanish Succession, etc.

Pitched battle is dangerous and has often been a high-risk-low-reward proposition, so most wars have consisted in maneuvering, skirmishing, and raids.

That's interesting!

[Imhotep]

Attacking Army A will lose its siege equipment.