Ladders vs Siege Towers?

[Silver]

So in the siege menu where you can build your siege weapons, I've realized siege towers take up more build points than ladders.

But how are they better?

I have lost siege towers to enemy flaming arrow fire (during night sieges), but my ladders always get to their target.

Ladders also allow the units carrying them to run, making them a lot faster than the towers. And I feel like the units also climb them faster (there are 4 ladders in a unit so they can climb them parallel to each other) while a unit takes ages to ascend a siege tower due to it only having a single ladder.

I get that the unit inside a siege tower "waits" until there are enough soldiers on the top level before the bridge is lowered and therefore, several of my soldiers can attack the defenders on the walls at once, but is that it?

So why build towers if ladders are better?

[LuNi]

Siege tower releases the whole unit at once. Using ladders has the risk of your troops getting overwhelmed on the wall. Running troops with ladders + climbing up tires them out.

Towers are slower yes, but they give missile fire cover and don't tire your troops out as much. Also it releases the whole unit at once removing the advantage defenders would have if you used ladders.

I personally don't use siege equipment much. Trebuchets destroy walls from a safe distance and you avoid the wall skirmish part which will almost always go badly for you on higher difficulties due to enemy unit stat bonuses.

You could also avoid sieges entirely by doing forced or bait drawouts.

[Hat8]

Ladders are more reliable but you take more losses because the tower blocks arrows.

However, you take more losses if the tower burns (bit rare and requires player focus).

I always go with ladders. A faster siege is usually a better one.

You gotta deploy them in bulk though, one unit of ladders is a bit weak since they don't stream in together.

[Darth Cannabis]

I tend to use both. While I prefer towers, you just can't use them for 2nd and 3rd walls when it comes to castles, and ram is rather slow. For outer walls thou its towers plan A, ladders plan B ussually. If a tower is going to burn, its most likely will happen before it actually is against the wall. Once you consider that with the normal range protection for those climbings,and the overwhelm at top, its the more casualty safe option 95% of time (unless cannon towers are involved, and by then you should be using your own cannons).

Ussually thou my preference is spy. Faster than ladder by far. Just open the gate, get them by surprise and just avoid using siege equipment entirely until you have some big ass cannons.

[Silver]

Spy? Getting an entire army through the main gate will lead to a lot of congestion, though. Even if there's only 1-2 units of defenders behind it. And that will turn deadly when they are pouring pitch/oil down on you every 30 seconds.

[LuNi]

Originally posted by Silver:

Spy? Getting an entire army through the main gate will lead to a lot of congestion, though. Even if there's only 1-2 units of defenders behind it. And that will turn deadly when they are pouring pitch/oil down on you every 30 seconds.

Depending on the city type there are 2-4 main gates. All of them are open if spy succeeds at opening the gates.

[mystikmind2005]

I never use towers, and i dont consider ladders to be of any real importance.

Ladders are useful for posing as a distraction for the enemy while i rush in from one or both of the side gates. Ladders near each corner are good to prevent camera stuck.

[Hat8]

You can usually just force your way through the gate against a dumb AI. The losses from the oil can be brutal.

Against a player its obviously a bad idea if you don't offer a distraction.