Taking a city with 90 men

[Memes]

Hey guys,

So I've realized that to actually move up in the world now I will inevitably need to take a city. I have a castle and have been using it as a base to train my army, however, I have a serious problem: my troop limit is only 90 men, and levelling up my charasma and leadership has done almost nothing. I resolved, therefore, to try to make a party that's as high level as possible. Currently I have the following:

13 Huscarls
27 Nord Veterans
12 Nord Warriors
17 Rhodok Sharpshooters
8 Swadian Sharpshooters
8 Rhodok Crossbowmen

and this basically represents the best of my force. I'm now at war with the Sarranids, which is my first opportunity to take a city--before now we've only had wars vs the Nords and Rhodoks for a LONG TIME. I tried to attack using the shield wall tactic, and though my crossbowmen have allowed me to acheive a casualty rate of almost 10 to 1, they will inevitably run out of ammo by the time I've killed a third of the enemy, at most.

So I tried enlisting help. The guy who I have the best relation with is King Harlus, who has a 300 man army, and I'd have no problem taking any place with his help. So I follow him till we're almost at the city and then beseige it (because otherwise I obviously won't get the place) but unfortunately he then beseiges it himself rather than aiding me in mine. I've tried this twice and he hasn't come to help either time. My relation doesn't seem to be high enough to get him to "follow me", so I can't see any way out of this. Since people won't give you quests while you're a lord, getting the relation up high enough would be nearly impossible to do.

Is there anything I don't know about that will allow me to get someone to help in the battle, or any tactic that should allow me to win with the force I have?

[Yggdrasil]

You have to build up your relations, which takes a long time. When your honor and relations are high enough, the other lords will follow you when you make suggestions.

[Eric]

getting the relation up high enough would be nearly impossible to do.

Not so. You get a huge amount of relation points for rescuing lords from prison, and you also get lots of relation for helping them in battles they're losing. Basically accompany a weak lord anf if he gets attacked aid him.

Always check the taverns of your realm. They will tell you if anyone needs help with rescuing family members.

Renown is more important than relations when you're asking people to follow you. I have like 2,000 renown and no one minds following me, even if my relations with them are only like 10.


Also, keep investing in leadership and charisma... It takes time but in the end you'll have an 80+ troop cap and a huge morale boost.

Finally, in my opinion Vaegir marksmen are better for offensive sieges.

[Chmerity]

If your limit is only 90 then it's too early to take cities for yourself

[Miiiiiiiiiiiiike]

Stay loyal to your faction, and you will be rewarded with feifs even if you don't actively participate in battles.

[Memes]

Originally posted by Miiiiiiiiiiiiike:

Stay loyal to your faction, and you will be rewarded with feifs even if you don't actively participate in battles.

Actually I just got offered a castle, but I turned it down since I didn't think it would be worth it. However, I do have a save from before then, so I will probably go back to it and take the castle.

Originally posted by Slayer Game:

getting the relation up high enough would be nearly impossible to do.

Not so. You get a huge amount of relation points for rescuing lords from prison, and you also get lots of relation for helping them in battles they're losing. Basically accompany a weak lord anf if he gets attacked aid him.

Always check the taverns of your realm. They will tell you if anyone needs help with rescuing family members.

Renown is more important than relations when you're asking people to follow you. I have like 2,000 renown and no one minds following me, even if my relations with them are only like 10.


Also, keep investing in leadership and charisma... It takes time but in the end you'll have an 80+ troop cap and a huge morale boost.

Finally, in my opinion Vaegir marksmen are better for offensive sieges.

Didn't know about the tavern thing...I'll try that out. BTW, I already have a troop cap of 91. As for the marksmen, I'll try that out. I never really considered using archers, since nobody seems to really think much of them, but I guess it could be worth a shot.

Originally posted by rolfskalder:

You have to build up your relations, which takes a long time. When your honor and relations are high enough, the other lords will follow you when you make suggestions.

Originally posted by Parity:

If your limit is only 90 then it's too early to take cities for yourself

Yup, I can't argue with either of you there. I was probably naive to think that I could pull it off at this point--with seiges it's quantity that matters, far more than quality.

[Rasral]

Seiging is actually not that hard as the attacker. Make sure you have a decent Crossbow skill then when the seige starts, put all your melee men in a shield wall in front of your archers. Keep them at a decent distance so the shields protect the archers. Shoot as many of the enemy that you can, then when you/your men run out of arrows, retreat. Your ammo will be replenished when you seige again, but your enemies wont respawn. Repeat this until you feel you've weakened them enough to take the city.

Also, you seem to have no Vaegir marksmen. They are much better than Rhodok crossbowmen if you want to attack. The Rhodok's are insane when it comes to defence/not dieing, but the Vaegir are much more offensive, which is what you want in a seige attack, since you already have the shieldwall i mentioned above.

[Memes]

Originally posted by Rasral:

Seiging is actually not that hard as the attacker. Make sure you have a decent Crossbow skill then when the seige starts, put all your melee men in a shield wall in front of your archers. Keep them at a decent distance so the shields protect the archers. Shoot as many of the enemy that you can, then when you/your men run out of arrows, retreat. Your ammo will be replenished when you seige again, but your enemies wont respawn. Repeat this until you feel you've weakened them enough to take the city.

Also, you seem to have no Vaegir marksmen. They are much better than Rhodok crossbowmen if you want to attack. The Rhodok's are insane when it comes to defence/not dieing, but the Vaegir are much more offensive, which is what you want in a seige attack, since you already have the shieldwall i mentioned above.

Yeah, I already use the shield wall, but I did NOT consider retreating. It makes perfect sense, I don't know why I didn't do it before. I'll go try it now :)

[Rasral]

Originally posted by nerdymidgetkid:

Originally posted by Rasral:

Seiging is actually not that hard as the attacker. Make sure you have a decent Crossbow skill then when the seige starts, put all your melee men in a shield wall in front of your archers. Keep them at a decent distance so the shields protect the archers. Shoot as many of the enemy that you can, then when you/your men run out of arrows, retreat. Your ammo will be replenished when you seige again, but your enemies wont respawn. Repeat this until you feel you've weakened them enough to take the city.

Also, you seem to have no Vaegir marksmen. They are much better than Rhodok crossbowmen if you want to attack. The Rhodok's are insane when it comes to defence/not dieing, but the Vaegir are much more offensive, which is what you want in a seige attack, since you already have the shieldwall i mentioned above.

Yeah, I already use the shield wall, but I did NOT consider retreating. It makes perfect sense, I don't know why I didn't do it before. I'll go try it now :)

Keep in mind, if you take TOO long ( 5-6 sieges) then the enemy will get backup and you'll probably be screwed. You ideally want to take the town/castle in around 3-4 seiges. That should be quick enough to take it before any backup arrives.

Also, be aware that you probably wont be awarded the town/castle you took unless you have a high enough renknown/relationship with the lords/king. It can suck to do all the work and then not get any rewards, but you can deny the king and take it anyway. This will start your OWN kingdom, where you can promote your follows to lords/vassels and give them their own armies. However this will put you at war with the faction you defected from and the other factions won't take too kindly to a new kid on the block either. It's reccomended to do this when you have been granted around 2 towns and 3-4 castles, all close to each other

[Memes]

Originally posted by Rasral:

Originally posted by nerdymidgetkid:

Yeah, I already use the shield wall, but I did NOT consider retreating. It makes perfect sense, I don't know why I didn't do it before. I'll go try it now :)

Keep in mind, if you take TOO long ( 5-6 sieges) then the enemy will get backup and you'll probably be screwed. You ideally want to take the town/castle in around 3-4 seiges. That should be quick enough to take it before any backup arrives.

Also, be aware that you probably wont be awarded the town/castle you took unless you have a high enough renknown/relationship with the lords/king. It can suck to do all the work and then not get any rewards, but you can deny the king and take it anyway. This will start your OWN kingdom, where you can promote your follows to lords/vassels and give them their own armies. However this will put you at war with the faction you defected from and the other factions won't take too kindly to a new kid on the block either. It's reccomended to do this when you have been granted around 2 towns and 3-4 castles, all close to each other

Yeah, I have no intention to start my own Kingdom yet. In fact, I have no intention of rebelling at all, since this game has gone all weird. Swadia has become an undisputed superpower. The Kherengits have been almost wiped out, and the Vageirs are down to 2 cities. The Rhodoks have stayed the same and the Sarranids and Nords have expanded, but in any case war against Swadia is nealry suicidal now for any faction. If I go by myself, I'm going to have to go against the Vageirs, or the Sarranids if they're gone by then.

I have multiple savegames, so I'm gonna try to get the city now. If I don't, I'll just reload and start kissing up to Haralus. :)

[Rasral]

Originally posted by nerdymidgetkid:

Originally posted by Rasral:

Keep in mind, if you take TOO long ( 5-6 sieges) then the enemy will get backup and you'll probably be screwed. You ideally want to take the town/castle in around 3-4 seiges. That should be quick enough to take it before any backup arrives.

Also, be aware that you probably wont be awarded the town/castle you took unless you have a high enough renknown/relationship with the lords/king. It can suck to do all the work and then not get any rewards, but you can deny the king and take it anyway. This will start your OWN kingdom, where you can promote your follows to lords/vassels and give them their own armies. However this will put you at war with the faction you defected from and the other factions won't take too kindly to a new kid on the block either. It's reccomended to do this when you have been granted around 2 towns and 3-4 castles, all close to each other

Yeah, I have no intention to start my own Kingdom yet. In fact, I have no intention of rebelling at all, since this game has gone all weird. Swadia has become an undisputed superpower. The Kherengits have been almost wiped out, and the Vageirs are down to 2 cities. The Rhodoks have stayed the same and the Sarranids and Nords have expanded, but in any case war against Swadia is nealry suicidal now for any faction. If I go by myself, I'm going to have to go against the Vageirs, or the Sarranids if they're gone by then.

I have multiple savegames, so I'm gonna try to get the city now. If I don't, I'll just reload and start kissing up to Haralus. :)

Urgh Harlous. His AI is royally screwed. "Feasts for ALL, Castles/Towns for me! :D" >_> I always side with the Nords as their Infantry can demolish anything if you command them well.

[Memes]

Originally posted by Rasral:

I have multiple savegames, so I'm gonna try to get the city now. If I don't, I'll just reload and start kissing up to Haralus. :)

Urgh Harlous. His AI is royally screwed. "Feasts for ALL, Castles/Towns for me! :D" >_> I always side with the Nords as their Infantry can demolish anything if you command them well. [/quote]

Yeah, Swadians are best in the open field for sure but they have their drawbacks. Anyway, I made my first attempt at your strategy, but unfortunately I got unlucky--the enemy archers were positioned all on one side of the wall, and I had a lot of trouble getting my shield wall to face them. In the end, I was losing too much and I had retreat for a second time without getting the casualty goal I had wanted--and then a relief force of about 100 came in and did serious damage, so I've had to reload. I might actually need to have a more crossbow heavy force and ditch some of my Nords, because the truth is no matter what the quality of the Nords, you'll never really get anything more than one for one when you're trying to establish a foothold on the walls, and by the time you've gained enough ground to break the bottleneck you've lost too much. The crossbows are the only really viable killers--the problem is protecting them well enough.

[Sohei]

I have done it with a similar force and I am not that skilled at personal combat. So, it is possible.