JamesL
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Siege/supply advice needed

Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:17 am

I have Tarantium besieged, supplies are running short but its harbour is unblockaded. What is the best way to ensure the garrision gets enough supplies though the port? Is it:
- putting transports in the shipping box?
- Or having transports dock at the port?
- Or having transports in the sea zone next to the harbour?

Any advice will be welcome, I need Tarantium to hold out!

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yellow ribbon
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:50 am

you play the game like in the industrial age? (kidding)
you misunderstood the system:

a siege means you lost the supplies from the province and live from the supply in the stacks (edit, thx)

during the siege there are tests whether your troops would have surrendered or not. Open port, depots etc, this means a higher chance that they dont

the only thing you can try, is to bring in transports ships with supplies and combine them to the stack in the city. otherwise i think they would not have access to the supplies (not sure about it, but i dont think they take a stroll down to the harbor)

but no one can tell you how the units are treated then. i have seen that troops merged with fleets just surrendered faster. and it was not even time to evacuate my good generals
my advise, use transport fleets and evacuate as many troops as possible, as long you can
...not paid by AGEOD.
however, prone to throw them into disarray.

PS:

‘Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War . . . in War, through the influence of an infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark.‘

Clausewitz

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Ebbingford
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 1:21 pm

yellow ribbon wrote:
a siege means you lost the supplies from the province and live from the supply in the stacks plus the ones from the town (aside of large depots its negelctable)



When besieged you get NO supply income from the town, you have only got what the stacks have themselves.

Huskalator
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 1:32 pm

Ebbingford wrote:When besieged you get NO supply income from the town, you have only got what the stacks have themselves.


This is good to know as i was under the impression that if the port were not blockaded the harbor would produce supplies as normal.

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Narwhal
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:37 pm

You do get supplies, but only 2/level of the port ; which is wholy inadequate.

JamesL
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 4:01 pm

Ok, so if a transport docks at the port of a besieged town would the defending garrison get its supplies?

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yellow ribbon
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 4:26 pm

JamesL wrote:Ok, so if a transport docks at the port of a besieged town would the defending garrison get its supplies?


i dont think so, the fleet alone in the harbor would use up their own supply.

you need to combine the land troops with the fleet, but this means they are LOADED to the fleet, what means the rest of the garr. might surrender and the fleets even captured
...not paid by AGEOD.

however, prone to throw them into disarray.



PS:



‘Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War . . . in War, through the influence of an infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark.‘



Clausewitz

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Sun Sep 23, 2012 5:47 pm

So to supply a besieged port, you would need to send in a fleet with supply wagons loaded on them.... It might work with a not to large force inside the city under siege, and enough supply wagons and fleet to rotate them from the city under siege to another town (with enough supply) nearby. Untill you run into a storm...

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Sun Sep 23, 2012 5:58 pm

yes, you can do so, but needs a lot of shuffling or moving around

1. turn, unload

2. tunr, get supply from new brought in wagons, load depleted wagons

3. turn, shuffle all back to a save port, unload supply wagons (distand unloading button)

4. turn, (unload supply), fill supply wagons

5. turn, shuffle again


the investment will be much higher than the loss of troops (i dont expect you let them besiege you with multiple legions in the town)

as said, you might be better off if you evacuate larger troops. valuable forces like level 4 forts or Rome itself should be hold at all cost, as long as possible. but there are that many troops in game, that its easy to turn the pike around, let THEM stay into the city, even after a small battle.
...not paid by AGEOD.

however, prone to throw them into disarray.



PS:



‘Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War . . . in War, through the influence of an infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark.‘



Clausewitz

Cfant
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:21 pm

Talking about sieges: I have watched the KI to very quickly take cities. Even the large ones (Tarentum, Napolis, Capua, Rome and of course every town in Spain): Army marches in (TUrn 1), lays siege (Turn 2), takes city (Turn 3).
My siege on Napoli took 8 month for a breach to happen (playing Romans=Ballista), Brundisium 6 month...

Anyone else seen KI's "instant-sieges"? (Playing Populares in Marius vs. Sulla).

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Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:27 pm

Cfant wrote:Talking about sieges: I have watched the KI to very quickly take cities. Even the large ones (Tarentum, Napolis, Capua, Rome and of course every town in Spain): Army marches in (TUrn 1), lays siege (Turn 2), takes city (Turn 3).
My siege on Napoli took 8 month for a breach to happen (playing Romans=Ballista), Brundisium 6 month...

Anyone else seen KI's "instant-sieges"? (Playing Populares in Marius vs. Sulla).



questions:

a.) do your troops surrender to the AI, try blue red order for garr. and hope not to catch a bad siege calculation

b.) has the AI breached the forts

c.) or have they just ATTACKED/STORMED the forts. was there a battle report

[color="#FFFF00"]level one forts, most common on the map, can be stormed red-red without sieges[/color]

questions sound stupid, but if this would be a generic problem, than i ponder why others complain about too many sieges by small stacks :wacko:
...not paid by AGEOD.

however, prone to throw them into disarray.



PS:



‘Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War . . . in War, through the influence of an infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark.‘



Clausewitz

Cfant
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:32 pm

Mostly surrendered, but sometimes the KI achieved to breach within a turn. Is it simply luck or can I improve the chances to get a breach? Do the number of troops vs. garnison affect the chances to get a breach?

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yellow ribbon
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:42 pm

legions build siege engines automatically, which improve the chance to breach the walls. one per legio and a slight chance to get more after some time
barbarians have sometimes a siegetower which can be build as an unit/is in the set up of the scenario

as said, in a lot of cases the AI does not even need to lay a siege, it could storm the walls when it enters the province.

EDIT, my bad, opened the game:

[color="#FFFF00"]Tarentum lvl 2[/color] named from you above

[color="#FFD700"]Neapol lvl 3[/color] yes, long siege if no breach

Capua lvl 1 named above

Rome lvl 1 named above

[color="#FFD700"]Brundi. lvl 2[/color] not named above, long siege until breached or surrender

...where it needs a breach. I just played MS87 as Pontians yesterday and it took the AI of Sulla long to take Nola lvl2 , which also needs a breach to be stormed
...not paid by AGEOD.

however, prone to throw them into disarray.



PS:



‘Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War . . . in War, through the influence of an infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark.‘



Clausewitz

Cfant
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:54 pm

Really? In Napoli I set the order to red, but "the attack was canceled becauser there is no breach". Several times. In Brundisium I only had weak siege-forces without an general. I set them to red, but they simply didn't attack. The 8 month at Napoli might have costed me the war. Or at least were part of the way to defeat. :)

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Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:07 pm

have corrected my statement above,
therefore i tell you a trick, or two to iron out my blunder:

1.) take Rome as soon as you can, build new troops and clear the south
2.) when you have such long sieges, at least exploit them, use the regional decision to enslave and plunder. set your troops to blue red and dont attack any rioters, the rioter will even harm your enemy, keeping up sieges or open some on their own, if you dont attack them :wacko:
3.) as you have legions, use only one of them, blue red, give her all the ballistaes which where already constructed and use the stack elsehwere

start over, have fun ^^
...not paid by AGEOD.

however, prone to throw them into disarray.



PS:



‘Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War . . . in War, through the influence of an infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark.‘



Clausewitz

Cfant
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:12 pm

And again I learned a thing or two. ;) thanks.

Yarpen
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Sun Sep 23, 2012 10:44 pm

On this potential supplying besieged city by sea - if you load wagons on ships how can you in fact deliver them to the besieged garrison? The harbor is not the city. If you sail into harbor and unload them even with wagons on "go inside structure" order, won't they be captured or destroyed by besieging forces before?

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Sun Sep 23, 2012 10:52 pm

you have to move the fleets into the city. the harbor is depicted outside but ships moved into it appear as a blue, numbered icon in the city
i say it again, its highly expensive, dangerous and might not work in many situations... only for those who know what they do and know how to avoid enemies at sea and storms :indien:
...not paid by AGEOD.

however, prone to throw them into disarray.



PS:



‘Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War . . . in War, through the influence of an infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark.‘



Clausewitz

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Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:13 am

yellow ribbon wrote:have corrected my statement above,
3.) as you have legions, use only one of them, blue red, give her all the ballistaes which where already constructed and use the stack elsehwere



Now that's thinking outside the box!

cwegsche
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:15 am

Hey Guys!

I have other questions regarding sieges:

1. I tried to evacuate the Massilia garrison as it became active in the civil war scenario playing as Pompeius. I loaded some of the best units on the Massalian ships there and sailed out of the harbor to a seezone next to Massilia. The next turn no troops were on board. Is it true that you can't evacuate troops from a besieged city? Or are there other things I have to look after when doing this?

2. When the town and its garrison surrenders, no prisoners are made, no matter how lage the garrison is. Is this WAD? Cause when surrendering, there should be prisoners ...

Thx Chris

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PhilThib
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:22 am

1. I guess you did not noticed that most of the garrison troops are locked (but not the ships). It means they can't leave...if you 'force' them onboard the ships, then they will 'decide' to stay when the ships leave :) . It has nothing to do with the siege situation, just the fact the garrison is locked

2. Yes, because most of the time the defenses were made of local citizens who remained there after conquest...no prisonners. Consider that they just 'negotiate' with the besieger and open the gates. WAD. The rare instance when there could be some prisonners is in case of an assault.
Image

cwegsche
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:38 am

PhilThib wrote:1. I guess you did not noticed that most of the garrison troops are locked (but not the ships). It means they can't leave...if you 'force' them onboard the ships, then they will 'decide' to stay when the ships leave :) . It has nothing to do with the siege situation, just the fact the garrison is locked

2. Yes, because most of the time the defenses were made of local citizens who remained there after conquest...no prisonners. Consider that they just 'negotiate' with the besieger and open the gates. WAD. The rare instance when there could be some prisonners is in case of an assault.


Hi Philippe thx for the fast reply!

Okay Point 2 is now clear to me and also sounds okay. Prisoners are only taken if I assault these local troops (riskier but rewarded with prisoners).
I understand your point regarding locked units to evacuate, but those troops were't locked, they got unlocked after two turns of sieging by the caesarians. I tried to shuffle out the best of the and ended with only my ships in the see, unfortunately ... but I guess I just overlooked something as it was possible to ship the Pompeian general and an aux unit out of town ...

Thank you Philippe very much!

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Narwhal
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:13 am

Remember (I believe you did not notive it) that you can ONLY assault Level 1 fort. IF the fort is level 2 or more, you need to do as many breaches as its level.

This might be useful :

Beginner’s corner – Sieges, or how to take structures

Sometimes, your target is hidden behind high walls. There are several ways to take them.

- Assault


Assault is the fastest method, but also the messiest. The defenders will have a bonus of defense, and will fight with despair as they have no way out. Hence, it is to avoid if you don’t have numerical absolute superiority.You can give the order to your troops to assault the enemy structure, but there are conditions :

- It there is no fort, or a fort level 1 only, the structure can be assaulted at any time (except by cavalry)

Image

- If there is a fort level 2 or more, then

o Either the leader of the stack has the assaulter trait, or

Image

o The fort has as many levels of breach as its level (2 for a level 2 fort,̷)

But how do you make these breaches ? Well, that’s the second way to take a city : siege.

- Sieges


A siege has two objectives :
A. Starve the city,
B. Prepare for assault or even force the opponent to surrender

A. When you are sieging a city, the city does not receive supplies (except from its port if it is not blockaded). To see if the city is receiving supply, hover the mouse on it. For instance, this city does not receive any :
Generally speaking, if a player has less than 10% military control in an area, his structures will not receive any supply.

Image

B. In addition to starving the defenders, having a city under siege allows for a “siege roll” at the start of every turn.
OK. I lied, it is actually two rolls (12-faces dices), one for the attacker, one for the defender. The difference between those two rolls is then modified :

o By leader traits, if any (for attack or for defense),
o By the power of the artillery available for either side,
o By the level of the fort minus the number of breaches.
o By a massive additional malus if the structure is breached, the defender is out of supply and is weaker than the attacker.

The final result is the Siege Roll Value (SRV). Depending on the SRV (from worse to best), the following events can occur :
- The defenders close a breach
- The defenders receive hits
- The fort receives a breach – provided that the attacker has some artillery in his stacks

In addition, if the SRV is above the defending units average discipline, the defenders will directly surrender, except if they have not empty supply wagons (fixed or not – magazine units are enough), in which case they only have 10% of chance to surrender.

Image

- Blockade

You can siege without blockading, but if you want to starve your opponent efficiently, you have to blockade his port (if any). For this, you only need to drop enough combat ships in front of his port.

Image

- A last note about siege weapons

AJE is unlike any previous AGEOD game in that your armies do not typically bring artillery with them. Yet, you need them to do breaches, so they are extremely strategic. There are two “models” :

- Roman legions can build siege machines whenever they finish their turn on an enemy structure (up to one per legion at any time). Those machines will be destroyed when the legions move out.

Here is a Roman legion that just built its ballistae :

Image

- Everyone else has to carry their siege machines the difficult way – from their home province. They slow their stacks, cannot go everywhere, and are generally a pain. Moving them by ships (the AI does it) can save a lot of time !

Image

End of beginner’s corner

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yellow ribbon
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:34 am

I understand your point regarding locked units to evacuate, but those troops were't locked, they got unlocked after two turns of sieging by the caesarians. I tried to shuffle out the best of the and ended with only my ships in the see, unfortunately ... but I guess I just overlooked something as it was possible to ship the Pompeian general and an aux unit out of town ..

i might guess:

is there any fixed supply depot in the stack, or the city defensor ballistae?
...not paid by AGEOD.

however, prone to throw them into disarray.



PS:



‘Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War . . . in War, through the influence of an infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark.‘



Clausewitz

Cfant
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:38 am

Yesterday I sieged Napolis, where the Optimates had 2 legions. When the city surrendered, I had no pisoners iirc (not sure anymore). Shouldn't in that case prisoners been taken? What happens to regular troops in the city, when it's taken? And shouldn't be simulated, that sometimes/often enemey cities population were enslaved, after the city fell?

BTW: Thanks for the beginners corner, it's perfect for a dummy like me :)

cwegsche
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:25 am

i might guess:

is there any fixed supply depot in the stack, or the city defensor ballistae?[/QUOTE]

Hi Yellow Ribbon!

No that wasen't the point. I Just selected two units (a heavy phalanx and an auxilary unit) from the stack that is at Massalia. Don't know why it didn't let me take them with my ships next turn (as they were surely loaded on the previous turn).

vonRocko
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:31 pm

cwegsche wrote:i might guess:

is there any fixed supply depot in the stack, or the city defensor ballistae?


Hi Yellow Ribbon!

No that wasen't the point. I Just selected two units (a heavy phalanx and an auxilary unit) from the stack that is at Massalia. Don't know why it didn't let me take them with my ships next turn (as they were surely loaded on the previous turn).[/QUOTE]

For what it's worth, I tried 3 times in one game, and was never able to evacuate anyone from a seige by sea. The same thing would happen, they load but don't leave with the ships. From then on I just assumed it can't be done. Much is hidden here.

vonRocko
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:36 pm

A. When you are sieging a city, the city does not receive supplies (except from its port if it is not blockaded).

I don't see this in game, when I am besieged in a port, that is not blockaded, I still don't get any supplies.

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yellow ribbon
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:41 pm

vonRocko wrote:
For what it's worth, I tried 3 times in one game, and was never able to evacuate anyone from a seige by sea. The same thing would happen, they load but don't leave with the ships. From then on I just assumed it can't be done. Much is hidden here.


i will have a look into it later. I used the method frequently in the Marius-Sulla scenario, especially if the troops in Asian minor, north of Cyprus were attacked and unlocked thereby...

EDIT:

Sorry, but with unlocked forces i dont have any problem. maybe you got blocked from movement by enemies presence.

try to load the fleet with troops, set the fleet to green-green and use the evade order in the fleets menu
Attachments
test.png
...not paid by AGEOD.

however, prone to throw them into disarray.



PS:



‘Everything is very simple in War, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen War . . . in War, through the influence of an infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark.‘



Clausewitz

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James D Burns
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Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:45 pm

Narwhal wrote:

A. When you are sieging a city, the city does not receive supplies (except from its port if it is not blockaded). To see if the city is receiving supply, hover the mouse on it. For instance, this city does not receive any :

Image



I am not sure this is working properly. If you check the screenshot for turn 4 of my AAR, you'll see Massalia is listed as producing 0 supplies even though it has a level 7 port that is not being blockaded by my navy. So either the mouse-over reporting is wrong or the naval blockaded/non-naval blockaded rules are not working as intended.

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?25929-Caesar-s-folly

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