Fraught Forts

[epaminondas]

I position appropriately qualified units to besiege a fort and at the commencement of the following turn am greeted with a symbol announcing that the fort's defences now offer no protection - most gratifying. I maintain the siege only to find that at the commencement of the following turn the said symbol has disappeared - less than gratifying and most confusing. Are the defenders still unprotected, have they rebuilt their defences, was it all a cunning deception? Lord, it surpasseth all understanding.

Can someone unsurpasseth it for me, please?

[Pocus]

a breach can always be closed by defenders indeed. And yes it can happen just before you ordered an assault

[epaminondas]

Well that's just plain nasty - realistic but nasty. Thanks Pocus. In the same vein, do defenders ever just surrender when all their defences are down? I ask because I've not seen that happen, but perhaps I've been too hasty.

"The trouble with Fred is, he's - he's too hasty. Now you never get nowhere if you're too hasty." Courtesy of Bernard Cribbens, circa 1962. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5XX9LX2es4

[imperium3]

Yes, forts do surrender. It's quite nice when they do because the attacker gets 1 NM and the defender loses 1 NM, which you won't usually get from storming the place.

In general, forts seem more likely to surrender if the besieging force is large, there are no friendly troops nearby, and the besiegers brought along some heavy artillery.

[epaminondas]

Thanks imp. All valuable info.

[epaminondas]

I've been besieging a Russian fort in Chotin region for some time now. The map labelling tells me that it's a size 1 fort. An icon presently sitting over the region tells me that it has so far been reduced 3 levels and offers no protection. Last turn there was an icon sitting on the region telling me that it had been reduced 2 levels and offered no protection.

Can't find an explanation for any of that anywhere.

[czert2]

well, defenders can repair breaches, sometimes they do full repair , sometimes only partial. it is all about combat power difference between atackers and defenders.

[epaminondas]

Sorry, I haven't been sufficiently clear. What's puzzling me is how a Level 1 fort can sustain three levels of damage - surely one level is all that it would take to cancel protection. Certainly damage can be repaired, but for a single level fort that would result in all reference to damage being erased from the screen. In this case, however, the levels have accumulated and remain proudly announced. It seems to me that if enough hits were taken to increase the damage level from one to two (let alone three) the fort would fall - but it hasn't.

Mightily confused.