Sieges

[Caractacus]

BTW this was more of an historical interest exercise to me than any dig at the game. As I say, it looks great, and can understand your gameplay decisions.

[cato13]

whats the rules on how to start sieges? i currently have 33000 men in jutland and my scouts tell me there are only 2700 men in the city which has level 3 guns. ive been there for 3 turns now and the siege wont start. ive even ordered a charge the walls to no avail.

[CeltiCid]

yes, that is another thing i dont understan.
 
I have 30k men in Venetia, defended by only 5k men. After 4 turns the dosent attack the walls. I sent them charged, and again, nothing happens [X(]
 
Sometimes my sieges looks like bugged.

[ericbabe]

For the siege rules, remember that each level of Guns development in a province counts as 1 point of siege strength, as does every 3,333 strength of defending infantry.  Venetia has 4 levels of Guns, and its 5000 defenders are about 2 points of siege strength, so the defenders probably have about 6 points of siege strength.  The attackers -- 30K men -- only have 3 points, so there will be a successful siege attempt only when random(3)>random(6).  Of the 18 possible results of that check, there are only three results that give successful sieges (1>0, 2>0, and 2>1) so the chance of a successful siege is only 3/18 or about 16% each turn.  Note that a "successful siege" only means that the siege results in a siege combat, and in that combat, 30K men won't do all that much damage.

You can speed up the attrition you damage you do to Venetia if you can blockade the port with one of your fleets; this attrition damage happens every turn regardless of whether or not there is a siege, however, unblockaded ports only take 10% of normal attrition damage.

Note that sieges are supposed to represent more than one siege on one fort; they are rather supposed to represent efforts to conquer the province throughout the entire province.  So whereas 30K men might be a lot to besiege one fortress, 30K isn't so much to besiege every fortress and perform other operations required to control the territory.

[CeltiCid]

ORIGINAL: ericbabe

For the siege rules, remember that each level of Guns development in a province counts as 1 point of siege strength, as does every 3,333 strength of defending infantry.  Venetia has 4 levels of Guns, and its 5000 defenders are about 2 points of siege strength, so the defenders probably have about 6 points of siege strength.  The attackers -- 30K men -- only have 3 points, so there will be a successful siege attempt only when random(3)>random(6).  Of the 18 possible results of that check, there are only three results that give successful sieges (1>0, 2>0, and 2>1) so the chance of a successful siege is only 3/18 or about 16% each turn.  Note that a "successful siege" only means that the siege results in a siege combat, and in that combat, 30K men won't do all that much damage.

You can speed up the attrition you damage you do to Venetia if you can blockade the port with one of your fleets; this attrition damage happens every turn regardless of whether or not there is a siege, however, unblockaded ports only take 10% of normal attrition damage.

Note that sieges are supposed to represent more than one siege on one fort; they are rather supposed to represent efforts to conquer the province throughout the entire province.  So whereas 30K men might be a lot to besiege one fortress, 30K isn't so much to besiege every fortress and perform other operations required to control the territory.

ok, thanks for this clarification.

Then i suggest that there should pop-up a message: "no succefull siege" or something to know they are trying

[dude]

One of the things I was able to due was to cut through Spain with a couple of British corps acting independently while the Spanish army happened to be away.  The sieges went only one turn and I attributed this mostly to my higher moral (almost all my troops where well over 5 if not 6 during battles).  I brought in extra Inf to garrison some of the places I took and those troops held out for a few turns against the Spanish when they returned.  This gave me enought time to take Madrid and force Spain to surrender.
 
In a previous war with Spain, however two provinces in Portugal I had garrisoned with militia each fell in one turn.
 
So in my view if you have higher moral troops acting as a garrison (in my case mine were all well over 5) they can last longer. 
 

[balto]

If you Charge the Walls, you get a Siege Check Bonus.  I think CeltiCid said he Charged.  So he would have a better then 1/16th.
 
The manual says you get a LARGE bonus.  So I guess I wonder what LARGE is.   And I wonder if CeltiCid really meant that he CHARGED.

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: tonedog

whats the rules on how to start sieges? i currently have 33000 men in jutland and my scouts tell me there are only 2700 men in the city which has level 3 guns. ive been there for 3 turns now and the siege wont start. ive even ordered a charge the walls to no avail.

In case the siege hasn't started yet: are you at war, or just trespassing?

[Joram]

Some of this would make a good discussion in the Napoleonic History forum.