With the advances in artillery, most cities simply surrendered upon the approach of the enemy if a friendly force wasn't near enough to protect them. Indeed, if one looks at the record, it becomes apparent that most sieges were resolved within one month:
Sieges lasting less than 1 month:
San Sebastian 7/25 - 8/31
Flushing 18 days
Badajoz March 3/16 - 4/6
Ciudad Rodrigo 1/8 - 1/19
El-Arish two weeks
Verdun 8/29 - 9/2
Charleroi 06/19 - 06/25
Magdeburg 10/22 - 11/10
Gerona 1 day
2nd Gerona 07/27 - 08/20
Rosas 11/06 - 12/05
Mequinenza 05/16 - 05/24
Almeida 08/15 - 08/27
Tortosa 12/16 - 01/02
Olivenza 01/11 - 01/23
Valencia 12/25 - 01/08
Sieges up to 3 months:
Danzig 55 days
Burgos 9/19 - 10/21
Acre 6 weeks (unsuccessful)
Valenciennes 05/24 - 08/01
Genoa 04/19 - 06/04
Saragossa 06/15 - 08/15
Tarragona 05/03 - 07/28
Sieges lasting more than 3 months:
Toulon 08/27 - 12/19
Stralsund 1/15 - 8/20
Mantua 06/04 - 02/02
Kolberg 03/20 - 07/02
Hamburg 5/30 1813 - 5/27 May 1814
As you can see, there was only one siege which lasted more than 1 year, and that was Davout's defense of Hamburg (It's length is debatable since the Allies didn't really get into it until halfway through, being scared of tangling with the unbeaten Marshal).
CoG, however, is a game of sieges. It is rare that a province falls within a month. Indeed, most cities, even with the most worthless of fortifications and the barest and ill-trained garrison frequently hold out for several months. If one builds the walls up a bit and throws several units to defend, a province can hold out for half a year or longer, easy.
This is reminiscent of the wars of Frederic, but doesn't really hold in the later era.
The number of sieges is ill-represented as well. The above list covers the entire era, from 1792 on. It's not exhaustive, I'm sure you can find a couple more and grow the list from these 28 to maybe 35 or 40, but even then if you play CoG for just a few years you will see 100's of sieges. If you take away all the Peninsular sieges, which comprise the majority of recorded ones, then recorded sieges become even scarcer.
This arguable flaw of siege mechanics in CoG is most apparent when dealing with minor countries. Historically, these little provincialities simply did not resist. When a major army came marching through these were quick to throw themselves down in order not to incite the invader to rape their entire country rotten. That was the reality of the time - if you resisted you were doomed, albeit at a later date, and now having incurred the wrath of the power you dared challenge from behind your walls. I don't believe there is a single instance of a minor power being besieged - all recorded sieges were part of major conflicts. Principalities like Thuringia simply fell over and yielded, and yet here I am five turns into reducing their walls.
Now you can make the argument that a siege in CoG represents more than just the assault on the walls, that this is the investment you had to make to pacify the province, to make the population pliant and obedient, and to assure supply lines. But this is covered by the guerilla mechanic, and certainly doesn't need a force of several divisions and artillery corps to accomplish over many months time. As I said, the wars were between armies. Control of provinces was accomplished either through political means, or long after the armies passed through.
Another argument is that most wars in CoG are frequently lost or won through the occupation of the capital province, whose -250 morale hit makes such occupation very expensive to the defender, even in the short run, and that this hit is taken without having to siege said capital, so it's not like sieging other provinces is neccessary. This however proves my point though I believe, since if sieges are not necessary, why are they modelled they way they are?
I tried to mod the game by reducing every wall and gun value to nothing just to see how that would work, but in the end that was counterproductive, since the wall value also represents the amount of troops you can garrison in the city, and also I could not stop the AI from building up the walls again.
Anyone have any thoughts on the matter? Sometimes I feel like I am playing Crown of Sieges, and this spoils the Napoleonic flavor I'm trying to experience. I wish I could reduce siege length by at least half across the board, but there doesn't seem to be a way by modding the files available to be modded.
