Sieging high level forts?

[marat271]

As the title says, in a war with human players both players typically have built up their forts to quite high levels (Level 4 to 5 perhaps even 9 in some cases), especially in a late-game scenario. What is the best way to go about and siege these? Because were one to siege them with 10 units it'd take 4-5 years.

 

[grandad1982]

Lots of canons and a siege General?

 

[justin6477]

Lots of canons and a siege General?

I think this is pretty much the only answer. Maybe not the general, but definitely the artillery. Personally, I've been fond of using uniform army sizes, so if I have any remainder in my force limits, I'll allocate that space to dedicated siege stacks that are heavy on cannons for busting forts.

 

[atwix]

isn't it like fort lvl x2= ideal number of artillery?

 

[marat271]

isn't it like fort lvl x2= ideal number of artillery?

Actually you can get a up to 5 modifier when sieging (the same as having a siege 5 general) by having 5 times more artillery than the fort level.

So it goes like this:
Modifier Artillery per Fort Level
+1 Any artillery at all
+2 At least 2 artillery per fort level
+3 At least 3 artillery per fort level
+4 At least 4 artillery per fort level
+5 At least 5 artillery per fort level


But I can't imagine having 25000 artillery sieging a province, the attrition would be immense.

 

[Kaiser Faceroll]

Save those high FL provinces for last, assemble a doom stack of mercenaries and assault it.

 

[Path]

Stacking cannon with a siege general or doomstacking with mercenaries (this is only viable if you're big and rich enough to afford a proper doomstack--it's one thing to assault lv 2 or 3 forts, but high-lv ones are a menace). At the end of the day these fortifications are meant to be difficult to assail. As for attrition, meh, at the point you're laying siege to these kinds of fortifications, it shouldn't be a factor to worry about.

 

[Osman Pasha]

Yeah, its so stupid, I hate how the AI tries to build super massive forts with march. I think they should make the maximum level fort 5 instead of 9. 5 is siegeable but 9 is impossible.

 

[CaptainChiatrol]

Yeah, its so stupid, I hate how the AI tries to build super massive forts with march. I think they should make the maximum level fort 5 instead of 9. 5 is siegeable but 9 is impossible.

He's playing against humans. We are always going to be nastier about that stuff then the AI with those kinds of things. I don't see why the AI shouldn't use the same tricks as a human though.

 

[Tacticus101]

Against a human, why bother? cover all his lands, take his income, wait for WE and debt to kill him. Unlike AI's a human will peace out when he is losing, even if he hasn't lost many sieges yet.

 

[Clownie]

Against a human, why bother? cover all his lands, take his income, wait for WE and debt to kill him. Unlike AI's a human will peace out when he is losing, even if he hasn't lost many sieges yet.

Unlike AIs, humans will also use sorties.

 

[Tacticus101]

Unlike AIs, humans will also use sorties.

So put more troops than are in the fort to besiege it.

Or wait for him to sortie then send in reinforcements with a general, beat the attack, get the fort.

 

[Sorellis]

High level forts are nice but building them comes at a significant cost. A very strong strategy in MP I feel because often other players just can't be bothered to deal with a long drawn out war. If you are at war with someone with high level forts try to get warscore from other methods. Use the Superiority CB or the Blockade Ports one if they have been using privateers on you and get your warscore that way. Or just use WE and unrest to wear them down.

 

[marat271]

So there are no real easy way to do it efficiently form what I can gather from people?

What do people in MP games do when there are armies of over half a million soldiers fighting and both sides have level 4-5 provinces?

 

[TingJonKi]

So there are no real easy way to do it efficiently form what I can gather from people?

What do people in MP games do when there are armies of over half a million soldiers fighting and both sides have level 4-5 provinces?

assault important forts with the larger stacks of infrantry

 

[bbqftw]

before:

http://i.imgur.com/tUPW78J.png

after:

http://i.imgur.com/XhIWZab.png

 

[calvinhobbeslik]

before:

http://i.imgur.com/tUPW78J.png

after:

http://i.imgur.com/XhIWZab.png

Use your other stack to finish it off?

 

[bbqftw]

yeah, I did. I learned there that defensiveness affects assaults (I suspect there's a dice roll going on during assaults to determine both attacker and garrison casualties)

 

[Illianor123]

10x fort level in mercs.

 

[V1ribus]

10x fort level in mercs.

It would take many years to recruit 90000 merc infantry, possibly more than if you just sieged the fort without them.