Stationing army into cities / castles

[tompalmer]

I'm sorry to bother with an other suggestion but I've always wondered why armies couldn't go into castles to protect themselves ..

We don't only see that in mount and blades or in ASOIAF, there are plenty example in history, for example Antioche during the first crusade.

Will it affect gameplay ?

It could. But holding armies into castles would cost HUGE attrition, so I can see balance in that.

Please Paradpx, Johan, Doomdark, add this

 

[EktorGomes]

You can do that. You just have to disband the army in their home province, their numbers will join the garrisson.

If you have 400 garrisson + a 500 troop, the total garrisson if you don't rally them is 900.

 

[tompalmer]

I talk about a new mechanic, why would someone disband his armies to reinforce garrison ? The goal is the opposite, protect the army more than the castle

 

[Dracko81]

I'd be all for this if siege length mechanics where properly worked out first.

Having a 5k army army hiding inside an undeveloped castle should force that army out within a few weeks due to lack of food and as a result lower morale.

The current 2 - 3 month siege time should not be allowed for much larger armies.

 

[riknap]

it has never been possible to "hide an army behind walls" for any paradox game so far. Granted, most of the paradox games deal with eras where fortifications were being increasingly irrelevant. still, unless they make changes to the engine or do some tweaks, it's unlikely for CK2 armies aside from the original levy to hide behind a wall (and even then, the army technically doesn't hide behind the county but rather disbanding them adds the number to the levy pool of the county which is different, implementation-wise)

 

[keynes2.0]

It's really desperately needed because numbers make such a huge difference in this game. If you manage to engage a numerically inferior force then it's gonna get wiped out. Hiding behind walls would help the numerically inferior force meet up with other friendly armies without getting killed first.

 

[tompalmer]

I want to believe

 

[riknap]

well, they could make a mechanic that utilizes the same mechanic used by navies to transport troops
in short, a "garrison" button enables a raised levy to be "attached" to a holding, most likely the capital of the county, wherein while "attached" they increase the defense against assault via sheer numbers (since troop compositions don't matter currently in assault) although they increase the morale drop per week/pulse to represent supplies dwindling more rapidly.
it can't be a mod though, because they'll have to write that mechanic down in the game itself

 

[Sir Tornado]

It should lead to a morale penalty for defenders because the supplies in the city/castle would not be enough to feed the entire garrisoned force. And also to stop blocking an enemy invasion by a year or so by putting 10k men inside a castle otherwise holding 1k when the enemy with 13k force is invading it...

 

[xploring]

That's a great idea, don't know how I didn't think of it before. Although there should be a support limit for the castle as well so there is a big attrition penalty for too many men inside castle.

The point about disbanding to return levies to castle reminds me of another thing that doesn't make sense. Why should half my levies fail to return to their holdings just because 50 enemy men is in one of my provinces 2 months march away? Although how levies magically teleport themselves back home and is able to be raised again on same day doesn't make sense either.

 

[Kaiser Ludwig]

I'm thinking like demobilizing the levies should make them available after a set time, depending on the "movement speed" to their home province. It can't be "return each to their individual province" because of micromanaging.

Also I agree a lot with the 50 men thing killing half the levies to that province... it mainly bothers me that this happens when the "hostile" occupier is one of your vassals who is fighting another vassal. If he dared attack the King's armies returning home he would have been a traitor and put to death / yay free revocation

 

[Teije]

I would agree with this only there was huge attrition and a stringent cap on how big an army could shelter in a holding (that would depend on fortification level). You can't put 10,000 men inside a typical medieval castle.

 

[I Killed Kenny]

for real!?

 

[I Killed Kenny]

You can do that. You just have to disband the army in their home province, their numbers will join the garrisson.

If you have 400 garrisson + a 500 troop, the total garrisson if you don't rally them is 900.

for real?!

 

[Velorian]

Sounds like a good idea to me. It would probably have to be combined with a reworking of siege mechanics in general though, but I suppose it could work if the hiding army suffered increased attrition to account for horrible hygienic conditions and possibly starvation. That just leaves the question of whether the AI would know when to make use of it, and when not to.

 

[Kaiser Ludwig]

for real?!

Yeah, that's also why cities take so much more effort than baronies to siege (usually); only a small part of their levies can be raised by their non-doge lieges, so you have to contend with a medium-sized garrison and a middling-large number of unraised levies.

 

[DominusNovus]

Yeah, that's also why cities take so much more effort than baronies to siege (usually); only a small part of their levies can be raised by their non-doge lieges, so you have to contend with a medium-sized garrison and a middling-large number of unraised levies.

I usually find the opposite to be true, since their total levies are smaller, and the castles have better defensive structures.

 

[tompalmer]

I would agree with this only there was huge attrition and a stringent cap on how big an army could shelter in a holding (that would depend on fortification level). You can't put 10,000 men inside a typical medieval castle.

Depends, but when you can it is never for long

 

[Jaol]

Not with retinues.

 

[riknap]

Not with retinues.

this thread was written before the patch came out if you haven't noticed...