Manual:Siege combat

From AACWWiki

Overview

Sieges happen when a unit defends in a pre-war fort, a permanent fortification, a city, a depot or an indian village. Two values - one for each side - are randomly generated to resolve the siege. Various bonuses are also added and these are indicated below:

Besieging side:

• Artillery combat factors
• Leader with the “siege engineer” special ability
• Breach achieved (see below)
• Defender lacks general supply

Besieged side:

• Artillery combat factors
• Leader with the “engineer” or “fort defender” special ability
• Fort level: Pre-war forts are considered level 1 forts while level 5+ trenches are level 2 forts

The difference between these two values, called the "siege roll value" (SRV), indicates the result (cumulative):

SRV > defending units’ average discipline

Defender surrenders and all units are eliminated unless the defending force includes a supply wagon, in which case the result is ignored

SRV >= 3

A breach is made. The siege icon will change to indicate a breach is in progress or achieved . Cities and pre-war forts are breached after a single breach result while permanent fortifications require two breach results to be fully breached.

SRV > 0

5 hits are inflicted on the defenders for each point of SRV.

SRV < 0

The defender has managed to repair a breach.

Besieged units may only recover hits if they are in a non-blockaded port.

Storming a structure

A force in assault posture will try to storm the structure instead of besieging it. The procedure is the same as in regular combat except that the defender benefits from a combat bonus. Permanent forts provide a great bonus, pre-war forts less so and cities even less. Frontage is quite limited in such combat, especially in forts. Defenders in a depot or indian village don’t get any defensive benefit except limited frontage.

Note: It is usually advised to defend outside in the surrounding terrain rather in a depot or indian village. The same is true to some extent for cities.