User Guide

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other than to re-
treat to a province
that contains enemy
forces, it will use the
same order of criteria
listed above. If two or
move provinces meet
the conditions, it will
move to the province
that contains the
fewest enemy soldiers.
When it arrives, it
will be forced to fight
another battle that it
is likely to lose due to
its low initial morale.
• If no valid province
exists for it to retreat
to, the army will be destroyed.
Sieges
Simply defeating a hostile army will rarely be
sufficient to gain control of an enemy’s prov-
ince. To accomplish this, you must first capture
its capital city, which will usually be protected
by at least some level of fortifications which are
manned by enemy soldiers. On the rare occa-
sion that a province has no fortifications, con-
trol will change to your country immediately.
Otherwise, your army will be forced to settle
down and lay siege to the city.
Unlike field combat, siege battles allow you
to make one tactical choice: the decision of
when -- if at all -- to launch a full-scale assault
of the enemy defences. To monitor the progress
of your siege, or to issue an assault order, click
on your besieging army.
You can also monitor the progress of an en-
emy’s siege of one of your provinces by clicking
on the province. The siege screen will replace
the Province Summary screen, which prevents
you from building any new province improve-
ments or recruiting new regiments. Until the
enemy army has been defeated, you cannot ini-
tiate any new projects, nor will you receive your
monthly share of income or manpower.
The upper area of the
display shows the forti-
fied city. As the siege
continues the city view
will change to reflect the
siege progress. Immedi-
ately below this you will
see the level of fortifica-
tion, the number of de-
fending soldiers, and the
morale of the defenders.
The lower portion of the
display shows the nation-
ality of the besieger, the
composition and morale
of the siege force, and
any attrition it is experi-
encing. If you are the be-
sieging army, you will also see a large “assault”
button.
Most sieges will require many months to
complete. Each month, there is a chance that
the city will experience a shortage of food, or
that the besieging army will manage to breach
the walls. The chances of this occurring will in-
crease slightly each month, and are also affected
by the relative size of the besieging force to the
defending force. If the defenders outnumber
the attackers, there will be no progress on the
siege. If the siege force is much larger than the
defending force, there will be a much greater
likelihood of some substantial progress. Artil-
lery is extremely effective at conducting sieges,
greatly increasing the chances of a breach. Cav-
alry is not very effective at all, and is generally
unsuited to the task. The siege should not take
as long if the army is commanded by a leader
with a high siege attribute.
When a city experiences a food shortage,
some of the defenders will perish. When the
number of defenders reaches zero, the city will
fall and the province will change control to the
siege force. As long as the siege is not lifted, the
defenders will receive no reinforcements. The
besieging army does receive reinforcements to
replenish any losses it suffers due to combat or