How to Win More Siege Battles in Rome: Total War

Siege battles in settlements are an essential part of campaigns in Rome TW. In each campaign, it is required that you take and occupy a certain number of settlements. As such, you have to win some siege battles for a victorious campaign. The following tips should ensure more victorious siege battles.

Invading Settlements

When you are invading a settlement, infantry divisions are more essential. Infantry divisions are always required for the siege equipment and for taking settlement walls. As such, always bring a good amount of infantry for these battles so you can be sure of taking the walls.

Before you invade a settlement, it’s always worth checking how many divisions there are in the settlement. You can do this without a spy, although a spy can provide further details as to what divisions are actually stationed there. You will need to have a larger number of divisions than the army stationed there to take a settlement, as they also have settlement walls. Never go into a siege battle with a smaller army than that stationed there.

If the settlement has stone walls, bring a sap point. These can blow holes in stone walls, so that you do not have to take the settlement’s gates to advance divisions into the settlement. If you do this, then you should also make sure that you take the surrounding city wall and towers so as to reduce the arrows being fired by them.

If you have to take the settlement gates, keep most of your army away from the walls. Stone walls can fire a lot of missiles at your army, especially if they also include further archery divisions at the top of them. Send in your ladders and siege towers first, and when they have reached the walls, you can send further divisions in towards the ladders and towers. Do not leave static divisions within firing range of the walls.

Holding Settlements

For holding settlements, invest in settlement walls. Invest in the best settlement walls that you can, and then station a good number of infantry and archer divisions that can be stationed on the walls to fire more arrows at the invading army. Select fire at will mode for Roman infantry divisions, as well as guards. Cavalry are not so essential for holding settlements, but can come in handy if the invading army advances beyond the walls.

When your settlements are besieged, you can still re-enforce them. Move any divisions you can from nearby settlements, and station them next to the besieged settlement. Group them into another army, and they will be included in the siege battle as further re-enforcements for your army located in the settlement. When the battle begins, you will have to move them into the settlement, so do so at a gate which the invading army is not approaching.

If the gates or walls are broken, station as many divisions as possible at the gate entrance, or where the wall is broken. Place all your cavalry divisions at the entrance, alongside additional infantry divisions to ensure that no advancing divisions can stroll through into the settlement. Here you can corner advancing divisions with a good number of your own divisions, similar perhaps to an army blocking a bridge at the only point where the other army can cross the river.

Keeping your general in the battle is always worthwhile. This will ensure that your divisions take longer to rout. If you’re holding a settlement, leave them within the settlement walls close to your infantry divisions at the walls. If possible, target the other army’s general with your archer divisions if they are within range.

Now you should be able to win more siege battles in Rome TW and finish more campaigns. Overall, the settlement walls are usually a key factor in the outcomes of these battles, as well as the number of infantry divisions the armies have at their disposal.