A walled settlement, such as a large commandery capital, cannot be immediately attacked unless the attacking army has artillery. Without artillery, the settlement must be besieged for a number of turns first in order for the attacker to assemble siege equipment. A siege distresses the settlement and its defenders over time, and runs down the attacking army’s military supplies.
Other Total War Three Kingdoms Guides:
- Total War Three Kingdoms: Guide to Factions
- Total War Three Kingdoms: Guide to Siege
- Total War Three Kingdoms: Guide to Characters
- Total War Three Kingdoms: Buildings Guide
- Total War Three Kingdoms: Food Guide
- Total War Three Kingdoms: Diplomacy Guide
- Total War Three Kingdoms: Spies & Espionage Guide
When you order an army to attack a walled settlement, the siege panel will open. This gives you important information about the settlement you’re besieging, which can help guide your approach. The row of icons detail:
- Whether the settlement gates are open or closed. Certain spy actions can open the gates prior to a siege battle, granting access to the attackers.
- The strength of the walls. Walls become weaker each turn as the siege continues.
- The number of turns the settlement will withstand the siege before surrendering. Certain general’s traits and ancillaries may grant longer siege holdout times to the defender, or shorter siege holdout times for the attacker.
- The number of turns under siege before the settlement runs out of supplies.
- The presence of any barricades or bastion artillery, which will be employed by the defender when a siege battle is initiated by the attacker.
The panel also offers the construction of siege equipment to enable you to attack and penetrate the city.
In subsequent turns of the siege, the attacker can reopen the siege panel by clicking the siege icon next to the stettlement, or by selecting the attacking army and right-clicking on the settlement as if attacking.
There is a variety of potential outcomes to a siege. A siege battle may be initiated; the defenders may choose to surrender; an army defending the settlement may choose to sally out and engage the attacker; or the attackers may choose to break the siege.
Siege Equipment Guide
If the attacker has no artillery, siege equipment is usually needed to initiate a siege battle against a walled settlement, and the siege panel offers construction orders to the attacker.
Siege equipment takes times to build, and the amount which can be built is defined by the attacker’s construction capacity, as noted in the siege panel. Construction capacity rises in line with the number of men in an army, so bigger armies can build more equipment over time.
Siege equipment orders fall into two categories:
Battering rams: Any battering rams you build will be assigned to a unit to commandeer when the siege battle is initiated, and may be deployed like any other unit, or even dropped and assigned to a different unit. Battering rams are designed to smash down gates and grant access to the city. In battle, the unit manning a ram may be selected and given an attack command against a gate like any other unit. When a battering ram has smashed through a gate, it’s function has been performed and it cannot be reused.
Sapping: Each sapping order you give prior to initiating a battle will attack the foundations and collapse a single random section of the settlement’s walls, granting access to your units if a siege battle is initiated.