Slitherine

Unlike Pike and Shot and Sengoku Jidai, Field of Glory II currently does not have field fortification battles in the Custom Battles system, because such battles were extremely rare in the Ancient world. Even Romans, the ultimate field fortification builders, extremely rarely fought a pitched battle from behind field fortifications.

We would like to add field fortification battles to cover those rare occasions, but obviously not every army list should be capable of it, so we would need to add the possibility on a list by list basis.

So this post is a request for people to post details of all historical battles in the Ancient and Medieval period where field fortifications played a significant part. (And not just when the camp was attacked).

Battle of Dara 530AD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dara

The battles around Syracuse, particularly when Demosthenes arrived.

The overrunning of the Athenian fortifications at Delium.

Alesia (already a user scenario).

Thermopylae (debatable - but the Greeks may well have been fighting either behind or under the cover of a low wall).

Battle of Dyrrhachium (48 BC)

Orchomenus 85 BC

Murat 1477

Long Walls of Corinth 392 BC

British hill forts in particular Caractacus' last battle as recounted in Tacitus (possibly Caer Caradog)

BTW - can we make obstacles more obvious in desert terrain - almost lost a battle because couldn't see the edges of an obstacle

DerekP wrote:BTW - can we make obstacles more obvious in desert terrain - almost lost a battle because couldn't see the edges of an obstacle

What sort of obstacle?

The worst was a whole network of ditches on the middle east texture with the odd wall thrown in there too.

They are much more obvious on the European map modes.

DerekP wrote:The worst was a whole network of ditches on the middle east texture with the odd wall thrown in there too.

They are much more obvious on the European map modes.

I agree with this. The middle eastern ditches look more open than a lot of European terrains that are actually open.

DerekP wrote:The worst was a whole network of ditches on the middle east texture with the odd wall thrown in there too.

They are much more obvious on the European map modes.

Walls? We deliberately didn't make any walls. There's a low wall in the editor left over from earlier tests but that wouldn't be part of the random map generator.

Any chance you could post a screen shot?

MVP7 wrote:

DerekP wrote:The worst was a whole network of ditches on the middle east texture with the odd wall thrown in there too.

They are much more obvious on the European map modes.

I agree with this. The middle eastern ditches look more open than a lot of European terrains that are actually open.

It is hard to make a ditch stand out when the object can't actually go below ground level.

rbodleyscott wrote:

MVP7 wrote:

DerekP wrote:The worst was a whole network of ditches on the middle east texture with the odd wall thrown in there too.

They are much more obvious on the European map modes.

I agree with this. The middle eastern ditches look more open than a lot of European terrains that are actually open.

It is hard to make a ditch stand out when the object can't actually go below ground level.

Giant cartoon sign sticking out saying 'this is a ditch'?

EDIT: I have actually been caught out by obstacles I didn't see. They're probably the hardest terrain to spot in the entire game.

In Middle-Eastern random maps all of the fields have ditches on their boundaries. So if there is a boundary at all, it's a ditch.

In other regions none of the fields have obstacles on their boundaries.

It is true that you might not spot the ditches if you aren't looking for them, but given the above, how hard can it be?

The visual cues are there, and if they can be missed, the same was true in real life. The histories are full of accounts of troops blundering into unsuitable terrain that they did not know was there.

I just realized that I don know what the definition of "field fortification" is in the context of this request?
Actual walls? earthworks? , the ancient equivalent of Frisian Horse? ie portable anti cavalry obstacles. If ditches and caltrops and other hasty constructs are included, a significantly large amount of battles could be included..

TheGrayMouser wrote:I just realized that I don know what the definition of "field fortification" is in the context of this request?
Actual walls? earthworks? , the ancient equivalent of Frisian Horse? ie portable anti cavalry obstacles. If ditches and caltrops and other hasty constructs are included, a significantly large amount of battles could be included..

1) Prepared ditches (not massive)
2) Ditch and bank style field fortifications
3) Wagon Laagers
4) War Wagons
and anything else.

Also, of course, portable stakes for Medieval - but no need to list battles with those, we already have a handle on them.

Can we please add sieges... I'm an old tabletop historic player this game is just amazing , however it would b a lot fun taking a city or castle in a siege during campaign.

rbodleyscott wrote:

MVP7 wrote:

DerekP wrote:The worst was a whole network of ditches on the middle east texture with the odd wall thrown in there too.

They are much more obvious on the European map modes.

I agree with this. The middle eastern ditches look more open than a lot of European terrains that are actually open.

It is hard to make a ditch stand out when the object can't actually go below ground level.

I suggest that we make double lines of current "mounds" like ditch to present ditch in between.

This thread looks not related with the siege of cities.
I am curious to know whether we will see city siege in the near future.

Bulgar -Byzantine wars 852 -1014 a.d. The Bulgarians made very effective use of palisades in mountain defiles. They set up the palisade behind a locally known high pass into the defile. Once the Byzantines were fully engaged the Bulgars smashed into their rear with a large flanking force that had humped over the high pass. FOG 2 game mechanics would implement this scenario very well.

After he was heavily defeated by this trick, Basil II (the Bulgar Slayer) used spies and bribery to find the high passes before his second invasion. He flanked the Bulgar palisade, caught the defenders in the rear, captured their entire army and then gouged out their eyes - sparing one man out every 100 to guide the other 99 home.