Help - I dont understand fortress defending!
 

This has happened to me quite a few times and is really pissing me off. A huge AI force assaults one of fortresses with a defensive in the square. I throw a sizable army in anticipation of the AI assaulting it in that square for next turn.

The AI gets there next turn but only fights the squares defensive i put in, not the troops I sent to help it. THEN all of a sudden the forces I sent to help fight are locked up in the fortress being sieged!!

What gives?

How can I make the forces going to the province with the fortress actually assist the natural defensive and fight?

Re: Help - I dont understand fortress defending!
 

Patrolling troops will defend the province, defending ones stay inside the fort.

Troops moving into a province with a fort can be ordered to "move and patrol", which means they will patrol the province with the fort once they get there.

First order the commander with the troops you want to patrol to move in normally, then look at their list of possible orders. Choose "move and patrol".

Re: Help - I dont understand fortress defending!
 

There's a 'move and patrol' order which appears when moving to a fortified province.

Re: Help - I dont understand fortress defending!
 

The game needs a "Defend province" order.

Currently, without a castle that's how it acts. With a castle you have two choices: Defend the castle or patrol the province. However that causes your troops to deal with unrest--and kill people as a result.

Re: Help - I dont understand fortress defending!
 

what would be cool is to have a special order like "sentry" was in civilization to have a unit sleeping and doing nothing.
This is because sometimes i have scouts or normal commanders in a castle and i dont want to see them when I hit the "n" key when i see my available commanders and i dont want them to patrol either.

Re: Help - I dont understand fortress defending!
 

Reducing unrest does kill population, but it is generally considered the price you pay for much improved tax income.

Did you have a situation in mind where you would rather deal with the unrest but keep the people alive? This game has lots of neat situations where funny things like that make sense, but I don't know this one yet.

Re: Help - I dont understand fortress defending!
 

It's a short term vs long term gain trade off.

Patrolling boosts income back up quickly, but to a lower level than it would reach if you lowered taxes for a couple of turns.

Re: Help - I dont understand fortress defending!
 

But you can deal with unrest by taxes or PD without killing anyone.

Re: Help - I dont understand fortress defending!
 

What is more problematic, I think, is that commanders who are searching/forging/casting/researching can't be bothered to come out of the castle and defend the province.

Re: Help - I dont understand fortress defending!
 

What is nice, I think, is that commanders who are searching/forging/casting/researching don't come out of the castle and get slaughtered.
It goes both ways. It would suck to have all your sages killed because they tried to help out the PD while your relief army was one move away.

Would be nice to have the option, I guess.