Why can't NPCs climb ladders?

[Xilmin]

I just had a disaster at Knudarr castle where we were obliterated... or we would have been had I had the patience to leave the game running for another half hour to allow everyone to get to the top of the ladder to be killed.

Instead they just walk on the spot on the ladder, roaring their heads off but not getting anywhere. Every so often one would break through and consequently get slaughtered with no backup. There is only so much I can do with archery with this new shield system. Even when I pulled everyone back and stood at the top of the ladder mere feet away from the enemy, and they weren't even blocking but it still hits the shield rather than getting a series of headshots. So I promptly run out of arrows, and also use up all that I could scrounge. Cruel.

In the time it took me to wander around the castle walls (in the off chance that maybe just maybe there was an alternative route in) only one guy had managed to get to the top of the ladder and get himself killed. Unsurprisingly I lost my patience and gave up.

Feeling rather stuck now. If only NPCs could learn the concept of jumping...

Any suggestions or am I just going to have to leave them to take the castle themselves instead of joining in? ... And hope that this is the only siege where this occurs...

[deathstar]

The pathfinding during sieges is horrible, that is a fact. Somehow, they either manage to get stuck on the ladder itself, because they want to dodge incoming arrows while blocking (often try to sidestep, blocking everyone behind them), or the defenders get glitched into some unreachable spot and the AI keeps bashing its head against the wall to get there.

It really needs a fix, or a mod.

[checkdestroy]

The sieges seem alot worse... when attacking my guys are unable to get UP the ladder, and when I'm defending, my guys (especially my most elite troops) just INSIST on going DOWN the ladder one by one to get killed off!

[JK_DC]

I heard knudarr castle is the worst of the worst on sieges.

[Nikhmar]

Oh man, not Knudarr castle. That is the most horrible siege battle ever. I couldn't take it over, even after 4 huge attacks with the castle garrison not getting reinforced. They had like 110 guys in the beginning and in the end they had 40. I kept losing like 10 men to get one down. Moral went down quite quick.

[Xilmin]

Good to know I'm not the only one that's had issues anyway... Even if it seems I just have to live with it.

Could have sworn the original Mount & Blade wasn't this bad (though I'm certainly not saying it was brilliant either!). Then again I've never attempted Knudarr castle before (sided with the Nords when I played the first game)...

I shall make another attempt at the siege... and looks like I'll just have to be prepared for a lot of morale loss...

[TimeNinja]

you can hope they patch it, but there is a warband mod that adds extra entry points to castles, and fixes the pathfinding AI to use those entry points. Its called...sieges and lords or something. Its got lords in there. Search for it on the taleworlds forum

[KyrenCross]

It seems that archers and crossbows get stuck on this spot cause they seem to aim on enemies they can't see inside the castle wall. So I order them to stay behind and let the infantry go in first.

But there is this one castle in which you have to jump to get in. Since NPC's can't jump they get stuck and run endlessly on the edge >_<

[Geowil]

Yeah, this was an issue on the original as well. Sometimes it happens ( actually most of the time) but on some battles it works.

I noticed this a lot while playing Native Expansion, that if you go up before your army and start killing off the initial wall guards (get a 62 damage axe and full B.K. armor set and its easy to do this; hell I took a town on my own once, nearly died though) they can sometimes pass those invisible clips. I think it has to do with targeting more then path finding itself, if they target an enemy they try to walk towards them, getting caught on the ladders.

[MarcusValerius]

There also seems to be an issue with routing troops. They get wounded then try and run backwards to retreat, blocking everyone behind them.

[Xilmin]

I managed to successfully take the castle in two assaults. Would have been one if I hadn't been an idiot and exchanged my sword for ammo, forgetting I had to also deal with those inside. Me with a bow and arrows, against 5 men with shields... not going to happen.

Tactics involved sending up infantry to soften up some shields, pulling them back and letting archers do their work. I did what I could with my own archery, including scavenging arrows that had hit walls. Then once enemy numbers had been reduced send infantry back up. Rinse and repeat.

I'd better save up for some better armour for myself though so I can be more use in melee...

Oh and thanks TimeNinja. I'll look out for that mod! :)

[lastarchon]

not all maps are equal in this regard. some maps there are work-arounds, other maps there are not.

for ladders in general, if someone gets stuck and is holding up the attack:

* try to keep likely 'stuck' classes, such as archers (who frequently stop and fire on the ladder) at the rear until the infantry is all up the ladder. at the start of the battle, do 'archers, hold position!' until then infantry gets moving.
* do an 'everyone, follow me!' order, several times in a row fast. then order everyone to 'charge!' again. this will sometimes unstick the mess.
* depending on who is stuck, do a (troop type) order, example - 'archers, advance 10 paces!' or, 'archers, follow me!', followed by telling them to 'charge!' again. if an archer was stuck, this may dislodge them.

for siege battles, it's usually pretty easy for the infantry to get up the ramp and onto the walls. more problematic is if you're defending and your infantry tries to attack down the ramp. do an 'everyone, hold this position!' order a foot or so back from the breach: keeping everyone close enough to meat grind the attackers, but far enough back so as to not glitch the breach.