Besieging undead armies

[Gurthang]

I am besieging an army of undead, and since they don't need to eat I suppose it's pointless to wait for them to starve

So... what's the solution? Suppose Ermor stuffs a fortress with, say, 600 undeads. How can an average nation ever hope to storm the fortress?

I am considering to use one or more Wall Shakers here. Do they add their fortress reduction values?

All help appreciated!

[Stretch]

Off the top of my head I thought that mindless units and animals were something like 1/10 of a normal, size-2 non-flying soldier (so your undead army of 600 would be worth 60 militia).

[sansanjuan]

Originally Posted by Gurthang

I am besieging an army of undead, and since they don't need to eat I suppose it's pointless to wait for them to starve

So... what's the solution? Suppose Ermor stuffs a fortress with, say, 600 undeads. How can an average nation ever hope to storm the fortress?

I am considering to use one or more Wall Shakers here. Do they add their fortress reduction values?

All help appreciated!

Crumble is handy.

Perhaps beyond your means but a few ember lords (flying) with strength items should be uber.
-ssj

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Gurthang

I am besieging an army of undead, and since they don't need to eat I suppose it's pointless to wait for them to starve

So... what's the solution? Suppose Ermor stuffs a fortress with, say, 600 undeads. How can an average nation ever hope to storm the fortress?

I am considering to use one or more Wall Shakers here. Do they add their fortress reduction values?

All help appreciated!

Spam the fortress with anti-undead spells, bring wall shakers and gate cleavers, so on and so forth. Then, when the fight starts, open with a nice battlefield spell. I don't remember the name, but there is one that basically just massacres undead and blinds living units, which, combined with a nice Banishment communion will end the fight comparatively easily.

[shatner]

The spell is Solar Brilliance (http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Solar_Brilliance). If you do use it, make sure you cast Anti-Magic first since it will effect your own side as well. While the odds of any particular unit going blind are generally pretty low, over the course of a 20+ turn battle, that extra +4 MR will prevent a lot of unintended blindings.

[LDiCesare]

If it's mindless undead, they count as 1/10th of a unit. If they're ghouls or similar, then you need to bring many troops, preferably strong and flying, a siege golem or two and some wall shakers and gate cleavers. Sapper units can also help but these are limited to a few nations.

[janthony]

I tested Solar Brilliance once against a 600ish army of undead in a fortress on Vanilla. It didn't seem to have the effect I was hoping for. (I was hoping for a battlefield wide spontaneous combustion, I got maybe a third of the units catching fire, but the rest demolishing my army. Though I think I still won the battle by stacking 15 or so Masters of Names in the background. Most of those who survived went blind.)

[Kobal2]

Yeah, Solar Brilliance is a "blind 'em all" spell first and foremost, the undead killing is a bit of an added bonus. The killing effect is notable when the battle last a real long time, but mostly it doesn't destroy enough undead fast enough to be worth casting for that purpose alone. Especially not against Ermor or C'tis or similar undead-focused nations who will have spells to buff the MR of their undead minions into the high teens anyway.

[Soyweiser]

Solar brilliance does very little vs undead. I think it does not get boosts from penetration items the caster carries.

At least vs ermor even without mr boosts it didn't kill enough to stop even a minor assault.

[Bwaha]

Draconians, lots of them...

Awakened gargoyles with gate cleavers if you want to get crazy about it...

And about the Undead, wither bones is the bomb on them...