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[kahn1234]

Besides messengers to the King, we need to let the count and our neighbors know the duke is in serious trouble. Sirs Denton and Percival need to have their troops ready to march as soon as the army of the King arrives to break the siege(and the count as well I guess ).

As for the other suggestions, I say we should have part of our levy active at all times(the rest can go about their business wearing their armor as said), and keep the rangers patrolling the border of our lands, with fast messengers on horses stationed nearby to send word of any incursions. Get started on the wall ASAP, and the tower as well. +1 to quickly fortifying the docks and the shipyard.

One note, have we had any formal banners bearing our crest made? It's important if we are in any group combat so our units can be identified...

One More Thing, commandeer the fishing skiffs and see if we can station some archers and men-at-arms on them, to create an impromptu navy(include our felucca in this as the flagship). This can give us better protection of the docks and shipyard and also give us a chance to better repel any attack from the river

I think instead of commandeering the skiffs completely, maybe have an archer or levy archer go out with the fishermen but let the fishermen do their job still. it would prevent any loss in food production.

I dont think we should keep some of our levy up at all times, as we need to keep the impact of mobilisation on our production as small as possible. If we want a standing levy, try to recruit some from the refugees and have Fin and the other military Councillor put them through some basic drills and equip them with the old armour and weapons we used to have our main army using.

also station some watchmen at the mine. we dont want the enemy plundering our source of wealth to supply/pay their own troops.

[tryrar]

True, though skiffs by definition are pretty small, so trying to have a useful contingent of archers/men-at-arms aboard them while still having fishermen can be tough.....

What about this? I'm pretty sure the fishermen are included in the levy, so we order them to keep bows and short swords stored aboard their skiffs, and at the first sign of trouble they are to dump their catch, clear the decks, and prepare for battle. Also, see if we can craft some crude hunting horns and instruct the men that if trouble comes they are to give three clear blasts of the horn to raise the alarm.

I like your suggestion of recruiting the refugees. Tell them right now defense of the town is vital, and we need every able-bodied man working out with a weapon, and we'd be appreciative if they joined us in repelling any invaders.

Edit: Don't forget to send a messenger to Carshire like I suggested! Also, use the refugee recruits as guards for the mine to suplemment the watchmen

[kaian-a-coel]

+1 to everyting above.
In tge message to the Count, tell him that you are keeping your levies ready, and assre him of your loyalty to the crown: this threat is too big to let personnal feuds get in the way.
Refugees not willing or unable to fight should travel further upstream and split between the different villages, as our little town is the next in line and therefore isnt overly safe (especially if crowded)

[tryrar]

Another idea: Is it beyond our ability to construct something along the lines of a small ballista? If not, get one built asap, and have the metalworks forge large iron bolts for it. We'll want to have the tips of the bolts rapped in oil-soaked rags and lit on fire before being fired at any raiding ships. At the very least, it'll distract the crew as they're forced to try to remove the bolt before it catches their ship on fire, and best case is of course it catches the ship on fire and that's one less ship our impromptu navy needs to deal with(with something inbetween being it holes the ship at the waterline, forcing the crew to either have to abandon ship or split their attention bwteen bailing water and fighting). It doesn't have to be torsion spring powered, something like a giant crossbow will do.

[kahn1234]

Another idea: Is it beyond our ability to construct something along the lines of a small ballista? If not, get one built asap, and have the metalworks forge large iron bolts for it. We'll want to have the tips of the bolts rapped in oil-soaked rags and lit on fire before being fired at any raiding ships. At the very least, it'll distract the crew as they're forced to try to remove the bolt before it catches their ship on fire, and best case is of course it catches the ship on fire and that's one less ship our impromptu navy needs to deal with(with something inbetween being it holes the ship at the waterline, forcing the crew to either have to abandon ship or split their attention bwteen bailing water and fighting). It doesn't have to be torsion spring powered, something like a giant crossbow will do.

that should easily be within our grasp.

Not as much knowledge was lost after the fall of the Roman Empire than was originally though, and this game is set in high era Medieval England (a prolific partner in the Crusades, and therefore the technology of the Byzantines) so we should be able to build at least basic ballistae.

If not, we could try interviewing the refugees to see if there are any useful artisans/craftsmen in them, especially a siege engineer or 5.

[kaian-a-coel]

I like this idea, even if I think it is unlikely to be possible (considering our backwater status until recently), I support.

[tryrar]

If we can build them fast enough(if we can build them at all that is, never assume!), we can also mount them in the watchtowers we built, to give an extra punch against invaders(large, heavy bolts work just as well at killing ranks of troops as holing ships!)

Also, we need our scout to estimate as best he can the size of the force he saw so we can relay that information to the King(so he knows just how big a fucking army he needs!). Also, He should describe the banners he saw as best as possible; maybe someone else might know who they belong to

[kaian-a-coel]

Make him draw them on a spare paper.

[tryrar]

Make him draw them on a spare paper.

That too(if he can draw that is!). If he can't have the scribe draw what he describes

[10ebbor10]

About the ballistae:

The wooden towers are not that strong. I would advise to put anything heavy in there. Also, shooting flaming bold may be problematic.

However, the ballista clearly is outdated. It was still used in the medieval ages, but was outranged by the trebuchet, outperformed by the [ur=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springald]Springald[/url]. If we can't build any of the above, we could try to build an onager, which is even simples and cheaper.

Or just shoot flaming arrows.

Edit: If we bought equipment to dredge the river, we should be able to repurpose it as a primitive harbour chain.

[kahn1234]

About the ballistae:

The wooden towers are not that strong. I would advise to put anything heavy in there. Also, shooting flaming bold may be problematic.

However, the ballista clearly is outdated. It was still used in the medieval ages, but was outranged by the trebuchet, outperformed by the [ur=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springald]Springald[/url]. If we can't build any of the above, we could try to build an onager, which is even simples and cheaper.

Or just shoot flaming arrows.

Edit: If we bought equipment to dredge the river, we should be able to repurpose it as a primitive harbour chain.

Onagers are inaccurate and have ridiculous recoil (hence the name onager: Donkey in Latin aka kicks like a mule). The recoil would mean we'd need to use far more material.

And the Springalds are advanced torsion powered weapons based off of the Greco-Roman Lithobolos, which we haven't a hope in hell in copying at the moment.

And we dont have the facilities for a trebuchet (which would also be useless for defense as it is also too inaccurate).

I like the Idea of a harbour chain. although that would take a long time to build.

[Gotdamnmiracle]

Skate off couriers to the king and both lords. We will join our forces and try and drive off the attack when we receive reply from both knights. The letter to the king should explain the situation, asking for assistance and your plan of action, to swiftly react to such attacks on your lieges lands requesting reinforcements and routing parties.

[kahn1234]

i also like the idea of getting the messenger to describe/draw the images on the banner, to enable identification.

[tryrar]

Heh, I was just about to post about the springald 10ebbor, since a little more research led me to the fact the ballista had actually fallen out of favor for those weapons. Ninja'd!

Yeah, I was going for ballista since hitting a moving target like a ship is problematic with something like a catapault or onager(which were mainly used to besiege fortresses and settlements, Age of Empires notwithstanding), but if we're able to build a springald, do that instead. However, we do need SOME sort of siege weapon, and that wikipedia article did say ballista WERE still used in the middle ages(just not as much), so if ballista is all we can build, go with ballista. +1 to improvised harbor chain as well

Gotdamnmiracle, hold up a sec. I know I was criticizing you guys earlier for being too timid, but we really need a ballpark headcount of the foe before making any war plans, so lets not just rush off yet. Mal, can you give us a small update on approximately how big a force is parked outside the Duke's castle? (Maybe something along the lines of greater than 1,000 men, greater than 5,000 men, greater than 10,000 men, etc.)

[Maldevious]

The rider didn't have time for a count of the enemy troops, but he says they stretched around the entire settlement in a thick band of tents and banners. The Duke's capital is the largest city you've ever seen outside of the King's, for reference.