Besieging in defensive mode?

[Grotius]

Is it a bad idea to maintain a siege in defensive mode, rather than offensive? I ordered Gen. Lyon to besiege Ft. Henry, and on the first turn I set him to Offensive. He did well, winning the battle, but didn't breach the fort. In the aftermath of that battle, his troops all have very low cohesion, so it seems I need to rest a few turns. For now I'm just staying put and continuing the siege in defensive mode. Is that a valid tactic? After a couple of turns of this, I still haven't breached the fort; my cohesion is going up slowly (given the cohesion penalty for besieging units.)

Do I need to shuttle in new, fresh forces to continue the siege in offensive mode? (The trouble is, I don't have any. )

[Hobbes]

I'm not sure what battle you could have won if it was a siege? If all his units were inside the structure it should make no difference if you are in offensive or defensive mode. (Although better defensive to gain more cohesion).
It's only the assault mode that would make you bring him to battle in this situation. I would only use an offensive siege to attack any enemy units coming into the region.

Chris

[Grotius]

Thanks. I entered the region in offensive mode, and I guess I must have encountered troops in the open, because we had a big battle -- and I won. But now my cohesion is very low, so I've just opted to sit and siege in defensive mode. It sounds like that's the right decision, until my cohesion gets higher anyway.

[swang]

As far as I know:

Assault - Attempt to storm the fort regardless of status
Offensive - not sure what the difference between this and defensive is,
Defensive - Sit around, conduct siege, attempt to attrite the defenders
Passive - no siege, but no battle either if the defenders are on defensive

I don't think there is a difference between offensive and defensive other than the cohesion gain. Possibly the difference is what happens if the garrison decides to sortie/relief force enters the area.

[Jabberwock]

Possibly the difference is what happens if the garrison decides to sortie/relief force enters the area.

That is correct.

[Jagger]

As far as I know:

Assault - Attempt to storm the fort regardless of status
Offensive - not sure what the difference between this and defensive is,
Defensive - Sit around, conduct siege, attempt to attrite the defenders
Passive - no siege, but no battle either if the defenders are on defensive

I don't think there is a difference between offensive and defensive other than the cohesion gain. Possibly the difference is what happens if the garrison decides to sortie/relief force enters the area.

In BOA, a sieging force in defensive mode will allow the seiged troops to escape from the city without battle or troops from outside to reinforce the garrision without battle. I don't know if that is true with AACW but probably.

[Grotius]

Thanks for your helpful replies. As it happens, sieging in defensive mode worked nicely. Within two or three months, I'd completely breached the defenses of Ft. Henry, and my men had recovered enough cohesion (through resting in defensive mode) that I was able immediately to order an assault. The Fort fell. Gen. Lyon is a hero!

All of this led to a promotion dilemma that I'll describe in a separate thread, so as to keep the focus in this one on sieging.

[Pocus]

In BOA, a sieging force in defensive mode will allow the seiged troops to escape from the city without battle or troops from outside to reinforce the garrision without battle. I don't know if that is true with AACW but probably.

Should not be that, a troop doing a sortie is forced to switch to offensive by the engine, theorically.