[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Cainehill:
I'm with Arryn here - I've seen castles taken without a fight when there was no one inside. Frankly, it makes sense - if there aren't any soldiers inside, it doesn't take a month to climb over the walls.

Except that it doesn't occur that way in my tests, and hasn't ever occurred that way in any game I've played. Build a castle, leave the province when its finished, and have the other nation invade a turn later. You'll be breaking down the walls, but still have to exceed the defense.

What may have happened in the cases where you saw the castle fall immediately is that your opponent brought along scouts or other stealthy unit with a gate cleaver or horn of bLasting. If you were playing against Vanheim or Tuatha, then you wouldn't have seen all of their troops anyways. You don't receive precise intelligence on the forces outside of your castle, so it's fairly easy to have siegers that only come out from hiding till the walls fall, then leave to go somewhere else.