What was the fastest way to end a siege durying before the creation of Cannons?

>>63918633 (OP)
surrender

Bumrush the gate, or pay someone to let you in before a siege can even develop.

>>63918633 (OP)
Betrayal or trickery.

>>63918633 (OP)
using arrows they couldn't fire back, this means a wet fuel and set them on fire, most roof material is flammable

in that setting you just catch the forest on fire and the smoke might kill them off

>>63918639
FPBP
>>63918633 (OP)
Failing that, and assuming defenders have adequate food and water or at least Tang Dynasty morals, sapping probably. No wall, no siege.

>>63918633 (OP)
Biological warfare, the siege of Caffa was going OK for the defenders until the mongols started hurling diseased corpses at them

>>63918633 (OP)
There literally isn't a "fast" way to end a siege without storming the fort with like 100 times as many men as the defenders in a hilariously wasteful onslaught. This was the real advantage of the "mini castles" that dotted some countries, if you stormed them it cost more than it was worth, you lay siege to them you either had to slow down your whole army or splinter your force to leave little hold out sieges at every single one, sieges that could be easily broken by any relief force of they weren't large enough to represent a significant loss to your army, or you could ignore the tiny castle and ensure those twenty guys did more damage by raiding than 200 men would have in a field battle.

Also cannons and explosives were a lot earlier than you think.

>>63918633 (OP)
Fake castle

>>63918633 (OP)
Pour boiling oil on em

>>63918633 (OP)
Negotiate.
Basically promise that every single man, woman, and child in that castle will be slowly tortured to death in the most painful ways you can imagine if they fight. And that they'll get a fuckton of gold and an a Sworn Oath before God that they'll be safe if they surrender.

Tricking the defenders.
Pelopidas once took 2 cities in 1 day by lighting the forest between them on fire and telling the defenders of each city that he had already sacked the other one.

>>63918633 (OP)
Build a big hollow horse, pack it with your troops and leave it outside the gates as a gift.

>>63918633 (OP)
you wait for them to starve

>>63918633 (OP)
Patience.

>>63918633 (OP)
Mining was the most successful method even after the first cannons appeared in Europe.

>>63918633 (OP)
Diseasy does it.

The real trick is not getting got by the same shit you're lobbing at the defenders. Many a sieging army got fucksmashed by disease, before they could pwn the defenders.

if there was one sure-fire way of preventing a siege before it started...... then we wouldn't have had sieges.

>>63918633 (OP)
Pig fat

>>63918633 (OP)
the thing about metas is that they're metas for a reason anon
that said bribing the defenders is your best bet

>>63918633 (OP)
Frog blogpost :
In France we have a castle called Carcassonne (carcass rings) picrel, that was under siege for 5 years. According to legends, the villagers just yeeted a fat pork that they fed with the last food they had over the walls and rang the city bells to show the enemy they had infinite food (they were starving). This worked and the siege was lifted. You can now touch the boobs of the "princess carcass" statue there because she was the ruler of the castle at the time

>>63920954
Mind you that might not be your proudest fap

>>63918633 (OP)
>pic
That's not a castle, it's literally a palatial manor disguised as one, built centuries after such walls became obsolete. (1869-1886->, unfinished due to running out of cash several times over)
Might as well have a photo of Disneyland to represent a "castle".

>>63920954
Pretty sure this castle was one of the historical siege battles in Stronghold 1

>>63920954
Proud or not. It's... What she would have wanted. This ones for you Princess Carcass.

>>63921546
>>63920961

>>63918633 (OP)
Objectively, storm the fort. If you win, siege is over. If you lose, siege is over. Never said you had to win.

>>63920961
>Asymmetrical booba
oof

literally digging tunnels under the walls and then invade the sewers

>>63922452
There was a shift change and a shorter mason took over

>>63920961
Nay, I can and will wank to this.

>>63921027
I think the best categorization is:
-Manor is a large house for the nobility, could even be the house of the king
-A palace is a large house for the topmost nobility but also houses government bureaucratic and administrative functions, international guests, and serves as a convention center of sorts
-A fortress is a purely defensive fortification with little beyond a martial goal, even if occupied by a ruler temporarily but not something you would want to live in permanently as the focus is on effective defense and not a luxurious estate
-A castle is a defensive fortification that also includes elements of a manor with the keep, a defensive stronghold and residency for the highest authority, and may also house bureaucratic and administrative faculties but is primarily focused on military and strategic goals
-A citadel is harder to categorize but I would say it is a militarized bureaucratic stronghold agnostic to the type of governance the state normally has.

I'm sure you can nitpick terms endlessly and even mine arent foolproof but that is generally how I try and categorize things to myself. Is it meant to be a full time residence? Is it meant to be nice and pretty? Are other people meant to inhabit it, etc. and try to figure out its purpose.

But yeah Neuschwanstein is a palace. Schloss Hohenwerfen, and Schloss Hochosterwitz, those are fucking castles. Imagine trying to besiege a fully garrisoned Hochosterwitz who always has a height advantage and is making you go piecemeal up the path.

>>63920961
Damn low-key Chad move by the masons. Women are brutal about this stuff. The decision to make it accurate and ugly vs fake must have kept them up at night.

>>63918633 (OP)
Before cannons they had sappers who would dig up to a wall and collapse it with explosives.

walk up to the gates and convince the guards to let you in

>>63920574
the problem with this method is that it took ten years to work.

>>63924585
>Schloss Hohenwerfen
Definitely worth visiting, nice falconry show as a bonus

>>63920613

Yeah mining. Which meant different things depending on time period.
In case anyone is unaware it referred to tunneling under walls and leaving explosives.
Prior to gunpowder just digging under the walls and undermining them so they crumbled. Certainly where the word undermining comes from.

The vikings first major known raid in England at Lindisfarne, and their later raids through Europe really kicked off the effective castle defense age and maintaining large standing armies at great cost to society. Gunpowder was on the scene within 600 years, so that is really the heyday and span of the type of castles people think of.
The building of castles is also why europe held against the mongols later, so in a sense the vikings prepared europe.
But the standing armies from then on also is what led to all the wars and harsher tyranny against the population compared to the earlier middle ages.