Mountain fortress?

pls help.

http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/the_history_of_rome/2011/12/163-theodosiuss-walls.html

To prevent sieges from draining the supplies, there should be underground passages and a source of water for the mountain hold. The main path to the forts should go up in a spiral to maximize the time wasted for the invading army.

>>52202701
Thanks man. Do you think having the paths be carved into cliff faces so besiegers have to worry about arrow fire and rocks would work with this or would it look silly?

>>52202783
You'd actually want your paths to be narrow as well as winding to restrict enemy movement. Bridges and other chokepoints would be built if terrain allowed it.

>>52202783
It's bit unrealistic since it's very tedious for traders to travel to, but considering that this hold has meme level of infamy for being unassailable, sure. Go nuts.

>>52202847
I think in this case the traders would simply use the supply forts surrounding it.

>>52202847
I'm assuming that trade happens at the supply forts for now.

>>52202949
I think the first thing that needs to happen is to nail down the specific geography.

>>52202866
>>52202949
Well, if the supply forts are easy to access, why did no one blitz the supply fort and starve them out?

Geography of the place probably something where people must go through to get something done, otherwise the location would have no value.

>>52203023
Overlapping defenses. The way the supply forts and main fort are positioned you can't besiege one without leaving yourself vulnerable to counterattacks by the others.

As far as location goes, a strategic pass with more or less open areas on either side would make the most sense to me. The main fort is directly overlooking the pass and able to rain down cannon and arrow fire on people attempting to cross it.

>>52203023
> its multi teired
so assuming he means tiered as in multiple flat surfaces on a mountain there could be water irrigation from the peak and several acres of viable farmland further down were it isn't too chilly. I make this assumption because someone probably used that strategy in the pas so they created these tiny farms to keep reserves up it that event. Also they probably have some pretty big ass reserves.

>>52202128
bury it in the mountain instead. make it really big laterally like an enormous star fort made form a dead shield volcano, not necessarily super steep. have it be impervious because of crevasses, lavatubes, anything else that hinders cavalry and infantry. and have the supply forts look like small artillery position on the top. all other manned defenses are camouflaged into the mountains natural features surobachi style.

>>52202128
The fortress is built to prevent contact between the now cursed inhabitants and outsiders. No really, shooting any potential intruders not wearing the signs of the supply teams is for their own best. It is as much a fortress as a prison. Keeping people out is a necessary means to keeping the curse (or plague or whatever) in.

The supply teams are instructed in the particular protocols necessary to transfer supplies into the hold and [precious raw material] out without direct contact with the inhabitants.

Outsiders are never informed of what is actually going on inside or how it came to this. They are merely told that entrance is forbidden and punished with death. The only outsiders that know the truth are the council of [nation to which this hold belongs] and it is in their best interest that it stays this way.

File: Untitled.png (23KB, 1001x549px) Image search: [Google]

23KB, 1001x549px

>>52202960
>>52203023
Sort of fucked up and went in the reverse of that but here's what I imagine it's like so far
-Main mountain is fuck off huge, at least 8000 feet of prominence and over 16000 feet in height
-Rises steeply at the front but not enough to be more than a hike up, this is before the fort was built on it of course
-Back of the mountain is a cliff
-No valleys in front of it but it's only a few miles away from the edge of the mountain range
-first supply forts are in the foothills where the guy described two passes to me
-These two passes merge when the peaks start getting higher, there's another fort here
-Pass splits in two again after this and both go through the last supply forts
-Beyond the mountain there are many undefended villages and mining camps
Here's my idea about the tiered design
-Tiers start off wide at the lower levels where plants could still grow but towards the top they get narrower and narrower until it reaches a main defensive structure
This may be stupid because considering the peak's base is still 8000 feet up growing anything might be near impossible.

>>52203133
I like that idea but I'll see how the current design works out before switching it.

Look up the Swiss alpine fortresses from world war 2. But a few points from a medieval/renaissance viewpoint:
Fort is inside of a pass, too narrow and winding for artillery to deploy against it.
Staircases up to the fort always have firing positions looking down on them such that the defenders are shooting at the attackers' right hand sides. This is because shields are typically held in the left hand.
Towers or bunkers set up so that they fire on the backs of enemies as they come past.
Crevasses with retracting bridges over them.
Every firing position of 10 men or more is self sufficient in terms of supplies for 3-5 years at least.
Every firing position has its approach covered by at least 3 or 4 other firing positions, but is capable of sealing itself off.
Plenty of flat, straight, narrow path sections ending in a drop off and a sharp turn, with a cannon on the other side of the dropoff set so that its fire goes straight down the length of the section.
Loads of prepared rockfalls all over the place, particularly along the main pass that the fort is actually guarding. Expect attacking armies to get split up by rockfalls along the length of their column.
Shrapnel cannons facing positions where the enemy will be cramped.
All access to firing positions would be via the main fort. Which has one path up. As well as a Durin's bridge where it's extremely long and so narrow that only one person can walk across at a time, and he has to walk carefully. Most supplies and reinforcements are brought in by a sort of elevator with ropes and pulleys, so the bridge is only ever used by attackers. Many of the more important firing positions have a similar arrangement.
Supply forts are buried deeper in the mountain, away from the ass and accessible via goat tracks only. They grow food on tiered, Inca-style farms and are capable of sustaining the entire defensive network indefinitely.

The only thing is that the pass needs to be obscenely important to justify this.

>>52203631
If there are elevators why even have a bridge? Why give the attacker a way to your fortress?

Oth, a frotress protects things by being an army base. How many forces can the elevators deploy and how rapidly? If they don't have enough throughput an enemy can just camp a small force next to them to block the defenders inside and be free move the rest of their forces wherever they want. This applies to narrow passages and bridges as well. The fortress garrison has to be able to break out unless besieged by a significant part of the attacker's force, or the fortress will be just an incredibly expensive landscape decoration.