IC would probably win for many reasons.
Its on an island and has tall walls with guard towers and each district is its own mini city.
It has the largest town guard of any city. Home to the Imperial Battlemage himself.
Highes concentration of Mages from the Mages guild.
Great places to rain down fire and it would take forever to capture White Gold Tower.

Remember the sewers? An army could gain access through more than one point.






[edit] Again hit the wrong button...

Double edged sword. Would be a good way to move armies around in secret. And in the threat of an impending invasion I'm sure they would have guards watching the sewers from atop the city walls.

If you are trying to defend from unkown enemies who infiltrate is one thing I'm assuming the op is talking about a straight up invasion. Also if cyrodiil is invaded the ic is smack in the middle and would probably be one of the last places to be assaulted.

I agree. Also, their guards wear Heavy Armor, meaning they're stronger. Also, some of the graqe-growers are ex-military. Like Reman Broder. He's a Marksman.




A few rogue assassins might be able to come through, but not an entire army. Plus, if they knew they were under siege, they would seal off those type of openings.

Ya thats exactly what I mean.

Not counting the IC, it would have to be Kvatch, for basically the reasons everyone else has pointed out.
Bravil WOULD be a close second, the only other city with just one entrance, it has a moat as well, but frankly, the walls there look incredibly weak. So second goes to Skingrad, they have a strong Fighters Guil and Mages Guild, lots of ex-fighters in the city (Reman Broder, Vandorallen Trebatius, Ambroise Canne, etc) and plenty of supplies.
Bruma third, because they have a high vantage pointl and mountains all around, the only thing letting them down would be the often misty weather.

I think Skingrad is quite strong, as is the IC (They both have soldiers that wear heavy armour)--that answers the OP. The 'Most defensible city' question that has arisen would be answered with 'Kvatch' (Even the most defensible city can't withsatnd an endless army of otherwordly warriors) or the IC (Which very nearly went the way of Kvatch).

I gotta go with Bruma, they're protected on one side by mountains, its full of hammer wielding nords and im sure if there was ever a mortal threat to Bruma they could probably rely on an armour of Blades storming down from their near by base to rout any besieging army

I'd personally put Bravil pretty low. Sure it may have one entrance but the place is a dump and is not built that well defensively. Not to mention that the skooma den in town may deter defenders of the city. And the count is a pompous piece of turd who wouldn't know what to do in a crisis mode.

I think Kvatch is the most defensible from the reasons Vyper put above.

Skingrad and the IC are not very defensible positions AT ALL. Skingrad has no geographical advantage really, and since the castle is isolated from the main city the invaders could easily single out and take over one of them, leaving the other severely weakened.

The IC is just a terrible place to be held under siege. Not only is most of the island its located on full of sewers that lead into the center of the city, but it is also very low maintanenced and underwatched. Theres tons of ruins and caves a small force could hide in (you know, if they wanted to bolster the main army when it came) and the bridges are undermanned and one even houses a bandit, which shows how unreliable they would be. Plus the water front is completely unprotected, and many districts are isolated (Like the jail district) Which makes it easy for invaders to divide and conquer. Also most of the IC is relatively flat, making it easy for siege weaponry to operate and with little loss in the overall velocity of their projectiles (which means that they will do more damage to walls.) And last but not least there are like 5 entrances which are very easy to get to, even if there was a defending army...

Well on that topic,

Ah yes, Crumbling Mine! Despite appearing as one of the richest cities, Chorrol's defence isn't great, its walls are obviously weak, it has a location that is practically open and prone to attack, on a small rise where enemies could hide without being seen, and they're city watch isn't huge, with only 21 guards (though Bravil and Leyawiin have less). On the bright side, though, they have a strong Fighters Guild, and a strong Mages guild.

Seems odd to me that Skingrad is currently winning.

It's basically on a plain were enemy troops could easily surround and attack. They could also siege the city, and since there are a lot of resources in the country side an attacking army could be very well supplied.

Also there are some hills close enough to look down in the walls to see defenses, and maybe allow catapults or archers to attack.

Hmmmm...

You make a good point.

Kvatch was overrun by demonic creatures that could spawn gates anywhere they pleased. It wasn't like a conventional army (say, Anvil) of flesh and blood people.

Yeah, Kvatch is probably the most defensible.

CRT is defensible as well, as it only has one entrance where you have to scale a hill to get to, and these guys are the Blades. They can hold off a seige.

I would say Skingrad, for sure. That huge wall... Yeah.

Skingrad has Janus Hassildor, end of story. Only ruler who can touch him is Ocato. Chorrol Bruma and Anvil have female rulers who wouldn't last fighting in a battle. Marius Caro is too wimpy to take power and divorce his racist wife. Regulus Terentius would probably join his son and get high on skooma when the [censored] hits the fan. Count Indarys would probably be decent but he doesn't have the balls to take control of his own city and his own son. I agree with Kvatch being the best defensible but their Count was weak obviously.

If we're talking leaders now, yeah. Janus Hassildor's probably the best, barring Ocato. Second would be the real ruler of Anvil. You're pretty much spot on about all the other Counts. Having said that, it's not like the Counts are gonna join in on the battle, anyway. It's their leadership skills that count, not their fighting skills.

Also, to Kvatchs defense, they had no clue they would be raided by Daedra, otherwise it's actually a pretty good city. It's the only place aside from Imperial City to have an Arena, which means their economy was good. Their Count isn't necessarily weak, anyone would get owned by 30+ Daedra all at once, most of em being flame atronachs.

Ha yeah I know about Kvatch. If they were really facing an invasion by the other provinces or were by themselves, I'm sure all of the Counts/Countesses would suit up like Martin and Ocato and join the battle. Lol Corvus is stealthy though which isn't exactly a valuable asset in a large battle. Marius Caro would be pretty good if he manned up as would Andel Indarys. And regardless of their combat skills, their leadership skills would be the main asset in an invasion like you said. If you wanna rank that I'd put Janus Hassildor up top, followed by Narina Carvain, Millona Umbranox, then Arriana Valga and I'd lump Maricus Caro/Andel Indarys/Regulus Terentius together since they are corrupt and/or can't take care of their kids/spouses. Arriana Valga does a decent job but she svcks at controlling her own daughter.

If Imperial City were there it would tear everyone else a new one. The Palace Guards alone would be able to rip [censored] up. Put in all the guard captains, etc. That's some unbeatable [censored], right there.

Don't forget Arch Mage Traven and all the mages and guards at the Arcane University. And last but not least don't forget the Imperial Battlemage himself, High Chancellor Ocato!

Cheydinhal. The Knights of the Thorn would protect them! :wink_smile:

Haha ya sure.

I voted Bruma, they have Cloud Ruler Temple at arms' reach.

Skingrad is very powerful because of the Count and his ties to the council of Mages Guild (assuming they'd back him up with a band of battlemages).

Oh yeah.lol I forgot about the imperial city. I should have voted for them just because the city is seriously stacked.

Skingrad has an ancient Vampire for a ruler.....

Nuf said, friends.

Anvil.. why coastal sea port good for evacuation of civilians.
The castle is seperated from the city, yes there is a cave system but more than likely it would be underwater if the distance of terrain was not mashed up close for game convinience.
Which is another benefit all sides are protected by the ocean, the harbour and port is split off as well leading to agressors busy taking their time to ranscak it than take on a siege.
Outlaying farms and settlements, good farming land around in which to implement scorched earth.
The harbour and port is easy access to reinforsemants, don't forget that the imperial navy and marine legion corp is probably the strongest element in the Imperial arsenal.
Pirates and brigands still call it home, so a rousing black market and espionage trade would go on.
Anvil has protection from probably the greatest asset anyone could want for saboutage being intimatly linked to the thieves guild, they may not be murderers but I still bet they would kill anyone that threatend the guilds assets.

The city itself is a giant ring so any intruders to get in would be encircled, with the guilds smack bang in the middle.
It has a massive lighthouse for warnings, the ground around the town looks to sandy and loamy to provide decent dig sites, not to mention being coastal water would soon flood any.
Unlike Skingrad which is surrounded by caves, a decent fat fire to bring down any props could reduce those city walls to rubble imo.