Handicapping yourself

[Bigwig]

My play style is pretty much the same for every game, and that's the turtle till you have overwhelming forces then attack style. I can't not use this strategy, as it seems to be hardcoded into my brain. This tactic is also usually overwhelmingly powerful against stupid AI, so I'm searching for methods to keep myself on my toes, which will lead up to a more enjoyable and challenging game (I'm hoping). So I've taken to devising some handicaps that will help achieve this goal. Right now I've just stopped building ships, because even in medmod it's too easy to take control of the oceans and beat the game through superior troop mobility and trade money.

Anyone have any other handicap suggestions?

[BrianBoru]

Only build early era troops throughout the game, now thats a challenge, also bigwig is a great band. heh.

[katank]

1) play a faction through all of early and high.

then switch to 1 province faction in late using -ian switch and then see if you can defeat the mighty beast of an empire you spawned.

2) give yourself only 1k money or even less.

3) use nothing above UM, spears, peasants, archers, and BG.
even more challenge, just peasants http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

4) play like the dumb AI. ie. sit around doing nothing for 20 years. Then, launch a surprise attack on the largest empire in the world using a lone unit of peasants.

Also, send swarms of strategic pieces into target province right before attack and don't attack unless your pieces all survive and don't get assasinated.

regularly swap provinces with another faction and frequently decide you can't win and retreat.

LOL, should make for an interesting game to roleplay the AI.

[Haethurn]

Quote[/b] (katank @ April 15 2004,19:59)]1) play a faction through all of early and high.

then switch to 1 province faction in late using -ian switch and then see if you can defeat the mighty beast of an empire you spawned.

2) give yourself only 1k money or even less.

3) use nothing above UM, spears, peasants, archers, and BG.
even more challenge, just peasants http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

4) play like the dumb AI. ie. sit around doing nothing for 20 years. Then, launch a surprise attack on the largest empire in the world using a lone unit of peasants.

Also, send swarms of strategic pieces into target province right before attack and don't attack unless your pieces all survive and don't get assasinated.

regularly swap provinces with another faction and frequently decide you can't win and retreat.

LOL, should make for an interesting game to roleplay the AI.
Oh, come on now, that would just make it impossible. Maybe he should provoke frequent civil wars or something. That might be fun.

You could try playing the game exactly according to your faction's religion and/or history.

[Gregoshi]

There was a topic in the Main Hall about Iron Man rules. Maybe someone can dig it up or I'll look for it when I have some time.

[PseRamesses]

Quote[/b] (Bigwig @ April 15 2004,17:28)]Anyone have any other handicap suggestions?
I always play GA-style and RP my empire after history. I also set some rules for my own when starting a game like no offensive wars - only attack when attacked or no alliances etc. That will shurley make your games more interesting and even now and then the AI actually surprises you with an odd turn of events.

[Durruti]

What Katank said:

Yes, the a1 was not programmed sufficiently to make good strategic decisions. This fact hurts the long-term playability of MTW.

Several weaknesses in MTW are.

1. The naval conflict develops some aspects of a clickfest; as sheer quantity of warships becomes the defining factor in controlling the sea. Because of a hard-programming cheat, if you win a battle on land, you will lose any subsequent naval battle-regardless of the quality of your fleet.

2. Diplomacy is weak; there is no adequate penalty for attacking an ally (breaking an alliance). This leads to situations where you can be attacked by 3 or 4 nations. This is another hard programmed cheat designed to slow down the human if he is doing well in the game.

3. Therefore, MTW becomes stressful, repititous (toooo many battles, replacement of dead troops, reorganizing fractions of decimated units, etc.) and boring.

One should be rewarded for good gameplay. The magic word here is GAME. Games are not (unfortunately) replacements for life; often they are better than life, BUT GAMES ARE NOT LIFE (i'm reasonably sure of the validity of the last statement).

Let me make it clear that MTW is one of the finest pc games; most pc games are more stressful, repetitious, and boring than MTW.

My point is that RTW should be better than MTW. RTW should have:

1. a better and fairer naval combat simulation

2. a better and seriouser diplomacy

3. a better castle siege & defense (had to throw that in)

4. a date with Liv Tyler for all who purchase RTW

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-yes.gif

[SpencerH]

Quote[/b] (Durruti @ April 16 2004,06:45)]Because of a hard-programming cheat, if you win a battle on land, you will lose any subsequent naval battle-regardless of the quality of your fleet.
I never realized that, but it does explain some very unexpected sea combat results.

[SpencerH]

I'm playing a campaign as the Poles (which is a handicap in itself). My goal is to win without ever attacking a non-rebel province.

[Bhruic]

Quote[/b] (Durruti @ April 15 2004,07:45)]1. The naval conflict develops some aspects of a clickfest; as sheer quantity of warships becomes the defining factor in controlling the sea. Because of a hard-programming cheat, if you win a battle on land, you will lose any subsequent naval battle-regardless of the quality of your fleet.
I've heard this before, but it doesn't match my experience. I had 2 'regular' combats going, and 3 naval battles. First time, I auto-calced both combats and won. Then I won all the naval combats. I then played both combats manually (and won again), and won 2 out of 3 of the naval combats. I often have 'regular' combat and naval combats in the same year, and frequently win naval combat after winning land battles.

This is with VI 2.1, btw.

Bh

[Satyr]

I agree with Bhruic. I have naval battles after winning land battles and almost always win. Of course I usually have bigger fleets. Last night I had a battle with the Danes and then we had massive sea battels. I won some and lost most. Of course he had about a million ships and I only had about 24, but then the Danes do control almost all of Europe and most of Russia and parts of England so they are quite fearsome at the moment.

[Lord Ovaat]

I've seen some pretty odd stuff happen in naval battles, but I haven't been able to see any real pattern, except that the AI puts way too much emphasis on speed. A canoe just ain't gonna sink a carack. However, if that was actually hard-coded into the game, then that's the way the developers wanted it. Therefore, it ain't a cheat.

[Bhruic]

Anyway, to address the original poster's question, one thing I've been toying with is the concept of TOTAL WAR. In other words, the rule is: You must be at war with any empire that borders you. No making/accepting peace. You can have allies, but as soon as they share a border with you, you MUST declare war (ie, you must attack them, even if you then withdraw your unit).

I'd probably introduce some other rules, to prevent cheesing the intentions, like no attacking/withdrawing to make a province neutral, stuff like that, but that's the basic idea. All out war, no stops.

Bh

[katank]

In response to the naval combat question, I certainly find winning land battles lose me the sea battles.

Hence, strategy of sacrifice the darn peasants.

namely, on eve of huge naval battles around the world, send a half dead unit of peasants to attack a third party, preferably rebels.

Then, autocalc and lose that battle miserably.

result: game engine feels sorry for you and hands you stunning naval victories.

That way, one lone curragh was able to clean out the enitre Viking navy in a few years and other similar incidents.

This is far cheaper than losing ships. Peasants cost 50 florins while many ships can cost thousands.

[Red Harvest]

Have your wife or significant other ask you questions while you are fighting your battles. But make sure to have her hold the important ones until contact is made and the melee has begun. Honey, where did you put the fire extinguisher? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-help.gif

It also helps if you have at least one small child sitting on your lap hitting random keys throughout the engagement. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-juggle.gif Think of it as simulating a courier carrying your orders getting lost or confused or shot or stopping to watch a Barney video.

For the ultra-he man uber general types, talk to your mother-in-law on the phone at the same time. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif

[Red Harvest]

Quote[/b] (katank @ April 15 2004,19:59)]Also, send swarms of strategic pieces into target province right before attack and don't attack unless your pieces all survive and don't get assasinated.

regularly swap provinces with another faction and frequently decide you can't win and retreat.

LOL, should make for an interesting game to roleplay the AI.
I had noticed the thing about agents as well. When a horde of agents show up all at once I know that I'm about to be attacked.

The province swapping improved a lot with VI. The buildings no longer degrade until the castle is taken. So while the AI is silly about not actually standing and fighting...it doesn't suffer as badly for it.

Need to add another to your list: send all of your heirs into battle beside your King. And Kings were meant to lead from the front don't you know? Corollary: It is also good to put your highest ranking general in the stack with your 1 star King.