From Normal to Hard

[goldcas]

I just started playing the HRE/early/hard. GA of course http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
Never played this faction, and never tried hard difficulty.
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

I always played with normal difficulty. Normal was always easy, almowst never lost a fight. The enemies always lost like 80% more soldiers then me in battles and so on. It was almowst boring http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

I gotta say that hard is more fun. I actualy lost a battle, and the other fights i have had have been far more intence. This is so more FUN http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif I have to think more, and be carefull, as the enemies are a lot smarter. And it looks like the AI soldiers are tougher. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif And they use theyr kinduva brains a little at least http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

Well i gotta said im will play on hard from now on, its a lot more realistic. I wont go for expert yet, dont like the +6 on moral thingy for the AI http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif

What difficulty do u guys play then?

[gaijinalways]

Only on expert recently. My first campaign was on noraml, since then they have all been expert. Big differences, and I often lose battles, usually I replay unless it's late in the game adn it's a battle of attrition.

[katank]

yep, the +15% and +30% combat bonuses respectively means that equal everything, your unit would lose with the latter almost a 1 valor worth of increase

the +4 morale in expert is enough to make them hard to rout.

add +8 in siege defense and you have a few really diehard units that fight to the last man even peasants

in a game about morale, it's not that great to have uber enemies in form of morale bonuses but still, it makes for a more enojoyable and interesting game.

[motorhead]

katank's points are all valid, but keep in mind that the HRE are a more difficult faction. They start with:
- a low command emperor (until his influence and command rating rise, his sons will rarely be much better)
- surrounded by potential enemies and a long border to defend (you'll have alot of battles led by low/no command generals)
- since HRE is rather large, any neighboring catholic faction can take a whack at you w/o any papal warnings.

try a hard game with a faction you've recently played for a better comparison.

[goldcas]

Im doing fine.

Im the leading faction at the time. I was rather agressive in teh start. Now im trying to complete the GA goals. Drang nach osten and the HRE province thingy (i am missing naples and rome). I had a sucsesfull crusade into palestine http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif So my Royal bloods are rather high commanding, becouse of the influense on my king.

And i have the highest GA rating.

[katank]

still, if not restricted to defensive game, blitz of the Italians and Danes and then Huns and Poles will reduce borders and leave you in very strong strategic position.

whiel lack of corner position means less security, simultaneous and rapid expansion on all fronts is quite possible.

I think perhaps it's the fastest faction to win with if no civil war occurs.

[garion]

but the civil wars usually do occur, so watch out.

If you attack poland (Germany attacking Poland, I knew I read that somewhere...) Try to leave volhynia to whatever faction is belongs to because it's a fine sort of natural border of your Reich

[Cazbol]

Hard is my preferred difficulty. It's a compromise between my desire for a challenge, and my aversion to AI bonuses and the inherently wrong feel of beefed up enemies.

I played the Irish on Expert. I had no trouble winning the campaign without any reloads but the whole thing just felt all wrong. Unit match-ups no longer made any sense. Use of morale penalties versus the AI became almost irrelevant and very much unlike the MTW I know, in fact it felt more like some generic RTS with some bosses at the end to make it cool.

I'll stick to hard.

[Lord Dazed & Confused]

Always on expert now but I do get my butt kicked from time to time causing lots of swearing and bashing of keyboard but when you win against the odds its great. So when you do try a game on expert,top tip is to keep an eye on the loyalty of your generals especially after the death of your ruler as civil wars are a bit more likley to happen

[Eastside Character]

After the years spent with STW, I never even thought about any other difficulty level than expert in MTW.
So if you hesitate about whether to play on normal or hard, I say play on expert http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

Regards,
EC

[octavian]

depending on the faction i decide to play, and how im feelng, i vary from hard to expert. i do dislike the morale bonus that the AI gets on expert, but its tactical incompitence makes up for it usually.

[Kommodus]

After my first campaign, which I played on Normal, I went to Expert and never played anything else since. I'm not great at the game, and thus this still provides some challenge for me. I do lose some battles (that morale bonus that your enemies get on Expert is tough), although the outcome of my campaigns is rarely really in doubt.

Just yesterday, though, marked the second time I quit and reloaded after a lost battle (first was when I was still learning the game, so I don't worry about it). I was fighting a battle as the English, and I was rushing through it because I didn't have much time. I screwed the whole thing up so badly that I decided to go back and try again. Now I feel like a dirty rotten cheater. Shame on me http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

I wish this game had fewer, more decisive battles. I don't like to autoresolve except for castle assaults, and thus have to fight a lot of skirmishes and battles where the outcome is not really in doubt.

[katank]

I often vacillate between hard and expert although I will often autocalc sieges on expert in that the horrible losses due to the +12 morale that the enemy garrison gets just hurts so much.

expert's combat bonus is also a bit much although I welcome the florin restriction.

[Bayushi Togai]

Quote[/b] (katank @ May 17 2004,12:37)]expert's combat bonus is also a bit much although I welcome the florin restriction.
So what other effects do the difficulty rating create? I didn't realize expert gave the AI a morale bonus. Is there any AI effect from normal to hard? And what is this Florin restriction?

(i got the game second-hand and without documentation, so sorry if these answers are obvious to those with manuals http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif )

[octavian]

no, actually, these answers are not in the manual, check out froggy's begginers guide for most of the info you might want. even people who have played for a long while can learn from froggy's guide

edit: here is the exact info you wanted
On difficulty
There are four difficulties, easy, normal, hard and expert. Your difficulty will decide how much money you start off with, any bonuses given to you or the AI and what tactics the AI will use on the two maps. Starting funds are as follows:
Easy = 10000 florins
Normal= 8000 florins
Hard = 6000 florins
Expert = 4000 florins
On easy the player will get an extra +4 to morale in battle, making it harder for the AI to rout your troops. On expert the AI get this bonus. Normal and hard don't give anyone a bonus. The AI will use different tactics on the battlefield depending on your difficulty. Here is a list provided by GilJaySmith, one of the developers of Total War:
- On expert the AI gets a morale bonus - on easy the player gets one
- On hard and above, AI skirmishers will try to avoid being pincered
- On easy the AI will not consider going into loose formation to avoid being shot at
- On easy the AI will not consider outflanking, double-envelopment, or stop-and-shoot tactics
- On easy the AI won't move troops out of the way of castle walls that may be about to collapse
- On easy the AI will try to hide rather than flee if the battle is going badly
- On easy the AI will not try ambushes
- On easy the AI will not try the 'appear weak' battle plan
- The AI is more likely to deploy in woods on harder difficulties, and less likely to camp near the red zone on easier difficulties
- The AI is more likely to consider scouting the map to find the rest of your army if it can't see it all on higher difficulties
- On easy the AI will not skirmish
- On higher than easy, the AI will specifically consider sh00ting at your artillery
- On easy the AI will generally attack rather than defend, and will not consider withdrawing for a much longer time
- On higher than easy, the AI will check to see if it's marching into enfilade fire when attacking your main body
- On easy the AI may come out of a wall breach to chase you if you attack and are repulsed

In addition to these changes LongJohn (another developer) says the following: The combat strength of the a.i. units is affected by the difficulty level.
On easy its combat effectiveness is reduced by 30-40% (can't remember the exact figure).
On hard it's increased by 10-15%, and on expert its 30%. 30% being around 75% of the increase you'd get from 1 valour upgrade.
taken from froggy's guide