Has the campaign/battle AI finally become a challenge?

Hello Orgahs. I've taken a premature break on PC gaming (ever since my monitor died.. getting a new one soon) which explains my long absence on this board.
The update to this board looks beautiful by the way.

I heard there was another update either just prior to the Peninsular Campaign or right after it was announced and it's numerous fixes including campaign/battle AI?

Is the game actually a challenge and fun to play now? I'm very interested in playing again.

I don't think there's anything any developer could possibly do to make the battle AI a challenge within the Total War framework, but I'll say that it's more fun than ever.

I've simply heard this game actually became challenging (because of the improved AI) since the recent update to even seasoned veterans like edyzmedieval and I wanted to confirm that.

Yeah I have found the N:TW BAI is quite a bit better. It used to be that you would have to make a COLOSSAL tactical blunder for the AI to take advantage of.

Now, well I found myself getting routed by the AI just a few days ago. Now I have lost just a handful of times to the AI in a straight up fight in the, God, thousands of battles I've played across all the TW games. So I gotta say that the AI is much more improved from the last few patches and lightyears better than the AI at release.

They improved the morale significantly and now even conscripts don't run away as fast. You have to think now, and VH/VH is a real challenge. H/H is still pretty hard as well, that's the recommended setting in my case.

Thanks for the info guys. You definitely helped me make a big decision for me in not just in purchasing NTW but also purchasing a monitor as soon as possible so I can play again.

I remember in ETW how easy the game was in VH/VH and even the demo in NTW in VH. I really just wanted an improvement in battle AI.. I would never lose one.

Finally one last question on battle Hard or Very Hard does it add morale boosts or whatever advantages to the AI?

I'd like to play with a battle difficulty setting where the AI performs to it's maximum without receiving any bonuses.

Oh and finally how is the naval battle and siege AI? I remember the siege AI to be quite horrendous and really just unplayable. How is it now?

VH/VH adds bonuses. N/N is a certain challenge but an experienced veteran can defeat it without too many blunders.
H/H is the one for your choice. It is somewhat balanced, and it reflects somewhat the tenacity of the Germans, Russians, Austrians...fighting against the French. ~D

They do not break that easily, and you have to use tactics. Now they attempt flanking manoeuvres quite often but huge tactical mistakes are not taken advantage of. Sometimes it's just a head-on-head clash which sometimes can prove to be tough if you are not careful.

ALWAYS use line infantry and 3-4 units in your army to back them up. Skirmishers and light infantry are incredible here. Artillery is much more useful.

Siege AI is not too different from ETW, but it's linear and flows well.
Naval is still a bit dodgy, however, and not that common. Land battles make up 95% of the fights.

VH/VH is just not fun especially with the lack of money/retrain in NTW as opposed to ETW(trade/1 turn retrain). Sometimes its just not possible to actually keep enough men in the field at VH/VH so I play at H/H.

Sounds good guys. I'm excited to get my monitor and NTW and get back into PC gaming again!

Thanks again!