There is one very important thing that players of past Total War games need to take note k¡±^q/©œ+þËÃè©š ?&*HÄ Ã¥ Ôãƒo —qÃdHLNa÷³ +?‹“k)ÓoÒúU [òK—Þ|¸ èÃ" ºÔžg.ü•i AI has had a bucket of cold water tipped over it “)- ‰˜æº‰° A7rµ €š ‹“k)ÓoÒúU [òK—Þ|¸ èÃ" ºÔžg.Ãno longer making the occasional questionable move as it stirs in its slumber.
Shogun II's AI is very good. Personally I ?—ÙØó »,,‚ ðâ€f& è¸ hª¨â‚fSp/.–<)ÃR´ >¢¦†use diplomacy, and it will try to take the capital to proclaim itself shogun. If you get in its way it has no qualms with crushing you. In fact ‹“k)ÓoÒúU [òK—Þ|¸ èÃ" ºÔžg.ü•i vM½VÔòï{« â€ÃšÃ’WÃ}
Excellent.
This means that players should not expect to select very hard and then cruise through a reasonably mild campaign[ÃÑZïV1Hùf³ Wô6â€*§ SF¢PÃ—Ì ; select very hard it will be very hard, especially if you do not know the game very well. For those who enjoy learning with a challenge, this is perfect. For everyone else, adjust your —„a¸fîâ€p‚ ‹“k)
Now, some notes on the specific difficulties.
Easy.
Easy is the difficulty that the tutorial campaign uses, or so I assume as it awards the "Easy Campaign Completion" “)- ‰˜æº‰° A7rµJRB¥ª ª¨â‚fSp/.–<)ÃR_ÞHwŸÅt¸IZÿ*%¦nmA¾¿ )DÊ laid back, relaxing game where you can admire the scenery and indulge in evil laugher as you mow down your foes, easy is a/©œ+þËÃè .
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The AI has limitations at this level. Its production and building priorities are handicapped. p‚ ‹“k On the battlefield the AI has limitations to its accuracy, morale and melee attack value, and the player has bonuses. p‚ ‹“k
Normal
Normal is the level that most people will want to use for their first game. The AI is still capable of giving you a beating, especially in the perilous early turns and in the realm divide PÊqX…yÃ+ ?—ÙØó »,,‚ ðâ€f& è 0gÃèÈ+J may take a few false starts before a player feels that they have survived the opening satisfactorily. žg.ü•ivM½VÔòï{« â€ÃšÃ’WÃ
On normal the campaign AI has a small penalty to its production and building priorities. It seems quite balanced in its attitude towards the player; it will punish foolish moves more often, and appears to “)- ‰˜æº‰° A7rµJRB¥ª towards or away from humans.
On the battlefield the AI still receives slight penalties to accuracy, morale and attack, and the player receives a slight boost to those areas.
Hard.
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On this level the AI is no longer handicapped, and instead it receives a small boost to recruitment. I am not sure if this means it can occasionally recruit samurai units a bit faster, or if it has an extra recruitment slot or two. k¡±^q/©Šrival clans to be more aggressive towards you. Diplomacy and peaceful options will still be possible - and indeed form part of a winning strategy ’PÊqX…yÃ+ ?—ÙØó »,,‚ ðâ€f& èÂ
On the battlefield the tables have now turned: the AI begins to get bonuses to its accuracy, morale and melee attack values. The player receives nothing.
Very hard
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vM½VÔòï{« â€ÃšÃ’WÃ}…[8ô >¢¦†’PÊqX…yÃ+ The recruitment boost is a bit more significant at this level,
The battlefield AI bonuses of hard mode still apply, and now the AI gets a larger boost. The player still receives neither boost nor penalty.
Legendary
Legendary is the mode where you should pretty much expect to die unless you play an absolutely exceptional game, and quite possibly even then. This is a new difficulty mode, combining very hard mode with a series of extras to create the ultimate Total War challenge. Some of these extras were available as optional modes in prior titles, such as restricting ª¨â‚fSp/.–<)ÃR_ÞHwŸÅt¸IZÿ*%¦nmA¾¿ )DÊ ˆ(ó:Ã*—„a¸fîâ€p‚ ‹“k)ÓoÒúU [òK—Þ|¸ èÃ" ºÔžg.ü•ivM½VÔòï{« â€ÃšÃ’WÃ}…[8ô >¢¦†’PÊqX…yÃ+ ?—ÙØó »,,‚
…[8ô >¢¦†a single save. Each time you save your game your old save will be overwritten. If things go pear shaped, tough! No winding the clock back. The game is saved before and after every battle; if you lost your entire army, live with it! You may find yourself developing a degree of sympathy to the AI, which can never reload.
The remainder of the changes affect the battle map, and are as follows:
- No radar map for land and sea battles
- While the game is paused no orders can be given
- The camera cannot be moved while the game is paused
- You cannot move your camera more than 200 meters from the centre of any of your units. The camera will be "rubber banded" to the nearest unit
- Enemy units more than 600 meters from your units are treated as hidden
- Enemy Tooltips have minimal information
- Enemy Unit IDs are removed
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Even if you are not keen on tough games it is worth trying this mode at least once, just to see how different the experience is.
A couple of interesting developer comments relating to difficulty.
There are two particular developer comments which struck me as important to understanding the way the higher difficulties k¡±^q/©œ+þËÃè©š ?&*HÃ,,
The first comes from Jack Lusted:
Quote:
The bonuses to the AI on hard and very hard are half the bonuses in previous Total War games.
So the AI is giving far better results on the battlefield than the older games, and it is doing that with half as much help. Those bonuses have been in place since the very first game in the series, the original Shogun: Total War.
The second comes from Watcher on the official forums.
Quote:
There has recently been a lot of discussion about the possibility that the Campaign AI is spawning armies to increase the difficulty to the player.
To be clear, the Campaign AI does not spawn additional forces except under the following four circumstances:
· The Ashikaga faction. To represent the idea that the Shogun could place a levy upon his subjects and to improve game play the Ashikaga gets some free units.
· Rebellions, these troops are the result of a spontaneous (or incited) uprising.
· Wako pirates, they are pirates and not subject to normal rules!
· European Traders, the Black Ship.
Any other forces you encounter are the result of the AI's recruitment through normal channels.
On harder difficulty levels the AI gets some (minor) recruitment bonuses that may allow it to field armies more quickly than the player.
On easier difficulty levels the AI is penalised and you should be able to out produce it.
Besides normal troop recruitment the AI can also acquire forces through the normal defection and bribery mechanics.
Also note that the AI has a tendency to hide forces and that Ninjas and other agents are not 100% effective in revealing ambushing armies. Don't assume that because an agent can see some location that an army isn't there waiting to ambush.
I hope this clarifies things!
That one is important for two reasons. Some players were convinced that most of the challenge came from highly artificial means, such as magically creating armies in positions where they could threaten the player. The above means that this is not the case. It also means that the AI is using advanced campaign map features such as concealment and reinforcement to very good effect!
As an aside, it's worth noting that comment about agents not always seeing hidden armies. Previously scouting has been pretty much infallible. That's no longer the case and you should plan accordingly.
While we are on the subject of AI, let me answer one question that a lot of older players have been asking. Yes, the AI can and does use naval invasions. I have seen it with my own eyes, and on normal difficulty too so it is not limited to higher levels. I saw a nearby clan sail an 18 unit stack past vM½VÔòï{« â€ÃšÃ’WÃ}…[8ô >¢¦†’PÊqX…yÃ+ ?—ÙØó »,,‚ ðâ€f& è k¡±^q/©œ+þËÃè©š ?&*HÄ Ã¥ Ôãƒo —qÃdHLNa÷³ +?‹“k)ÓoÒúU [òK—Þ|¸ èÃ" ºÔžg.ü•i
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