The Numidian.Poor selection of units,lack of money,surrounded by much stronger factions,moving armies around is also very difficult.
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The Numidian.Poor selection of units,lack of money,surrounded by much stronger factions,moving armies around is also very difficult.
As it should be. I still haven't tried the mods yet, but I am looking forward to the "moderating" influence it should have on cav. I also hope that it will strengthen the AI (a little) since it should be less susceptible to group routs.Quote:
Originally Posted by oaty
That is not how you use round shields vs. hastati. You hit them with two units of cav at once (preferably one in the flank or rear.) No need to pull back and charge again, the infantry will already have routed. Immediately charge the next closest infantry with the cav and repeat until there is nothing left to face That is what I do on VH/VH and the Roman infantry crumbles very quickly. I take losses during the first rush or two, after that the AI is in group rout mode.Quote:
Originally Posted by Turin
I haven't voted yet because I haven't played all the harder factions to really tell which is the hardest.
In terms of my own experience on VH/VH with the current "top 3": Numidia, Spain and Carthage, my own progess is Spain (slowest) > Numidia (took Rome in 9 yrs) > Carthage (took Rome in 4 yrs). Slowing down means the AI will produce more troops to cause more problems, so I guess it can also mean the hardest.
I would say Spain is probably the hardest. Elephant makes all the difference for Carthage, while jav cavalry is the key for Numidia. ~:)
What about Bull Warriors? Best non-roman melee infantry in the game (excluding beserkers).
hastati are deadly for round shield's they used 5 sekunds to kill off all but 1 (large units). they charged, lost most, retreat all dead and the last routing. (med-med)
That is improper use of cav... Attacking with a single cav unit doesn't make sense...and round shield only get +2 for charge, so pulling back and charging would be about the worst thing one could do. With cav you get to attack two on one, the one in front is just a holding force, while the other hits flank or rear. It is pretty easy to do on Very Hard.Quote:
Originally Posted by aw89
As Numidia, if you attack Carthage very early and take (just occupy) the Carthage city, the game will start to look easy very soon. (please refer to my Numidian experience in the RTW guide forum)
I guess the intuitive way is to ally with Carthage, but... ~D AI has no feeling anyways.
There are alot of ways to make any faction much harder. Most of these involve NOTdoing the things which can be considered "exploiting" some of the glaring AI weaknesses. Doing things which the Computer AI cannot handle.
Also in doing things that give unrealistic results for doing them.
Some of them are very obvious and you know you should feel guilty for doing them and others are not so clear.
Selling map information. Just do not do it. You may as well be using the give money cheat at the start. It is simply a bad game mechanic not a clever tactic.
Pause during combat. Never ever pause, not even in those moments when you yell at the screen "WTF IS THAT WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT!!??!" as your units go the totally wrong way or your archers brutally gun down 3 units of your best cavalry. :) The stupid AI never pauses, why should you? Your abilities outshine the AI by such a huge margin that no one should ever need the crutch of the pause button. Fighting the AI is like Napoleon(you) vs. a mildy retarded kid with very fast reflexes(the AI.) :)
Bribery. This is just silly. Don't bribe anything, ever and suddenly the game is alot harder.
I could see alot of variation in this policy though. When I play a roman faction I let myself bribe other Romans on occasion. The price is always very high and it is the only way to "attack" them, pre civil war that is, post civil war, no bribing. Also it is not so unrealistic to bribe outlaws, slaves, and rebels. These forces would obviously be very vulnerable to being bought off. I never do it but I could see how some would. Maybe I will start to.
Using a small unit, say of cavalry, to tie up vast numbers of AI armies. Yes, you can completely block off a mountain pass with one unit of fast cav. You can also take a smal cav army and run in circles all around the AI controled lands tying up tons of their resources. The fact is the AI is unable to handle these tactics. If the AI did this to you, you could handle the problem. However, the AI CAN"T deal with it, ever, so don't do it.
Forts. An extension of the problem above but not nearly so obvious is forts. The AI cannot handle forts. Yes its lame and yes the AI SHOULD be able to deal with them but it cannot so don't build them especailly not in mountain passes.
There are many other very clear things that should be avoided. It is safe to assume that anyone that goes out and buys this game and then reads these forums in depth is smart enough to know what is taking advantage of game mechanics and what is a "clean" game and win.
In a perfect world and a perfect game you should not have to impose any limits on yourself to have a challenging and exciting game. In the Total war games, and all games of reasonable complexity that rely on A.I., you do.
Of course sometimes brutally crushing the AI using all the weapons you have can be fun too. :)
Wow, looks like a discussion of morality. ~;)
Perhaps, the core of this kind of issue is "whether the fame matches the ability". In the past, I saw some people who are really GOOD, but they don't get recognized because of all the cocky jokers stealing the spotlight. And guess what - these jokers are deemed superstar by the equally, or more retarded. I once had a little online novel (in Chinese, my English is crap), and had a few hundred thousands words inspired by that.
Indeed, people with great ability should be recognized. We should pay a lot of respect to the genius who still achieve victory despite all the harsh self-inflicted handicaps. They deserve a bright spot on the stage. Unfortuantely, currently we don't really have a system to do that - MP is the closest thing we have. We can probably also observe a bit from one's writing and thinking, but these aren't directly linked to military talents.
How one wants to play his/her own copy of a game is only remotely related to the above issue. I think the key is to find a way to release the anger of the capables who aren't really good at marketing their deeds. ~;)
If I were Hannibal, and I had a chance to "cheat" against the Romans, throwing something they are too stupid to handle - sure I would. I never hesitated to bribe. ~D
I find all the cav based civs pretty easy to win with. This would include the Armenians and Parthians. I play them almost exactly the same. I take any local rebel towns then immediately attack my nearest small rival. For the Armenians this means eliminate the Pontics, for the Parthians it is the Armenians then the Pontics. Once the Egyptians are pounding on the Selucids, help the Egyptians finish them off and steal as many Selucid towns from the Eggys as possible. This will start a war with the Eggys but it is better early before they get large.
I do this without bribes or selling maps. I use almost exclusively cav archer armies. It is so easy as no one can catch them to kill them. After that the game is easy.
I must try Numidia next. I am in need of a good challenge.