campaign TOO easy?

[cambovenzi]

alright, i seem to be dominating the campaign, no matter what difficulty i choose.
i play vanilla MTW.
do you think the game is too easy?

ive had the game for years now, so just being so familiar with it might be the problem.
do you have any suggestions?
i thought about using a mod, but that seems rather complicated.

[Koga No Goshi]

alright, i seem to be dominating the campaign, no matter what difficulty i choose.
i play vanilla MTW.
do you think the game is too easy?

ive had the game for years now, so just being so familiar with it might be the problem.
do you have any suggestions?
i thought about using a mod, but that seems rather complicated.

It's not really new to MTW. Once you have the basics of battlefield combat and managing morale and countering units down, the game IS pretty easy. RTW is even easier if you ask me. You would be surprised though, when Total War was a new series, how many people really struggled and couldn't get over the learning curve of why their whole army was routing. Morale was a fairly new thing in strategy games with Total War, it was certainly one of the very first mainstream strategy series to employ it realistically.

[Martok]

Short answer: No, I don't think MTW is too easy.

Slightly longer answer: While I don't find it overly easy, neither do I find it severely difficult as a general rule (although there's always the occasional exception, where you have a campaign that really has you sweating). You play *any* game long enough, and you're eventually going to develop a feel for what works and what doesn't, what actions your opponents are likely to take (and how you can best deal with them), etc.

Of course with MTW specifically, it also depends on which faction you are and which campaign you're playing -- especially if you have Viking Invasion and/or any mods installed. In the main campaign, factions like Aragon, the Turks, Polish, and the HRE can usually be relied on to provide a decent challenge for most players. In the Viking campaign, a lot of people find the Scots, Welsh, Picts, and/or even Northumbrians to be rather challenging. Anyone who's played the XL Mod can tell you that the Armenians, Irish, Portuguese, and Volga-Bulgarians are all pretty brutal.

In the end, I personally find MTW's difficulty curve to be just about right -- neither too easy nor too hard.

i thought about using a mod, but that seems rather complicated.

Not at all, cambovenzi. I'm about as "computer-stupid" as they come, and I've never had any problems downloading and installing mods for MTW/VI.

There are several very fine mods available for the game, and you owe it to yourself to try out at least a couple of them. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[cambovenzi]

well, most of the mods are for VI, which i dont have

im basically just messin around with different factions, and havin some fun with battles.
while im not the greatest commander, im alright, and always seem to keep expanding my "empire" on the campaign map. no matter the difficulty.

i would just like a mode i can occasionally play where i wont usually dominate at will.
or atleast change it up a little.

but like i said, almost all mods ive seen are for VI.

[Lokiss]

The hardest part of MTW for me is finishing, lol. I can do everything else wonderfully, but once my attention is diverted - campaign is over.

[Brandy Blue]

You could probably pick up Viking Invasion pretty cheap. At the moment I am writing, there is a copy for $5 plus $4 shipping in the USA (used) at Amazon.com. I see it on eBay for $1.83, but it doesn't say what the shipping cost is (seller is in the UK)


If you don't want to go the Viking Invasion way, you could try getting the gnome editor and doing a little modding yourself. I suppose you could weaken your favorite faction and find it harder to get yourself established.

That said, I think there is a problem with the game. You can make the start of the game tougher if you like, but once your empire gets really established, it gets pretty easy.

Still, its worth getting VI, in my opinion. It really livened up the game for me a lot, and I have only tried one downloaded mod so far.

[western]

Or try MTW-Redux. There's a version of that that doesn't need VI, and it seriously upgrades the difficulty for most factions. Check out the thread - it's one of the most lively at the moment.

[Axalon]

Hello everyone, ( Hi Wes, doing the some stuff "for the greater good of redux” ehh? I just love how that sounds. )

Well cambovenzi, you not having a copy of VI kind of narrows things down for you. At the top of my head you basically have two alternatives left without VI. The WesMod (did I get that right?) and my own, MTW-redux.

At any rate, the redux thread is open man, and we have sorted out every problem we had so far. If you got any problems we solve ‘em, as simple as that (or die trying). There are more people than just me there that are willing to help you out if need be.

What I am trying to say is that, you are just a mousclick away from the redux version of MTW-bliss. Click on my signature and your'e there…



EDIT: about the “WesMod”, what I meant was actually the; Medieval mod IV v1.85 for Total War v1.1

- Cheers
--------
Ooh, and in answer of your thread question: "essentially yes". (One of the many reasons why I did redux)

[Lokiss]

You can also get MedMod, google it, there's an old copy (clearly stated on the guys site) for MTW vanilla. I don't really recommend it, I thought it felt kind of arcade-y, but eh.

[Martok]

Medieval mod IV v1.85 for Total War v1.1

[cambovenzi]

Hello everyone, ( Hi Wes, doing the some stuff "for the greater good of redux” ehh? I just love how that sounds. )

Well cambovenzi, you not having a copy of VI kind of narrows things down for you. At the top of my head you basically have two alternatives left without VI. The WesMod (did I get that right?) and my own, MTW-redux.

At any rate, the redux thread is open man, and we have sorted out every problem we had so far. If you got any problems we solve ‘em, as simple as that (or die trying). There are more people than just me there that are willing to help you out if need be.

What I am trying to say is that, you are just a mousclick away from the redux version of MTW-bliss. Click on my signature and your'e there…


- Cheers
--------
Ooh, and in answer of your thread question: "essentially yes". (One of the many reasons why I did redux)

Medieval mod IV v1.85 for Total War v1.1

alright thanks.
i will definitely check those out.

[cambovenzi]

i had a prob w/ redux, posted it in that thread.

med mod...
dloaded fine.
i start playing.
a few turns in:
~140% loyalty and a good amount of guys including my king in navarre, and they revolt.
not just any revolt.
but a 2 1/2 stacker, with loads of knights templar, feudal foot knights, and mounted sergeants...
and some longbowmen for good measure.

if i may ask, WTH is that?
lol

i guess i brought it upon myself saying the game was too easy.

[Turbosatan]

i had a prob w/ redux, posted it in that thread.

med mod...
dloaded fine.
i start playing.
a few turns in:
~140% loyalty and a good amount of guys including my king in navarre, and they revolt.
not just any revolt.
but a 2 1/2 stacker, with loads of knights templar, feudal foot knights, and mounted sergeants...
and some longbowmen for good measure.

if i may ask, WTH is that?
lol

i guess i brought it upon myself saying the game was too easy.

Arf. Medmod on hard/expert really punishes, doesn't it? I remember a Byz campaign where I was double-teamed by Sicily & Venice (or whatever their equivalents are, cannae remember now) & all those unstoppable Italian heavy infantry types marching inexorably up a great big hill! It was terrifying, but exhilarating...

Responding to your original post: What I sometimes do when I'm bored -- normally just before my empire gets to "raping the neighbours with ease" stage, like when I ( as the Byzantines) have defeated the threat in the East & have most of the Balkans under control -- is drop into debug mode, switch off the AI, then go around beefing up everyone else's production queues/economy/army to a level where they'll provide a challenge. Then switching back to either my original faction or one that looks kinda interesting. Sometimes I leave the AI on for a larf, & return to my original faction to find it a quarter the size, with no money left, fleets scattered to the four winds & all my stacks inexplicably shuffled around to inappropriate/nonsensical places... Getting the thing back together always provides me with some interest again, & can revive a boring campaign.


Then again, I may just have too much time on my hands...

[Kenshin the vega bound]

I think the XL mod is really hard. Mainly because the AI doesnt spam peasants all the time. I think Shogun total war is the best for a challange. I love that game. A shame the game doesnt run on my new crappy vista computer.

[drone]

There are a couple of simple things you can do to improve the difficulty of the game. One of the best things to do is to mod out the ability to recruit peasants (and muslim peasants). Make the AI spend it's money on good units instead of hordes of ineffective troops that flee at the first swing and chain rout the rest of it's army. It also makes your garrison costs go up, realistically peasants should be in the fields, not manning the walls. Along the same lines, you can also increase the unrest factors across all provinces, an extra 20-40% makes it harder to keep rebellions down. You can also increase the export percentage for trade, this means the AI factions will earn more money when you trade with them, as they are pretty helpless when it comes to setting up trade routes themselves. If you are going to mod out peasants, you may as well mod out ballistas while you are at it. The AI's tendency to fill 3-5 unit slots with these worthless devices is legendary.

For fun, you can use the .conan. cheatcode to play as the rebels. Always good for a laugh, and it can be pretty tough.

[caravel]

As well as the above you can also:

1) Decrease the incomes of trade goods and slightly boost farm income.

2) Armour and weapon upgrades can also be removed. These give the player the advantage and imbalance the game as the AI is poor at building them in the right provinces.

3) Remove the valour bonus regions. The AI tends to push all of it's florins into trying to tech up to the valour bonus unit, even if it's not available for until the next era or so! It will cripple itself financially trying to do this, ignoring farming, mining and trading upgrades in the province.

4) Remove Grand Inquisitors and restrict Inquisitors to the Papacy and/or rebels. These agents are simply too powerful and if you really wanted to abuse them you could wipe out all of your rivals with ease. They also do a lot of damage as the AI uses them indiscriminately - even on it's own high ranking generals.

5) Remove Border forts and let the espionage begin. With border forts gone, AI spies will start to increase in numbers. They will survive longer and gain more experience, this will make them a bigger danger.

[drone]

I said "simple things".

[caravel]

I said "simple things".

You did, didn't you...?

[Martok]

Hmm. All this makes me want to reinstall the Pocket Mod again.... (I hadn't done so yet since reformatting my hard drive.)


EDIT: ....Or not. Apparently the Org's download section still isn't working.

[caravel]

Hmm. All this makes me want to reinstall the Pocket Mod again.... (I hadn't done so yet since reformatting my hard drive.)

That's great, let me know when you're finished debugging...

[Martok]

Heh.

Well maybe I *would* if I could actually get my hands on the bloody thing. I put in a heads-up to Tosa earlier this afternoon about the Org's download section not working, but I have a feeling he's not been on yet today.

[caravel]

Unfortunately my hosting is down. I can't see it going back up either. Next month I intend to move ISP so I may get some more hosting sorted out by then.

[Roark]

Yes, vanilla MTW is too easy. You've got access to all of your faction's best troops regardless of the time period, and the computer player has to struggle with poor starting buildings and, therefore, poor army composition.

Get VI and then get modded with XL, then come back and report when you've completed the Armenian campaign...

[scowie]

What I've done to make my current game a bit more challenging is to let the AI do all the training and building for me so that I have to fight with whatever the AI gives me and I cant just spam out the best troops. It makes for much more interesting campain, imo.

[cambovenzi]

What I've done to make my current game a bit more challenging is to let the AI do all the training and building for me so that I have to fight with whatever the AI gives me and I cant just spam out the best troops. It makes for much more interesting campain, imo.

interesting idea.
maybe ill try it out.

im currently trying to just stay in certain provinces.
or turtle up. and have some fun
i might try to stay geographically correct, and just hold the position.
walking through everyone just doesnt really do it for me. and managing 50+ provinces gets very tedious.

i was playing the redux mod for awhile too.
so im bouncing back and forth between that and vanilla MTW to keep it interesting and different.

[caravel]

You might also want to try the "-green_generals" switch when running the game. This means that when your generals die of old age they are replaced by a statistically inferior general instead of one with identical stats.

[scowie]

I use -green_generals too. Generals stats remain mostly the same after a death. They just lose a star and certain types of vice/virtue are lost, e.g. valour boosting ones. I think acumen related virtues are still kept (as if the general had taught his protege everything he knows!) so your high acumen governors will always keep their high acumen, unless they are killed in battle or by an assassin of course!

It basically stops you (and the AI) getting 9-star generals too easily. And also, if one of your units gets a nice valour boosting virtue, you need to make the most of that unit before the general pops his clogs and it goes back to being a regular unit!

[bamff]

So using the "-green_generals" switch affects the AI factions as well, not just the player's faction?

[Knight of the Rose]

So using the "-green_generals" switch affects the AI factions as well, not just the player's faction?

Yes, exactly, which is why it actually hurts the AI more, as it has a hard enough time keeping its generals as it is (not byz, though)

/KotR

[caravel]

Yes, exactly, which is why it actually hurts the AI more, as it has a hard enough time keeping its generals as it is (not byz, though)

/KotR

This is precisely why I don't use "-green_generals" myself.