Greetings all. I'm not new to the Medieval games (played and been a fan from the start in fact) and still playing the original. My question has led me here since it seems a good place to ask it.
Does the difficulty setting affect the battle performance of your units at any level outside Normal? Usually I play on Normal but since the strategic AI is rather simpleminded sometimes I put it on Hard for more of a challenge (I still find the AI builds weak armies and still isn't much cop in close combat, but okay). However I've noticed that in some circumstances the AI can win unit-to-unit battles on Hard and Very Hard that it technically shouldn't be winning.
Recent example being the trouncing my Sicilians recieved from the Byzantines. My army was low valour and the Byzantines always have nice high-star generals, so that definitely makes a valid difference, but I was still quite startled at the way their Kataphraktoi could charge straight into my feudal sergeant-line and actually win the ensuing fights. Even when side charged with some militia sergeants they manage to grind down a lot of my men before that specific unit finally got killed completely or routed.
I consider myself a fairly competent general. I understand all the dynamics following the basic rock-paper-scissor concept, I don't make too many stupid decisions . But if their cavalry can barge straight into my spearmen and win, that leaves me with very few options to exploit. I've noticed pretty much the same is true on Easy. I've checked it and you can be very rude with your troops and win "unwinneable" fights.
So I have a suspicion that the AI gets some kind of bonus on higher difficulty levels (and vice versa, you get the bonus or AI gets a penalty on easy difficulty). Is this true?
Are there any good mods that up the AI's capabilty on the strategic front? So I don't have to feel bad about putting the difficulty back down to Normal.
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