Difference between ver hard and hard?

[lionhard]

Iv just started a campaign with rome and iv used hard/hard because iv read in the campaign with very hard its not realistic how the AI focuses more on you been an enemy and its basically more of a u against the world job.

In battle i also read in FAQ that very hard can make it so uneven even your elites can be slain by light troops.

Alls im asking is how much easier is hard to veryhard and vice versa on campaign and in battles?

ty

[Andy1984]

Since I never play Hard, I can only say this:
- VH is campaign-wise not impossible. I don't have the me-vs-world-feeling. The only down-side of a VH-campaign difficulty is that the AI is extremely unlikely to accept peace.
- VH isn't overspawning me with forces, although one might expect it. The AI is capable to bring on considerable armies against you, but they're not utterly ridiculous as in vanilla. The upkeep costs are higher for the AI as well.
- VH battle difficulty definitly does not butcher your elite units with light units. Or better, I haven't seen it. Having heavy infantry slugging it out with heavy infantry is going to be costly however. Therefore, I think VH is battle-wise pretty difficult if you like non-pike, non-cavalry armies. When having pikes or heavy cavalry, the results aren't that big. (Pick Casse or Sweboz at your own risk.)
- VH gives considerable morale bonusses. If I would consider playing H instead of VH, that would be the reason. Imagine the morale on VH, when you face a general that gives +5 morale to his troops. Even medium units tend to fight to death and butcher anything they get their hands on. Scary

kind regards,

Andy

[Xurr]

One thing I have seen on Very hard but haven't so much on lower levels, is the way the AI invades via ships. On VH it will typically just land a general and a unit or 2, then buy out every single merc in the area and attack with that. On lower levels where it wasn't able to do this because of funding it would actually load up a half stack or so with the general.

It does make things a bit more interesting when the AI can land a general and bam instant army.

[antisocialmunky]

"very"

[Aemilius Paulus]

Let's just say that VH campaign difficulty is excellent if you are looking for a real challenge. Especially since you play alex.exe. And yes, the mercenary thing is sort of annoying, as you will encounter fully-mercenary AI armies. In Hard difficulty, the AI does not buy mercs, even when it has money AFAIK(which it always does in EB). Also, the script, the EB script gives AI more monetary bonuses. IF you play EB on ALEX, then you will have no difficulty with diplomacy. AI diplomacy is the biggest strength of ALEX IMHO. I made peace with the giant AS as Eperios for 10 turns in a row, before I finally got tired, and let them declare war. Other factions actually abide by their peaece and alliance agreements. I highly recommend VH campaign difficulty.

As for VH/H Battle difficulty, just forget it. There is no realism in the fact that Hoplitai Haploi can beat your Thorkitai.

[lionhard]

So very hard/ very hard is best then.

Aemilius Paulus i wasnt sure what u said at the end, what was it u reccomend? v hard or hard for battle? Like i said im not scared to play v hard i just want realism


Is their any way i can change it to very hard/ very hard now that im at 264bc with romani? cas i regret using hard/hard now :( and i dont wanna start again :(

Edit thanks for the feed back guys wub u's :)

[Chris1959]

The recomended and probably most used settings are VH Campaign, M Battles the unit stats are specifically designed for medium difficulty.
Personally I use M/M but I wanted a slow role play style campaign, currently at 10AD 4 years to go!
Next campaign I'll be more agressive so VH/M.

[lionhard]

: Europa Barbarorum is best played on Very Hard / Medium. The AI is aggressive (in particular the slave faction) but don’t get stat bonuses on the battlefield. If you want a real challenge try VH/VH but be aware enemy units on the battlefield are getting massive bonuses (afaik: +7 attack, +7 defence, and a huge morale boost), you could have your fullstack army is hacked to pieces by 5 units levies...


Does any 1 know what the statistics are for the AI in battle when played on hard mode? As i said before i used hard mode in battle because this is the first time iv played the romani in campaign and i wanted a realistic feel.

As said above in FAQ enemies get a huge bonus but tbh its normally made the battles more entertaining playing on v hard because thats how i played out all other campaigns iv completed so far.

I must say i have expanded fast and met no opposition so far playing as the romans in hard mode rebel cities have fell like flys.

If everyone reccomends playing in Very hard/ Very hard mode i supose ill have to restart my roman campaign :( Unless their is a way to change it?

edit:

When playing camnpaign in very hard as romans will their be any negative effects such as good traits being hard to acheive and also will reforms happen as easily as if playing in very hard mode?

thx once again

[Cute Wolf]

I stick my battle difficulty on medium in EB, the morale problem will made any cavalry charge a nearly futile (at least very hard) attempt without slugging much casualities on themself, and hard forces me to rely on thorakitai hoplitai, becuse pantodapoi is really useless in that difficulty... It's a fun, but basically not real if u must defeat a roman stack made of princepes with a stack made of Hypaspistai...

About campaign difficulty, I recomend Very Hard on factions that allready large from the start, have economical (or at least early safety / military) advantage, and logically, everybody hate em, such as Romani, Karthadast, Arche Seleukeia, Ptolemaioi, and Sauro...
I recommend Hard on faction that start out with several difficulties, and historically made a friendlier approach with another factions, such as KH, Epeiros, Saka, Baktria, Casse, Aedui, Avernii, Sweboz.. etc

Playing VH with small faction is really funny, but nigh-impossible... I try playing saka in VH, and ends up with Pahlava, Baktria, and AS made alliance each other and gangbanged me... ; Tried as KH... works fine for the first turns, except suddenly a large kaboom of Ptolemaic, Pontos, and Avernii fleets land up in Hellas, made peace with Makedon, and start besieging every city in Hellas... at least, Seleukids, Ptolemaioi, Romaioi, and Karthadast have a good, stable income, and Sauro's land are very well isolated and easily defended...

That was my advice...

[Chris1959]

[

HTML]When playing camnpaign in very hard as romans will their be any negative effects such as good traits being hard to acheive and also will reforms happen as easily as if playing in very hard mode?[/HTML]

Lionhard, as far as I know campaign difficulty has no direct impact on traits or reforms, except perhaps in fighting more battles and heroic victories etc.

[lionhard]

Ok well im gonna continue my campaign as romani on Hard / Hard any 1 who thinks i shudnt speak now

[Apázlinemjó]

Pontos and Hayasdan campaigns are nigh-impossible on VH/VH and quite hard on VH/M, so if you look for hardcore challenge and fighting for your survival in every turn, then that's your campaign. Although if you manage to survive the early turns you can build a big empire with ease.

[lionhard]

I already done the pontus campaign im doin romani now im at 260 BC, everyone seems to think i shud play campaign on very hard. If this is so is it possible to change after iv started?

[Apázlinemjó]

I already done the pontus campaign im doin romani now im at 260 BC, everyone seems to think i shud play campaign on very hard. If this is so is it possible to change after iv started?

I don't think it's possible to change the difficulty level in an ongoing campaign.

[Slaists]

: Europa Barbarorum is best played on Very Hard / Medium. The AI is aggressive (in particular the slave faction) but don’t get stat bonuses on the battlefield. If you want a real challenge try VH/VH but be aware enemy units on the battlefield are getting massive bonuses (afaik: +7 attack, +7 defence, and a huge morale boost), you could have your fullstack army is hacked to pieces by 5 units levies...


Does any 1 know what the statistics are for the AI in battle when played on hard mode? As i said before i used hard mode in battle because this is the first time iv played the romani in campaign and i wanted a realistic feel.

As said above in FAQ enemies get a huge bonus but tbh its normally made the battles more entertaining playing on v hard because thats how i played out all other campaigns iv completed so far.

I must say i have expanded fast and met no opposition so far playing as the romans in hard mode rebel cities have fell like flys.

If everyone reccomends playing in Very hard/ Very hard mode i supose ill have to restart my roman campaign :( Unless their is a way to change it?

edit:

When playing camnpaign in very hard as romans will their be any negative effects such as good traits being hard to acheive and also will reforms happen as easily as if playing in very hard mode?

thx once again

Back in the day when vanilla RTW was played it was common understanding that

VH battle difficulty gives +7 to AI ATTACK (not defense) whereas
H gives +3 to AI ATTACK (not defense).
On top of that AI has undisclosed morale bonuses on H and VH.

Those bonuses are not impossible to beat; they just make flanking way more important on harder than medium difficulty battles. Nonetheless, these attack bonuses do screw up unit type balance and make it possible, for example, for the AI cavalry to beat spearmen in a head-on charge.

Note that the effects of H/VH battle are more unbalancing in the vanilla RTW than they are in EB 1.2 since the overall attack/defense values are considerably lower in the vanilla game. +7 attack is a whooping 140% boost to a unit that has base attack 5 (common in RTW) whereas it is only 39% boost to a unit that has base attack 18 (common in EB 1.2); add to that the fact that defense values are way higher in EB than in the vanilla.

[lionhard]

Very good point slaists.

[Andy1984]

If you want a real challenge playing as the romanoi, perhaps more important than the difference between H and VH, is giving your opponents the time to build up. If you allow the Aedui to develop their cities, they might put up a nice fight. I know because I lost quite a few full-stack armies there...

[lionhard]

Yeh iv waited a while now and the sweboz are building south they are almost in italy lol.

I went to take sicily but my advisor warned me its war with carthage so i backed off because i wanna let carthage build up so its a good challenge also trade with them is good.

So far i have counquered italy and just teched up im about to conquer boii and that other rebel settlement north of italy

[a completely inoffensive name]

Hard=Punching keyboard
Very Hard=Taking a blowtorch to your computer.