Quote Originally Posted by Belgolas View Post
see here is the thing CA doesn't want to hire more AI guys to make them smarter so basically the only way to make it harder is for everyone to declair war on you. So unless the make the AI smarter then the easiest way to make the game harder is for everyone to attack you.
Its not a question of people attacking the player, or not. Its the goofy starting conditions, or that its the wrong people attacking the wrong people. In 1700, there were four major power blocks divided into two theaters in Europe:

(1) The Holy Roman Empire and other German states, England, and UP vs. Bourbon France

(2) Russia, Denmark, Saxony, and Poland vs Sweden.

18th century Prussia was never involved in a full scale war against Poland, Poland would no more have attacked Austria in the first decade of the 1700s than it wold have the moon, Prussia was friendly with Austria if for no other reason than the Habsurgs did not squash it when Wilhelm made himself a king, and everything else being equal, Bavaria was going to align itself with the Bourbons, not the Hapsburgs. Yet in game, you ALWAYS get some version of a three-way war in central Europe among Prussia, Poland, and Austria, while Prussia and Austria as often as not stay out of wars with France and Spain. Now, granted, its a game, not a history reenactment, so at some point things are going to diverge dramatically from history. But it seems to me that the first 5-10 years of game play should more or less reflect the political realities of Europe in the 1700s, so that the wars and in game power blocks at least make a little bit of sense.