Legendary difficulty

[edyzmedieval]

Has anyone finished off a Legendary campaign? I fired off one yesterday and I have to say I'm pretty much thinking every move that I make because it can easily be my last. The bonuses for the AI are immense and for every battle is really tough, you have to think every move in advance because the units rout so easily.

Started off as Hojo because of the starting position and richness of the provinces, going to convert soon to Christianity so I can have unlimited access to matchlocks.

Anyone?

[Vladimir]

Any update? I may try that with Date.

[smooth_operator]

I don't have the balls to try that just yet

[Arjos]

I've tried it with the Chosokabe, but didn't have the funds to afford a navy, and while I was fighting in Kyushu the Mori landed in Shikoku...

[Dead Guy]

I beat it as Oda. It's a different proposition for sure. I put a lot more archers as garrisons and made good use of diplomacy to divide my rivals and never fight alone on too many fronts.

Borderline cheating for legendary, if you can't stand being unable to save, ever.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

You can alt-tab and copy the legendary autosave to another directory if you really want to try something out. Paste it back and overwrite to "load". Sometimes, you can find yourself in deep trouble because an army doesn't do what you expect it to when you tell it to move, etc. Anyway, don't use it to cheat :p

[spicykorean]

I beat it as Oda. It's a different proposition for sure. I put a lot more archers as garrisons and made good use of diplomacy to divide my rivals and never fight alone on too many fronts.

Borderline cheating for legendary, if you can't stand being unable to save, ever.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

You can alt-tab and copy the legendary autosave to another directory if you really want to try something out. Paste it back and overwrite to "load". Sometimes, you can find yourself in deep trouble because an army doesn't do what you expect it to when you tell it to move, etc. Anyway, don't use it to cheat :p

Actually, I recommend backing up your legendary.save even if you're not going to use it. If your campaign becomes corrupted due to a patch or dlc, you might regret it later.

[edyzmedieval]

Any update?

Yeah, I failed twice already.

Third try, going better but those Ogigayatsu don't leave you much room to breathe. I've managed to set them on the back foot but I'm guessing Takeda is getting impatient and Imagawa as well.

[TinCow]

Has anyone finished off a Legendary campaign? I fired off one yesterday and I have to say I'm pretty much thinking every move that I make because it can easily be my last. The bonuses for the AI are immense and for every battle is really tough, you have to think every move in advance because the units rout so easily.

Started off as Hojo because of the starting position and richness of the provinces, going to convert soon to Christianity so I can have unlimited access to matchlocks.

Anyone?

I've beaten Legendary with Shimazu (converted to Christianity) and Date. I've aborted two Oda attempts following massive Ikko attacks that I could not repel. Currently working on Chosokabe as a breather before I make another run at Oda.

[frogbeastegg]

I've beaten Legendary with Shimazu (converted to Christianity) and Date. I've aborted two Oda attempts following massive Ikko attacks that I could not repel. Currently working on Chosokabe as a breather before I make another run at Oda.

Does this mean we need to call you IronCow?

Impressive.

[TinCow]

Does this mean we need to call you IronCow?

Impressive.

I 'quit' TW after ETW due to the total inability of the AI to provide me with a challenging campaign. I only came back with TWS2 because everyone said the AI was vastly improved. I don't enjoy games where I know I'm going to win when I start playing. In TWS2, Legendary difficulty gives me a true chance of losing. The Oda Legendary campaigns have been, by far, the hardest campaigns I have ever played in any TW game. That's exactly what I want, and for that reason I won't play anything other than Legendary.

[phonicsmonkey]

I 'quit' TW after ETW due to the total inability of the AI to provide me with a challenging campaign. I only came back with TWS2 because everyone said the AI was vastly improved. I don't enjoy games where I know I'm going to win when I start playing. In TWS2, Legendary difficulty gives me a true chance of losing. The Oda Legendary campaigns have been, by far, the hardest campaigns I have ever played in any TW game. That's exactly what I want, and for that reason I won't play anything other than Legendary.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Legendary the same as VH but just without the ability to save mid-turn? I would like to give Legendary a go but the way I play (getting up, sitting down again, rushing off to do something else), the saving thing is prohibitive for me. I had consoled myself that I wasn't really missing out on anything...

[Dead Guy]

You also cannot give orders while battles are paused, or move the camera at all IIRC. Don't think that's in VH, or am I remembering wrong?

[frogbeastegg]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Legendary the same as VH but just without the ability to save mid-turn? I would like to give Legendary a go but the way I play (getting up, sitting down again, rushing off to do something else), the saving thing is prohibitive for me. I had consoled myself that I wasn't really missing out on anything...

To quote my as-yet-unpublished guide on the matter of legendary difficulty:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Legendary

Legendary is the mode where you should pretty much expect to die unless you play an absolutely exceptional game, and quite possibly even then. This is a new difficulty mode, combining very hard mode with a series of extras to create the ultimate Total War challenge. Some of these extras were available as optional modes in prior titles, such as restricting the camera so it could not move past a set distance from your troops. Others are entirely new. The AI does not gain any new bonuses or capabilities compared to very hard; this mode focuses on curbing the god-like abilities normally available to the player. Once you commit to legendary difficulty you cannot alter the difficulty for that campaign, neither on the campaign map nor on the battle map.

On legendary mode you are only permitted a single save. Each time you save your game your old save will be overwritten. If things go pear shaped, tough! No winding the clock back. The game is saved before and after every battle; if you lost your entire army, live with it! You may find yourself developing a degree of sympathy to the AI, which can never reload.

The remainder of the changes affect the battle map, and are as follows:

• No radar map for land and sea battles
• While the game is paused no orders can be given
• The camera cannot be moved while the game is paused
• You cannot move your camera more than 200 meters from the centre of any of your units. The camera will be "rubber banded" to the nearest unit
• Enemy units more than 600 meters from your units are treated as hidden
• Enemy Tooltips have minimal information
• Enemy Unit IDs are removed

Even if you are not keen on tough games it is worth trying this mode at least once, just to see how different the experience is.