MTW, difficulty settings, mass revolts

[Midnj]

I found a post here that dealt with the differences in difficulty settings but it was pertinent mainly for tactical battles and not the strategic map.

Does anyone know (with a degree of certainty) what differences the difficulty settings make for the campaign map? The reason I ask is because I'm playing on expert and it seems the biggest problem I'm running into is the AI kingdoms keep falling apart due to revolts in the army (low-loyalty) that happens everytime some AI state loses a few provinces. It crumbles and would take a good hundred years to build itself back up to a resptably sized level (assuming I left it completely on its own) and then it'd be way behind in the tech race anyways.

My glorious achievement games are over before the High Period starts because there's usually nobody left worth competing with :\.

Its ridiculous to the point where, in my current game, France, HRE and the Almohads completely fell apart within the span of 4 turns (as opposed to them constantly falling apart at different times) and the map is full of white (rebel) lands.

The game is effectively over. Seems like this is how all my MTW Glorious Achievement campaigns end. I have yet to finish one.

Would playing on normal save the AI from this pitfall? Are there any cheats I can use to turn off rebellions or revolts for the AI or any way to mod the game to stop this from happening to the AI?

tia

[KukriKhan]

Hello Midnj and welcome to the .Org

I'll see if I can link you up some references to your questions. Meanwhile, off the top of my (pointy) head, none of my expert campaigns ever went to 1453 either.

I hear that the .nuttermode. cheat might address AI aggression behavior, but not sure if it helps them better-control rebellions.

[The_Emperor]

.nuttermode. ? What does that do again?

[KukriKhan]

Haven't tried it out yet, but I read that it makes the AI uber-aggressive, i.e. given the option or opportunity, it will ALWAYS attack, outnumbered, outgunned, whatever.

[MiniKiller]

really? anyone test it?

[Midnj]

Having spent a few hours reading various threads I'm guessing there is no real solutoin to this.

So my second question would be:

Does the Viking Invasion expansion pack improve the Medieval era campaigns any? I read in a review that it seemed like the AI established trade routes better, but beyond that and the obvious (adding in the new factions as playable with some additional units) I didn't see anything particularly new for the Medieval campaigns. Can someone enlighten me?

I will probably pick up the expansion anyways but whether I do that sooner rather than later will probably be dependant on how much it would impact what I'm intersted in right at the moment, which is the Medieval era campaigns .

[Urban Legend]

Yes the AI move their ships all over the place. Even just one lone ship will go sailing making no trade routs. Once the Italians captured the rebel Valencia before me(taking Almos).

[Midnj]

Well I just started a new game and 8 years in the HRE and France are no more. The HRE lost a copule of provinces quickly and 90% of its army revolted. France made another attack into the now 2 province HRE and was excommunicated for it which then resulted in it revolting to death.

The Turks invaded 3 Byzantine provinces all at once with like 1 unit each. All 3 had loyalist revolts which gave 3000 Byzantine infantry to the Byzantines. Bye bye turks. The Almohads lost 2 provines to Spain and its army rebelled.

I'm starting to think this is pointless.

Does VI offer any benefits at all in so much as this problem is concerned?

[Crash]

Rebellions are much more likely in the Expert mode, and the AI is less able to deal with it than you are. Ironically, Expert mode is worse for the AI factions at the strategic level. Play at the Hard level instead, so the AI factions don't fall apart so easily. I'm considering playing at the Normal level again because the rebellions and civil wars are too much for the AI factions even at the Hard setting. Since I'm more into the strategic game than the tactical game right now, the strategic AI is actually more competitive on the Normal setting than the Hard or Expert setting.

To make the game more balanced, I am playing GA Hard and auto-resolving most battles because that gives the AI the advantage at the tactical level. At this point in my game, the year 1289, every AI faction is in civil war and rebellion except the Italians. If it wasn't for the Italians, I'd be quitting this game and moving on to the the next campaign.

I've heard that in Viking, the strategic AI is better about building ships and trade routes, and makes more intelligent province building decisions, but I haven't played it yet either, so don't trust me on that particular issue.

[Mega Dux Bob]

Quote[/b] (Crash @ July 23 2003,18:07)]I've heard that in Viking, the strategic AI is better about building ships and trade routes, and makes more intelligent province building decisions, but I haven't played it yet either, so don't trust me on that particular issue.

My experiance with VI is the AI will build up trade routs and try to screw with yours'. The naval side of a war can be quite frantic at times.

Rebellions seem the same but the AI handles them better (never seen a faction die from a civil war that wasn't dying already).