SP Campaign Challenge (or lack of!)

[Thern]

I recently finished my first single player campaign. I played the English on Normal. I warred with France pretty early, and once I saw how that went I realized that I was probably going to have a pretty easy time winning the game. I did, getting to 60 provinces sometime in the 1200's.

I am thinking of playing my next campaign on Hard using GA. From what I have read, Expert cheats on the battlefield by giving enemy units additional morale and I really don't care for that.

Is there a particular faction that will really be a challenge in GA on Hard?

Will hard give me a good game or do I need to go to Expert?

Also, I was wondering how long (in hours) your campaigns generally take. I think I must have had 40-50 hours in my first one, auto-calculating about one out of five battles.

Regards,

Thern

[Despot of the English]

I found the original unmodded game easy too. However, I downloaded the Blind King of Bohemia's mod and chose the Armenian faction in Early and that was very challenging: just one province with a horde of Turks and Egyptians in your face. You have to think about expanding quickly otherwise you get serious cashflow problems and that in itself is quite challenging.

[Maeda Toshiie]

Try the french for GA.

[katank]

try High Turks.

early HRE is also not too easy.

expert is a cinch once you get used to it.

even the +4 morale and their combat bonus doesn't mean much when you are charging full speed into the rear of their units, they break just the same.

I also sometimes like th fact that now they will rally and come back to get shot up again.

[Paranoid Android]

Ok this is as good a thread to ask in as any, so....how big is the step from Normal to Hard?

I've had the game for six months, and have only been playing on Normal, I'm now at the stage where I can blitz my way across the map without too much difficulty. It's sort of hit me that I should ramp up the difficulty, but I'm a major wimp

[YAKOBU]

Hi Paranoid Android

I've been playing about the same length of time as you and initially completed a campaign on Early just to see how it finished. I then moved up to Normal but got roped into a couple of PBEM's that were on Hard. I think the jump from Normal to Hard is not such a great one. It takes a little longer to get stabilised due to lower starting funds but the battles are not so much harder. Plus if you want to MP it's better practice for you on Hard. Also provinces are a little more rebellious so make sure you build happiness buildings and have enough garrison troops.

[Duke of Gloucester]

The campaign takes for ever I have been playing for three months and (STW before that) and I am just completing my fourth campaign - one on easy, two on normal and this last one on hard. It isn't too challenging, but I do cheat in two ways. Firstly if I have a disaster I revert to the last saved game (be honest, who doesn't)and secondly I use the pause button during battles. Next campaign no reloading and after that I will try to cope without using pause.

[katank]

if you blitz, there isn't a problem.

appropriate implementation of my type of blitz strats mean solid economic basis built upon conquered lands and ransoms.

expert is ok without the florin crunch.

combat bonuses are easy to overcome by good tactics although I must say that the morale bonus on expert is annoying at times.

[Tricky Lady]

Quote[/b] (Duke of Gloucester @ July 20 2004,15:44)]but I do cheat in two ways. [...] and secondly I use the pause button during battles.

I don't consider using the pause button as cheating. (If it does count as cheating than I am a huge cheater).
Of course if you want to play MP some day, you better get used not to hit the pause button, as you can't pause in a MP battle.

I only bought the game last January, and haven't had that much time to finish many campaigns yet. In my first games (all on Easy) I used the money cheat all the time (well, once every game to be exact), so I don't need to explain that my campaigns were not much of a challenge. A friend was encouraging me to stop cheating and play a challenging game for a change. I tried, abandoned Easy and launched a Normal campaign. I admit I had difficulties containing myself from typing the money cheat again, but I managed to do so...
And now, six months later, I'm still on Normal level but I played a few turns here and there on Hard and Expert level already, so I believe I can manage the game now...
I still feel a little uncomfortable fighting battles against the odds, but hope to improve this (some day).
I don't think I'll play lots of Expert games, as I am not so keen on all the bonuses the AI gets on the battlefield...

[katank]

morale is my biggest peeve about expert.

combat bonuses meaning that equal stats, my troops get beaten, it's not that bad but the enemy being able to take inhuman punishment and not rout is not cool.

sometimes, it's a race against time and if they don't melt, my lines do.

GAH

I do find them rallying a lot more often so capturing or killing all has become easier.

[Al Khalifah]

In an ideal world the jump between the difficulty levels would simply involve the computer AI being more intelligent and devious on the higher difficulty levels. Sadly and as in most games it doesn't work like that and the game simply introduces factors to balance the game against you which I think make the game a touch unrealistic. Never the less if you think it's too easy then this is perhaps what you should do.

My recommendation to anyone who finds the vanilla campaign to be too easy is to get a copy of BKBs Super Mod. It currently has versions for both Early and High periods with Late on the way. Its my favourite mod, simply for the way it introduces lots of new factions which means you constantly have to consolidate what you already have to prevent re-emergences and rebellions in your lands before you are able to move on and conquer more. It also makes using multiple points of attack tricks agains the AI less viable before borders with individual factions are often much smaller which can force you into decisions between invading multiple factions or going for a pure direct assault.

In short, you have to be more diplomatic and take care about who you kill.

[Papewaio]

Expert.

Pause... yes... make a coffee come back, answer the phone, do the dishes... but I hit the alt-T combo far more often.

It is so easy to make a balanced army to take out the opposition that it needs the morale bonuses to even have a chance to stay long enough that I might, might I say get the chance to get the butcher vice. Typically have at least one guy I am training up to be an expert attacker... so he is always facing 2:1 odds and winning.

Now to spice up the game and make it difficult I find my 'See no Evil' rules a real nasty way to play the game.

No borderforts or their equivalent. No strategic pieces outside of my lands. I am blind to the composition of my enemies stacks. I have to design the most effective balanced force I can. To up the difficulty again I play on Huge unit sizes. Since I have no forts rebellions happen more often and they hurt a lot more, maving huge units of rebels is painful. This and play Poland at the same time and you have to spend some time thinking.

[katank]

you have no forts? how do you train units?

also, no border forts but you still have watch tower, right?