RTW: What difficulty are you playing?

[csebal]

Well, i'm thinking about what diff you guys play on.

Although I consider myself a veteran in Total War series (played: Shogun, Medieval, Medieval VI), i always start out new games on the default (in this case medium difficulty).

Problem is, that med diff is painfully easy. :/ Once you get trough the initial difficulties, its almost impossible to lose the game. For me, i had like 1.5millions (yes, thats right) in treasury, and bout 50k income every turn in addition. Thats when i started to buy the world with diplomats.

I should play in higher diff you may say, but there is one thing that troubles me.

A big part of the game's difficulty comes from the management part of it. Its not a big deal to win a fight outnumbered 3 to 1 if you have the right army, but its a real fight to keep the cities from revolting. Now if playing higher diff means that i get tougher, more active opponents, then im all for it, but i fear it'll only mean, that cities start to revolt sooner, and that i'll have to micromanage even more just to keep a 15-20 province empire together.

So the question is:
What difficulty are you playing on, and how does the AI perform there?

[Tamur]

I'm playing hard/hard difficulty. It makes the campaign map a challenge --- the AI seems to be a lot more agressive on attacking your territory, and much tougher to reach settlements with diplomatically. I haven't tried very hard yet, want to get through a campaign all the way through before I subject myself to that! It would be interesting to know how the AI performs on very hard setting on the campaign.

[Darth Binky]

I have it on the default, and I'm having a serious hard time with it. I started as the Julii and I haven't finished it yet.

The big problem I have is all the revolts. Provinces keep revolting and I can't get them to stop. Now I'm running short on money and it's even harder because I can't build the Roman temples to replace the non-Roman ones; it seems that the happiness improving buildings are the first ones hit during a riot.

Things actually started out pretty easy for me... I took Gaul with little difficulty. Britain proved more challenging; it's remoteness made getting troops there and keeping them alive difficult. Spain, notably Corduba, was a little more difficult than Gaul to take... but I now hold daily games and have the biggest temple of Jupiter I can make sitting there, plus a large army, sitting there keeping them in line.

I'm now moving into Egyptian territory (AFAIK they control everything from the middle of Turkey and the Caucusus to Egypt (although the Brutii have recently launched an invasion and took Alexandria). The Germans, one of the few other factions left, aren't much more than an irritant; they occasionally besiege a random city near them, I kill their army, no big whoop. It's only a problem when I can't get my army back to prevent a revolt (thanks to highways, that doesn't happen much anymore).

I'm up to 31 provinces held (need 50 and Rome to win), but I'm having great difficulty going any further.

[Soulflame]

Personally, I think hard/hard I play now is still a bit too easy on the battle side, and money is still in plenty supply for me.
But I do plan my next game to play hard/hard as well. As I suspect the Roman factions are just plain easy (they have a very good starting position, easy to manage armies etc). I think hard/hard on for example the Greek Cities (will be my next game) will be much more difficult.

But medium/medium for Romans is definately too easy if you played Shogun and Medieval. The developers said in a thread that it is for those with 'some' understanding of strategic combat. And that hard was for TW veterans and very hard for experts.

[Mythrantar]

I am playing very hard/very hard as the Seleucids. It was extremely challenging at the beginning, but with some luck, smart planning, personally commanding almost all the battles and with *a lot* of bribing, I am now at 149BC and in control of 42 provinces and with Rome in my sights. It can get very frustrating at times; I have been forced to practically lower the tax levels in almost all cities to normal or low and have games monthly or daily wherever I can *and* have huge garissons just to keep the populace borderline content. This means that my primary source of income comes from exterminating the population of captured cities. Also, the AI is pretty capable both in the strategic map and in the battles, and the morale boost it gets (and I also think my men get a morale penalty) can make battles hard but fun too.

[Mazzeroth]

Everyone is posting two difficulty levels (hard/hard, for example), and I am guessing this means that there are separate battle map and strategy map difficulty settings. Is this correct? And if so, is it very cool?

To me it sounds like a somewhat useless feature, because the outcomes of events on the strategy map affect the battle map, and vice versa, and so lowering one of the difficulty levels indirectly lowers the other. So you might as well have one difficulty level.

I always play Medieval & VI games on very hard. (Cookie, please? If you're out of cookies, just mail me your copy of the game.) How does the very hard difficulty setting for Rome compare to the same setting for Medieval? I am asking because someone said that the medium difficulty in Rome is easier than the same difficulty level in the older game.

[Raven2004]

Hard/Hard with the Julii, it is my first campaign and I am a veteran of MTW (never played Shogun).

Well, I had found the campaign a little difficult because I didn't even knew how to keep the towns happy, how the trade routes were working, where the towns the Senate were talking about were located and I even lined Town Watch against barbarian cavalry thinking Town watch were something like spearmen.

Now I had taken Mediolanum, Massilia, Caralis and Palavium but I am having a bad time fighting the Dacians and keeping North Italy free of brigands and Gauls, sometimes I am fighting enemy units that I don't know how dangerous they could be and once they were a horde of guys who killed my hastati like if they were made on paper.

But I noticed I play quite different most of you play.

For instance I NEVER exterminate populations (it is against my ethics to do something like this even in a game) and only enslaved populations once (in Dacia). So I must earm my money by trade and taxes.

I never bribe armies (the game could be too easy if you act this way, kill populations and bribing armies with the money you get for that).

And I gave extra points for Generals to avoid enemy generals to be killed in 20 seconds.

And I reduced the number in cavalry units and increased it in infantry units. The explanation is simple, we, humans, use cavalry lot better than the AI so we have a HUGE advantage using great number of cavalry. In huge unit size there are 108 horsemen against 160 Town watch. Now I have 52 horsemen against 160 town watch or 200 peasants.

[Raven2004]

Well, Mazzeroth, the problem here lies in the fact that most of us are playing Romans who have very powerful units since the beginning, so the game could be too easy.

I am a veteran of MTW (prefer play MTW with Wesmod in hard, I always feel myself like a stupid when my super veteran Varangian Guards were beaten by Urban Militia in very hard), so I started in hard/hard but if you keep away from exterminating populations and bribing armies... you can have a good time playing and sometimes you touch in real problems. for instance, Gauls have a fast access to warband units in early game and always can put in line bigger armies with half the money you have, but hastati are simply AMAZING!!! I use them against infantry and cavalry and they work really fine.

Another big advantage playing Romans is that you can always have one of your borders garanted by friendly Roman allies that keep the routes free of brigands and enemy ships and that you can always touch a little money from the Senate in exchange of very easy missions like locking a port or taking a village. The AI is a little weak sometimes but there are many times when the AI puts you in a very hard position. I don't know yet, it changes, sometimes the AI is almost stupid and sometimes is diabolic.

Why you didn't get the game yet? I live in Europe and I get it last thursday.

[NimitsTexan]

I play on Hard/Hard hear. If Rome is like MTW, the AI is smartest on hard, and its cheating (i.e. bonuses) are minimal.

[Tricky Lady]

I've played one Julii campaign on hard/hard and I already lost

But I guess I'll keep on playing hard/hard. If the AI gets the same insane morale boosts at the "very hard" level as in MTW, I think I'll pass for that and (practically) never play it.

[zentuit]

I played my first campaign (as Julii) on default (what is that medium/medium?) I wanted to get a feel for the game and unlock the factions that way rather than with a mod. (silly but eh )

I just started another campaign on hard/hard, with the kill speed mod and terrain speed mod.

I went with the Seleucids since they seem to have a little bit of everything - just to get a feel for the other units. Whoa! What a difference. I knew I was in for a different game when my "uber" general went out and got soundly beaten by rebels. Egypt and Parthia have allied. I've allied with Pontus, Armenia and Greeks. there's a huge Egyptian fleet in the Eastern Med (that would cripple me if it blockaded) that jumps any of my fleets it sees. The Egyptians are trying to knock on Damascus' gate, while Parthians are harrassing Seleucia. Its been a blast! The AI seems to be more aggressive (although I'd have to play as Julii to compare actually).

[Raven2004]

Not silly at all.

I modded and made playable Spain, Macedon, Scythians and Armenia but I still play Romans and i want to finish the 3 Roman houses before playing any other faction.

[Mazzeroth]

Why you didn't get the game yet? I live in Europe and I get it last thursday.

Well, I came up with an insane plan -- one of those "so-insane...-it-just-might-work!" plans. I ordered Rome in the US, before it came out in Europe, and had it shipped to my Dad's office, in hopes that it would make it to Paris before the game came out in Europe. Needless to say, my copy of Rome is still in NY; hopefully it will make it across the Atlantic sometime this year.

[sapi]

i started out on default and i think the julii are pretty hard (i have played MTW but not STW). The problem is that my italian provinces are way too overcrowded and are getting me negative income; and i don't have any good governors. The only thing that's keeping me alive is my GALLIC provinces!

The military side of play is pretty easy though, my record is 40 -15 or something, and my losses were when i was outnumbered more that 3 to 1.

[Arakasi]

I'm currently playing on medium/hard. I might bump it up soon to hard/hard. Even in MTW I never played at the highest level. I didn't like the insane morale mods on the hardest diffs there and I doubt I'd like it here. For that I am glad that the battle and campaign difficulties are different. But once I go to hard/hard I doubt that I'll change it.

[csebal]

Being sick of the cheap AI in medium, i started a game with the germans on hard/very hard.

I haven't played the germans yet, so i have no idea how their neighbours perform compared to medium, but i've now played penty of battles on very hard.

One thing i noticed is, that the enemy fights a lot longer, and that when fighting 1 on 1, its usually my troops routing not the enemy. Then again, with proper tactics the enemy still routs quite often.

For now, i really like playing the barbarians, but i'll have to get used to the fact, that they'll never become the economical superpower i used to be as the brutii.

[Samurai Waki]

I just finished my campaign as the Scipii on hard/very hard...I really had to be aggressive stretch my money as thin as possible each turn, I also bribed and assassinated my way into taking Egypt fairly early on before they became too powerful(I had already taken on Carthage previously and was using Carthage to pump out assassins), I allied with the Seleucids(after much bribing), I had an almost fatal encounter with the Gauls at Massilia but I managed to push my way through giving the Julii enough time to take Northern Italy. I then took out Macedonia piece-meal(they were tougher than the egyptians)...the Brutii already had Athens and Corinth so I had to conquer the northern half of their Kingdom. After that the money flow was really coming in...I bribed my way into soundly beating the Greek City States. Besides having to batter my way through a lot of brigands, the Civil War Broke out...I easily over took the Brutii and Julii's non italian lands but they literally tore me to pieces at Capua and in Sicily. I had to build up my forces and assassinate a lot of Brutii and Julii Generals and then I moved I lot of my troops to retake Italy...needless to say I did. I then turned my attention to Gauls...beat them...Britons...beat them...and so on and so forth. needless to say it was probably the most nerve wracking expirience in gaming I've had thus far, but the end result was well worth it.

[Raven2004]

I always have a problem about money. Sometimes I ask all around for money against map information or something, it's quite annoying. Last time I take a Gaul town the Senate gave me only 1,000 denarii.

Besides I never exterminate populations and I never bribe enemy armies (don't assassinate them either), so my campaign is getting long and sometimes I had taken towns that I cannot hold in my hands, but it's funny.

I considered Barbarians needed an advantage in men so I reduced the unkeep costs and increased number and decreased the cavalry size increasing unkeep costs. I like to fight infantry battles (like in the ancient times) and cavalry never was used in such a great number in ancient wars.

I like to play with the possibility of lost the battles and the final campaign. If you expand too quickly and become the main power it is hard for you to loose. So eventually I expand slow and take my time to consolidate positions. It is a more challenging game.

Sometimes people in MTW said they never lost a campaign later in the game. I lost some campaigns later in the game, I was holding 15 provinces and the English for instance was honding 60, so they had armies of about 30,000 guys and I only have 4,000 guys to fight them so I lost the game. It is the way I play and campaigns are more funny.

[Spartacus]

I play on medium and it's a good difficulty.

[JR-]

i always play M:TW on Expert, but rarely fight the battles.

i'm playing my first campaign as the Julii on Medium however, and finding it rather easy.

admitedly i am nowhere near winning, holding most of Spain and Gaul, but i have never struggled to survive, and that to me is too easy?

[hotingzilla]

I played MTW on Expert.

Now I play Very Hard on campaign and battle, after one medium Scipii campaign.

[Ulstan]

Well I am glad to see they have a separate campaign strategy setting, and then one for the battles too.

I'd like to use the toughest AI campaign setting, and the toughest battle AI setting that won't make his units intrinisically better than they are.

Are there certain AI tactics that don't get used except on very hard or hard?

[TinCow]

I am playing Hard/Hard on Julii. The only battles I have lost have been a few naval and a few intentional losses while trying to kill off a plagued general. I have only had one 'serious' battle that I came close to losing. That said, I have only been fighting the Gauls (plus on Carthaginian city) who I understand are weaker than most other opponents. At the same time, my cities seem to be managed relatively well and I have a good balance of construction and recruitment going at all times. That said, I barely have enough money to support myself. I always seem to have enough for my needs on any particular turn, but I never have any excess. I've never ended a turn with more than 5,000 in the bank and it's ususally around the 1,000 range, give or take. As such, I fear that my empire will collapse as soon as the Civil War starts since I will lose a great deal of trade. I plan on halting expansion after finishing off the last two Gallic provinces to try and fix this problem.

[Thrudvang]

I change depending on who i'm playing, the easier the faction is in something, the harder I make it. Currently i'm playing as Germania with Easy Campaign and Hard Combat (It's tough getting cash as Germania, but they own at combat).

[fey]

I've done the short Julii campaign on medium/medium and it was really easy. Now playing Seleucids on hard/hard and it's noticeably more difficult, but still quite manageable.

Basically with Seleucids I started by making friends with all neighbours (Parths needed an army of theirs bribed before they agreed to an alliance... :-) ) and pushing economic development. The Egyptians soon attacked me anyway, but failed miserably. They'll be exterminated in about 3 more years, but the Greeks just declared a war on me...

Fey

[Cennyan]

When playing any one of the Roman factions I played Very Hard / Very Hard. It's the only way to make the game at all challenging. I don't think it's supposed to be too challenging for the romans actually untill before they're ready to move on the other roman factions. You've got a lot of revolts + attacking your own people to deal with. Otherwise, for the most part at least, the game on VH / VH with romans is actually pretty easy.

As for other countries...If I'm playing any country that I know will be one of Romes initial Targets (Macedonia, Greece, Gauls, Carthage) Then I've been playing Hard / Very Hard. The campaign scenerio's just suck when fighting romans. An auto battle with Greece, for instance, having 1000 men (6-8 troops of which are Archerers) and Rome have 1 legion of Hastati and 1 legion of Cavalry....Rome will win hands down every time. That's 1000 vs about 135, and the romans totally dominate. Using battle mode, I usually end up completely destroying them and losing only 4 or 5 people. It's HORRIBLY inbalanced.

If I'm playing a country that doesn't have to deal with the romans right off the bat, then I'll go VH / VH