Help needed vs. Parthian Cav!

[HicRic]

Plus seven attack? That's insane...no wonder I'm finding it hard.

FYI, STW/MTW gave no bonuses to AI on Hard, they just allowed the AI to use all it's tactics and try as hard as it could. On normal it held back, and on easy it held back more and gave the player a morale bonus. On expert there was a bonus to the AI, I think it was morale in one game and valour/honour in the other. I don't quite remember though, but I think it's in one of Froggy's guides.

Yeah, they were Persian Cav, not vanilla. Looking at their stats and the bonus due to difficulty, I can see why what happened happened...fortunately, I eliminated one army they sent by using a bridge, although I still lost about 200 of my 400 men. (playing on Large, btw). Thanks for the tips people have given me-I'll try and put them to use. I'm not sure about the cannon fodder idea, though-HA tend to have a massive number of arrows. I tried using a unit of merc Hoplites to plug the bridge in that battle-the unit was killed in a few volleys.

I think I might try playing a faction I'm supposed to be allowed to play instead of editing the text file. I might stand a bit more of a chance then, until I'm more used to the VH difficulty. It doesn't help that the AI seems to be able to train units very...fast. I get the feeling that it's allowed to go into negative cash or at least train more than one unit per city per turn..

[hoof]

As far as I know, the *only* change that Very Hard does in battle is give the AI combat bonuses. The tactics the AI uses don't change. Therefore, I would recommend that unless you like fighting peasants that are as tough as Principles, stick to medium difficulty. You get the best AI with equal unit stats.