Making the game a challenge

[GFX707]

STW was quite challenging at first.
MTW was challenging until you got the hang of it, and then it was quite easy.
RTW was just too easy. The AI was far too stupid to be anywhere near a challenge.

So, have CA mentioned anything about changing this? Is the AI going to be as easy to make a fool of as in RTW? I understand that we are going to see the same engine from RTW so does that mean that we are going to be up against the same pitiful AI all over again? Will we be treated to the suicidal general problems from MTW and RTW?

I don't want fake difficulty settings that give the AI statistical bonuses like more money or troops with +1 to everything which results in a fight between even units on flat ground resulting in a win for the AI just because some number is higher....that's stupid. So does anyone know if anything has been done on that front or are we doomed to have to experience the same dull "conquer the world....again" feeling that RTW had?

Speculate all you like.

[cannon_fodder]

Well, I just think the difficulty options should be more customisable. I want to have no statistical advantages to anyone, while also having the best AI possible.

[Mount Suribachi]

To be fair, I've found the campaign map to be more of a challenge than MTW's. Its nowhere near as easy to blitzkrieg the map. Squalor is a major handicap, other happiness reducing factors have been ratcheted up from MTW, and its no longer the case that you can just spam out spys and Bishops/Imams to generate 200% happiness in every province in double quick time.

But yes, I would still prefer an AI that beat you with intelligence rather than artificial bonuses (which have been present in all 3 TW games btw)

[TB666]

CA has said that they are working hard on improving the AI on all fronts.
The problem is that most of us has played these games since the start of the series. We pretty much know every trick in the book.
Getting a AI to beat us tactically will be difficult, almost impossible.
Hence the AI need to get bonuses in order to provide a challenge.

[cannon_fodder]

Getting a AI to beat us tactically will be difficult, almost impossible.
Hence the AI need to get bonuses in order to provide a challenge.

But those bonuses are a cheap and artifical way of making the game challenging. I'd rather win almost all battles than be defeated by an enemy on account of their statistical advantages- such defeats are based too much on circumstances outside of the player's control.

[TB666]

But those bonuses are a cheap and artifical way of making the game challenging.

It is but that's how it is in most strategy games.
The AI rarely get smarter if you raise the difficult level in most games.
But I feel in TW the bonuses are alright.
They make you different since you gotta break the enemy fast before you break.
The only one that can beat a TW-fan in battle without bonuses is a human opponent and a AI can never be that good so a bonus for AI is needed.
Of course a good tactical AI + bonuses will be real match for even the most dedicated TW fan.