Expert Mode easier than Hard?

[rvg]

I was paying careful attention to the discussion here, but did I make the correct conclusion? I felt that actually playing on Hard is more fun than on Expert because in Expert the tactical/strategical inability is countered by sheer numbers of the AI armies...?

No, the A.I. doesn't get any advantage it troop quantity, but rather in troop quality. A.I. units fight better and are far more difficult to rout, in fact, most decent troops would persevere through the death of their general, provided that their army hasn't been completely destroyed.

[bretwalda]

I put it differently then:

I play on Hard since I learned the game. I realized that the hardest but also most interesting part of the game until you get a decent empire and a good positive cashflow. Defensible borders, few enemies (most neutral or allied), ships in every sea region, etc. After that you basically won the game, it is still fun but you are no longer living on the edge.

If I switch to Expert, can I expect that the first part of the game will be even more difficult AND I still have challenge after consolidation? Will the tactical battles feel unfair? Would you suggest trying Expert or it just makes the game unfailry difficult thus less fun? Any ideas are appreciated!

[Marquis de Said]

@ Bretwalda,

if you want a challenge I suggest you try expert. It's not that much more difficult, just that the AI's troops will stay on the battlefield longer. On the strategic map, you'll have more rebellions and disloyalty. If you want a hard game, play the HRE in early/expert. The disloyal generals will forgive you for one or two defeats and maybe one failed crusade. After that it's civil war!
The Turks can also be challenging in early if you get a lot of Crusades coming through your lands, because their generals are also disloyal by nature. Hungary has also been tough for me.

[rvg]

@ Bretwalda,

if you want a challenge I suggest you try expert. It's not that much more difficult, just that the AI's troops will stay on the battlefield longer. On the strategic map, you'll have more rebellions and disloyalty. If you want a hard game, play the HRE in early/expert. The disloyal generals will forgive you for one or two defeats and maybe one failed crusade. After that it's civil war!
The Turks can also be challenging in early if you get a lot of Crusades coming through your lands, because their generals are also disloyal by nature. Hungary has also been tough for me.

On the other hand, the Byz and the Danes are as easy as ever.

[gaijinalways]

Even on expert though, you should easily be able to defend against 4-to-1 odds in less you don't have a decent hill to stand on. You just have to kill the general and time your cav charges right.

Depends on the troops you have and the amount of ammo/ missile troops. I have found some battles to be difficult even with an even number of troops on expert, especially with no height advantage and/or wooded terrain. Also, how good your general is will be a big factor, on expert some of the AI armies will have uber-jehdi generals . So, in these cases either the general doesn't come until later and/or he is impossible to kill (happens sometimes). So the strategy of assasinating the general doesn't work as you're already routing before you might get a shot at it (and the AI general is chasing you off! ).

And how about attacking (I've played vanillla MTW with no mods) on expert?

[Maloncanth]

In my experience, the autoresolve doesn't get any worse on expert. My preferred strategy on attack is simply to mass a force of the appropriate size and either drive the enemy into retreat or press autoresolve as desired. It's as easy as pie with almost anyone in early. It does get less practical the later in history one starts since there's less time to build up the overwhelming force required but for me, it's still easier than trying to fight the stuff myself.

As an addendum, I've never been able to consistently assassinate a general in battle. If he wanders in close enough for massed crossbows to nail him, sure (missiles aren't picky), but I can name all sorts of times where 2 ghulam bodyguards basically destroyed/routed my entire army (of professional christian armoured troops), I've had them go through italians, I've had single swiss armoured pikemen generals basically spear dozens of horses. I once even had a bunch of royal knights get charged from above by an entire unit of druzina (armour piercing) and they killed all the druzhina down to 2 and the general never died. I'm personally convinced it just isn't a consistent tactic.