An embarrassing question from a MTW newb.

[HopAlongBunny]

You will find the AI is much better in MTW (still needs work but...)

I actually had an AI general refuse to commit his core troops and run me around the battlefield...he actually ran my horse archers out of ammo. All the "padding" was killed but it left me with either a withdrawl or a bloody battle against spears and a RK (the HA were all I had on the field)

The bonuses to morale for the higher settings make the game much more challenging; in some cases the AI appears to get a lil smarter as well.

Reccomended reading: Frogbeastegg: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=31445

and anything else in the Guides section that looks interesting

Enjoy :)

[Dayve]

I have noticed that the AI is better in MTW... I almost lost a battle today against French peasants, what a shock i got. My army was spearmen and archers, and even my king with 4 command stars! The enemy peasants attempted to outflank my line of spearmen on the left side causing one unit to actually rout... Their royal cavalry did damage too, it was close but i won... Never thought peasants could be effective like that.

[Ciaran]

Yes, the battle AI is definitely better than Rome´s. And follow HopalongBunnys advice of getting the Frog Godesses guides. After reading them you´ll see why she´s called the Frog Goddess

[naut]

The battle AI is alot better than in Rome, but you may find that it can be a bit bizarre sometimes especially when the map contains a bridge or two. Often I've fought battles on expert, where I'm outnumbered 100-200 : 1, but the AI doesn't properly take the bridge(s) into account, so I win easily. So be careful of bridges!