Far too easy?

[Soylent Green]

That's more the kind of response i was asking for.

Agreed on both fronts. The AI is totally suicidal. I had a 100 turn alliance with Russia and Hungary, and they both broke it when i erased France, despite the fact both were at war with them.

Also, on another break from previous games, the AI will not accept bribes or protectorates even apparently when they have 1 unit of 40 men left in a city with 1000 population.

I spent most of the game excommunicated. Mainly because on a personal level i disagree with catholicism, and partly because i couldn't be bothered to crusade, i'd rather just eat through the catholic nations on my way to the middle east. Thus, apparently i was fair game to all the catholic nations of the world, where's the action?

[Zenicetus]

I spent most of the game excommunicated. Mainly because on a personal level i disagree with catholicism, and partly because i couldn't be bothered to crusade, i'd rather just eat through the catholic nations on my way to the middle east. Thus, apparently i was fair game to all the catholic nations of the world, where's the action?

I agree the game should have one or two higher levels of difficulty. Or a more rational AI.... one that would always build proper army stacks and make less suicidal decisions on the strategy map, which would make the current difficulty levels fine.

However, if you play a Catholic faction and ignore the whole papal relations thing, then you're bypassing part of the game's difficulty. It's a different game if you play by those rules. You can't just steamroller across fellow Catholic factions.

Playing as Spain (and playing as a legit Catholic faction), I couldn't attack Portugal to expand my territory without getting in trouble with the Pope. I had to play a sneakier game of inciting unrest with spies, sabotaging their buildings, and pruning out their family members with assassins, until they flipped to rebels. When I managed to provoke France into a war, I got a mission from the Pope to cease hostilities for 5 turns. That forced a change of plan, and it led to me taking Scotland, of all things, while I waited out the Papal edict and could finish off France. So this is a built-in brake to blitzing the map, at least as the Catholics. Now it is possible to bribe the Pope to a point where you can get away with a lot, but with a little self-control as a handicapping factor, this does add interest and challenge to the game.

And by the way, I'm at odds with Catholicism (all religion, actually) on a personal level too, but it doesn't stop me from having fun with that aspect of the game. It's no different from me playing a green-skinned space lizard in GalCiv2... I'm not one of those on a personal level, either.

You're also making it easy by auto-calc'ing so many battles, especially sieges as the attacker. As far as I can tell, an auto siege doesn't factor in losses from defending tower missiles. I lose far more troops in a manual siege. I could probably conquer the map twice as fast, if I auto-calc'ed all sieges.

I do agree with your larger point about how it should be harder, but it does seem like you've bypassed at least some of the game's built-in difficulty.

[PaulTa]

I know that the AI has it's quirks (I can't stand it when I get a full stack in a citadel besieged by a family member and a unit of spear militia), but compared to RTW? Man, the only way I could continue to slug through RTW was to constantly tell myself that I was getting oriented with the campaign map and such.... it was like studying for school.

I guess that in some cases, the different factions are just like MTW. You have difficulty ratings for different factions. Russia, for instance, starts out with crappy infantry until you get a fortress, and the first fortress you're likely to get is if you snatch Thorn off of the Poles, which will then throw you in a war with the Hungarians as well. Since both of them are marching around with polish nobles, DFK, and heavy cavalry, you have to try and beat them with el cheapo armies supplimented with khazaks.

Or, the obvious case, HRE. You will always end up in a war with venice. It's hardcoded, don't even try to avoid it. Next will be the sicilians, and soon after the milanese. Depending on who allied with who, you might have the french in on it, the poles, the hungarians after vienna, and the danes want hamburg. Fighting a multiple front war with a crappy economy that barely produces a profit and low tech buildings and troops because of said crappy economy is really challenging.

If you play as the english though, you're asking for an easy campaign. The same thing would have been said in MTW.

[katank]

Playing a different faction with house rules can make it a bit more challenging. Ever tried faction relocation? That could be fun too. Russians in Lisbon! Or maybe sail your Turkish armies to England. That kind of stuff can turn out interesting.

[PaulTa]

Katank is right. House rules make the game much more interesting.

For example, as Spain I don't attack the portuguese until they initiate the conflict. This gives them time to tech up. I, as a rule, try and shoot for rebels before other factions, so the other factions have some time to get themselves together and rollin'.

[coalde]

Well I think the real question is whether a game designed to run on common PCs (today) should ever be any challenge to anyone, on a strategic level, especially in a complex game (i.e. not chess, backgammon, etc.)?

[katank]

AI is not at that level yet. Certainly not for a game as complex as TW series. Current AI technology does not enable them to pull off as ruthless and complex a rush as human players can muster. AI will likely remain highly susceptible to various blitzes.

All we can do is to avoid blitzing and letting them build up a bit as well as tie our hands with house rules to get a more interesting game.

[Musashi]

Katank is right. House rules make the game much more interesting.

For example, as Spain I don't attack the portuguese until they initiate the conflict. This gives them time to tech up. I, as a rule, try and shoot for rebels before other factions, so the other factions have some time to get themselves together and rollin'.

I play every game with the rule that I don't attack anyone who doesn't attack me first. And I accept basically all ceasefires. And I won't engage in a reprisal until their reputation is trashed from attacking me. If I'm a catholic faction I won't retaliate until they get excommunicated.

Game's much more fun this way. I've become a master of the machiavellian in the process.

[Shahed]

I usually do the following:

1. Don't DoW anyone unless they DoW you first or unless they are a clear and imminent danger. (i.e 4 stacks camping all around your capital causing 1000 florins devastation)

2. Concentrate on building a perfect military, perfect economy, capable of meeting any task you require.

3. Agree to all ceasfires on fair terms (usually they are unfair even if you are much more powerful).

4. Donate all cash in excess of 20000, every turn. Usually I pick one faction and make them rich then the next. Í've produced a Frankenstein out of Sicily this way. But it is much better because at least then you see cool Norman Knights etc, otherwise you'd be seeing 15 catapults and 5 peasants.

etc....