Latest update on 1.2 patch from Sega/CA

[SoxSexSax]

Wow. So many points I feel I must respond to. This could take a while...

Playing england VH/VH By turn 20 attacked by: France, Scotland HRE Portugal, Spain and Danmark and I just spotted a Moor ship off the Irish coast with a full stack on it (wander whar they want). I am getting murdered here. BUT...
I don't use my general to melee and always release prisoners (need the chivalry to compete with the AI pop growth bonus). I don't ally with anyone exceprt the pope never accept huge amounts of cash for ceasefire every 2 turns and I don't sally and use missile troops on passive foe. In other words i don't use cheesy tactics to win then complain about how easy it is. Oh yeah the AI sucks but i do not see it getting better anytime soon. I have never completed the long campaign either cos it gets soo tedious managing 30+ regions. I still think the game is great compared to RTW and much better after the "patch".

I don't use any tactic I consider cheesy. I NEVER sally (do I sound like someone who WANTS an easy game???), I don't use Merchant Forts, I don't use my general to lead attacks as you imply (although I do chase routers and sell prisoners, which I would say is nowhere near cheesy, frankly). If you haven't even completed a campaign, I question your experience to make these claims and I certainly don't know why you subtly implied that I only think the game is too easy because I 'cheese' it up...

Not reloading after unsuccessfull takeover/assasination/spying attempt or losing a general in battle also helps IMHO.

I never reload. Why would I? I hardly ever use assasins (no need when you're 90% to kill the enemy general in every battle), I hardly ever lose a battle and diplomacy on VH is still a joke in 1.2...again, I am disappointed to find you implying that those who find it easy are resorting to tricks to do so...I WANT a hard game!!! I don't enjoy steamrolling a "helpless kitten" AI. I am not going out of my way to make things easy...they just are!

in one turn i lost 3 out of 4 remaining family members: one to a scottish assasin, one when the 5 ship flotilla he was travelling back from the crusade got pwnd by pirates and one when i forgot about the general chasing routers(to free them of course later) and he accidentally run through his own longbow poles

And? That's not good AI, it's terrible, mind-numbingly silly play. My wife knows better than to do that and she's no gamer...

It would certainly be nice if CA developed a harder AI, but as I said before, the only way to do that is to make difficulty levels which handicap the player and boost the AI.

That is so untrue it's almost not worth responding. For that statement to be true ("the only way to do that is to make difficulty levels which handicap the player and boost the AI") then it is logical that M2TW has the absolute best AI scripts humanly possible. And I don't believe anyone who has any gaming experience would say that is so. Compare Civ 4 Warlords AI (which is more complex at the strategic level without a shadow of doubt) to M2 and then tell me M2 can't be improved. Completely incorrect statement IMO.

@econ:

As England, give up your french holdings, secure Britain, secure all Scandinavia. Continue until both Scotland and Denmark are eliminated. Once Scotland and Denmark are gone, play as you like. I promise that if you are competent (and I believe you to be) you will win the campaign from this start. If your AAR isn't using this start, well, you're using a rather suboptimal strategy (in my humble opinion) and perhaps it is why you may find the game more challenging? Using the above outlined start, losing as England is next to impossible...and this is (IMO) in no way a cheesy start either, it's one of the just two possible strategically sound starts England have (other one being take Britain then France).

@Nobody in particular

The major killer issue with the AI is an inability to conduct a siege. I just never lose any siege defence battle where I had even a 1% chance of winnng. If I have 37 peasants and 3 town militia against a stack of 1000+, well even the M2 AI can't screw that up. But if I have 2 dismounted polish knights, 2 dismounted polish nobles and 2 lithuanian archers (units of, not just 2 men, obviously!) against 1500+ then...bring it on AI. You're going down and you know it! And that's why the campaign is too easy. Once a province is mine, I'm not losing it to anything bar rebellion. The AI has no hope at all of ever taking back a city from me. And that's why the game is far too easy.

I'm still waiting for the AI defenders to post a replay from a custom battle of the AI doing something impressive. I'm not holding my breath though. And I'm yet to see anyone challenge my description of how the AI fights its field battles either. Maybe that's because it's pretty much right?