What I hate about VH/VH...

[Shahed]

... is that nobody routs. Everyone fights to the death.

[Noir]

Indeed its somewhat strange and contradictory, especially since its supposed to be with all realism settings "on". In all probability morale is too high - the same has been happening in all previous games when morale was too high (jedi) generals and the like.

It would be much better to fix morale as so as keeping up your army by making good match ups, tactically guarding against maneuvers and supporting low morale/melee units such as shooters from charges and entering the fray.
Then armies would have a "morale line" as a whole that one would have to be kept up in order to fight without routing. In fact this has been achieved in older TW games.

ManyThanks

Noir

[rvg]

Indeed its somewhat strange and contradictory, especially since its supposed to be with all realism settings "on". In all probability morale is too high - the same has been happening in all previous games when morale was too high (jedi) generals and the like.

It would be much better to fix morale as so as keeping up your army by making good match ups, tactically guarding against maneuvers and supporting low morale/melee units such as shooters from charges and entering the fray.
Then armies would have a "morale line" as a whole that one would have to be kept up in order to fight without routing. In fact this has been achieved in older TW games.

ManyThanks

Noir

Yep. That's why I play on VH/Medium. I don't mind if the AI cheats economically, but I'd like to have a feeling that I'm fighting against routable humans instead of cyborgs.

[Doug-Thompson]

I quit playing VH in RTW, after wiping out a whole Sassinid army that could have easily escaped. They just kept marching forward and taking the losses. By the time they finally routed, there was nothing left to rout.

[Noir]

The campaign game used to be more challenging, however its response dropped vertically eversince the move to the "3D" map was made. I dont know weather they will keep the same system in the future, however it looks like it has a long way to go as it is now.

Campaign cheats for the AI mean that he goes for relentless attacks and the game gets too militarily oriented (something like playing wre in BI all the time) - that's the thing i dislike about it.

The AI goes into debt most of the time as the game is generally designed not relative to how it can handle things but around what would be fun for the player to do. Scripts that pump money in indebted AI factions is probably the best solution as well as changing the tech-trees to follow AI routines rather than expect the AI to adapt IMO.

Many Thanks

Noir

[HoreTore]

What the... Now I get to ask Factionheirs question: are we playing the same game? I usually capture about twice as many people as I kill, and when I lose, it usually happens quickly, and due to a mass rout.

In fact, the only times I kill more than I capture, are sieges... And not even then if I'm attacking.

EDIT: also, if this bothers you, use dread instead. I had a dude with max dread sitting in zagreb, when the germans besieged it. My army was about 1/3 of the enemies size, and composed of some militia and balkan mercs. I figured I'd go down fighting, and when the enemy got to my walls, I charged my general out and hoped to pin down the enemy, allowing my towers and few archers to kill a lot of them. However, just as I got through the walls, the ENTIRE enemy army routed instantly.

[Doug-Thompson]

What the... Now I get to ask Factionheirs question: are we playing the same game? I usually capture about twice as many people as I kill, and when I lose, it usually happens quickly, and due to a mass rout.

In fact, the only times I kill more than I capture, are sieges... And not even then if I'm attacking.

I use HA armies a lot. That might account for it.

[econ21]

General question for everyone: do your men fight to the death on VH?

My impression is that mine do not. The militia skedaddle quite easily, if I don't have an uber general.

I've queried this several times, and Lusted has argued that VH affects morale across the board, but it just does not feel like it.

I don't have good evidence on my men routing, but yes, the AI does fight to the death. Here's an example from yesterday - I basically shot an army to death and they (Saracen militia) just stood there.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

When the finally broke:


And the stats:

[FactionHeir]

Err missiles without fire almost never make a unit rout without the nearby presence of one of your units unless they take major casualties at once.

As I posted elsewhere, your own morale stays constant. The AI's morale is much lower on easy as as high as yours on VH.

[edit]
Fighting to the death is the same as broken, but only occurs if the unit feels surrounded by at least 3 sides.

[Stuperman]

I hate the cheats the AI gets

my expierence: a 2 territory faction (pontus) should not be able to field 3 fullstacks.

I can usually get units to route, when they fight to the death have all your guys run away from them, they should start routing after that.