Handgunners in Expert difficulty games

[Caerfanan]

I can defeat, because I will gain valour more quickly than on Hard. If this is indeed the case, then what about AI faction units that fight each other on Expert? Wouldn’t this exploit make the AI units “valour up” more quickly than on Hard as well? Then my units are fighting more powerful AI units than I could hope to meet on Hard. Doesn’t sound like an exploit to me.

Well, I don't know, maybe the AI is "valouring up" its units as it want anyway, whatever the level? But you have a point there.

Besides, when I have set up a battle that I knew I could win, the AI retreated from the province. In battles where the AI cannot retreat and must fight, they already get +8 morale, even on Hard.
I recommend playing on Expert to everyone and remain, humbly, unconvinced.

This is, IMHO a tough case, the AI probably takes the morale stuff in account. But I rememeber when i was a TW "kid" a year ago, my first campaign on easy, playing thevikings: I had several times a unit of viking landsmen holding preternaturaly, stil standing and fighting while being reduced to 30 people approx. So help had been succesfully provided. On normal the unit wa routing and made another unit root and an easily won battle on easy just because of the morale boost became, with the same strategy a lost battle on normal... So this +4 our -4 for "starting morale bonus" has a big impact on the battle outcomes.

I agree with the fact that a morale boost can be found with religious monuments (but I think you need lots of those to have +4, this is a reliquary + a church, or cathedral + monastery for christians, it takes ages to build them), and I know that a good strategy gives more tan +4/-4 morale bonuses/maluses. THen the +8 when cannt retrat turns to +12 on expert: the basic morale of berserkers who usually stay tothe last man...

I'm not saying expert is easier than hard. I say that there are some ways of using part of the difficulty as an advantage

Sorry for answering this with such a starting topic, But Agent Miles did have very interesting views, I could'nt help!