Difficulty/Unit size.

[Martok]

The XL 2.1 patch mostly adds various tweaks and rebalances. Some units stats were adjusted, and trade income was increased slightly so that it's more worthwhile to have trade fleets.

You should just gird your loins, eat your spinach, and go for it That was one I did in my "expert" days, and probably about the last one, too, after having to grind down each muslim peasant individually with my Armenian infantry

Better you than me, mate. I still think I'll leave the Armenians to you.

[Geezer57]

+1 for Expert difficulty and default unit size. If I do my job correctly, the A.I. still breaks and runs before dying to the last man - they just hold a little longer, which makes the battle outcome more uncertain.

[Martok]

Hey Geezer! Good to see you again, man.

[Geezer57]

Thanks Martok, I've been off doing other activities during the summer, but thought I'd get back in touch now that it's close to autumn! Cheers!

[ArtistofEmpires]

I just started up again this week with MTW but I've been playing on Hard with Huge unit sizes.

[bamff]

Always hard, default unit size for me.

Just curious - am I correct in assuming that the "difficulty" really only affects combat? Originally I had hoped that the higher the difficulty, the "cleverer" the AI would be with regard to diplomacy/strategic matters, but i have not noted any significant differences here....

[Martok]

Just curious - am I correct in assuming that the "difficulty" really only affects combat? Originally I had hoped that the higher the difficulty, the "cleverer" the AI would be with regard to diplomacy/strategic matters, but i have not noted any significant differences here....

Unfortunately, I believe you're correct. As far as I've ever been able to tell, the only difference the difficulty level makes on the campaign map is that you start with less money at the harder levels. I don't think it affects how "smart" the strategic AI is.