Quote Originally Posted by Claudio View Post
For the first time, I must compliment the game on its AI.

Playing as France, HARD CAMPAIGN / MEDIUM BATTLES - the year is 1702. Westphalia declare war on me along with Wurttemburg at the same time. I have a choice in who to campaign against first, and I pick Westphalia. I besiege their city immediately, and their only army is inside. They sally on the next turn, and I am blessed with the fortune of an excellent defensive position. A hill overlooking their advance, with rocks covering the front of it that units cannot walk over. I plant my two units of demi-cannons here, flanked by line infantry.

As the battle starts, I have my demi-cannons fire on their two units of cavalry, routing each unit almost instantly thanks to me having a perfect advantageous position. I then fire on their general, killing him and routing his unit. The army is still only halfway toward my position, so I fire on the biggest mass of units I can see, killing 25-30 men per volley. They reach my line but have lost heart. They chain rout almost instantly. My lancers cut them down as they run. It was a sight to behold, it brought a lump to my throat, and I felt sorry for the poor Westphalians.

The good times weren't over though. After losing 80% of their army, to only 16 casualties of my own, the Westphalians IMMEDIATELY sued for peace after the battle. Not being content with only a peace treaty, I demanded an alliance and 5,000 florins. Since I could destroy them at any moment, I feel the terms were fair.

THEY ACCEPTED! They said they thought the terms could be better, but they could agree to them. It might just be a fluke, but it's amazing, and it's the first time I have seen such a thing in this game, and I certainly never expected it on hard campaign difficulty.
your post is a beautiful and well written expression of everything I think is gimped about this game

heres a different angle
they stupidly declared a war they were ill prepared for because of the CAIs border war diplomacy model - they didnt ally with each ohter before declaring war

having declared war they passively sit in their city - rather than some sort of combined alliance attack

The resulting milk run was due to AI predictable flank with cav manouver, General-seeking artillary, and generally gimped battle AI cause its units to flounder around like jellyfish

Then they sued for peace... and you accepted !! why? they were kaput .. do you want to have to replay this in a few turns when they senselessly declare war again.

Its not exactly the description of a challenging battle

I guess its ok if your satisfied playing out a game of unchallenging repetitive battles with the game end already a forgone conclusion

but that would bore me to tears