Far too easy?

[Soylent Green]

Ok, so bugs and patches aside. Some of which make it harder and some easier.

Does anyone else think this game is far too easy? I've been playing since Shogun, pretty much hardcore, completing every campaign on every side in every game. You know the story.

But seriously, after the logistical nightmare that was the western Roman empire campaign on RTW:BI, where you had to micromanage every city just to get a positive income. This game is pathetically easy.

On my first game, VH/VH with England, i completed the campaign within 120 turns. Ok, so this probably could be done far quicker had i mastered the new religious and mercantile aspects of the game, as well as stopped bothering with alliances and all that, since the computer breaks them when you're fighting less than two factions.

But seriously, i like finishing off everyone, i have 40 turns remaining (to complete the original 50 or so provinces mission), and i have conquered the entire world, all that remains is a couple of Timurid provinces (the only significant challenge encountered, simply because all their units are 3 gold chevrons and artillery elephants appear to be made of titanium), and a few Inca? provinces further up.

Yeah, by the time you can attack the Incas, they're pretty wimpy in comparison. 3 silver chevron fully upgraded hospitallers seem to smear the floor with their best units.

Everyone used to hate that thing in MTW1 where the provinces kept respawning, but at least it kept you on your toes. Right now i can wipe out an entire faction in about three turns with about 6 well placed armies.

Timurids are the only real challenge faced thus far. The mongols were irritating due to their ability to spawn units from nowhere when facing annihilation. Dropships maybe? Yus.

I have to say, beautiful though it is, it looks like they've chucked out an unfinished product this time.

And why do besieging AIs line all their units up outside your front gate? I've actually had to leave the room and wait for the timer to run out because they just sit there. Retarded. I've had to leave most of the battles to the auto calculator because i just can't be bothered with their tactics. It's the same everytime, they move their missile troops FAR too far forward, get wiped out by my overpowered cavalry, and then the rest of their army converges in a mass in the middle. I could fight these battles with my eyes closed.

Okay, question/rant over. Flame away my friends. Flame away. :)

[sapi]

*ignites match

But seriously, if you don't like the game that's not our problem ;)

Unfortunately, the campaign AI is very weak, and i think the only way to get a challenge is not to strike quickly and give them time to build up.

Personally, i'd like faction reemergances and civil wars and all that stuff back from mtw1, but it appears that it's not going to happen.

We can only hope the game improves with time...

[Scotsmanforlife]

I'm playing as the HRE currently and am having a blast. I'm taking the game slowly so as to enjoy it much longer. It wasn't my goal to master this game within a few days of it coming out, what's the point of that? At the moment i'm surrounded by enemies and am enjoying being attacked on all sides. There are always going to be problems with games, no matter what the game. People aren't perfect and their is no such thing as a perfect game. I take it in stride and hope that in the future the bugs will be worked out. I think CA put's out amazing games, compared to a lot of bad games that i've had the misfortune of playing. Maybe i'm in the minority here but i'll continue to be a CA fan as long as they keep putting out products.

[Ars Moriendi]

Does anyone else think this game is far too easy?
[...]
This game is pathetically easy.
[...]
On my first game, VH/VH with England, i completed the campaign within 120 turns.
[...]
I could fight these battles with my eyes closed.

Dude, you're so 1337 it hurts !!!11!!!1

Will you teach me how you do it, master ?

Flame away my friends. Flame away. :)

There you have it :)

[The Teacher]

fight the battles from the generals eye view, camera angle that is, tell me what happens..

[Soylent Green]

Okay, i wasn't trying to 'prove' anything. God knows being 'good' at computer games isn't anything to be proud of these days anyway, (if you want to pretend you have a social life).

I'm one of those people that believes you shouldn't have to handicap yourself to play a challenging game. When it says very hard, it should be.. very hard. No? Anyway, i never reload battles, i always play through with the first result.

Plus, i never said i didn't like the game, perhaps just a little too quick to the shelves? A weak AI is a major fault in any game, i don't care what people say. I don't buy a game like MTW2 for the multiplayer value, because that erases the all important campaign aspect of it.

Not trying to be 'l337', as you put it, ironically or not. Just disappointed that they've gone backwards, if anything, on many aspects that made RTW, particularly BI, and the Alexander expansion, incredibly challenging. Because that's what i play strategy games for, a challenge, provided by the game, not myself. I could limit myself to one unit of peasants on VH/VH if i wanted to cream over the glory of my victory. But i'd rather the game provided that. No?

I merely wanted to ask whether anyone else was finding the game a breeze? Even though in 10 turns i lost 3 kings and countless generals to inquisitors. Even though none of my units charge properly. Even though none of my units upgrade properly. Even though cannon towers still fire ballistas. Even though, even though.

[katank]

Dude, that's just masochistic.

@OP, yep. The game is too easy for TW vets. Blitzing will net you tons of territories fast and soon you are invincible (have sufficient depth to absorb any offensive aimed at you and plenty of production to replace any losses and go on the offensive yourself)

[Barry Fitzgerald]

The biggest problem with the campaign AI is that it reads like a book!

And a faction will pretty much war itself to destrucion and doesn't know when to call it a day. Esp noticable playing as the HRE...watch as everyone attacks..many factions attack you despite it not being a good idea...in the ist place...

not sure if CA thought it would be fun..but ahem well....it is pretty easy to know what is going to happen next..bit like a cheesy horror movie....and the audience shouts.."he's behind you!!" lol

I too hope CA sit down and take note of these problems..and sort them out..and maybe if we make enough noise..bring back the popular MTW gameplay treats...titles....civil wars..etc etc...cannot be that hard to do...

[Ars Moriendi]

Okay, i wasn't trying to 'prove' anything.

I know. It's your invitation to fire away and the (way too many) times I've heard this kind of "i'm uber" talk got me snapping.

Not trying to be 'l337', as you put it, ironically or not.

I was (trying to be) ironic. But don't take it personally, it was mostly the 13yr old "too-good-for-you" kid stereotype I was aiming at.

Just disappointed that they've gone backwards, if anything, on many aspects that made RTW, particularly BI, and the Alexander expansion, incredibly challenging. Because that's what i play strategy games for, a challenge, provided by the game, not myself. I could limit myself to one unit of peasants on VH/VH if i wanted to cream over the glory of my victory. But i'd rather the game provided that. No?

I merely wanted to ask whether anyone else was finding the game a breeze? Even though in 10 turns i lost 3 kings and countless generals to inquisitors. Even though none of my units charge properly. Even though none of my units upgrade properly. Even though cannon towers still fire ballistas. Even though, even though.

I understand, and agree that the game could use a better AI and higher diff. settings for the hardcore players. Still, you have to keep in mind that you're definitely atypical. Most M2TW players out there never heard of STW and MTW, probably only played RTW shortly and are nowhere near your expertise level. The publisher has to aim for the "typical" player, whatever that may be.
Me, for my part, I'm happy with the difficulty level it presents now, I just wish the AI stopped making those stupid, unexplainable mistakes that just break the "make-believe".

Keep your hopes up and don't shelf the game just yet, there's mods in the making for the likes of you.

---------------------

PS: I'd like to see a demonstration of you playing blindfolded, should be fun to watch. You have videos ???
(yes, it's my lame attempt at irony, again...)

[Soylent Green]

That's more the kind of response i was asking for.

Agreed on both fronts. The AI is totally suicidal. I had a 100 turn alliance with Russia and Hungary, and they both broke it when i erased France, despite the fact both were at war with them.

Also, on another break from previous games, the AI will not accept bribes or protectorates even apparently when they have 1 unit of 40 men left in a city with 1000 population.

I spent most of the game excommunicated. Mainly because on a personal level i disagree with catholicism, and partly because i couldn't be bothered to crusade, i'd rather just eat through the catholic nations on my way to the middle east. Thus, apparently i was fair game to all the catholic nations of the world, where's the action?

[Scotsmanforlife]

I'll agree that BI and Alexander were much more challenging. But this game just came out, give CA a chance to improve it before condeming it. Before anyone says it, i agree that CA should have made it very challenging from the start. Nonetheless i'm still enjoying myself and will wait for future patches and hope they improve the game.

[Soylent Green]

I understand, and agree that the game could use a better AI and higher diff. settings for the hardcore players. Still, you have to keep in mind that you're definitely atypical. Most M2TW players out there never heard of STW and MTW, probably only played RTW shortly and are nowhere near your expertise level. The publisher has to aim for the "typical" player, whatever that may be.
Me, for my part, I'm happy with the difficulty level it presents now, I just wish the AI stopped making those stupid, unexplainable mistakes that just break the "make-believe".

Keep your hopes up and don't shelf the game just yet, there's mods in the making for the likes of you.

---------------------

PS: I'd like to see a demonstration of you playing blindfolded, should be fun to watch. You have videos ???
(yes, it's my lame attempt at irony, again...)

Fair play with that reply man. But you know Civilisation IV, everything above Prince difficulty for me was a subject of much consternation. It was something you aspired to beat, you had to be the ultimate player. I always remember my friend beating the max difficulty back in the days of Civ. I, and how incredible it was.

With a series, you have to expect that the majority of players are probably going to be coming from the last episode back, since the loyal ones are more likely to be coming back with an incredible series like the TW series.

When i buy a game, i EXPECT, not hope, a challenge, and something i haven't experienced before, as part of paying through the nose. For example, Baldur's Gate, with its 350 gaming hours, or Elder Scrolls 4, which was so long i couldn't even finish it in several sittings. RTW kept me coming back, particularly with BI, because it was so intensely challenging.

When i sit down to a session of MTW2, i know what to expect now, even after one campaign. I know it's going to be a matter of slogging out the campaign, autocalculating 8000 battles, and victory. Not a tenuous battle of wills that could go either way.

I had ONE exciting battle, against the aforementioned Timurids, where they actually broke through my first citadel walls (they brought a grand bombard on the fifth assualt), and then my second, until i fought them off on the third. Despite a 6:1 army ratio (them:me). ONE.

Tbh. If you remember the MTW:VI expansion, every battle counted in keeping them out of your lands. When you were skilfully maneouvring your fyrds behind their elite warbands in order to actually pull off a victory. Or half of your losses were just to weaken them enough to take them down!

[Ars Moriendi]

RTW kept me coming back, particularly with BI, because it was so intensely challenging.

Strange to hear you say that, I thought RTW was much easier and its AI weaker than M2TW. I never even bought the game, I just borrowed it, played for a week or so, got bored to tears, unistalled it and never tried it again. M2TW, after 2 campaigns, still gets me wanting for more, MTW style, despite the bugs and all.
It's different styles of play between us, I reckon.

When i sit down to a session of MTW2, i know what to expect now, even after one campaign. I know it's going to be a matter of slogging out the campaign, autocalculating 8000 battles, and victory. Not a tenuous battle of wills that could go either way.

Yes, it can be that way. Maybe we just played too much of the CA's Total War games (I know I did). If only there was a viable alternative...
Also, much of the boredom and jading in playing the current TW game comes from the increased tedium of moving agents and armies and the countless irrelevant battles. It's the price we had to pay for the new strategic freedom allowed by the departure from the risk-style map (the new kind of map also seriously hampers the AI's reasoning abilities, it seems).

Tbh. If you remember the MTW:VI expansion, every battle counted in keeping them out of your lands. When you were skilfully maneouvring your fyrds behind their elite warbands in order to actually pull off a victory. Or half of your losses were just to weaken them enough to take them down!

I haven't played VI either. By all accounts I missed a lot. I did, however, played MTW to death, some mods too, so I have a pretty good idea what you're talking about.

[RussianWinter]

The problem is that I know victory is coming, its just a matter of how soon I can get it and If I'm willing to wait around for the ride. Short of playing the turks during the mongol invasion, getting wiped out will just not happen.

I have absolutely zero faith the AI will be beefed up. Not in a patch, not in an expansion. It isn't going to happen, if it were fixable it would have been done by now.

That said, I'm having fun while it lasts. I've got my money's worth and killed quite a few nights, its just sad to think what *could* have been.

[EGr]

I found the AI too easy so I gave every faction massive king's purses. Now they all have ridiculous amounts of armies.

[Veresov]

If you want a better challenge, add a money script for the AI, and improve the AI's starting position in terms of buildings. I have several starting strat files for each of the factions I like to play. I ensure that the AI starts 2 Tech levels ahead of me and its starting units are more advanced.

[Reapz]

Soylent, like you I have played TW since Shogun and like you I wish the AI was a little stronger in campaign. But I still find the game very enjoyable and I think it might refresh your interest to try other factions. England is an easy win.

Try Russia - I have had several fun campaigns with that faction. You will win no doubt but have a different set of challenges along the way. In my quest to add novelty in my last one I did with Russia, I took to the sea, invaded Britain and tried to recreate the path of expansion you take playing as England with Russian units. The AI never took the original Russian provinces except Riga but it was not my power center and I built everything around London and Antwerp.

The game engine has a lot of potential and when the modding community gets to grips with it and comes up with something akin to RTR I think you will have something closer to what you're looking for.

(Until then EU III comes out January)

[Zenicetus]

I spent most of the game excommunicated. Mainly because on a personal level i disagree with catholicism, and partly because i couldn't be bothered to crusade, i'd rather just eat through the catholic nations on my way to the middle east. Thus, apparently i was fair game to all the catholic nations of the world, where's the action?

I agree the game should have one or two higher levels of difficulty. Or a more rational AI.... one that would always build proper army stacks and make less suicidal decisions on the strategy map, which would make the current difficulty levels fine.

However, if you play a Catholic faction and ignore the whole papal relations thing, then you're bypassing part of the game's difficulty. It's a different game if you play by those rules. You can't just steamroller across fellow Catholic factions.

Playing as Spain (and playing as a legit Catholic faction), I couldn't attack Portugal to expand my territory without getting in trouble with the Pope. I had to play a sneakier game of inciting unrest with spies, sabotaging their buildings, and pruning out their family members with assassins, until they flipped to rebels. When I managed to provoke France into a war, I got a mission from the Pope to cease hostilities for 5 turns. That forced a change of plan, and it led to me taking Scotland, of all things, while I waited out the Papal edict and could finish off France. So this is a built-in brake to blitzing the map, at least as the Catholics. Now it is possible to bribe the Pope to a point where you can get away with a lot, but with a little self-control as a handicapping factor, this does add interest and challenge to the game.

And by the way, I'm at odds with Catholicism (all religion, actually) on a personal level too, but it doesn't stop me from having fun with that aspect of the game. It's no different from me playing a green-skinned space lizard in GalCiv2... I'm not one of those on a personal level, either.

You're also making it easy by auto-calc'ing so many battles, especially sieges as the attacker. As far as I can tell, an auto siege doesn't factor in losses from defending tower missiles. I lose far more troops in a manual siege. I could probably conquer the map twice as fast, if I auto-calc'ed all sieges.

I do agree with your larger point about how it should be harder, but it does seem like you've bypassed at least some of the game's built-in difficulty.

[PaulTa]

I know that the AI has it's quirks (I can't stand it when I get a full stack in a citadel besieged by a family member and a unit of spear militia), but compared to RTW? Man, the only way I could continue to slug through RTW was to constantly tell myself that I was getting oriented with the campaign map and such.... it was like studying for school.

I guess that in some cases, the different factions are just like MTW. You have difficulty ratings for different factions. Russia, for instance, starts out with crappy infantry until you get a fortress, and the first fortress you're likely to get is if you snatch Thorn off of the Poles, which will then throw you in a war with the Hungarians as well. Since both of them are marching around with polish nobles, DFK, and heavy cavalry, you have to try and beat them with el cheapo armies supplimented with khazaks.

Or, the obvious case, HRE. You will always end up in a war with venice. It's hardcoded, don't even try to avoid it. Next will be the sicilians, and soon after the milanese. Depending on who allied with who, you might have the french in on it, the poles, the hungarians after vienna, and the danes want hamburg. Fighting a multiple front war with a crappy economy that barely produces a profit and low tech buildings and troops because of said crappy economy is really challenging.

If you play as the english though, you're asking for an easy campaign. The same thing would have been said in MTW.

[katank]

Playing a different faction with house rules can make it a bit more challenging. Ever tried faction relocation? That could be fun too. Russians in Lisbon! Or maybe sail your Turkish armies to England. That kind of stuff can turn out interesting.

[PaulTa]

Katank is right. House rules make the game much more interesting.

For example, as Spain I don't attack the portuguese until they initiate the conflict. This gives them time to tech up. I, as a rule, try and shoot for rebels before other factions, so the other factions have some time to get themselves together and rollin'.

[coalde]

Well I think the real question is whether a game designed to run on common PCs (today) should ever be any challenge to anyone, on a strategic level, especially in a complex game (i.e. not chess, backgammon, etc.)?

[katank]

AI is not at that level yet. Certainly not for a game as complex as TW series. Current AI technology does not enable them to pull off as ruthless and complex a rush as human players can muster. AI will likely remain highly susceptible to various blitzes.

All we can do is to avoid blitzing and letting them build up a bit as well as tie our hands with house rules to get a more interesting game.

[Shahed]

Ok, so bugs and patches aside. Some of which make it harder and some easier.

Does anyone else think this game is far too easy? I've been playing since Shogun, pretty much hardcore, completing every campaign on every side in every game. You know the story.

But seriously, after the logistical nightmare that was the western Roman empire campaign on RTW:BI, where you had to micromanage every city just to get a positive income. This game is pathetically easy.

On my first game, VH/VH with England, i completed the campaign within 120 turns. Ok, so this probably could be done far quicker had i mastered the new religious and mercantile aspects of the game, as well as stopped bothering with alliances and all that, since the computer breaks them when you're fighting less than two factions.

But seriously, i like finishing off everyone, i have 40 turns remaining (to complete the original 50 or so provinces mission), and i have conquered the entire world, all that remains is a couple of Timurid provinces (the only significant challenge encountered, simply because all their units are 3 gold chevrons and artillery elephants appear to be made of titanium), and a few Inca? provinces further up.

Yeah, by the time you can attack the Incas, they're pretty wimpy in comparison. 3 silver chevron fully upgraded hospitallers seem to smear the floor with their best units.

Everyone used to hate that thing in MTW1 where the provinces kept respawning, but at least it kept you on your toes. Right now i can wipe out an entire faction in about three turns with about 6 well placed armies.

Timurids are the only real challenge faced thus far. The mongols were irritating due to their ability to spawn units from nowhere when facing annihilation. Dropships maybe? Yus.

I have to say, beautiful though it is, it looks like they've chucked out an unfinished product this time.

And why do besieging AIs line all their units up outside your front gate? I've actually had to leave the room and wait for the timer to run out because they just sit there. Retarded. I've had to leave most of the battles to the auto calculator because i just can't be bothered with their tactics. It's the same everytime, they move their missile troops FAR too far forward, get wiped out by my overpowered cavalry, and then the rest of their army converges in a mass in the middle. I could fight these battles with my eyes closed.

Okay, question/rant over. Flame away my friends. Flame away. :)

LOL ! That was a great rant !!! LMAO !!!!

I started up an HRE campaign in VH/VH and by turn 30 it was pretty much decided who the next superpower will be, but wait....I just put on automanage everything save a few cities for troop production, and blitzed through everything. Only when I met the Byzantines I had a minor setback by losing half a stack and then they lost a whole stack, so balance wise it was a non issue. It did slow me.

Then I started a Turk camapaign and in 40 turns, everything from Tbilisi -> Tunis -> Constantinople was green.

Then I started an English campaign and quit after 15 turns because it was absolutely absurd how easy it was. Scots got the WTFPWNEDBBQ'ed rush, Frenchies had no clue what happened to Paris. It was way too easy.

I have to say the disappointment in mailed knights could'nt have been more. Mailed knights should be sent back to baking cookies or something. Not that such a pastime is in itself pathetic but it is simply not directly suited to combat, something which the mailed knights don't seem to be suited to either, routinely loosing to peasants.

Of course this is absolutely not the way I like to play. This was play testing. Normally I would'nt even attack another faction unless I had to.

It seems, from my play testing that zerg rushing, blitzkrieg-ing breaks the game for most factions.

It's very easy if you do this. It's still quite easy but the AI makes a better show of itself if you allow it to build. That's what I do and I get to meet much better opponents. Thankfully my playstyle is much the builder/roleplayer/perfect army combo etc type. So I take my time.

The AI can be decent but usually it's not much of a challenge. I do LOVE some of the moves I've seen, particularly the feigned retreats, skirmishing. Mongol armies can be pretty decent, (I did a fast forward) but ofc this mainly because you face 3-4 all at once on the screen. I did enjoy very much my limited play testing with the Mongols and Timurids. They could be MUCH better but it's decent. The AI did a few decent moves in one battle, swarming everywhere with horse archers. It was one all cavalry army against 3 mostly cavalry armies. I had a close defeat. but it was GREAT fun.

It has some good basics but needs a lot of work to be challenging without cheats and numbers.

[Musashi]

Katank is right. House rules make the game much more interesting.

For example, as Spain I don't attack the portuguese until they initiate the conflict. This gives them time to tech up. I, as a rule, try and shoot for rebels before other factions, so the other factions have some time to get themselves together and rollin'.

I play every game with the rule that I don't attack anyone who doesn't attack me first. And I accept basically all ceasefires. And I won't engage in a reprisal until their reputation is trashed from attacking me. If I'm a catholic faction I won't retaliate until they get excommunicated.

Game's much more fun this way. I've become a master of the machiavellian in the process.

[Shahed]

I usually do the following:

1. Don't DoW anyone unless they DoW you first or unless they are a clear and imminent danger. (i.e 4 stacks camping all around your capital causing 1000 florins devastation)

2. Concentrate on building a perfect military, perfect economy, capable of meeting any task you require.

3. Agree to all ceasfires on fair terms (usually they are unfair even if you are much more powerful).

4. Donate all cash in excess of 20000, every turn. Usually I pick one faction and make them rich then the next. Í've produced a Frankenstein out of Sicily this way. But it is much better because at least then you see cool Norman Knights etc, otherwise you'd be seeing 15 catapults and 5 peasants.

etc....

[Bucky_Rogers]

I agree with Soylent and Russia that this game is way too easy. I'm HRE on VH/H and it has been pretty much a joke. It is easy to win an open field battle when outnumbered by 2:1.

Aside from that, the AI, and the game in general, is terribly broken with more bad bugs than I could possible ever remember or keep track of... many of them can be found in the bug thread here, but I won't go into that further since we can't fix it.

I have not gotten the patch yet because I have read here that it apparantly failed miserably to fix the biggest problems, and I even see some posters saying that it caused more problems.

Can someone tell me what is EU III, and what is BI? A couple of the posters listed these with the implication that they are more challenging war games...(?) ANd any news on when we might see some good mods for this which may be more difficult?

Lastly, two of the posters, EGR and Verisoft, mentioned some modifications to make it more challenging. Can someone direct the rest of us to an explanation of how to do this kind of thing? I would like to know how to make these adjusments, because I am tired of fighting against unupgraded peasants, town militia and spear militia when I have long since gotten advanced caste units to fight with. Obviously we can't ptobably change the kind of units they have, but at least they could have more of them, or more upgrades.

I have stayed excommunicated, and stayed in favor with the pope, which I found easy to do even with the HRE. This has had no significant effect on game difficulty.

As for braggary and uberism, any mention of it has no place here imo. I don't know if that is what Soylent's agenda was, but it is certainly not my agenda. The fact is, the game is too easy for any TW vet, or for anyone who has any knowledge of ancient battle strats (I am not much of a TW Vet, and it is still too easy). Any game which can be won without much chance of losing (or any chance of losing at all from my experience so far), is too easy - hence my asking for help to make it more interesting.

Any help is appreciated,

Buck

[Shahed]

EU III = Europa Universalis 3
BI = Barbarian Invasion

You should try Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday.
It is made by Paradoxx, the developer of the Europa Universalis series.

[EGr]

Lastly, two of the posters, EGR and Verisoft, mentioned some modifications to make it more challenging. Can someone direct the rest of us to an explanation of how to do this kind of thing? I would like to know how to make these adjusments, because I am tired of fighting against unupgraded peasants, town militia and spear militia when I have long since gotten advanced caste units to fight with. Obviously we can't ptobably change the kind of units they have, but at least they could have more of them, or more upgrades.

The game gives the AI a certain small amount of money every turn called the King's Purse, and you can increase it by simply editing this file-

C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign\descr_strat.txt

Open that file in Wordpad or Notepad and search through it until you get to this point

; >>>> start of factions section <<<<

Each faction has a section here that is pretty easy to spot. They all start with "faction factionname" and a couple of variables. Under that you will see a line called "denari_kings_purse". The number after that is the amount the faction gets every turn. Try different amounts until you get the AI to the right level of production you want.

[Soylent Green]

Loads of good & interesting points made here.

To a few i feel the need to go back to what i originally said. There shouldn't be a need to handicap yourself or overpower the computer for a challenging game. When you click that VH/VH button, you should hear the intake of your own breath as you prepare for a monstrosity of a battle. Aka. Civilization games.

Does anyone remember TA, where the computer player used to build top level units in a level one vehicle factory? Challenge.

I sort of see your point with the catholic bit, but i would have thought that being excommunicated would make the game MORE challenging. Given that i was at war with 7 factions at the same time, and inquisitors almost wiped out my entire family tree (pre 1.1).

For everyone slating the difficulty on RTW, i'm not sure what game you were playing, but as the Carthaginians i remember being bottled up several times by Roman armies 5000 strong. And then having to fight one of those sieges where you literally have 8 men left across 8 units, and you gasp for air.

I definitely accept the superiority of the English, afterall, we did build one of the greatest world empires, so naturally we should come across as superior in the game. Maybe i'll trying playing as Scotland or a one province starter. Which faction in everyone's opinion has the hardest difficulty?

I think part of my problem is coming from RTW:Alexander, i keep seeing the time limit ticking down and feel a burning desire to exterminate my way to the ends of the earth. Granted, but i think every medieval monarch would have welcome the chance to do this. Limiting yourself is probably ahistorical ;)

Plus, i do understand the 'letting them build up' bit, but for what? The battle AI still sucks as much as it did, it just makes it twice as painful watching them vaporise their own beautiful elite army.

IMHO, if you're playing this game to move diplomats and merchants around the map, the flawed diplomacy, and unbalanced odds for these units on VH/VH will just screw you. Plus, what's the point, it's Total War, the entire game is focused on war and conquest.

Playing any of the TW series as a passive, defensive country, is like playing Ultima Online as a tailor. Anyone sympathise?

I'm eagerly awaiting some of these mods people are mentioning, though i've never felt the need before. Just for you vets though - remember the days of Shogun, where you'd destroyed all but the last faction, and then found they controlled half the map? Or the days of MTW, where you had one more territory to go, and then your entire empire when into civil war, and you smashed the computer screen, poured petrol on your case, and sent the whole lot burning to oblivion?

I'm not claiming to be uber l337, i'm not trying to sell my amazing skills to you. But for gods sake, i AM an RTS and TBS veteran, i've been playing this stuff since i was 8, and when i click very hard, i expect to have my balls boiled by a razor sharp AI. And don't tell me it's not possible, because we have AI controlling some of the world's most advanced weapons systems.

Just look at civilization IV! And before anyone says "go play it". I don't like it.
Which is why i'm here :)