ranting about vanilla on VH difficulty

[anonymous_(\)008]

i've heard that the AI does not get a stats boost on vh. But i feel as if it's the opposite, like all AI units are always too OP in battles. just a few days back, i had a battle where a team of feudal and merc knights got slayed by one of the AI's mailed knights, among other things. The low tier knights were charging at my right flank (spears); i had anticipated this so i already had my feudals and franks at the ready. I launched the counter charge with feudals at an angle, about 10 o'clock of the incoming mailed knights, while the mercs sprinted out to circle back and attack from the rare, while the two cavs were lock in melee. I stopped the charge at the expanse of 30 feuds while the mailed knights casualties were only about 10ish. I'm familiar with the speed of the mailed knights, so i thought it was a mistake on my part; but what happened next was strange, after the mercs attacked from the rare, i was busy with other things on the battlefield, so i left them to sort out things on their own. and when i came back to the scene, the mailed knights, suffering only 20 or so casualties, had routed both my feuds and merc knights (20 and 15 men left, respectively. unit scale set to large). That was just unbelievable. meanwhile many "strange" things were happening on the battlefield. take note, i had the favorable high ground, so it was a moderately inclined battlefield. on the right flank was my general's unit (faction heir, 43 bodyguards), and silver chev merchant cavalry against one of the enemy's general (low tier, 31 units). the general charged up hill, i charged with my general, and used the merchants for flanking. long story short, the merchants got wiped out. and my general barely escaped with 5 bodyguards left, rescued by my spears, the enemy general suffered only ~40% casualties. i will not go on about how the other general charged uphill into my dense schiltrom and completely obliterated one of my silver chevron armoured sergeants, or how one unit of peasants, bear-hugged by three DFKs on all sides, managed to kill half of the knights and routed one of them. Or how, in another battle, a team of two teutonic knights and one mailed knights are bested my one unit of mailed knights. Or how, the sardinia garrison of one muslim archers and two peasant archers managed to burn 5 rams and kill ~500 of my spear militia and sergeant spearmen army.....these are just a few of my glorious adventures on VH
Maybe i suck at this... i should go back to playing on medium....*sigh* rant over

[UndrState]

i've heard that the AI does not get a stats boost on vh.

Yeah, I just want to stop you there and say whoever you heard that from was wrong or lying.

Keep playing on VH / VH - let the damn AI cheat. It's not nearly as smart as you are, and one day you'll have to find ways to handicap yourself in other ways to still feel a challenge.

[Yayattasa]

With multiple stack spam and infinite money the AI gets in most mods, I think the player is already handicapped.

[UndrState]

Well using a mod is that conscious act of handicapping. But Vanilla VH / VH is too easy; the player has so much more going for him over the AI, it's all the poor suckers can do to slow their slaughter at the end of Player pikes. And if you aren't convinced, go talk to BYG about it, he'll school ya

[vin2579]

Vanilla VH / VH is too easy for me now, many years after first starting to play medieval 2, but it was a fun challenge for the first few years, now I like using BYG with stainless steel and 12 turns per year with realistic ageing, now THAT is hard if you ask me.

[Yayattasa]

Oh, we were talking about vanilla, completely missed that. Yeah, the AI factions mostly destroy themselves by poor administration and suicide battle tactics.

[Emperor of The Great Unknown]

I'm pretty sure vanilla battle AI get no combat stat bonuses (it has been tested many times). Though it is unconfirmed that battle difficulty affect stamina and morale, however we don't have any hard numbers on that. One aspect of Medieval 2 that is different from most total wars in that random chance is a big factor, there are some cases where superior units will get defeated by low quality units. In an MP Battle once I lost two units of gendarmes to 1 unit of mounted sergeants, 1 unit of gendarmes was completely wiped out in the charge alone. So bad luck can happen.

[anonymous_(\)008]

I'm pretty sure vanilla battle AI get no combat stat bonuses (it has been tested many times). Though it is unconfirmed that battle difficulty affect stamina and morale, however we don't have any hard numbers on that. One aspect of Medieval 2 that is different from most total wars in that random chance is a big factor, there are some cases where superior units will get defeated by low quality units. In an MP Battle once I lost two units of gendarmes to 1 unit of mounted sergeants, 1 unit of gendarmes was completely wiped out in the charge alone. So bad luck can happen.

i still find that kinda hard to believe. Not after what i've experienced. It's not just one battle, it happens in all the battles. One thing is, though it may not relate, i've been keeping and eye on the "balance of power" thing. The AI always gets favoured there. Taking Rennes from France, with a half-stack of 2 ballista, 2 crossbow militia, 4 spear militia, 1 town militia and 3 sergeant spearmen (all armour upgraded and bronze chev) vs the enemy's garrison, bodyguards (31 units) and 2 crossbow mils. Balance of power shows 5:4, t i think it should be much less! i am thinking the BOP will take into account (correct me if i'm wrong) the base stats+exp and upgrades of soldiers, plus numbers and (maybe) tactical advantages. This would mean the AI gets attack bonus. this is just a speculation on my part though.
on the other hand, the stamina boost may very well be the culprit of the hour for me; it has the potential to have a good enough effect on the efficiency of soldiers. But it still doesn't explain much. like how peasants can defeat DFKs, let alone outnumbered 3 to 1. My knights were fresh, while AI's peasants, who had been battered by artillery salvos and crossbow bolts from the beginning of the battle, charged up the damned hill!

I'm all up for the "random chance" thing, where, by sheer luck and randomness, some inferior or outnumbered units may rise up to the occassion and defeat superior troops. It's what i've always been dreaming of in a strategy game. If that has been implemented here in M2, than, more respect to the creators. But it's not fun when they happen against me in all battles from the beginning of the campaign to the end. It always feels like every battle is an action movie and i'm the bad guy

i find the campaign map to be too easy on all difficulty levels (and i like to play the slow diplomatic game). My only complain is against the real-time battles.

[Emperor of The Great Unknown]

i still find that kinda hard to believe. Not after what i've experienced. It's not just one battle, it happens in all the battles. One thing is, though it may not relate, i've been keeping and eye on the "balance of power" thing. The AI always gets favoured there. Taking Rennes from France, with a half-stack of 2 ballista, 2 crossbow militia, 4 spear militia, 1 town militia and 3 sergeant spearmen (all armour upgraded and bronze chev) vs the enemy's garrison, bodyguards (31 units) and 2 crossbow mils. Balance of power shows 5:4, t i think it should be much less! i am thinking the BOP will take into account (correct me if i'm wrong) the base stats+exp and upgrades of soldiers, plus numbers and (maybe) tactical advantages. This would mean the AI gets attack bonus. this is just a speculation on my part though.
on the other hand, the stamina boost may very well be the culprit of the hour for me; it has the potential to have a good enough effect on the efficiency of soldiers. But it still doesn't explain much. like how peasants can defeat DFKs, let alone outnumbered 3 to 1. My knights were fresh, while AI's peasants, who had been battered by artillery salvos and crossbow bolts from the beginning of the battle, charged up the damned hill!

I'm all up for the "random chance" thing, where, by sheer luck and randomness, some inferior or outnumbered units may rise up to the occassion and defeat superior troops. It's what i've always been dreaming of in a strategy game. If that has been implemented here in M2, than, more respect to the creators. But it's not fun when they happen against me in all battles from the beginning of the campaign to the end. It always feels like every battle is an action movie and i'm the bad guy

i find the campaign map to be too easy on all difficulty levels (and i like to play the slow diplomatic game). My only complain is against the real-time battles.

I don't know what say, I know in my experience VH battles are still easily winnable, although the AI acts smarter so it could have an effect.

[Yayattasa]

Hmm, I tested it 10 times and I lost all them.

Will try again, maybe it was chance.

[vin2579]

The only real difference I have noticed is that the AI army almost seems to never break on higher difficulty.

[AdmiralThrawn]

You just need to hit them from behind with cav, and use heavier troops than they do.

[SupplyWagon]

Reminds me of the time when we edited some values in our roommate's installation of Rome: Total War as an April Fools' prank. His expression when a unit of peasants rolled over his entire legion without taking a scratch was priceless.

[vin2579]

Reminds me of the time when we edited some values in our roommate's installation of Rome: Total War as an April Fools' prank. His expression when a unit of peasants rolled over his entire legion without taking a scratch was priceless.

I can only imagine the horror...