When left to their own devices, do the evil factions defeat the good factions?

[Calypze]

My experience of the fate of the AI factions, at least when playing a good faction...

Rohan and Gondor tend to go down pretty quickly against Isengard and Mordor respectively. The Silvan Elves and Dale will succumb to Rhûn. Eriador will get crushed by Isengard.

The Dwarves usually seem to be able to hold their ground, but they are not particularly expansionist. The High Elves tend to loose Imladris, and them being reduced to the northwestern shores prevent them from affecting the outcome in any serious way.

So is it the natural fate of the AI that Sauron wins?

[DrDragun]

I think evil usually has an advantage, yes. I feel Rohan/Isengard is more 50-50 but the other matchups you mention I agree with. Depends if an Invasion is called on Edoras I guess, to get the ball rolling for Rohan's decline.

Some reasons for this: autoresolve favors heavy infantry rosters, the starting settlements of orcs include a higher proportion of castles vs towns (and the AI suffers no economy penalty from lack of towns), the mechanic of Invasions will remove key recruitment centers from good factions, and the strategic position of Gondor in a 2v1. Now, Rhun fights a 2v1 in the opposite direction but with much more favorable territory.

Last but not least... dwarves are a WILD CARD.

[eugenioso]

The player is meant to offset this. A human playing as a good faction can turn it around, though it will be very hard. However, if you go into an evil faction, then the good AI will do tremendously well, though never something like Gondor killing Mordor if youre playing as Isengard or as mordor yourself.

[Calypze]

The player is meant to offset this. A human playing as a good faction can turn it around, though it will be very hard.

Yes, very hard indeed. If you play, say Eriador you might defeat OoG and OotMM. But in the meantime, Rohan, Gondor, and Dale will be either defeated or nearly so.

However, if you go into an evil faction, then the good AI will do tremendously well, though never something like Gondor killing Mordor if youre playing as Isengard or as mordor yourself.

I agree with this. But even here it seems the evil factions have a slight advantage.

I think this goes by the lore. Gandalf said that there never was much hope in defeating Sauron.

[XViper]

I'm doing my utmost to stop this from happening as Lindon. (Very Hard/Very Hard)

Although I still lost Rohan unfortunately.
I hit the OotMM and Angmar from the west (just a little), which crippled them enough and eventually the Dwarves and Imladris wiped them out.
The Dark Forces called invasions on the Galadhrim multiple times, so I allied with them, and donated them conquered Edenwaith settlements on the West Coast, which allowed them to rebuild.
Early on I sent 2 full forces of troops via boats up to Osgiliath and took back Osigiliath and Minas Tirith from Mordor, and donated them back to Gondor. About 100 turns later, and Gondor still holds both and is fighting strong.
Dol Amroth is helping Gondor hold off the Haradrim and Mordor, and I sent some forces all the way all the way across the North East to help the Dwarves and Dale fight off Rhun, although they were doing a decent job.
Isengard has grown quite strong, but is not actively attacking anyone of worth and are only allied with the Dundelings, which I'm in the process of wiping out.

I made the mistake of trying to expand south by boats and attack Umbar. I took 2 of their towns, but they've hit back HARD. I'm barely holding on, but they haven't attacked Gondor or Dol Amroth from the South for awhile, which is good.

Is proving to be quite a fun game. (even if it is extremely long). I won the 'Short Victory', awhile ago, but am going to keep on playing until all Evil has been wiped out.

[Withwnar]

It sounds like you're playing a submod, XViper. This is a discussion about vanilla.

[XViper]

Sorry.
Yeah... Divide & Conquer.
Although, having played both, I don't notice any significant differences with the AI match ups.

[Withwnar]

That's okay. I just thought it best to mention it before anyone else starts talking about their non-vanilla experiences. A submod might be similar to vanilla but more likely that it isn't, in some ways at least.