Well if u ask me , darthmod is the best mod if u want a challange campaign (without income boost!) .
But the question is also how u play the game .
U like to abuse AI or u play hardcore ?
Im hardcore player . I restart my campaign 8 times bcs i play hardcore . Now i play with Mori on hard and make small progress and i can tell u the prize for every province I conquer is lots of blood ! ! ! . i saw many videos on youtube about how ppl play legendary vanilla and they way how they play is not legendary but very cheap . They sell stuff with diplomacy to get money , conquer provinve by defeating an enemy vanilla garnison , save every "balanced" battle" and use automatch . This is not legendary mode if u ask me this is pure cheating .
Why i prefer darthmod ?
1.Archer got nerfed . In vanilla archers are to accurate and deadly .
2. AI is more aggresive and unpredictable !
3. ALso battles are lost longer . In vanilla u saw hugh army retreating . But in darthmod enemy wont retreat easy. This result that every battle is a pure bloody massacre. AND i love it !
4. Also AI army has more variation . In vanilla u fight basicly against ashigaru armys.
5. Also the garrison got stronger , so u need to plan careful ur assault on an enemy province . Happened to me alot of times , that i was able to crush enemys main army but didint have enough troops to defeat his garrison so i was forced to retreat and atk later .
And rly if u play with darthmod dont Automatch . ofc when its like 10 vs 1 . Its understandable . But i made a test with Mori . I besieged enemy castle and did first automatch . Win ratio was like 70 % .
my army consist of 1800 men vs 1000 . I did automatch and i won with 500 deaths . Now i played the battle and u wont believe me , but i was close to loose the battle . I had 9 general units and 47 bow ashigaru left . Was dam massacre
So rly if u want a challange campaign and bloody battles go for darthmod and play fair ! dont abuse AI !