Playing on Hard/Hard

[Matzematze]

I started playing this game on medium/medium. After a couple days of that I decided to try Hard. So on my first move, a whole army of maybe 250 men decide to turn traitors to me and become rebels so that scared me out of playing hard. I would like to play this again but I hope some of you can help me out with how to play it.

first question, how do i maintain good relations with my allies? It seems that everyone declares war on me. For example, I was playing as egypt and allied with venice. The byzantine empire attacked venice and me. About 20 turns later venice declares war on me for no reason even though we are both fighting the same enemy. I tried giving them 10k gold but that didnt improve my relations one bit.

Second question how do i prevent my units from deserting me and becoming rebels?

Thirdly, if you have any tips for seige battles (on the offensive) I would appreciate it. I seem to always take more casualties when I fight the battle than when I autoresolve. Usually, large amounts of flaming arrows set my seige equipment on fire and so I have to bring up my second squad with the battering ram.

[TheJoker]

Are you playing unpatched? The AI is very finicky and harsh, and the game is just bad, in version 1.0. You need atleast version 1.3 for the AI to not be bastards, and it fixes a couple serious bugs, like the 2H glitch, and sheild bug.

[Matzematze]

I am playing 1.03. Can you tell me how i can get the 1.3 patch?

[General Nuisance esq]

I normally play Hard campaign very hard battle
In the long term you need to use siege equipment when attacking towns / castles as the majority of your casualties will occur during the gate taking phase
Trying to take walls is a pain and the odds are heavily stacked against you, I do send expendable units up ladders but only to keep their archers on the walls occupied for a bit
If I have no siege equipment then I take 2 rams and send 1 to the gatehouse and keep the other alongside as an immediate back-up
Its all about right troops in the right place once you breech the gate, first in are your infrantry (keeping all else way back out of archery range) when you win that battle and the enemy on the walls start to run for the town centre then bring archers and cav into the town
Archer the enemy in the town centre (protect your archers with infrantry as the ai will normally charge) and try to get your cav round the back of the town centre to attack the town centre once your infrantry has begun the final assault

As for diplomacy I can't really comment other than Venice are not trustable as an ally for a catholic faction let alone an Islam faction
If you are playing hard for the first time then try being a catholic faction as you can bribe the pope to love you and get a little protection from attack
As for your troops turning rebel,well it doesn't happen very often at all, you were very unlucky, tax rates MAY affect this but you will get rebel spawning a fair bit BUT use this as a chance to win a few easy battles and maybe get a few man of the hours

[Fakir]

I normally play Hard campaign very hard battle

I did this for a while. However, I recommend playing VH/VH instead of H/VH, just because there is so much more satisfaction to knowing you're winning on the hardest level than the second hardest.

[Silent Assassin]

I did this for a while. However, I recommend playing VH/VH instead of H/VH, just because there is so much more satisfaction to knowing you're winning on the hardest level than the second hardest.

The only difference from playing harder levels in this game, in the campaign is the at higher than medium the diplomacy is broken, no alliances stands only backstabbing which IMO I don't like at all

[Barry]

1.03 is 1.3, I have Kingdoms, I think you do two.

GN-esq has some sound tips for sieges and a siege is generally a siege so one tactic should repeatedly work for you.

Diplomacy is generally broken in total war games full stop so try not to let that bother you too much. If I was Egypt I would try to ally with the Turks/ Moors instead of Catholic factions.

[Paulus Rubio]

When I play vanilla, I usually play Very Hard \ Very Hard. This makes the campaign last even longer. The AI usually still sucks in battle, but when you have Very Hard on campaign map difficulty, you get major Health and population penalties.
Diplomacy gets kind of tricky on Very Hard. You must keep your reputation clean, that's the first rule. No backstabbing, cause the AI factions will remember this. Also try to keep your faction leader chivalrous, and dont use spies\assassins at all times. When choosing allies, choose carefully. When playing with Egypt, I wouldn't ally with the Turks, as they are your neighbours, and will sooner or later be in your way. As a muslim faction, there's also little use in allying with catholic factions, because they dont like you very much, and when you get hold of Jerusalem (or other adjacent regions) you will in time have crusading armies crawling up your ass. I'd go for the Moors as your allies. Give them some gifts, and perhaps a region, then they will soon love you.

When it comes to sieging, I strongly suggest you start bringing Catapults, or even better, Trebuchets with you. The first 30 - 50 turns you can take most settlements with 2 ladders and 1 ram, but after that, you must start bringing heavy firepower if you dont want to lose a shiiieeet load of men.

Hope this can help you!

[WarlordofMen]

on Hard/Hard maintaining good realtions is hard. Personally I suck at it, my relationships are normally terrible, a good way to keep it nice is to gift ur map info to ur allies that'll normally keep them happy. I just try and keep my generals on high chivalry by just releasing and occupying going on Jihads/Crusades. If they war with you just beat them off then send a diplomat and try to reason /w them. If they don't comply take a city and try again. You continue until either they die or they comply.

To keep ur armies from deserting i try to keep a general in my armies. Their loyalty stat keeps them from ditching on me.

Try and get two rams, a bunch of ladders, and a seige tower or two. If ur lazy like me you invest in artillery. It is effective and does damage to enemies while u move forward. Send extra forces too the flanks of the walls where enemies are not hiding

[Silent Assassin]

Try Lands to conquer and play Medium/Very hard and I guarantee that you will love your campaign

[Fakir]

There are also bigger differences in income between the player and the AI, higher star AI generals, and some other things I don't exactly remember. It makes them meaner and tougher.