Battle difficulty

**Myshkin** · November 13, 2009, 04:11 AM

Hi guys,

There was a debate at Total War: Third Age about which difficulty is the hardest to play battles.

Apparently some claim it is easier to cause a mass route on VH than N. Based on this many claimed they always had fewer casualties on VH than N. They also claim N battle difficulty is more challenging for experienced players.

I was wondering should I play N or VH...

Does anyone know what is the difference between N and VH for battles?

I heard VH gives a morale boost on the enemy, but also flanking has a multiplied effect. Are there any other stat boosts on the enemy?

Thanks,
Mysh

**Taiji** · November 13, 2009, 04:44 AM

The only thing I've found that it affects outside the AI is the player general's zone of influence, which is smaller the higher the difficulty.

So IMO based on thousands of hours of playing, testing and designing my own system, is that the rumored m2tw difficulty related stat boosts are total BS. RTW and MTW had them, so people are seeing what they expect rather than reality.

**Myshkin** · November 13, 2009, 04:53 AM

Thanks Tajii! To be fairly honest I haven't noticed any big difference either. So, I think I will go back to N.

As for TA:TW, KK's work is awesome as always, but after slaying the same 100th pile of orcs with the same units it gets boring as hell... Basically the mod suffers from repeatability in battle, and has an endless enemy unit overspam system.

For every turn I had to fight like 3 full stacks of orcs sieging E.Osglieth (or whatever the name is).

So, DLV for me. I love it's CIV-like turtle style.

**Taiji** · November 13, 2009, 05:36 AM

With DLV to me VH is the only sensible option. You want to feel the difference between governer and general on the battlefield, the best way to do that is to set to VH. Plus I don't think of N as being the game I've designed. I'm not interested in feedback about playing on N since it amounts to modification and is tantamount to heresy!!!

DLV is designed for VH/VH.

**Myshkin** · November 13, 2009, 12:21 PM

So, is there any other difference between N and VH?

If I figured out correctly, in VH a general and a governor have decreased range of influence making the general more useful.

**Ahlerich** · November 13, 2009, 12:31 PM

Originally Posted by Myshkin

So, is there any other difference between N and VH?

If I figured out correctly, in VH a general and a governor have decreased range of influence making the general more useful.

one difference is that units tire faster on vh then on m. this could also explain why some players have less casualties playing vh. if you take care of your troops and dont tire them because you let them walk slow as often as possible and the ai just keeps its troops running in many situations the human players mostly fight tired ai units with fresh troops and therefore gets less casualties then on medium where this tiring doesnt have a big impact.

**Taiji** · November 13, 2009, 06:58 PM

That's interesting, Ahlerich

I might have to look at things again.

**Myshkin** · November 14, 2009, 04:14 PM

Also the mass route thing on VH happens more often than N.

I don't know what you think, but N seems harder for me...

Talking of course only for the battle difficulty, because on the campaign map VH to N have a huge difference.

**Ahlerich** · November 14, 2009, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by Myshkin

Also the mass route thing on VH happens more often than N.

I don't know what you think, but N seems harder for me...

Talking of course only for the battle difficulty, because on the campaign map VH to N have a huge difference.

the mass rout could also be due to exaustion of the troops. pretty sure beeing tired makes them rout easier.

**RedGuard** · November 15, 2009, 03:29 PM

you see being tired doesn't make me want to rout it just makes me want surrender- then ill get to rest then get waterboarded and escape and return to my unit the next day-- US MARINE

**Ahlerich** · November 16, 2009, 04:16 AM

us marines do not rely on game settings

**Schwertmeister** · July 10, 2010, 03:02 PM

So what is the recommended difficulty (for rather experienced players) ? VH/VH?

I normally put the "spawn garrison units" off and also the "maintenance"-thing (Otherwise it's not manageble, at least with smaller starting factions). And I play in "Sim"-Mode, not "Total War". I'm playing with yzantine right now and it's runnung smooth, almost too easy, damn thing I never can remember with what difficulty I started (does it show it somewhere?).