What difficulty do you prefer to play XGM on?

**piranha45** · December 26, 2009, 12:35 PM

DimeBagHo advises Hard/Hard, and I'm sure he also suggests having AI Bonuses On when you install XGM.

I can't stand the thought of that.

I met the victory conditions for a Normal/Normal Iberia campaign with AI Bonuses On, and I thought THAT was needlessly aggravating; the AI just Spams Armies on you. It takes too much of the meaning away from winning individual battles. I suppose I'm just an impatient guy who needs instant gratification. I appreciate the feeling of playing through a few turns and feeling like I've accomplished some tangible results.

I'm doing a Normal/Normal Saba campaign with AI Bonuses Off, and the game is much more enjoyable for me, though I remain irked that every AI General gets at least 5 command stars by default.

Perhaps a portion of my distaste for the higher difficulties is related to my general newbishness, and maybe a lot of guys are somehow so good you can consistently defeat Hard/Hard AI armies with half the AI's troops and equal soldier/general quality.

Or maybe the rest of you are N/N players too, and also think DBH must be either crazy or a gaming legend for advising H/H. Or maybe you like H/H and also appreciate your empire being composed solely of the same 5 provinces you started with 100 turns ago.

What say you?

**Boriak** · December 26, 2009, 01:41 PM

My Macedonian campaign is on Easy/Medium. I play it when I want to relax and play just the strategic part.
I play Carthage on Medium/Hard when I want a challenge.

Both of these are on 1HP system without AI bonuses.

I have numerous other campaigns with 2HP settings, I usually play them on Medium/Medium.

**Diomede** · December 26, 2009, 06:44 PM

To be honest I've only really learned how to fight actual battles in the past 4-5 months, so just before I started playing XGM. Because of this I've yet to venture past medium/medium in XGM, XC, Troy or Arthurian as mods are uniformly more difficult than Vanilla.

**Publius Quirinus** · December 26, 2009, 10:08 PM

It's M/M for me. Other than my mediocre skill, I play on Medium campaign because the AI is more biased against you at higher difficulties. Even on Medium it's already almost impossible to keep the peace with a border, which is a huge immersion breaker imo. I pick AI bonuses reduced, and then halve the bonuses again manually in the EDB, and lower/remove the colony taxation bonus. This is also because I'm more of a turtler, so it suits my slower style of play.

**piranha45** · December 27, 2009, 12:16 AM

Originally Posted by Quirinal

Even on Medium it's already almost impossible to keep the peace with a border, which is a huge immersion breaker imo.

I fully agree... At least having a CHANCE at diplomacy makes Medium worthwhile

**Alavaria** · December 27, 2009, 08:28 AM

I always thought H campaign was harder than VH campaign because on the latter some bonuses get messed up.

But yeah, it's H/VH. I don't really have half the AI's men, but usually have tons of spam troops and make great (ab)use of slingers and other ranged troops to kill the enemy quickly. That and as a strategy, blitzing as well as rushing the faction capital... (I use the full AI bonuses, so it's important to grab that, as it almost paralyzed them - happened with Carthage in my campaign).

**AchillesXX** · December 30, 2009, 10:59 PM

The only faction I have been able to successfully play XGM with on VH/VH + AI bonuses is Greece. After you defeat the first Macedonian army and take Corinth you are nearly unstoppable militarily and economically.

I think that Rome and Macedon could be played successfully on VH/VH if it were not for the difficulty they find themselves in at the beginning of the game. If you could beat Pyrhus (sp?) or the Gallic horde you would be pretty well set. Also, I would guess (but have never tried) that Scythia/Parthia would be doable by exploiting HAs - especially on 1 HP. I would wager that most other factions would be either nearly or totally impossible.

For the most part I play on H/H with AI bonuses. It provides a solid challenge without hair pulling frustration.

If anyone has ever beaten the game with Masilia on VH/VH with AI bonuses they deserve the world's biggest cookie.

**Kratos** · December 31, 2009, 09:40 AM

Normal / normal. With some personal houserules I find it fun to play.

**DimeBagHo** · December 31, 2009, 03:40 PM

I always play on H/H + AI Bonuses + some house rules to prevent exploiting weaknesses of the AI. With those settings I lost the Massalia campaign a few times before I found the right way to start.