AI Stat Bonuses - How to remove them?

[RuleBritannia]

I'm getting a bit tired of the AI stat bonuses. Even on normal, the AI troops prevent me from winning fair fights. AI spear militia can defeat my men-at-arms.

Any way to stop the AI troops from getting bonuses in stats?

[Tears of Destiny]

I'm getting a bit tired of the AI stat bonuses. Even on normal, the AI troops prevent me from winning fair fights. AI spear militia can defeat my men-at-arms.

Any way to stop the AI troops from getting bonuses in stats?

Simply set your Battle Difficulty (Not the campaign) to normal or easy.

[Lugiahua]

wait...you said AI militia defeated your "Men- At Arms" ?
it's more likely something wrong with your tactics...

[RuleBritannia]

wait...you said AI militia defeated your "Men- At Arms" ?
it's more likely something wrong with your tactics...

My men charged into theirs, melee fight, my men rout.

[Ishan]

My men charged into theirs, melee fight, my men rout.

Use Vanilla's BAI then if you are not used to it.

[HolyDevil]

Man-at-arms: "Argh half broken spears wielded by starving peasents!!! RUUUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"
Militia Spearmen: "Wtf....?"

[RuleBritannia]

Going to try Easy Battle/Very Hard Campaign. Apparently, Easy in SS is equivalent to Normal or Hard in Vanilla.

[Ichon]

Well the nice thing about MTW system is it is not simply a battle of stats like AoE games or some other franchises.

Light men at arms look better in stats than basic spear militia but have slightly fewer numbers and if the spear militia has 1-4 xp and is commanded by a good general they have a chance to win in straight up melee. Also depending on the losses on your side or nearby units routing or having +fear affects or your men are exhausted they could also rout.

I do think light men at arms are very misleading with their stats since I find them quite useless in most battles holding a frontline. I don't know if their animation is slow or something about the cohesion but they always seem to take extremely high losses. I have better luck with cheaper woodsmen or larger militia units with some armor upgrades.

On VH there does seem to be some bonus that AI gets in battle not only morale as AI units fighting on level ground that is exact same as player consistently win 1 vs 1 fights. However its very small bonus as the fights are still close. You should with better tactics still easily beat AI in most circumstances. 1 extra unit to the rear of the AI unit can lead it to rout when its militia.

[Lugiahua]

Hmm...I thought OP said his "Men-At Arms" (later era units that has stat similar to foot knights) lost to spear militia....

It makes sense if he actually mean "light men at arm"...because they really suck...

[SoCCo]

I'm getting a bit tired of the AI stat bonuses. Even on normal, the AI troops prevent me from winning fair fights. AI spear militia can defeat my men-at-arms.

Any way to stop the AI troops from getting bonuses in stats?

could you be more specific? give us some details:
- your formation
- enemy formation
- fatigue
- numbers
- experience
- armor/weapon upgrades
- who charged/who defended
- commanders

i find it odd indeed to lose against spear militia with higher tier units. it never occured to me.
there are many factors that affect battles and formation's morale. for instance you can't have your elite heavy infantery fight off to many spear militia formations, one at the time, they'll go tired and loss of number will make them rout eventualy. also, maybe your unit was surrounded by multiple units, maybe allyed units where routing, maybe you attacked and the spearmen counter-charged.

[Lugiahua]

I actually did a test

5 companies of French Men-At Arms, with lv3 armor upgrade (600 men)
against
15 companies Fatima Spear Militia (2600 men)

result:
96 Men-At Arms killed, kill/captured 1600 Spear militia

So it doesn't sound very reasonable that Men-At Arms lost to militias...

[SirRobin]

My favorite unit in the game is the light swordsmen / light men-at-arms. Not because of their stats or capabilities, but because I like their style and I feel they are "real" soldiers, subject to the harsh realities of war, not some invincible fully platemailed killer robots

As for the OP - I had similar expeirences before, both with infantry and mounted knights (who were picked apart by ladder carrying peasants). Sometimes a melee just seems to go wrong for no discernible reason - it might be due to a nomber of "hidden" factors or it might be one of the game's many bugs, who knows ..

I actually did a test

5 companies of French Men-At Arms, with lv3 armor upgrade (600 men)
against
15 companies Fatima Spear Militia (2600 men)

result:
96 Men-At Arms killed, kill/captured 1600 Spear militia

So it doesn't sound very reasonable that Men-At Arms lost to militias...

Why did you include armour upgrade for only one side of the test?

[Lugiahua]

both side did have upgrade, I forgot to put on.

[Cyprexinia]

I know sometimes that men will keep marching and take heavy losses or if they get stuck. Light men at arms just aren't a very good unit, their stats and discription sounds good but I'd yet to see them actually do anything worth while.