Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: MTW Campaign AI & hard vs expert difficulty

  1. #1

    Default MTW Campaign AI & hard vs expert difficulty

    Hi

    I'd like to hear people's opinions and experiences on the subject of whether the MTW campaign AI is a significantly more sophisticated, or aggressive, or in some way more challenging opponent when playing on expert difficulty as opposed to hard difficulty on the strategy map.

    I'm familiar with what the Guide has to say about differences in difficulty levels but, apart from the amount of florins at start up, the campaign map game doesn't appear to be affected by the choice of difficulty. What do people think?

    Thanks and best regards
    Victor

    Sapere aude
    Horace
    Last edited by VictorGB; September 26, 2011 at 11:41 AM.

  2. #2

    Default Re: MTW Campaign AI & hard vs expert difficulty

    Hm, that's a great question and still no answers... interesting.

    I tried to solve that mystery by myself but, appart from obvious things like slight penalties on income etc. there is hardly a difference. Especially if you concern more sophisticated, aggressive, smart or challenging AI behaviour. (I play XL mod)

    The biggest difference is a battle hardness - less units (harder economy), more losses and more unexpected defeats makes a campaign a lot different.

    It's 100 for me - everybody say - Yari-hei!!!
    Last edited by Laserg; October 04, 2011 at 09:10 AM. Reason: anniversary
    Waiting for Europa Barbarorum II...

    I love Medieval Total War.





  3. #3

    Default Re: MTW Campaign AI & hard vs expert difficulty

    Yari-hei!!!

    Thanks Laserg. I was beginning to think I'd asked a completely moronic question.

    I guess this board's just not got a lot of life in it these days...

    I typically play on Hard because I find the BAI's 'fight to the last man' behaviour due to the extra moral conferred by Expert tedious and 'unrealistic', if you see what I mean.

    However, if I thought the CAI was a tougher opponent on Expert I would switch. I have never felt that this was so, but I'm open to persuasion, so to speak.

    My suspicion is that everyone has their own belief about this, but no one can back up their position with any substantive evidence. For me, the fact that the Guide doesn't suggest that the Expert CAI is any more sophisticated is the clincher.

    Best regards
    Victor

    Sapere aude
    Horace

  4. #4

    Default Re: MTW Campaign AI & hard vs expert difficulty

    Yeah, I fell the same.

    expert = challenge
    hard = pure fun

    Depends on my mood and my goal - pure fun or challenge - I choose respectively beetwen those two, because they exclude themselves(hard is challenging too though)
    Waiting for Europa Barbarorum II...

    I love Medieval Total War.





  5. #5
    Axalon's Avatar She-Hulk wills it!
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Sverige
    Posts
    1,273

    Default Re: MTW Campaign AI & hard vs expert difficulty

    Hi guys... Victor, you wanted my opinion on this, so here goes...


    I have yet to see anything that credibly suggest that there really is a difference in that limited regard - as outlined. I think the actual AI-behaviour on the stratmap is independent and unrelated to difficulty settings all together. The AI will basically carry on in the same way utterly regardless of difficulty - as there is no visible parameter (with variables) that directly connect and influence it with difficulty settings. Nor has CA-employees ever disclosed anything that indicated that there was such a connection somehow - at least that I know about.

    The little personality the AI has on the stratmap (based on the AI-templates like "CATHOLIC_DEFENSIVE" etc.) will not change because we play on "Expert" or "Easy" - the startpos-files show this. It is the circumstances that change and especially so in battle - which clearly is directly related to difficulty-settings (with a bunch of applied bonuses etc. etc. - as is already fairly well known). As for the various levels of florins, again, the only thing they will influence are the circumstances - not the actual behaviour of the AI.

    Personally, I don't think it is viable to ignore battle-mode as a factor in this context - since that factor clearly will influence somehow what happens on the stratmap, even for the AI. Battle-mode can not be ignored in this context as the impact of it on the stratmap is simply too great. The only true way to counter that impact - and all that it brings - is resolutely auto-resolve everything. Constantly and with no exceptions. Then the experience would be the same between "Hard" and "Expert" - as that is what it takes to successfully eliminate everything that sets them apart (as far as I can tell)...

    So, all things considered... I still think playing on "Expert" and "Hard" is bound to produce different game-experiences on the stratmap all the same - because of different circumstances applied in battles, not because of difficulty settings (that would somehow supposedly trigger a distinctive and superior AI-behaviour on the stratmap). At least I have never seen something that truly suggests otherwise. That is, unless we auto-resolve all battles - but that means that at least 50% of the actual game-experience (as intended) will be lost to us...

    - A
    Last edited by Axalon; October 27, 2011 at 12:26 AM. Reason: clarity...

  6. #6

    Default Re: MTW Campaign AI & hard vs expert difficulty

    Hi Axalon

    Cogently argued. Thanks for your time. Appreciated.

    Best regards
    Victor

  7. #7

    Icon6 Re: MTW Campaign AI & hard vs expert difficulty

    Quote Originally Posted by VictorGB View Post
    Hi

    I'd like to hear people's opinions and experiences on the subject of whether the MTW campaign AI is a significantly more sophisticated, or aggressive, or in some way more challenging opponent when playing on expert difficulty as opposed to hard difficulty on the strategy map.

    I'm familiar with what the Guide has to say about differences in difficulty levels but, apart from the amount of florins at start up, the campaign map game doesn't appear to be affected by the choice of difficulty. What do people think?

    Thanks and best regards
    Victor

    Sapere aude
    Horace
    Unfortunately, the A.I doesn't get smarter, harder, or anything of that matter. You only get more rebellions, but no faction A.I difficulty changes.
    It's even like that in the more recent Total War games- still the same, old, stupid A.I but even more retarded in this generation of gaming.
    Medieval Total War has a smarter A.I than the more recent Total War games, so... if you want a harder A.I in the battlefield or campaign- keep playing Medieval: Total War (1).

    "It's me, Smeagol."
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

  8. #8

    Default Re: MTW Campaign AI & hard vs expert difficulty

    Hi,

    iirc, in battles (as well "handmade" or autocalc) the AI gets a morale boost of 5 points. And, as Trillology stated, rebellions come faster and influence is harder to get/keep.

    greetings daigaku

  9. #9

    Default Re: MTW Campaign AI & hard vs expert difficulty

    This is actually an old thread bumped by a spambot...

    The only known difference in battles between hard and expert is that on expert the AI gets a morale bonus, that's not to say that it's the only difference.

    The other difficulty levels do differ more widely from hard/expert in terms of how the AI reacts to the player. I believe frogbeastegg's guide at the .org covers it in more detail.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •