Difficulties discussion….

[SomaaTheLion]

So I played some campaigns and I've found out the following:

Easy and Medium: Way too easy
Hard: A bit of a challenge but nonetheless EASY
Very Hard and Legendary: The AI just gets too many bonuses and spawns armies etc…, which is CHEATING!!!! I would have liked the AI too act in another way, e.g. better strategies, when the difficulty is harder, AND NOT get bonuses and spawn armies!!!!!

So, tell me what do you think of the difficulties-setting.

[Szlachta]

They are all way too easy. Like you said. There should be better strategies. Not "The only difference between easy and legendary is the AI's incredibly stupid cav charge into my spears lasting a bit longer on legendary". I mean, there's even still the General suicide charge from Empire.

[SomaaTheLion]

They are all way too easy. Like you said. There should be better strategies. Not "The only difference between easy and legendary is the AI's incredibly stupid cav charge into my spears lasting a bit longer on legendary". I mean, there's even still the General suicide charge from Empire.

Yeah lol, that also made me think of the AI's stupidity in making their generals climb the fortress walls after all units are dead, just STUPID !!!!!

[Szlachta]

Yeah lol, that also made me think of the AI's stupidity in making their generals climb the fortress walls after all units are dead, just STUPID !!!!!

I honestly think static strategies programmed in my multiplayer player for each map would actually give a better battle than the AI now. Ive even had a few 'cluster' formations thrown against me by the AI, you know, what the Native American armies did in Empire, just keep moving and redeploying while they get shot up.

[Felixlynch777]

The whole "magically turning army of Ashigaru into Katana Samurai" needs to be fixed.

[DeliCiousTZM]

AI is cheating? you ever leeched of 4000 koku for 10 turns of military access ? Playing Legendary republic vs 5-15 Legendary computers at all times i aint gonna say its easy cuz its not But Legendary in general is not to hard, You just need to develop some skills is all.

and where is this "Spawn armies" coming from i never seen the computer "Spawn armies" sure they get bonuses (Non during battle btw) that helps them recruit but they dont "spawn armies" out of nowhere.

and you forgot the poll choice where it says to easy, i find this poll a little lackluster!

[Elitewolf]

AI is cheating? you ever leeched of 4000 koku for 10 turns of military access ? Playing Legendary republic vs 5-15 Legendary computers at all times i aint gonna say its easy cuz its not But Legendary in general is not to hard, You just need to develop some skills is all.

and where is this "Spawn armies" coming from i never seen the computer "Spawn armies" sure they get bonuses (Non during battle btw) that helps them recruit but they dont "spawn armies" out of nowhere.

and you forgot the poll choice where it says to easy, i find this poll a little lackluster!

The AI does spawn armies. I believe there was a nice photo around here somewhere showing the Date clan on turn 4 or so with a full stack of samurai in their only province. The key thing here was that none of the samurai had any upgrades, while Date has a blacksmith in their territory. So in the unlikely event the ai had been able to recruit those they would have the bonusses. And there are countless other examples.


The cheating thing is one of the reasons why I play darthmod. I hate having enemies pull entire armies out of their butt.

[SomaaTheLion]

AI is cheating? you ever leeched of 4000 koku for 10 turns of military access ? Playing Legendary republic vs 5-15 Legendary computers at all times i aint gonna say its easy cuz its not But Legendary in general is not to hard, You just need to develop some skills is all.

and where is this "Spawn armies" coming from i never seen the computer "Spawn armies" sure they get bonuses (Non during battle btw) that helps them recruit but they dont "spawn armies" out of nowhere.

and you forgot the poll choice where it says to easy, i find this poll a little lackluster!

I am 100% sure that the AI gets bonuses in battle ( better morale, better reloading skills etc.), but I think you can change battle difficulty in the options during the game. And yeah I forgot too easy, but it belongs anyway to CA has to do a lot of work on the difficulties

I also liked the old separate campaign difficulty and battle difficulty.

Yes, but still I think you can change battle settings : in the campaign map press escape and you'll find it somewhere in the options.

[CptAustus]

AI doesnt spawn armies. It smartly uses its extra recruitment slots, lower upkeep, lack of resistance to invaders and lower recruitment prices.

[Szlachta]

AI doesnt spawn armies. It smartly uses its extra recruitment slots, lower upkeep, lack of resistance to invaders and lower recruitment prices.

This. It doesn't actually conjure them from no where, they just have it easy with how difficulty is just a handicap modifier. Darthmod, and other AI mods help out a lot in battle mode to give better difficulty through strategies, but even then the vanilla AI shows through and for an advanced micro manager, one little misstep can be, and usually is all it takes.

For instance, cavalry. Ive never met an AI that can properly use cavalry. A good human can beat a spear army with cav. It's hard, but he can micro and use tactics I wont divulge here. Only a competent or equal spear wielder can beat them. But to cav, they never mass cavalry as an anti cavalry force against you. Nor do they try to ride behind you when you lack cavalry. They cant kite, or skirmish well, nor do they know the nuances of the charge, hill charge, counter charge, counter hill charge, woods charge, rally charge, banzai cavalry charge, warcry charge, charging into water units charge, etc. At least they don't act like they know it. When they use artillery, they bring it up too far before they unlimber, or they'll just get picked off in first person, since you can shoot farther. They don't know how to spread in one thin line on a wall during defense, they don't know how to use cheap units as fodder for charges, flankings, oblique flankings, and counter flankings.

[Puerkl8r]

I also liked the old separate campaign difficulty and battle difficulty.

[General George S. Patton]

The problem with the current difficulty settings, is all it does is give the ai cheats, which I find unfair, and I don't like it, what they need to do is have it change the ai aggressiveness

[SomaaTheLion]

The problem with the current difficulty settings, is all it does is give the ai cheats, which I find unfair, and I don't like it, what they need to do is have it change the ai aggressiveness

Aye Sir, I totally agree with you !!! And I think Sharpe and The Chosen Men will also agree with us

[Ferdiad]

I prefer Darths difficulty levels instead of massive AI bonuses that CA uses.

[krisslanza]

CA uses the AI bonuses because the player already has an impossible advantage - it's a human. They can't make an AI "smarter" really, at least not without a ton of help. It's far easier to just give an AI bonuses to compensate for it not having the flexibility of a player.

After all, an AI is nothing but 1's and 0's. The human player can change tactics at the drop of a hat - the AI only knows as many tactics as it is given. We haven't quite invented self-learning AI yet...

[Szlachta]

CA uses the AI bonuses because the player already has an impossible advantage - it's a human. They can't make an AI "smarter" really, at least not without a ton of help. It's far easier to just give an AI bonuses to compensate for it not having the flexibility of a player.

After all, an AI is nothing but 1's and 0's. The human player can change tactics at the drop of a hat - the AI only knows as many tactics as it is given. We haven't quite invented self-learning AI yet...

Pretty much. Why I like drop in battles with friends, since they can try to give you a run in campaign, or actual co-op campaign.

[Chopy]

CA uses the AI bonuses because the player already has an impossible advantage - it's a human. They can't make an AI "smarter" really, at least not without a ton of help. It's far easier to just give an AI bonuses to compensate for it not having the flexibility of a player.

After all, an AI is nothing but 1's and 0's. The human player can change tactics at the drop of a hat - the AI only knows as many tactics as it is given. We haven't quite invented self-learning AI yet...

Well than , sounds like CA has some work to do.

[CptAustus]

CA uses the AI bonuses because the player already has an impossible advantage - it's a human.

This. There is game where higher difficulty = smarter AI. It always means the AI increases its stats.

[Humble Warrior]

I think CA have on purpose made FOTS easy on lower levels and even on the max Legendary. I tried Hard to test and familiarise myself and that was baby like easy- I was making 500000 stupidly quick. The CAI was no challenge at all. Went to Legendary and while it`s hard, it`s nothing like Shogun 2 legendary.

CA have done this before in past games on release, then with a subsequent patch they toughen it up.

I predict in the next FOTS patch we will suddenly see the difficulty levels get ramped up at least one notch.

[verena xeventus]

For those saying the game is too easy... simple answer is to play on the hardest setting. They should leave easy and medium difficulties as they are at the moment. I play a medium difficulty campaign game and a hard battle map game and I like it just the way it is. Just because some people like the game to be rediculously hard doesn't mean everyone else does. Personally I don't have the patience for losing constantly on campaign and like to take it in my stride, which is why I stick with medium. No doubt I'll get insulted about how bad I am at playing total war because of this - meh!