About Level of hard campaigne/battle...

[BlackWood]

Hello everyone. I'm not sure if this kind of topic is somewhere allready.I could not find it.
I would like to know what are the best settings for the campaigne EB? Which ones are the most recommended from creators ? I mean about level of campaigne/battle. Better is set on H/H or H/M or higher settings than those ones ?
Hope you understood me well :-) Waitng for answer. Have a nice day/night

[pbwu1f]

I got this from the EB FAQ,

Q: Which is the recommend difficult setting for Europa Barbarorum?
A: Europa Barbarorum is best played on Very Hard / Medium. The AI is aggressive (in particular the slave faction) but don’t get stat bonuses on the battlefield. If you want a real challenge try VH/VH but be aware enemy units on the battlefield are getting massive bonuses (afaik: +7 attack, +7 defence, and a huge morale boost), you could have your fullstack army is hacked to pieces by 5 units levies..."

[Thracian Princess]

enemy units on the battlefield are getting massive bonuses

Oh god is that the truth... Those Gallic "Naked Fanatic" Infantry become super soldiers on VH battle difficulty, but that just makes it more fun!

[pbwu1f]

As somebody that always played EB with VH/M, does the AI get any bonuses on the strat map?

[Bladvak]

I suggest you use VH/VH, but that's the TW hardcore fan and strategy expert talking ^_^.

It depends on what type of gameplay you want :
-you want an easier one? go for M/M
-you want an economical challenge? go for VH/whatever
-you want battles to be a real Challenge ? go for H/VH
-insane level? VH/VH.

I think it was the EB team that suggested a H/M or VH/M approach... VH for the battles is sometimes a hell (I had a stack full of persian archers being decimated by 3 armoured HA in the east, most likely the most humiliating defeat of my TW experience)

[BlackWood]

Thanks guys ! :-)

[Bladvak]

Yes, the AI gets money from the script.

"You have brains and the AI has money".

[pbwu1f]

Doesn't the AI get money even if your playing on lower settings? I guess what I really wanted to know is if AI armies act smarter if you play on higher settings? EX. using ambushes more often, combining troops or armies then attacking you, build settlement buildings smarter? You know stuff like that, to be honest I think I'm asking to much.

[Casual Tactician]

afaik: +7 attack, +7 defence, and a huge morale boost

Battle difficulty only affects the AI's attack stats for melee and ranged weapons. Easy: -4 // Medium: +/-0 // Hard: +4 // Very Hard: +7. I asked Aradan once and he's probably one of the best and most experienced RTW modders around.

Doesn't the AI get money even if your playing on lower settings? I guess what I really wanted to know is if AI armies act smarter if you play on higher settings? EX. using ambushes more often, combining troops or armies then attacking you, build settlement buildings smarter? You know stuff like that, to be honest I think I'm asking to much.

Small factions close to extinction get scripted money bonuses in EB afaik, but with VH campaign difficulty all AI factions get a few thousands each turn afaik.
But I don't think that the AI actually acts smarter with higher difficulties (be it campaign or battles), though with Hard or VH campaign difficulty it's nearly impossible to end a war (for more than a few turns) once it's started. And especially with VH I've got the impression the AI is more likely to start wars out of the blue.

Hello everyone. I'm not sure if this kind of topic is somewhere allready.I could not find it.
I would like to know what are the best settings for the campaigne EB? Which ones are the most recommended from creators ? I mean about level of campaigne/battle. Better is set on H/H or H/M or higher settings than those ones ?
Hope you understood me well :-) Waitng for answer. Have a nice day/night

I don't think there are any best settings, it all depends what kind of campaing you want to play. If you want lots of big or even full stack AI armies and "total war" as soon as possible then play VH campaigns, if you wan't some less AI full stacks then choose Hard and if you wan't to be able to make peace with AI factions go for Medium. Also the campaign difficulty affects the outcome of auto-resolving battles (ie. the harder the difficulty, the higher the losses for the player).

As for battle difficulty see above. But VH battles are usually not recommended by any mod developers I know of, as the heavily unbalance things. In average AI archers and slingers benefit the most, as their basic ranged attack is doubled, tripled or even quadrupled by the +7 attack bonus. And even levy/basic spearmen can turn into real killers on VH. Though if you wan't really tough battles, VH is the choice.
Hard or Medium battle difficulty (esp. Medium) allows you to use armies with a good portion of more low- (and medium-) tier units, which can be better for unit variety and role-playing purposes. With VH battles you are most of the time forced to only use the best units available (which is somewhat unhistoric).
Keep in mind that the battle difficulty can also affect the campaign, as the higher the battle difficulty is the more you have to spend on army upkeep (for the more numerous or higher quality units).

I mostly play H/H or H/M (sometimes also VH/M). Though I don't blitz at the beginning and give the AI time to develop before I really start expanding (besides some other house rules that restrict me a little). And playing with Hard or Medium battles, I can compose my armies fairly historically-accurate - ie. not only heavy/elite units.

[pbwu1f]

Thanks for the answer CT, your always a great help!

[Entropy Judge]

If you want lots of big or even full stack AI armies and "total war" as soon as possible then play VH campaigns, if you wan't some less AI full stacks then choose Hard and if you wan't to be able to make peace with AI factions go for Medium.

I've never seen the AI go for Mercenaries on anything below Hard. On Hard, they go for them but don't take all of them. On VH, from what little I've played, they tend to gobble them up as soon as they get the cash.

Also, I don't have too much difficulty *with some factions* keeping a Cease-Fire/Peace for a long time. As the Sweboz, the Arverni tend to honor deals even after I've taken some towns, and as the Romans I can usually get either the Makedonians or Epirotes to agree to peace, and the Epirotes in particular usually give me a few years of downtime. Of course, that's just anecdotal evidence.

[Casual Tactician]

I've never seen the AI go for Mercenaries on anything below Hard. On Hard, they go for them but don't take all of them. On VH, from what little I've played, they tend to gobble them up as soon as they get the cash.

Interesting. As I only play on Hard (sometimes VH), I never noticed that. (And I can confirm the AI using mercs on Hard)

Also, I don't have too much difficulty *with some factions* keeping a Cease-Fire/Peace for a long time. As the Sweboz, the Arverni tend to honor deals even after I've taken some towns, and as the Romans I can usually get either the Makedonians or Epirotes to agree to peace, and the Epirotes in particular usually give me a few years of downtime. Of course, that's just anecdotal evidence.

So it's not impossible after all...

[bojieh]

@ Entropy Jugde As I've played a couple of long campaigns on Med, I've noticed Egypt and Carthage flailing entire provinces, and other Successor states having a nice supply of mercenaries.

[Casual Tactician]

What about starting a thread where everyone can post their experiences with what the various campaign difficulties effectuate (in EB, and also generally in Vanilla RTW)? Over time we might get a fairly decent data base!?

Afaik it's not exactly known what the campaign difficulty accually does, or?

[metsikhovne]

i am always playing H/H. to avoid AI to do stupidly agressive things and battled to be more challanged. VH battles is really hell in RTW.