How to get the best (and hardest) expirience from NTW

I just got myself NTW and I am wondering how it should be played.
Should I play vanilla or immediatly install Darth Mod(or other mods)?

I have a lot of TTW expirience from Rome and Third Age.
As I have never lost a campaign so far(not even hotseats) I also want to play a hard faction.
I would apprciate if the faction is hard because of many and strong enemies and not because the units are crappy.
Also some naval battles would be great as I have never played them before.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Put in Naval Supremacy mod, brewsters mod, or Brans mod and play Austria on VH/VH. That should keep you busy.

DarthMod

I'm currently playing vanilla ntw as France. Settings are VH/N. At the start everything went so easy, so i decided to take it slow.. biggest mistake ever. Prussia and Austria managed to build up huge armies and Britain decided to take my ally spain (captured Madrid ). It is really though to fight both Austra and Prussia on very hard campaign. They keep coming with full stacks. So if u want a challange try France on very hard campaign ,but don't blitz your enemies and give them some time to build up.

I must say after playing total war games always on normal settings. trying very hard is the best thing I did. It's really fun and challenging. First time i didn't get bored after 30+ turns.

Try this. Go to post 6. You will have your hand full of WAR!
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...-s-Campaign-AI

Originally Posted by Nice

I just got myself NTW and I am wondering how it should be played.
Should I play vanilla or immediatly install Darth Mod(or other mods)?

I have a lot of TTW expirience from Rome and Third Age.
As I have never lost a campaign so far(not even hotseats) I also want to play a hard faction.
I would apprciate if the faction is hard because of many and strong enemies and not because the units are crappy.
Also some naval battles would be great as I have never played them before.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Not exactly the hardest but my best campaign for Napoleon in Europe play on H/H is not destroying factions but make them vassals. I have managed to make all major factions vassals except Spain which is my ally. While the game is won already (and earn Steam achievement) I intend to continue to take out my allies now and make them my protectorates.

The best vanilla campaign of all Total War I've ever had.

Maybe once done I'm going to try the same on VH/VH and see how it goes.

Originally Posted by Nice

I just got myself NTW and I am wondering how it should be played.
Should I play vanilla or immediatly install Darth Mod(or other mods)?

I have a lot of TTW expirience from Rome and Third Age.
As I have never lost a campaign so far(not even hotseats) I also want to play a hard faction.
I would apprciate if the faction is hard because of many and strong enemies and not because the units are crappy.
Also some naval battles would be great as I have never played them before.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Not exactly the hardest but my best campaign for Napoleon in Europe play on H/H is not destroying factions but make them vassals. I have managed to make all major factions vassals except Spain which is my ally. While the game is won already (and earn Steam achievement) I intend to continue to take out my allies now and make them my protectorates.

The best vanilla campaign of all Total War I've ever had.

Maybe once done I'm going to try the same on VH/VH and see how it goes.

So Darthmod 2.6 with brans ai submod und naval supremacy is the best way to play.
May it be a good idea to try Darthmod 2.65 or is it dumb to play a beta at my first try?
Bran already said that it got the best battle ai of DarthMod so far, so its probably better than his own ai.
Also I am wondering if Austria really could have many sea battles. Never heard of a fleet of Austria.
Wouldn't prussia with suicidal diplomacy be an interesting faction? England, russia and france may lead to some interesting sea battles.

Playing france seems like one of the easier campaigns as it already starts as biggest nation.

In Vanilla just go VH campaign and don't steamroll the enemy. Playing as GB I just let the Homefront and Peninsular look aftre themselves and am currently involved in a Balkans deathmatch trying to simultaneously keep Austria independent as well as my protectorates in croatia and Hungary. Because you have to ship in re-inforcements it is actually a very difficult campaign...

NICE -Darth's BAI settings in beta 3 is the best he has done. Is it better than mine? That is a matter of taste. I like aggressive AI- Both BAI and CAI and that is the way I play. Try his new beta. Then try it with my modifications. It is a different experience. Not saying one is better just different. It all depends on YOUR style of play. I like action and conflict-Total War.