Do most people play on very hard?

[tyler36]

I was curious, do most people play on very hard/very hard? Right now I'm playing a campaign with dale on very hard/hard because I just can't bring myself to give the AI such a stat advantage in battle despite the bad AI. Most of the time I am outnumbered 2:1 anyhow so... But the start message says to play on vh/vh so what are you guys' thoughts on this? Might I find it funner if I increased he challenge? Right now it's somewhat challenging but not bad at all. I'm only on year like 2990 so I know it might ramp up later. Also I try to RP whoever I'm playing as, I find it funner that way.

[Red Viper]

I almost always play vh/vh, but the bonusses the AI gets are sometimes annoying.

[Ngugi]

Normally play H/VH to limit strategy map stack spam from increased AI bonuses, while I find anything but VH to easy in battle

[VektorT]

I'm play VH/H right now. Or is it H/VH!? Ah, screw it, very hard campaign and hard battles! I'm not sure about the AI bonuses in each one, but I dont want to much bonus to them in the battle... In the campaign I know they become more aggressive, and it's okay in Third Age since it's almost always Evil vs Good not a free-for-all, so the opposing side playing aggressive is better... plus the AI is pretty terrible administrator and I always made better use of my money anyway so they can have a boost to their economy too.

[British empire]

I used to play on H/H only but recently I have been playing on VH/VH because its more challenging and fun

[Hugyfew]

I'm playing on just E/E 'cause I'm a sucky newbie, but I'm gonna slowly try to amp up the difficulty.

You could have made this a poll.

[Flinn]

VH/VH is a faith

I think that it depends on what each player is looking for from the game, I concur that sometimes the stack spam is annoying, but in the end the AI is so poor that there is always a way to defeat it

I'm playing on just E/E 'cause I'm a sucky newbie, but I'm gonna slowly try to amp up the difficulty.

nothing bad, you play for your own amusement so you don't need to feel obliged to change the difficulty, but E/E difficulty is probably depriving you of some of the most challenging aspects of this mod... don't understimate yourself

[Bladvak]

VH/VH is a faith

VH/VH is the best way to make sure that you enjoy the mod and get the best of it. Otherwise, it will be too easy stomping on all the factions. I not only play on VH/VH, but try to refrain myself from exploiting the game (getting money from deals with AI, sending expeditions to sack cities - Umbar, repeatedly charging with the cavalry - though I do this sometimes, autoresolving - I shamefully admit to doing this sometimes).

But there is no shame in playing the game on easier modes - sometimes you don't have the time or the prowess to take on harder difficulties, but you still wish to play.

[polymorphic]

My first campaign in tatw was in vh/vh and i was destroyed by ai . I was disappointed but after reading a few guides i played my first successful campaign. Now I always play in vh/vh .

[Veteraan]

I usually play on H/H. I used to play every TW game I owned (beginning with Shogun 1) on VH/VH, but somewhere along the line I got fed up with endlessly chasing after little groups of enemy troops that kept returning to the battlefield because of the moral bonus. Changed it to VH/H. In TATW I changed the campaign difficulty to H/H because I often, due to my preferred playing style, end up with record breaking enemy stacks running around the map. Or standing still doing nothing in some cases.

Also I'm not as nimble and able to concentrate as I used to be.

[scostens]

I play on VH/VH. More enemies means more entertainment (mumakil excluded).

[manekemaan]

VH/VH but i do get pissed of when the ai keeps throwing free full stacks with mumakil at my ass.

[AqD]

Huh? AI only recruited one mumakil in my last campaign as Rhun. Fortunately I had thousands of archers on a hill and managed to kill them before all quivers are emptied.

[Veteraan]

I like to see Mumakils turning up. Provided I have at least 1 Ballista unit available. If I have more and perhaps a Catapult, the Mumakils kill almost as many Harad troops as I do.

[scostens]

I like to see Mumakils turning up. Provided I have at least 1 Ballista unit available. If I have more and perhaps a Catapult, the Mumakils kill almost as many Harad troops as I do.

Yes, but somehow they seem to prefer trampling my men, even when stampeding.
Very unsporting of them.

[RobotGonzo]

I always play on easy with every cheat I can muster.

[Sar1n]

M/M usually, I'm not playing that often and the stack spam is very annoying...I even quit my Gondor campaign not because of difficulty, but because I was fighting at least one battle every turn and it got way too annoying...I was essentially fighting few battles over and over again.

[Flinn]

stack spamming could be an issue, but anyway do not forget that you can play battles on VH and campaign on M; this way you'll have less stacks from the enemies, but battles will remain challenging

[twmatador]

Playing VH/H. Like facing the vast numbers (stack spamming). Because I'm using Silvan elves (slow recruitment, expensive, economy could be better) I like my enemy to "break morale" a little sooner. So "H" works for that.

One strategy I find really fun is parking a capable (half stack min) army next to an ally's army (more often Rohan in battles against Mordor) and then initiating a battle.
Having the ai ally army and the enemy on the battlefield at the same time adds a whole new level of twists, unpredictability and fun. That would not be as easy to trigger without lots of enemy (VH) running around.

[VektorT]

Playing VH/H. Like facing the vast numbers (stack spamming). Because I'm using Silvan elves (slow recruitment, expensive, economy could be better) I like my enemy to "break morale" a little sooner. So "H" works for that.

One strategy I find really fun is parking a capable (half stack min) army next to an ally's army (more often Rohan in battles against Mordor) and then initiating a battle.
Having the ai ally army and the enemy on the battlefield at the same time adds a whole new level of twists, unpredictability and fun. That would not be as easy to trigger without lots of enemy (VH) running around.

Battle with more than two factions are awesome!... But it's really rare... It's a design problem of Medieval 2, though. You cant plan attacks with your allied AI or something like that... A real shame...