Custom Settings

[SnuggleBunnies]

First off, thank you so much for 3.4. I haven't played a whole lot yet, but so far am particularly appreciative of the changes to stone walls.

I have a couple custom settings I play the game with (in the new huge unit size of course!) -

1) non-passive AI Elves and Dwarves. This leads to surprisingly few problems (the occasional Elvish assault on the Shire...) and significant benefits to gameplay. Mostly, the Elves and Dwarves just seize some weaker rebel settlements, and are somewhat more involved in the world. This leads them to lose ground in the long term, but the changes aren't drastic. It basically just makes the campaign more dynamic, and in the long run Men tend to seize Elvish and Dwarvish lands, which seems appropriate for the setting.

2) No fatigue. I was skeptical of trying this at first, but decided to give it a shot. Basically, the AI is stupid and it will consistently leave its entire army totally exhausted by the time contact is made. This makes it very easy to inflict chain routs. I found turning fatigue off made the AI offer more of a challenge. The downside of course is that now I can run my heavily armored troops across the map without fatigue, which is a bit cheap - but it does make things go faster - no more fast forwarding as my army slowly strolls across the map!

Anyone else have custom settings they use? I have played with no bodyguard upkeep in the past, but am trying to stay strong this time around...

[webba84]

Hey SB, glad to see you're still enjoying the mod!

Actually we seriously considered implementing the first change as part of 3.4, but basically we don't have the resources to test such a big change properly. Elves attacking the shire is also kind of something we want to avoid at all costs, even if the rest of the outcomes are positive. Very cool that it generally leads to human kingdoms siezing more non-mannish lands though!

Fatigue is always a tough one, quite a toss up as to whether or not it ultimately makes the mod easier or tougher. Personally I do use it just because otherwise the temptation is exactly as you say, to run everyone everywhere all the time. It also means heavily armoured units don't suffer the penalties that they should in very hot and cold climates. Still, if it offers the player more of a challenge, that's a good thing too.

Unsurprisingly I don't play with any custom settings, since I've incorporated all of them into 3.4 itself I suspect that the huge unit patch is something that most people will be using though.