Rome: Total War's AI - a question!

[Malladine]

Can anyone verify that setting battle difficulty to hard or very hard stops the ai from forcing it's general to commit suicide and making ridiculous strategic decisions?

Example: my 1100 men with a 6 star general vs 1400 germans with a 4 star general. I win, killing all but 5 of the enemy and losing 44. yes, 44.

Example1: the Thracians besieging my city, with stone walls and defended by 1000 men, with 700. They attack and barely make a scratch, my 2 units of archers killing 400.

 

[Malladine]

bump
Trying to decide whether or not to restart the game. I have 15 territories as Julii right now, but the battles...my god. 65 wins-5 losses and only 1 of those losses a battle of more than a few hundred men. When I win, i'll hardly be proud. I want more challenge but there's not much point in my restarting the game with battle difficulty set to hard or very hard if that doesn't fix things.

Oh, and (the obligatory) this game is GOY material, the AI being the only detractor imo.

 

[Malladine]

come on! someone has to have played rome: total war on hard/very hard for either/or the map/battle phases.

 

[43st]

I'm playing on hard. I've read that the difficulty levels effect how quickly your troops rout mostly. It may do other stuff also but routing is the main thing.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: Thera
I'm playing on hard. I've read that the difficulty levels effect how quickly your troops rout mostly. It may do other stuff also but routing is the main thing.

hard/hard? Do the enemy Generals commit suicide?

 

[43st]

I'm not sure the difficulty effects the enemy ai much. It will effect how your troops react though. I've never seen an enemy general commit suicide, usually they fight right up until the end, sometimes they'll lead the first rush and end up getting cut down... but the same thing has happened to me also. You have to get your general in the action to limit your troops from routing.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: Thera
I'm not sure the difficulty effects the enemy ai much. It will effect how your troops react though. I've never seen an enemy general commit suicide, usually they fight right up until the end, sometimes they'll lead the first rush and end up getting cut down... but the same thing has happened to me also. You have to get your general in the action to limit your troops from routing.

Right, but i'm talking the general and his 20 bodyguards charging in a 100yds ahead of the main army and dying before the rest even reach me. I'll probably give it a shot. I'll try Scipii

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

No, we all found the AI to be more than adequate. You must just be a tactical genius as evidenced by your prowess at video games. Hopefully, someday, mankind realizes the magnitude of your mental capabilities and taps you to solve all the world's problems.

:telling the guy what he really wants to hear so this thread can die already;

P.S. If you want a real challenge, then play online against other humans. AI can never compete without cheating.

 

[effee]

Its too bad the multiplayer interface and connections suck so bad.

I mean wtf, a global chat room? no seperate chat box for a game? wonder who was the genius that thought that up.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
No, we all found the AI to be more than adequate. You must just be a tactical genius as evidenced by your prowess at video games. Hopefully, someday, mankind realizes the magnitude of your mental capabilities and taps you to solve all the world's problems.

:telling the guy what he really wants to hear so this thread can die already;

P.S. If you want a real challenge, then play online against other humans. AI can never compete without cheating.

*yawn* Quit trying to look important by sh!tting on threads, @sswipe.

 

[Rudee]

The AI is really lacking when it comes to proper formations. A calvary charge through their flanks sends them routing far too easily, as they never properly anticipate and form proper formations to minimize losses.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: Malladine

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
No, we all found the AI to be more than adequate. You must just be a tactical genius as evidenced by your prowess at video games. Hopefully, someday, mankind realizes the magnitude of your mental capabilities and taps you to solve all the world's problems.

:telling the guy what he really wants to hear so this thread can die already;

P.S. If you want a real challenge, then play online against other humans. AI can never compete without cheating.

*yawn* Quit trying to look important by sh!tting on threads, @sswipe.

Sure, as soon as you quit whining that video games don't provide you with enough challenge.

To answer your question, yes, hard is harder than easy. Will it still be easily beatable? Yes. Get AoK, and play 1v7 skirmish mode against the AI with the level set one above "Hard" and enjoy the challenge if that's what you're looking for.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: Rudee
The AI is really lacking when it comes to proper formations. A calvary charge through their flanks sends them routing far too easily, as they never properly anticipate and form proper formations to minimize losses.

yeah, that may be true but really i'd settle for the general hanging back and harassing maybe, you know being a general, instead of jumping on a spear the first chance he gets.

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor

Originally posted by: Malladine

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
No, we all found the AI to be more than adequate. You must just be a tactical genius as evidenced by your prowess at video games. Hopefully, someday, mankind realizes the magnitude of your mental capabilities and taps you to solve all the world's problems.

:telling the guy what he really wants to hear so this thread can die already;

P.S. If you want a real challenge, then play online against other humans. AI can never compete without cheating.

*yawn* Quit trying to look important by sh!tting on threads, @sswipe.

Sure, as soon as you quit whining that video games don't provide you with enough challenge.

To answer your question, yes, hard is harder than easy. Will it still be easily beatable? Yes. Get AoK, and play 1v7 skirmish mode against the AI with the level set one above "Hard" and enjoy the challenge if that's what you're looking for.

Don't generalize. I don't complain that "video games" don't provide me with enough challenge. I am complaining that THIS game in one very specific area does not. You've changed from adequate to easily beatable? I don't understand. You think easily beatable ai is adequate? And saying go play with other humans isn't relevant. I'd miss out on more than half the game.

I'm not talking about AoK. I'm talking about R:TW. Quite different games. Jesus, I just wanted to know if changing difficulty to hard or very hard for the battle side of things would prevent the, imo, almost game ruining predisposition the AI has for wasting it's generals.

 

[effee]

The AI can only go so far, what would you expect? If the AI was at the same level with you, we wouldnt need multiplayer, you'd be hard pressed enough to win any game single player, not only just R:TW