Need a difficulty between medium and hard

[Lucius Confucius]

Something like "Equal"? I found hard way too hard in the beginning, but medium was just a pushover.

[Nongenti]

Consider looking into the gamefiles and adjust one of the Bot profiles to have values between the two previously mentioned Bot difficulties for the expierience you desire.

[Lucius Confucius]

Originally posted by Nongenti:

Consider looking into the gamefiles and adjust one of the Bot profiles to have values between the two previously mentioned Bot difficulties for the expierience you desire.

I used to love modding games, but I have grown weary of it in time. Still, thanks for the tip.

Looked up the difficulty variants online and hard seems to be pretty much equal to the player with no bonuses. So perhaps I just need to "git gud"?

It seems like hard was too hard for me on a 10 free for all, they just kept coming from two sides. Perhaps RNG messed me up? I had one AI that kept pushing at me even though they had problems on their homefront, even up to the point where they were wiped out.

[BATTLEMODE]

Originally posted by Lucius Confucius:

Originally posted by Nongenti:

Consider looking into the gamefiles and adjust one of the Bot profiles to have values between the two previously mentioned Bot difficulties for the expierience you desire.

I used to love modding games, but I have grown weary of it in time. Still, thanks for the tip.

Looked up the difficulty variants online and hard seems to be pretty much equal to the player with no bonuses. So perhaps I just need to "git gud"?

It seems like hard was too hard for me on a 10 free for all, they just kept coming from two sides. Perhaps RNG messed me up? I had one AI that kept pushing at me even though they had problems on their homefront, even up to the point where they were wiped out.

While I was learning the game I found Hard pretty challenging. I think you can pick up bad habits playing on Normal for too long.

For example, on Hard the AI will be more aggressive in attacking you early. and you need to be efficient with your expansion forces. Sure, it's great to have a whole load of new colonies taken fast but if you've not got a sizeable fleet (including more capital ships) by the time that first AI comes for you, you're gonna be in trouble.

Getting the balance right between just enough expansion to be competitive, and still keeping forces around to defend from enemy invasions is quite tricky at first.

Also, the difficulty will be quite variable depending on map settings and the number of AI etc.

I'd recommend perhaps giving yourself a bit more space to expand while you're learning to play on Hard, by playing on maps with more systems and less than recommended AI, so you've got more time to figure out your playstyle and make it competitive.

Don't give up though, it's very satisfying to crush the Hard AI and then you'll be ready for higher difficulties, or MP if you like that.

[ShogoXT]

The cheating AI doesnt start until Unfair. I made a AI mod that lessens the cheat factor.
Called AI Less Unfair. Still should work after you got a handle on hard. I recommend you pair up with an AI in the meantime.

[EniGmA]

Originally posted by Lucius Confucius:

It seems like hard was too hard for me on a 10 free for all, they just kept coming from two sides

Dont play FFA, the AI has a chance of allying together. Instead, start a game with 10 teams of 1 player each. It locks everyone against everyone.

Also consider downloading some "chokepoint" maps. I think these are perfect to play on as you learn a game because you typically only have 1 direction to focus defending on. You can work on perfecting strategies and getting faster at the early game as well when things arent coming at you from all sides.

[Lucius Confucius]

Thank you all for the advice!

I've ended up doing a bit of a compromise. I start with medium and play until I got myself some territory. Then I switch them all to hard. That gives me enough challenge without wiping me out. I will try to learn how to defeat hard from the start some day.

[Jambie Lionheart]

If I may ask, what are your usual gameplay settings? There's ways of slightly tweaking difficulty by using them.