What is the best difficulty level?

[bearfieldlee]

I am playing on medium difficulty as Aurelian with a more aggrressive AI mod on and I'm having quite an easy time of it basically cutting about doing whatever I like. Is hard or beyond much more difficult? Will I actually get my path blocked at times by decent sized enemy stacks of decent unit composition?

[New Caesar]

As Aurelian, every difficulty is easy. Overall the most fun difficulty for any campaign is very hard or legendary.

[bearfieldlee]

Thanks, I'll try Very Hard. Is diplomacy still viable on that or does it just shut all your options down?

[Red Spot]

Think before you play very hard do you want to micro everything? Start with settlements that may rebels if you do not take action? Imo the start on very hard is not much fun, annoying in some respect, and it does not really make the AI all that more of an opponent than it was on hard.
Part of the difference is not only that the AI gets an extra boost, you also get an extra penalty.
But later on that extra boost to the AI can make it a bit more fun, could also be more of a grind..
Diplomacy will work, but marginally less than on hard, and more so than on normal.

Iirc there is a youtube video explaining the difficulties in Rome 2. It is all pretty well done, I personally am just not that big a fan of giving the human penalties instead of giving the AI a bit more cheats.

[bearfieldlee]

Thanks for the info guys!

[AstroCat]

Hard / Hard is usually or Hard / Normal are probably the most used for balance and not "gimicky" games. If you just want more challenge then go ahead and jack up the difficulty but it can be rather immersion breaking at times if that matters to you.

[Myrmidon]

Originally posted by AstroCat:

Hard / Hard is usually or Hard / Normal are probably the most used for balance and not "gimicky" games. If you just want more challenge then go ahead and jack up the difficulty but can be rather immersion breaking if that matters to you.

I see 'Difficulty / Difficulty' mentioned a lot on the Rome 2 forum and it made sense in the Rome 1 days because you had Game Difficulty and Battle Difficulty. But in Rome 2 they're combined into a single difficulty. I get quite confused why the whole " / " remains.

[Fang]

Hard is my favorite to play as. It offers the best balance between fun and AI ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. But I also play with AI mods that significantly enhance the AI already in terms of aggression, how often they declare war, and how many units they are allowed to recuit per turn, so that's probably a factor too.

[Mouse]

Legendary only. What's point in playing lower

[bearfieldlee]

Never tried legendary...Should I?

[Fang]

Originally posted by bearfieldlee:

Never tried legendary...Should I?

496 hours. I'm assuming you have at least a basic grasp of the essentials by now (sarcasm). What are you worried about? Give it a try. Legendary isn't that hard, just annoying. The AI is as stupid as ever, it just spams a lot more and gets buffed.

[bearfieldlee]

lol...yeah, how many hours does it take until you can call yourself experienced?! I'll give it a go.

[DecayWolf]

I started playing on legendary from my very first game ever. I guess back then Rome faction was a little bit stronger than others, but then it got nerfed patched.
Currently with all these extra resources factionwide bonuses, all the manageament aspect of the game are pretty much gone.

I really don't know how someone could find it difficult currently, on any difficult.

[Elliott]

Originally posted by Myrmidon:

Originally posted by AstroCat:

Hard / Hard is usually or Hard / Normal are probably the most used for balance and not "gimicky" games. If you just want more challenge then go ahead and jack up the difficulty but can be rather immersion breaking if that matters to you.

I see 'Difficulty / Difficulty' mentioned a lot on the Rome 2 forum and it made sense in the Rome 1 days because you had Game Difficulty and Battle Difficulty. But in Rome 2 they're combined into a single difficulty. I get quite confused why the whole " / " remains.

Once you begin a campaign you can go to options and change the battle difficulty from the setting you chose at the start allowing you to have a 'very hard' campaign and 'normal battles'

Topic: I'd give hard a go if you like remember that it changes things you may not expect like I think there is a -10 party loyalty penalty applied across the board which is quite significant. Also in battle the AI will get some buffs to morale and possibly other stats so you may find unit matchups you expect to go your way end up going belly up.

If you want a tougher campaign with more AI aggression and armies but not the in battle buffs make sure you go to options and tone battle difficulty down to normal.

[Mouse]

Originally posted by bearfieldlee:

lol...yeah, how many hours does it take until you can call yourself experienced?! I'll give it a go.

As the other poster states, it isn't even that much harder. Just expect more aggressive AI and more AI agent spam. I guess the hardest part of legendary difficulty is the public order management and the new political parties traits. If you know basic strategy and use agents efficiently you should have no problem

[Myrmidon]

Originally posted by Elliott:

Originally posted by Myrmidon:

I see 'Difficulty / Difficulty' mentioned a lot on the Rome 2 forum and it made sense in the Rome 1 days because you had Game Difficulty and Battle Difficulty. But in Rome 2 they're combined into a single difficulty. I get quite confused why the whole " / " remains.

Once you begin a campaign you can go to options and change the battle difficulty from the setting you chose at the start allowing you to have a 'very hard' campaign and 'normal battles'

Topic: I'd give hard a go if you like remember that it changes things you may not expect like I think there is a -10 party loyalty penalty applied across the board which is quite significant. Also in battle the AI will get some buffs to morale and possibly other stats so you may find unit matchups you expect to go your way end up going belly up.

If you want a tougher campaign with more AI aggression and armies but not the in battle buffs make sure you go to options and tone battle difficulty down to normal.

Ah I see now I have battle difficulty on very hard it seems which matches the campaign difficulty I selected. It explains why a unit of Libyan Peltasts (barefoot peasants with javelins) can survive being boxed in 360 by 3x centuries of crack Evocati... Was wondering why it seemed a bit ridiculous.