DaC is literally impossible.

[Special Agent Vito]

Thought of many possible titles for this post.
So yeah, I really love the concept of DaC and all the work and content they've put on this mod. And I was looking forward to play many of the factions you can play in the campaign. But it is just too damn hard.

I tried playing with Woodland realm, as I understand that it is kind of the second easiest faction. And I am still getting my ass kicked. Got like 60 turns in and barely survived with the starting two settlements (something like that, I don't remember perfectly).
I got tired and just used cheats to give myself like 2.5million gold.
Around 100 turns later and with about 500k gold left and I am just barely getting close to beat Dol Guldur! All while Gundabad is kicking my ♥♥♥♥ up north. I don't even see myself getting NEAR Mordor.
I mean I love the game but am I missing something? I THOUGHT I knew the basics of Medieval 2 but now I feel like a baby.
Any tips?

[OberBefahlKampfParrot`4f]

Im a total war veteran, and DaC doesnt give me any headache. Its a very relaxed experience in one of my favorite fantasy worlds. What difficulty you play on? Maybe play a bit more vanilla medieval 2 to get used to the mechanics?

[Special Agent Vito]

Originally posted by OberBefahlKampfParrot`4f:

Im a total war veteran, and DaC doesnt give me any headache. Its a very relaxed experience in one of my favorite fantasy worlds. What difficulty you play on? Maybe play a bit more vanilla medieval 2 to get used to the mechanics?

As I understand you have to play on Very Hard because of reasons I don't quite understand. Something about the mod configuration?
But yeah, I think I will do as you say and keep practicing with Vanilla a little.

[Inardesco]

The mod is balanced around very hard difficulty but theres abolutely nothing stopping you from turning it down.

Its just that the AI gets a higher kings purse on very hard whereas on easy it is the player that gets the highest.

That said, it is not a mod for someone that doesnt have a lot of vanilla experience.

[Shadow of the SPQR]

There's a princess bride quote for this OP's title regarding a particular word...

[|*D*F*| The Mark Of The Night]

playing 4,5 now and still every time i play gondor its a f brease.

gondor is easy as f and until you can beat mordor before barracks event you shouldnt actually comment on this thread in a way to claim hardness of factions.

human factions who are hard to play is:
khand (goodside if mordor actually beats gondor witch i havent seen yeth).

enedwaith(you need to make ally's fast and f early who arent evil).

hobbits (units are a joke to be honest)

dunlending (kinda proxy state of isengard and just expand so you block of isengard and get those secure southern regions).

anduin (is kinda there to die but have alot of ally's so you should be able to hold in the long run)

dorwinion (Rhun gonna f you up if you dont ally dwarves and dale and get early west expansion and dont go north let rhun/dale fight there and focus on rhovania).

harad (no armor but huge ally count despite being evil faction)

angmar (its kinda mehh units but the amount is orcis)

northen dunedain (you need that early win to get those big rebel settlements consider giving up some of the southern regions to the hobbit and let them fight enedwaith or dunlending depending)

umbar (you can do what you want tbh)

dale (just relax and have fun)

gondor easiest human faction (AI always win when i dont play gondor or mordor. gondor just needs to use dol amroth as proxy state and let them fight south while you just stomp mordor early through minas morgul and inside the blackgate dont front it unless have spare army, dont spam army all regions just use minas tirith, rest should build up perhaps get mines midle regions etc build up rest of gondor)

elves are to op just dont get to menny generels early best to worst
if you cannot win with mithlond/rivendell rethink all you know of game its the faction to play first time playing, and only that dont play them more than one time, its not a faction its a stomp for the game.

lothlorian are the easiest actual elven faction ever (just dont expand to close to the mountains aka f anduin)

realm of mirkwood (try going for the 2 mirkwood regions closest, then go rhovanion region where both you and dale can expand, and just slowly go down)

elves are easy and should be for new players who wanna know the game and the importans of good archer angles.

orc's best to worst
isengard (take 1 rohan city and just rush west)
northen
mordor
dol guldur
misty

dont even wanna say why becouse if you f up northen you should go back to elven faction and learn game.

convince me that it isnt true?
start by getting over 2500 h ingame. i will try your faction's of dispute and their placements.

[Inardesco]

Y u getting your knickers in such a twist?

[Special Agent Vito]

Alright guys I retried yesterday, it was a pretty fun friday, to be honest.

Went Mirkwood / Woodland Realm again. Things I did differently:

No cheats. Mid difficulty.
Rushed to get alliances and/or trade rights, I have trade rights with almost every faction. Been focusing a single, main army with Legolas. Also, using mostly only archers and two, max three units of melee, usually Woodland Warriors(?) (Don't remember the name).Haven't had a single fight against Gundabad but I expect them to attack me any moment. But for the time being, focusing only on Dol Guldur. Just accepted to "merge" with Lothlorian and called it a night.

I am actually getting things done now.

[OberBefahlKampfParrot`4f]

Originally posted by Chili:

Alright guys I retried yesterday, it was a pretty fun friday, to be honest.

Went Mirkwood / Woodland Realm again. Things I did differently:

No cheats. Mid difficulty.
Rushed to get alliances and/or trade rights, I have trade rights with almost every faction. Been focusing a single, main army with Legolas. Also, using mostly only archers and two, max three units of melee, usually Woodland Warriors(?) (Don't remember the name).Haven't had a single fight against Gundabad but I expect them to attack me any moment. But for the time being, focusing only on Dol Guldur. Just accepted to "merge" with Lothlorian and called it a night.

I am actually getting things done now.

Good job, once you start being succesful the game is getting way more enjoyable.

[OldMemes.biz]

Yeah well guess what? 2024 and Version 5.1 and it's fking stupid.

Mods made by sweatlords.

[Inardesco]

Skill issue.

[OldMemes.biz]

Originally posted by Inardesco:

Skill issue.

wit issue

[Gamer Supreme]

The major source of difficulty in my experience is how excruciatingly slow economic development is. Many factions will financially collapse if you try to field anything resembling an army in the first 20-30 turns.
If the intent is that the player willingly goes into bankruptcy in order to do early game expansion then I missed that memo
The game in general is brought to a snail's pace in every aspect.

I've won campaigns as Mordor, the ND, Ered Luin, and Breeland. Imo the biggest factor in faction strength/difficulty is their economy. Mordor was an absolute breeze because I could field massive armies and simply flooded Gondor with trash orcs.

The ND on the other hand have a very poor economy that will stay poor for a while, however the unit quality is very good. I don't believe that they're the most difficult faction in the game though. I found it easier than trying to accomplish anything with Elves.

Ered Luin is possibly the safest faction in the game, your only enemy, Angmar, will not bother attacking you for a very long time. Dwarves have pretty good economic potential with mines, so your development is uncontested and once you can start fielding armies you've won the game.

Breeland is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, the faction is awful in every regard. The army quality is among the lowest in the game, and the economy is terrible. The only saving grace is that Bree is fairly safe for a while as Dunland takes a little while to fully start crossing the Gwaithlo river and threaten you. But otherwise for the first 30-40 turns there is very little you can do but build some buildings and hit end turn because having more than 4 units that aren't receiving free upkeep shatters your economy.

I've tried a lot of different factions, and many of them have similar issues to breeland. Gundabad, Isengard, Gondor, any Elven faction, Dol Amroth, Angmar, Ar-Adunaim, Dale: Very restrictive economy, culture requirements, or recruitment limits makes the game extremely slow for what feels like artificial difficulty through tedium.

I still love the mod and think its one of the best, if not the best, Med 2 mods out there. It just takes way too long to reach the point where you can actually start playing the game. At times it really seems like the mod is oriented towards challenging LOTW wannabes who can conquer 10 provinces in the first 15 turns with nothing but the starting army and mercenaries.

[[-KoS-]apnicolle06]

DaC Version 5.0 removes the barracks event, making the game much funner. So, in answer to OP, DaC is meant to be tough. It is not for sissies, if you think you can just go manhandle all your enemies you're going to get your a$$ kicked. I found it helpful to watch playthroughs on youtube, that way you can get an idea of how you should play, at least early game. Early game success is key, especially for nations that start out with powerful enemies. Gondor is a prime example. You have Mordor, Harad, the Variags, Corsairs of Umbar, Isenguard, and Enedwaith as enemies, some from the start and some later on. If you don't build a good base early game, you will struggle like no other. My advice is get a good economy, look for opportuinities to weaken your enemy without expending your troops too much, especially as the Elves.