Game now too hard for me - I need advice

[EngineerKenny 123]

I realize this will be a vary unpopular post - but I think after the changes to the AI in the recent patch, the game is now too hard. I'm on my fourth game, with 3 races (AM, SM and Orcs) and am getting creamed game after game. I am playing on the "Easy level" - not "very easy", but easy. Anyhow, I do great for about 50 turns - then disaster. I reacdh out towards the borders of the bad guys to get important resource hexes, and then they ALL come after me - one from each direction, with armies way more massive than mine. Prior to the patch I was on "medium" dificulty, and winning with each race. All my other conditions are normal, and usually on a medium map with 3 enemies (although I was up to 5 or 6 enemies with a large map previously. This isn't a ♥♥♥♥♥ or complaint - It has to be me, since post after post indicates how great the new tougher level is - so what am I doing wrong. Each of the last 4 games has ended the same - I get an army of about 10 guys (mixed), then when I get near the enemy, I get it from all sides., Any advice? I have watched countless you tubes - and I am a fan of this game.

[Ail]

First of all, let me say that I don't think you are alone with this problem. But maybe the first one who dares to admit it.

Note that in the current patch the level "Easy" is where it's fair with the AI. No advantage for either side. This will be changed in the next patch, as we feel that Medium/Normal should be the level that is fair and not one, where the AI already has an advantage.

The most improvements of the AI went into how to manage the economy with the goal of maximizing the amount of units that can be produced and maintained.

And if I could teach those things to the AI, I can probably teach them to humans too. ;D

Core technologies to research are the population-cap-building, the loyalty-building and the building-construction-building.

Many players don't know that pop-growth goes down when you don't have at least 5 free spaces for population. So getting another habitat-building as soon as your growth drops below 8.0 or even slightly before will ensure that you keep up with that.

If you do that, your population will grow quicker than you can construct new buildings and thus will just eat more food/ore/requisitions without benefitting you. That's why the building-construction-building is so important. Get one of those as soon as you can. With one of that build you can now construct new buildings slightly quicker than your pop grows to maximize the useful population rather than just population alone.

And then there's Loyalty. Many players seem to think just keeping it above 0 is good enough. But this is not the case. There is a point where the overall benefit of Loyalty-buildings outshines everything else. Of course it's not specialized and gives a little-bit of everything. But when your economy is otherwise well balanced, you will want to try and reach the loyalty-softcap of 50 at about a city-size of 30. Try to squeeze them in whenever you can, starting at around size 10. And then for every two or so non-loyalty-buildings get one more.

For unit-production-buildings keep in mind: Just having but not permanently using them is kind of a waste. So don't overdo getting them, especially not early on. Decide between Infantry and Vehicles instead of building both buildings and then not having enough resources to keep both of them running all the time. If your resources start overflowing without you even trying due to Loyalty slowly going up, you can add another. Either of the type you already have or the type you don't have, based on how well it fits with your strategy.

A bit of an exception is the hero-building. Trying to use it permanently would be so taxing on your influence as each hero of a type you already have will just become more and more expensive. So it isn't really worth making too many of those.


When it comes to unit-management I strongly advise to always keep your units together. Spreading them out will just make them vulnerable. Take and secure outposts against wildlife to see when an enemy approaches so you can react to that.

In terms of tactical usage of their units most humans do fine given they have enough units. Don't fight against a superior army and hope you can somehow win, though! Retreat and regroup.

Also note that you don't have to kill your enemies' armies. It's the cities that will give you victory once destroyed. The AI does not cheat with their vision. So if you can sneak up on their city through forests and ruins while avoiding beeing seen by their outposts, you might surprise them with their army far away from home.

The longer the game goes the more important it will become that you managed to get in a position where your cities could grow as fast as possible. Having skimped on that and been on pop-cap because you prioritized something else, will then bite you in the ass.

Note that the game is an FFA-game. This hugely impacts what general strategy makes sense. Yes, you could surprise an enemy with a rush that beats them up. But if the price for doing so is to fall too far behind in economy, then it wasn't worth it.

I hope this helped a little bit.

[EngineerKenny 123]

A BIT? I should say so. I learned so much from reading your answer - things I thought I was doing right (maybe even good), but actually not the best moves at all (in fact maybe bad!). I could elaborate, but will not bore you. I think the thing I most learned was the importance of the "building construction" building - I probably have only ever built 1 maybe 2 of those since I started playing. Suffice it to say, I will implement your suggestions immediatley. I can't thank you enough for taking the time to straighten me (and possibly hundreds of others) out on a few simple tactics. THe developers of this game are very supportive, and I don't know if you are one of them or not, but either way - thank you for caring enough to help a fellow gamer out. Truly appreciated.

[Hawthorne]

Seconded!

[Dalwin]

The game is not too hard now. You simply need to rethink the difficulty levels.

Before the last two updates which made great improvements to the AI, I could play any random faction against any random AI faction set to impossible and win unless I played stupidly.

Now, not only can I no longer do that, I also cannot do it on the very hard setting. Even on hard, unless my opponent is the Orks, I might struggle.

[dexgattaca]

Love the new AI. Difficulty is great.

[EngineerKenny 123]

Not sure if you will ever see this Ail: I tried implementing your suggestions - in my first game: Total success. I was victorius as SM, against SM, AM, and Orcs. Boy those Meganobs are something else, but it was near a cakewalk - your suggestions were right on, and I can now move forward with my next game. Again, a hearty thank you.

[Ail]

Yes, I see it. I'm glad to hear that my advice could help you.
Helping people who are open to the idea that there's something that can still be improved in how they approach the game is much more of a pleasure than is dealing with people who think their play already is perfect and would blame losing on everything but themselves.

[ColdWonder]

Done really good work on the A.I I came back to this and am getting beat by normal.
Patch it so normal doesnt have an advantage though I need some dignity back !

[Total Oh No]

In 1.1.2, the current version, normal actually doesn't have an advantage anymore.

[ColdWonder]

Originally posted by Total Oh No:

In 1.1.2, the current version, normal actually doesn't have an advantage anymore.

Nice will just have to work on my late game !