How hard are the campaigns?

[Max Doge]

Just bought the game and not sure whether I should play on hard or normal?

I remember playing the first vanilla campaigns on hardest without much issue, there were only a few challenging scenarios, until I got to Dracula and others that were ridiculously hard at times because of AI cheating in many ways, especially endlessly spawning new units. So for those campaigns I went down to normal to prevent getting frustrated too much.

I just read that the AI "doesn't cheat anymore" and that they've reworked many of the campaigns, including some of those that gave me a lot of trouble. So is the game easier now on hardest difficulties or what? :)

[Nightwing]

accually some hard some easy but final campaign of Ivaylo was too hard for me, finished in 4 hrs

[WastedTrojan]

The difficulty depends on the campaign. The difficulty is indicated by the number of swords next to the campaign name. 1 sword = easy, 3 swords = hard

The AI doesn't cheat at all, but there are still missions where they will send constant armies. Dracula 3 and Alaric 5 are good examples.

[Max Doge]

Thanks for the replies. Been reading about the difficulties and it seems like some are more difficult than before, so I'm definitely looking to avoid getting frustrated, there is so much content to go through anyway without replaying stuff, but also don't want it to be too easy either.

I just want a fun casual playthrough with a bit of challenge, so if I understand the difficulty correctly standard is easy and moderate is normal? Which one do I go for?

[Novi]

AI not cheating applies to the new skirmish AI. It does not apply to the campaigns.

Campaign difficulty indicator is useless, some 1 sword campaigns are more difficult than other 3 sword ones.

And difficulty of each mission can differ wildly too.

Some old missions have been changed to be more difficult while others were toned down.

Basically, you never know what you're getting into when playing on hard. Some missions can be a cakewalk while some would test even the pros at being able to adapt to situations.

[WastedTrojan]

Originally posted by Max Doge:

Thanks for the replies. Been reading about the difficulties and it seems like some are more difficult than before, so I'm definitely looking to avoid getting frustrated, there is so much content to go through anyway without replaying stuff, but also don't want it to be too easy either.

I just want a fun casual playthrough with a bit of challenge, so if I understand the difficulty correctly standard is easy and moderate is normal? Which one do I go for?

If you have experience with the game I would start on moderate. Standard seems very easy.

[Max Doge]

Thanks guys, that's some very good info.

[Jouni]

Originally posted by Max Doge:

until I got to Dracula and others that were ridiculously hard at times because of AI cheating in many ways, especially endlessly spawning new units.

AI in those missions no longer makes units as fast as it can with infinite resources. Often I wish that they would make more units than they do.
AI cheats with resources in most campaign missions but doesn't get infinite resources(just regular resource "shipments"). In most cases the cheating AI player has no villagers so destroying its military buildings is enough to end it. In some cases AI has both regular villager economy and bonus resources like Saladin in the last Barbarossa mission.

Originally posted by Max Doge:

So is the game easier now on hardest difficulties or what? :)

Campaign missions are easier on average but some missions are harder in DE like the last Joan of Arc mission. I recommend playing on hard difficulty by default if you already know how to play the game since most missions aren't hard even on hard.

[Max Doge]

Haha I just saw Viper (best player in the game ofc) struggling with last Joan map on hard difficulty, he got overwhelmed by superior imperial age units right away. Yikes! As someone who only casually plays singleplayer I don't think hard is for me anymore :o

[M'igo Kazan]

Campaigns from the base game and Conquerors are a LOT harder, while those from Forgotten Empires are a LOT easier. Haven't gotten around to the African Kingdoms campaigns and the new ones from DE, though

[FlipperTime]

Originally posted by Max Doge:

Just bought the game and not sure whether I should play on hard or normal?

I remember playing the first vanilla campaigns on hardest without much issue, there were only a few challenging scenarios, until I got to Dracula and others that were ridiculously hard at times because of AI cheating in many ways, especially endlessly spawning new units. So for those campaigns I went down to normal to prevent getting frustrated too much.

I just read that the AI "doesn't cheat anymore" and that they've reworked many of the campaigns, including some of those that gave me a lot of trouble. So is the game easier now on hardest difficulties or what? :)

Constant spamming in campaigns is not to cheat: it's part of the plot. There is an Ivaylo campaign in which Tatars, Cumans & Mongols will you spam you until you kill their khans (Mongol leaders).

I'm usually only interested in the story, so I play easy. Even with that, a couple campaigns were a nightmare for me (like one with Prithviraj having to face three or four enemies that didn't stop spamming... & one of the enemies were the Persians having absolutely no trouble spamming war elephants; or the last of Francisco de Almeida in which I need first to convert some friends without killing & then I had everyone against me having a "base").

[Matteo Carati]

Originally posted by Max Doge:

Haha I just saw Viper (best player in the game ofc) struggling with last Joan map on hard difficulty, he got overwhelmed by superior imperial age units right away. Yikes! As someone who only casually plays singleplayer I don't think hard is for me anymore :o

As someone who played campaign just for its story, this is too much. Standard should be easy, moderate is normal, and hard is hard. Or developer should invent new difficulties system and reward those who play campaign in the hardest difficulty. But no. Even standard can be so annoying.

For example, I found Horns of Hattin mission in Saladin campaign became harder in DE. A Perfect Martyr (6th mission) in Joan of Arc campaign became harder too (but manageable). Cumans and Ivaylo (especially the 2nd and 3rd) missions are annoying too because your enemies have superior technology and numbers than you. In some cases, they infinitely spawn units and seemingly infinite resources too (like in the 3rd Ivaylo missions).

[Max Doge]

Damn, I know what you mean guys. First map on DE I played here is the remade Honfoglalas on moderate where I'm playing as the raiding Hungarians. It seemed very easy at first, I eliminated weak Moravians right away and then raided Avars with my 70 cav archers and light cav but then the last Teuton enemy pushed me with a massive imperial age army at once, dozen FULLY upgraded cavaliers/paladins and 40+ xbovs and elite skirms, plus some onagers and teutonic knights, all at once and all fully upgraded. And I don't even have a town center or the tech to penetrate their armor with my cav archers, tried postponing eliminating Avars but Teutons still push me and I can't defend against that, their mass skirms completely counter me. The game wanted me to play nomadic for a while and even though I played that perfectly I got rekt 40 ingame mins later.

Don't remember needing to completely restart a map before, in AoE2 HD I finished all the campaigns on hard up until about Dracula where I had to cheese so lowered to moderate afterwards, there were only a few challenging maps on hard like one at Saladin or Barbarossa.

[WastedTrojan]

Honfoglalas is one of the most difficult historic battles, it took me a few attempts to beat it. I won by taking out Moravia and Avars and then put down a TC and a castle in the Avar area.
Try doing Agincourt or York next and you will probably beat it on hard on your first try.

[Max Doge]

Yeah, I finished all those on hard last 2 years. I can beat this one by rushing a castle and putting all my cav archers there to soak up the push, but damage has already been done if I have to waste time replaying it and getting annoyed as well. There's far too much campaign content to go through by replaying stuff, I'll just drop difficulty to standard. If it gets too easy and I lose interest so be it, hate certain games where the difficulty is all over the place and I can't find the right balance and by the time I've found it I wasted enough time to play 4 different games.

[TheEmigrant]

Originally posted by Jouni:

Originally posted by Max Doge:

until I got to Dracula and others that were ridiculously hard at times because of AI cheating in many ways, especially endlessly spawning new units.

AI in those missions no longer makes units as fast as it can with infinite resources. Often I wish that they would make more units than they do.
AI cheats with resources in most campaign missions but doesn't get infinite resources(just regular resource "shipments"). In most cases the cheating AI player has no villagers so destroying its military buildings is enough to end it. In some cases AI has both regular villager economy and bonus resources like Saladin in the last Barbarossa mission.

Originally posted by Max Doge:

So is the game easier now on hardest difficulties or what? :)

Campaign missions are easier on average but some missions are harder in DE like the last Joan of Arc mission. I recommend playing on hard difficulty by default if you already know how to play the game since most missions aren't hard even on hard.

I KNEW THAT STUPID SALADIN AI WAS CHEATING!!!! That AI kept pumping arbalesters, onagers and Mameluks non stop even though I took all of their gold away.

PD: Yes, I just finished the level after 2 hours of pain and came here to take out my frustration in a random old post.