After countless dozens of games with SFO only, here's my two penneth;

Too Strong

1. Lothern - Strength rank 1 or 2 amongst the AI every single game from start to finish. They bulldoze through Ulthuan quickly and then invade Naggarond, nearly always successfully. I've only seen Dark Elves get a higher strength rank once or twice and have never seen them successfully invade Ulthuan.

2. Wood Elves - 9 times out of 10 they end up top dog in the Old World by the end, although they don't usually start expanding until mid-to-late game.

3. Vampire Counts - They literally always beat The Empire, and often expand in multiple directions successfully, I've seen them wipe Dwarves a few times. Von Cartsein's usually do quite well too, but it seems to be the VC that are a bit too successful.

Too Weak

1. The Empire - Never seen them do well in a game without my help as an ally. They're often wiped out or near enough before Chaos even properly arrive.

2. Chaos - They usually enter the fray around strength rank 5 or 6. I'd prefer to see them come in at 1 or 2, since they're kind of the "end game". Just my opinion, but I think without player intervention, Chaos should wipe the map. As it stands they often do steamroll The Empire, but then hit a wall when they reach the more powerful factions. The AI usually makes short work of the Servants/Puppets faction too, the Northern spawn is wiped by Lothern or Naggarond within a few turns, the Southern spawn used to have some luck against the Brettonian crusade factions, but now Tomb Kings are in they get wiped out quickly too.

I'd have to do some more testing, but in th e few battles I did as Kroq Gar vs Tomb Kings, TK seems a bit OP.

I have an entire army of Saurus units, and I got absolutely smoked by an army of TK using just Tier 1 Skeleton Warriors/Spearmen.

Like it wasnt even close, and I'm only playing on Hard.

Yes, the Empire could use with some help. Their line infantry fold hard when under any pressure, even when under the leadership aura of a General like Franz or Gelt; break almost instantly when they eat a charge from something like Chaos Spawn.

TK vs Saurus - only SFO

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/406136321313210368/410259393469218826/594570_20180206032332_1.png

They dont loose even 50% of health when using Saurus Spearmen. Looks that you have incompatible mods.

High Elves got best position on map and no natural enemies thats why they are always strong because everyone got long way to attack them. Its the same reason why Empire got problems because they got enemies from all sides.

I see 50/50 games when Wood Elves are killed. No changes needed here.

I have many reports that Vampire Counts are too weak now and I saw them loosing too often recently.

Empire recently received upkeep and recruitment cost reduction for AI. Remember that if you choose Empire Peace there will be more smaller factions, No Peace makes less stronger or even one huge.

Chaos depends on many situation. It was too strong in the past and every game was the same because they always wiped out everyone. Also, longer you ignore Chaos, stronger they get.

the vampire counts seem to be really bad with ai control they just do nothing while others advance and Bretonia are struggling against beastmen, strongest faction ive seen often is high elves probably because they are on an island and Dwarfs however maybe other mods make them stronger just little things Ive noticed while playing a good many campaigns honestly tho keep up the great work your mod has made the game amazing and not too easy

Forgot to mention I only play on very hard, which might have an effect on the outcome.

I've had plenty of games with both Empire peace and without, neither seems to improve The Empires odds. I think what might help is making it easier for them to confederate the Elector Count factions, because even with Empire peace I rarely see a united AI Empire. That confederation bonus would only apply to AI Empire, not player-controlled, as it's easy enough to confederate as a player.

It's interesting to see some people experience VC underperforming, because I honestly never have. I've not seen them wiped out by other AI even once, Dwarves occasionally encroach on their land, but they usually push into Empire territory, often getting as far as Nuln before Chaos arrive, as well as North up to Kislev. I think most of their success is down to The Empire's weakness, rather than their actual battle performance. Speaking of which, it's worth mentioning that all the notes I made about factions are based solely on their campaign map performance, not their actual battle performance.

@SnuffSaid: Its not possible to add confederation bonus only for Empire AI.

Ah, that's a shame. Empire minor factions only seem to confederate with the AI Empire when they're in trouble, after losing their stack etc. Empire would probably have more success if they confederated more like the Greenskins. After Greenskins confederate with 1 minor Orc faction, it quickly snowballs into them confederating all the minor Orc factions, because they seem to confederate based more on strength rather than how much trouble they are in.

Confederation works the same in WH2 for all factions. Its only subjugate.

That's odd, on the loading screen it says Greenskins confederate more based on strength (rather than a positive relationship), and they certainly seem to have more success confederating than The Empire. It also says "Greenskin factions are more likely to confederate if one is much stronger than the other." on the Total Warhammer Gamepedia. Maybe that just applied to WH1? Well, either way, The Empire could certainly use some more buffs. Maybe the new upcoming units will help.

Trench Craventail felt weak as hell compared to the dark elf lords im fighting, maybe i was unlucky going up against one with poison attacks but he simply did not have the same lethality from other factions lords ive tried. I haven't got late game him though. playing on hard.

@Yawb: Craven is sneaky lord, not ment to deal any good damage to damage focused DE.

Good morning,

One thing I did notice in my campaigns has been the Beastmen utterly scouring most of the world. Playing as Arkhan in the Vortex Book Club campaign, the Beastmen hordes took care of most every other faction in the Southlands & even razed Ulthuan. Chaos corruption is pretty heavy across both land masses. The Beastmen hordes are in the top 5 factions in the power ranking. Though, I have had no problem fending off the Beastmen, but the AI seems to crumple under the cloven-hoofed tide.

I wanted to check if this was working as intended.

The Besatmen are annihilating the entirety of Naggaroth.

As a suggestion for buffing the empire as they have been getting their butts handed to them on multiple playthroughs. Perhaps giving them a buff to trade income when having multiple partners. As it is in the center of the map they may be able to begin trade with multiple factions early it may allow them to build up their infrastructure or make some more army stacks to defend themselves.