Any tips for Hardcore achievement?

[Mesix]

The Hardcore achievement seems to capture the toughest combination of settings: Win a game on the Great difficulty against all nations with High Event Level, Realistic Mortality, Locked Save, Ruthless AI and No Undo.

Any tips to play and win with these settings?

 

[Stringer1313]

ooo i didn't even know about this achievement.

I assume for starters that a smaller map is much easier. My games on larger maps are always harder.

 

[King Jason]

- Ballista are very strong
- Towers are almost insurmountable
- 6 cities is all you need to win an ambition victory

So if you want to turtle it up you can focus on diplomacy and defensive build up while shooting for the ambition win. This will alleviate any of issues you might face with undo since less territory and defensive wars means less mistakes you need to commit to.

Ironically, the hardcore achievement doesn't use all of the toughest settings since settings have adjusted slightly since that achievement was introduced. There's a higher development settings, a significantly higher advantage setting, and I think there's some debate as to whether or not no events mode would be harder than high event level.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

Focusing on an Achievements victory makes sense to me. I find - in the small sample size of games I've completed - that completing 10 Achievements is usually faster / easier than winning on base score. Players with more experience than me tell me the two are tightly balanced, however, so my impression is likely the result of not having played enough games, yet.

 

[Stringer1313]

Before I embark on this journey... when it says "against all nations" does that mean you have to have literally every other possible nation on the map (i.e., 10 or so nations?!)

 

[FluffybunnyMohawk]

Before I embark on this journey... when it says "against all nations" does that mean you have to have literally every other possible nation on the map (i.e., 10 or so nations?!)

You need 6 opponents (7 players), which would be all the nations when playing without any DLC.

 

[PiR]

I assume for starters that a smaller map is much easier. My games on larger maps are always harder.

even if you turtle?
I would have thought that for turtling, a gigantic map with an enormous amount of players (and competition within themselves) would be better. AI would go for points which would take consolidating big parts of the maps and the human player could focus on ambitions which would require a limited amount of land.
but idk

 

[Stringer1313]

You need 6 opponents (7 players), which would be all the nations when playing without any DLC.

OK I just finished a game with what I thought were all the criteria! But this did not trigger.... I tried uploading the latest auto save before I won. Can you tell me what I did wrong? I had 6 opponents. I do own all the DLC so does that i mean i should've maxed the # of opponents?

 

[Mesix]

OK I just finished a game with what I thought were all the criteria! But this did not trigger.... I tried uploading the latest auto save before I won. Can you tell me what I did wrong? I had 6 opponents. I do own all the DLC so does that i mean i should've maxed the # of opponents?

Your save does not look like it has any of the necessary options.

<Root
MapWidth="76"
MapHeight="76"
Version="Version: 0.1.43070"
GameId="45159122-3ad1-43ae-951e-e18e8897218d"
MapClass="MAPCLASS_AridPlateau"
MapSize="MAPSIZE_MEDIUM"
GameName=""
FirstSeed="53314300"
Seed="8703348046995403731"
GameMode="SINGLE_PLAYER"
TurnStyle="TURNSTYLE_STRICT"
TurnTimer="TURNTIMER_NONE"
OpponentLevel="OPPONENTLEVEL_NORMAL"
BarbarianLevel="BARBARIANLEVEL_NORMAL"
Development="DEVELOPMENT_ADVANCED"
SuccessionGender="SUCCESSIONGENDER_ABSOLUTE_COGNATIC"
Mortality="MORTALITY_STANDARD"
TeamNation="TEAMNATION_GAME_UNIQUE"
EventLevel="EVENTLEVEL_MODERATE"
NumAutosaves="10">
<Team>
<PlayerTeam>0</PlayerTeam>
<PlayerTeam>1</PlayerTeam>
<PlayerTeam>2</PlayerTeam>
<PlayerTeam>3</PlayerTeam>
<PlayerTeam>4</PlayerTeam>
</Team>
<Difficulty>
<PlayerDifficulty>DIFFICULTY_NOBLE</PlayerDifficulty>
<PlayerDifficulty>DIFFICULTY_GOOD</PlayerDifficulty>
<PlayerDifficulty>DIFFICULTY_GOOD</PlayerDifficulty>
<PlayerDifficulty>DIFFICULTY_GOOD</PlayerDifficulty>
<PlayerDifficulty>DIFFICULTY_GOOD</PlayerDifficulty>
</Difficulty>
<Nation>
<PlayerNation>NATION_GREECE</PlayerNation>
<PlayerNation>NATION_CARTHAGE</PlayerNation>
<PlayerNation>NATION_ASSYRIA</PlayerNation>
<PlayerNation>NATION_EGYPT</PlayerNation>
<PlayerNation>NATION_BABYLONIA</PlayerNation>
</Nation>
<Humans>
<PlayerHuman>0</PlayerHuman>
</Humans>

 

[Stringer1313]

LOL I'm sorry that was definitely not the correct save. Please see attached. I checked this time and this is it. I appreciate you letting me know what I got wrong.

 

[Mesix]

EventLevel="EVENTLEVEL_MODERATE"

Event level needs to be set to high.

 

[Stringer1313]

EventLevel="EVENTLEVEL_MODERATE"

Event level needs to be set to high.

lollllll omg thank you.

 

[Mesix]

You had almost all of the criteria. What worked well for you when attempting these settings?

 

[Dale]

You could........ you know, open the save file in a text/xml editor.

Spoiler :

Then change EVENTLEVEL_MODERATE to EVENTLEVEL_HIGH and reload the save.

 

[Mesix]

You could........ you know, open the save file in a text/xml editor.

Spoiler :

Then change EVENTLEVEL_MODERATE to EVENTLEVEL_HIGH and reload the save.

Actually, you cannot. When I checked his save, I was curious if this would work. The "Locked Save" feature prevents the modified XML file from loading.

 

[Dale]

Actually, you cannot. When I checked his save, I was curious if this would work. The "Locked Save" feature prevents the modified XML file from loading.

You're right, totally forgot about locked save. Of course, that's why I added locked save as a requirement of the achievement.

 

[Mesix]

Spoiler :

So I gave it a go. Playing on the Old World map as Greece. Plan is to turtle my way to an Achievement VC with about 6 cities. Things seem to be off to a slow, but steady start.

40 turns in, it takes a turn for the worst. I have 18 Vandal/Barbarian units baring down on me and currently have about 6 defenders remaining (I had a few more, but lost them). I can only build warriors, and manage to also get a couple of spearmen from events.

This game seem like a lost cause at this point. Perhaps I'll give it another go this weekend.

 

[Mesix]

Spoiler :

I started a new game again today. This time I have 5 cities at turn 40, and I am holding my own against the barbarians. The families are starting to get angry though, so I will be quelling rebellions on the home front for awhile.

I should be able to get a 6th city from that barb camp to the east in a few turns. After that, I will share borders with both Rome and Hatty, so it will be time to play nice.

Any advice to pull off a win here?

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

Any advice to pull off a win here?

Avoid having a border with Rome? LOL

 

[Mesix]

Avoid having a border with Rome? LOL

Maybe I can get Rome and Hatty to fight each other?