To easy?

[Saxif]

Hey folks,

First time post for me

I am just finishing up my 2nd game of BTS FFH2 and am rocking, so much so that it feels to easy. It is certainly easier than vanilla BTS where I am struggling on Noble (though I have not been correctly specialising my cities, something I will do next time I play).

My current Noble game of FFH2, I had Raging Barbarians on, though at the time I did not realise this slowed npc's more than humans, so I guess I got a boost from that. As soon as I built Saverous (Octopus Overlords+Svartulf) I started putting a dent in the Good aligned Caliban lords (sp?), killed them and teched up a little. Once I got to Eidolon I went on a rampage against a Neutral Civ and wiped him out in short order, I am just finished him up now. Basically it seems so easy, in normal games I get my ass kicked cos I tend to get left behind in a military sense. In FFH2 I don't have to face off against any stacks, the opponents have few troops at all and few upgraded troops, my Eidolon where killing Warriors and Soldiers of Killmorph to capture enemy cities and Saverous is now lvl 13 and taking cities solo.

Basically is this the general trend, should I play Prince or higher FFH2 to be challenged. Should I put on Aggressive AI? Exactly how does this change the stance of the AI as well? I'll turn off Raging Barbarians next time so the AI does not get wiped. All the promotions and powerful units seem to make it easy, maybe I am missing something.

On another note, something cool that happened and took me awhile to work out. I used Hide nationality spell and went into the 2nd highest points Civ and started wiping everything, he never fought back, this was disapointing and I took out loads of his workers by destroying roads which he quickly tried to repair, only to loose more workers to my single Stygian Guard (which got xp from killing Mud Golems workers). However later, I got attacked by someone friendly to me cos he was going for all the untis with Hidden Nationality, it took me ages to realise why he was doing this, and to understand why I could not capture cities with certain untis. The penny finally dropped though, nice feature

Thoughts welcome,

Sax.

 

[seZereth]

Hey folks,

First time post for me

I am just finishing up my 2nd game of BTS FFH2 and am rocking, so much so that it feels to easy. It is certainly easier than vanilla BTS where I am struggling on Noble (though I have not been correctly specialising my cities, something I will do next time I play).

My current Noble game of FFH2, I had Raging Barbarians on, though at the time I did not realise this slowed npc's more than humans, so I guess I got a boost from that. As soon as I built Saverous (Octopus Overlords+Svartulf) I started putting a dent in the Good aligned Caliban lords (sp?), killed them and teched up a little. Once I got to Eidolon I went on a rampage against a Neutral Civ and wiped him out in short order, I am just finished him up now. Basically it seems so easy, in normal games I get my ass kicked cos I tend to get left behind in a military sense. In FFH2 I don't have to face off against any stacks, the opponents have few troops at all and few upgraded troops, my Eidolon where killing Warriors and Soldiers of Killmorph to capture enemy cities and Saverous is now lvl 13 and taking cities solo.

Basically is this the general trend, should I play Prince or higher FFH2 to be challenged. Should I put on Aggressive AI? Exactly how does this change the stance of the AI as well? I'll turn off Raging Barbarians next time so the AI does not get wiped. All the promotions and powerful units seem to make it easy, maybe I am missing something.

On another note, something cool that happened and took me awhile to work out. I used Hide nationality spell and went into the 2nd highest points Civ and started wiping everything, he never fought back, this was disapointing and I took out loads of his workers by destroying roads which he quickly tried to repair, only to loose more workers to my single Stygian Guard (which got xp from killing Mud Golems workers). However later, I got attacked by someone friendly to me cos he was going for all the untis with Hidden Nationality, it took me ages to realise why he was doing this, and to understand why I could not capture cities with certain untis. The penny finally dropped though, nice feature

Thoughts welcome,

Sax.

try upping th difficulty a bit and set the option "no buildingrequirements for AI" (or something like that) to yes. that will make the AI build a lot better units. (right now the AI just doesnt build buildings requiered to create advanced units.)

 

[Saxif]

Ok, I'll give it a go. I did wonder about that because its certainly not something you have to tick in a normal game, I am always fending off units of equivalent power to mine if I upset the wrong Civ

Sax.

 

[woodelf]

This game is way different than the normal game. Play around with diff levels and options until you find a competitive balance. Maps also play an important part.

 

[marioflag]

I would strongly advise to use "AI no building requirements" option, it's IMO the best option for a balanced game.AI is not yet touched so it won't give you as much troubles as CIV4 vanilla AI, but with this option enabled you will get better balanced game than harder difficulty levels, because AI will build the best units it has researched, while the player don't have to catch up all the time the technological gap which happen in all games at harder difficulty levels

 

[Tarquelne]

There's a modular mod available in the Maps & Scenarios subforum here that considerably improves the AI's ability to make mages.

Like the "no building requirements for AI" option it's a cheat - AIs don't have to level up arcane units from Adepts. Use it, though, and you'll see the AI sometimes use mages in decent numbers.

The mod is still in beta, if a very well developed and playable beta, and there are some parts of it that aren't well balanced or the AI can't handle. The AI's disappointing reaction to your world spell is a good example. When you come across such things I suggest you avoid them in the future - there's plenty of good stuff to enjoy 'till comes the Day and version 1.0 arrives.

Finally:
The mod team has also made the mod itself exceptionally easy to mod. The included editor (an Excel file that'll output files used by the game) allows you to change nearly anything in the XML. So you can tweak things to help out the AI at the settings you like. Or just tweak things to make it more fun for yourself, of course.

 

[Ecofarm]

I'm surprised there are no many "No_AI_buildings" suggestions. I kind fo takes flavor away from Clan and Dov. Why not just up the difficulty, thereby increasing barbarian pressure and other factors?

Having played for months, I find immortal to be a challenge (and near impossible with a civ I have not played lately). When I've practiced with a civ for a bit, I need deity for a challenge, but haven't won yet One big difference at immortal is that you almost must get cities by conquest, not settlers.

Ultimately, play with the settings. There's a settings thread currently to give you some ideas. One common "atmosphere" setting combo is advanced start and no settlers, to preserve open space while giving the AI 1-6 cities (depending on points). Also, this prevents the AI from spreading it's defense over 10+ cities (some in worthless tundra, but defended).

Quick speed is a must. All real-time MP single-sitting games are quick speed. Slow speeds are too slow IRL and too easy for attacker.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I think it also takes away from the Hippus, Ljosalfar, Svartalfar, and Bannor, since their units would be weaker without their UBs.

I personally think that all the buildings just need some more bonuses. I think this would make the AI more likely to build them, and it would make it more fun for humans too.

Hmm...just to be sure, this option doesn't allow the elves to build siege units, does it?

 

[Alzara]

Hmm that would be interesting. Training yard providing +2XP for new melee units for eg. The incentive for human and AI alike would add a lot of flavour, without unbalancing the game as the option would be available to all

Al

 

[xienwolf]

Elves are specifically forbidden access to Siege Units, not just forbidden the building requirement for them (which wouldn't work anyway since the building requirement is a building CLASS, thus having a NONE entry for the class would allow you to build that unit without the building even with AI building requirements enabled, ala - Clan.)

 

[MagisterCultuum]

@ Alzara,
Well, not quite all.

Some civs don't have all the unit-allowing buildings. The Sheaim don't have Training Yards (they can't build any of melee units beyond warriors, except pyre zombies, but they don't need them because of their Planar Gate units); the Doviello can't build Training Yards, Archery Ranges, Bowyers, or Mage Guilds; the Luchuirp can't build Bear Totems; the Ljosalfar and Svartalfar can't build Siege Workshops, Machinists Shops, or Bear Totems; and the Clan and Barbarian State can't Build Mage Guilds or Stables;

I was just thinking that it might be a good idea for the Doviello Palace to provide some global xp. They lack lots of the building prereqs, so they wouldn't get the bonuses like the extra xp. Plus, thematically their barbaric way of life, where the young have to fight for survival from childhood. seems like it should make their units a little somewhat battle hardened from the start.


@ xienwolf,
Actually, the all units that require siege workshops still have <PrereqBuilding>BUILDING_SIEGE_WORKSHOP</PrereqBuilding> is still used instead of <PrereqBuildingClass>BUILDINGCLASS_SIEGE_WORKSHOP</PrereqBuildingClass>. When this tag is used, you still need the building whether you can build it or not. This is why the Svartalfar currently cannot get Crossbowmen, since they don't have access to Machinist Shops.

However, I did check and the elven civs do have NONE as a UU for these units, so the option doesn't cause any problems.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

Hmm that would be interesting. Training yard providing +2XP for new melee units for eg. The incentive for human and AI alike would add a lot of flavour, without unbalancing the game as the option would be available to all

Al

I was just playing and losing a game with no building requirements (and no mage upgrades needed) and I went into the world builder before quiting and saw the AI building Bowyers. So they do build building for the xp bonus. There's no reason to assume the wouldn't since needing buildings for units is new to FfH but buildings for extra xp is part of the standard AI and there would be no reason to remove that behaviour.

 

[Alzara]

Fair point Magister

So for civs that can't build certain buildings, then allow the extra bonuses to be gained somewhere else (or by another building that simply provides the bonus without allowing for the production of units).

The idea of the Dovellio palace providing +2XP seems very logical

Al