Napoleon Total War Medium Settings Only

[Clara Zellinger]

Ido like a good challenge however, and was always disappointed that on "Medium" difficulty, the computer never maxed out its army size/military strength. (I never pay much attention to the number of citizens the computer created since it doesnt actually need them except to construct buildings. The number of citizens created by the computer is not an indication of the challenge at hand. In fact, Ive lost games where the computer only had a dozen or so citizens running around while it created a massive number of military units. Computer citizens do not correlate with military strength. The number of military buildings (and by association, available territory) the computer has available is the key.I usually play Standard games, 1 vs. 1 on plains/highlands, with a 500-unit max, Low resources, Pre-history start - to whatever age I feel I have the time to reach. Anyway, these games were fun for a while, but predictable, so I decided to try "Hard".What I found when playing the highest difficulty level was that the computer's advantage (resource collection cheating) was almost impossible to deal with using the same strategy one might use against the Medium setting, or against an attack one might expect to deal with against a human player. For example, my strategy on Medium difficulty was to protect collection centers during the earliest stages of the game (food, wood and iron in pre-history) with towers and defending citizens, as needed - and to advance to stone and later ages as quickly as possible. I always build some military in Pre-History, but try to build only what is required to get to the next age. On Medium difficulty, this is not that difficult. Overall, reaching the Copper Age against the computer is key since this offers unlimited food (Granaries) and Heroes to support the foundation needed to launch the inevitable, victorious assault on the computer foe.However, on Hard the computer can send a much larger force against you than you can create in the early part of the game, and it can build so many buildings and towers that it is virtually impervious to early attack. Within 10 or 12 minutes you can expect to face from 10 to 15 attackers in large groups, and these units will be after your citizens as a first order of business. At the same time, under the game conditions Ive mentioned above the human player can only produce a small band (4 or 5) of defensive units at best. The outcome of this is that you make very slow progress toward age advancement because you loose quite a few citizens in the process of defending your town since you cant match the number and quality of free computer units. The bottom line is, the computer opponent has you by the throat even when you do your very best to build a defense especially if you try to play a conventional start.Following several failed attempts at different strategies, I have ultimately learned that the secret to beating the computer in such a case is not to use a conventional start. Instead of building a defensive base around the starting resources, the best course of action is to immediately build a completely independent military base away from your capitol; if possible it is best to build it fairly close to the enemy city limits, and close to some resources you want (Iron, Gold, Stone, etc). This base should include at least 3 towers to begin with, a town center (created using your original 5 units) and a Temple. As many of you may know, the computer can throw Priests and Prophets at you within the first few minutes of a game, so a Temple is more important than a Barracks for your island military base.But what about your capitol and original production base, you ask? Strangely enough, if you leave your original production area demilitarized in the early part of the game (no towers or military units) the computer will not attack it. It will instead attack your towers and military island and leave you free to produce food from game and forage patches long enough to easily reach the Copper Age and well beyond. In short you will win easily.It is actually somewhat of a disappointment to have discovered how easily the AI loses focus on the true strategic values in the game. Like insects attracted to the lights on a Summertime porch, they beeline to your towers and military units for a sudden end while you build strength unmolested.You will have to build a few Clubmen, and you may have to defend your new defensive island very early on with your citizens (the computer usually has Rock Throwers and Clubmen running around within a couple of minutes) but this should not prevent you from succeeding. Then you simply build more units, buildings, walls etc. around your defensive zone until you have a very robust town. From there it isnt difficult to own the computer and to play out the game however you wish.Many of you may have already discovered these things, but for those of you who havent it may add to your enjoyment of the game.

[This message has been edited by chonaman (edited 03-18-2003 @ 09:41 PM).] AuthorReplies: OBLIVION_AoC

Banned posted 03-19-03 06:21 AM EDT (US) 1 / 27 Very intresting.

I shall keep it in mind.Have you totally sussed the Comps strat then?Whenever I play the comp i always seem to do **** vs it.Can you beat the comp on any age, settings???(NICE POST) Viktery

Marine posted 03-19-03 08:55 AM EDT (US) 2 / 27 DiklusDK

Marine posted 03-19-03 09:21 AM EDT (US) 3 / 27 towers, houses and ranged units and all their attacks are DEAD, no need for a extra base... (im talking pre-nano stnd tournament low)Empires Aeon Viktery

Marine posted 03-19-03 10:51 AM EDT (US) 4 / 27 I think you all will be very pleased with the AI when we are finished with it. DiklusDK

Marine posted 03-19-03 11:36 AM EDT (US) 5 / 27 lol you keep saying that anything bad in the game?Empires Aeon Viktery

Marine posted 03-19-03 12:12 PM EDT (US) 6 / 27 Define "bad"? Elpea

Hal

(id: lp_usa) posted 03-19-03 02:15 PM EDT (US) 7 / 27 Quote:

should i make a list?

1. Graphics

2.AI

3.Dificulty

4. interface

5. no ingame help

6. hard to learn units counters

7. buggy scn editor

8. REALLY unbalanced

9. too long for 1 game

10. bad multiplayer support

11.no multiplayers scnwant more? DiklusDK

Marine posted 03-20-03 12:21 PM EDT (US) 14 / 27 thats just your opinions...1: Personaly i like the grafhics which is pretty good considered its release was in 2001 and besides... Why play RTS games if grafhics matter.2: AI... Not a thing i can say much about since i only play

multiplayer games, which only got 1 AI bug (if thats the ai)who makes a citizen hunt insted of building and as far is i know does the AI in single do its job... It makes the game fun.3. Dificulty... Well i think EE does the perfect job in being easy to learn but hard to master.4. Interface? Sorry but i don't get you on this one, ive never played a game with such a good interface.5. No ingame help. Well yes you might see that as annoying but what can you reqeust? A Ingame help like in AoM who reveals the counters? Im just happy that i got a thick manual.6. Hard to learn units counters. This one i simply don't get. EE is based on a rock/paper/scissor system that makes the game so simple, yet so deep and fun.7. Buggy scn editor: No comments, but isn't the game one of the best in this field?8. REALLY unbalanced: you ever played other games than EE? its the most balanced game ever to be published, only unit thats a bit overpowered is Cavalry Archers in Middle.9. To long for 1 game. You'd rather play a game with 20 units that gets boring after a week?10. Bad multiplayer support. Ok im with you on this one when we speak about 1.0... But 2.0 is another case, it beats ESO wiith its littlefinger having the best features ive ever seen. Btw if its ladder your missing try to go to www.pro-ladder.com 11. Im with you on this one, but not on the others, call me DK the fanboy.Empires Aeon Ch3ck M8t

Marine posted 03-20-03 02:26 PM EDT (US) 15 / 27 what can i say im behind dk 100% Chonaman

Marine posted 03-20-03 06:40 PM EDT (US) 16 / 27 Just to offer some perspective Ive been playing computer strategy games since 1993 or so; really several generations of the strategy game genre. The first game I ever played was Civilization on Windows 3.1 ! I know, its funny. But the game is one of the greatest and most successful games of all time, both in terms of the commercial/historical quality of the game and the number of fanatics who played (and paid for) the game. Incidentally, it still runs under Windows XP, and yes, its loaded on my PC. I dont play it much except as a reminder of simpler days. But lets be mindful and remember that Civ I was a huge financial and popular success really of legendary proportions. And lets reflect: (for those of you who have played the game) on what the game really was: The computer civilizations cheated wildly - computer civilizations could build Wonders randomly (at any time in the game), not based on actual production capability, and military units from antiquity (Phalanx or Musketeers) could, and regularly did defeat the most modern units: Battleships, Jet-era Bombers, etc. Clearly, this was unpalatable for the serious, historically focused gamer, and changes were made for Civ II.Yet, Civilization (Sid Meiers Civ I, a turn-based game) was not focused on perfect balance - or perfect gameplay, or perfect realism. In truth, it did open the door for slackers like us to dream a bit about the development of the world and particularly the development of its civilizations. It offered what-if scenarios - what if I research Iron Working instead of Ceremonial Burial will I easily conquer my next-door neighbor and gain valuable territory? - and what-if I try to build the Pyramids with all its benefits. And ultimately, what if I use military force to overcome culture, intellect and the higher pursuits of mankind.This game was great, but flawed (particularly in terms of demands for military accuracy/outcomes) in its simplicity. On a positive note, most later games have attempted to close the ground around these flaws, especially real-time (RTS) or related genres.Civilization II, Age of Empires, Age of Kings, Age of Conquerors, Empire Earth, Civilization III and a few others have to some degree closed the gap with respect to the likelihood of implausible results occurring between combatants of obsolescent ages and their more advanced counterparts. Some work still needs to be done, but things continue to improve.I would like to offer the view that games are ultimately entertainment, not intended to be completely accurate. I myself am a stickler for historical accuracy, but appreciate the total package offered by game developers. I think they can do better, but believe that both the technology and the will exist - to present a breakthrough game in the near future.In the meantime, I encourage you all to avoid taking every flaw too seriously. After all, we could be trudging through desert sands in hostile territory if fate and history had been less kind

[This message has been edited by chonaman (edited 03-20-2003 @ 08:56 PM).] Elpea

Hal

(id: lp_usa) posted 03-20-03 11:24 PM EDT (US) 17 / 27 btw, as i said, its my opinion.i think the scenario editor is the best, but in MY opinion, this game isnt as good as i thought when i first saw it on a magazine ad.im not alone on this opinion , from the magazines i've checked, the higherst EE got was a 73%.btw, when i said game interface, i meant the in game help, i got a bit confused.and if i was the only one that thought empire earth wasent really good, then we would have waayyy many people playing it right now.

again, just my opinion Im not saying that SSSI did a bad work, all im saying is that its kinda hard since empire earth was a first of its kind, and and it would be really hard to get it on the first time.

good luck on Empires SSSI Kaidonni

Marine posted 03-21-03 05:27 AM EDT (US) 18 / 27 I tried EE once on hard in the late epochs...within minutes I was being atom bombed! I have noticed that the computer prefers not to build any farms on the small and large islands at least on the easier settings...though I'm not sure if they did on hard...but I had no chance. Besides, are chances of survival increased when you have 1 Human and 3 computers, 1vs1vs1vs1? I like that. Is it a fun fight out in the end on hard setting after the start?(\_/)

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