Difficulty in King Arthur for a new player

[thedarkclown85]

Hey guys

I bought King arthur a while ago on a steam sale, and never got around to trying it before now. First of all it seems like a really nice game, and I was quite impressed by the AIs ability to manage troops compared to something like the total war series...
In fact I must admit that I actually ended op getting my ass kicked quite badly!

After losing a couple of battles in which my heroes barely survived I decided to pull back and regroup and give up the province closest to my enemy in order to keep the AI occupied...
However after quite a few seasons it seems like im kind of hopelessly behind now! I tried to attack in a few different places but got totally owned all the times, and even tried reloading but with the same result.
Now the thing is that im used to playing EU3, HOI3 etc and in those game I would normally rather give up and start again than reload if I lose important battles, as I feel its kinda cheating, and you are usually able to make a comeback if your smart and bide your time and then strike at the right moment.
I guess my question is if this is dosent really work the same way in King Arthur?
I never really saw the AI attacking each other during this time (thus giving me the chance to strike) and when I compared the military and economic stats on the world map I keept beeing vastly inferior to EVERYONE else!

I looked around in some of the old post and alot om them seem to imply that in order to succed in this game you have to win almost every battle early one with as few loses as possible and if you dont you have to reload. otherwise the game would get way to hard later and it would be impossible to catch up with the AI. Futhermore they say that its best to do everything as fast as possbile as the longer you wait to attack the more unbeatable the AI will get...

Now my question is: Is this really true? Or has this been fixed in resent patches? I woudl be very sad to find out that you have to reload alot to be able to succed and I hope its just me beeing a n00b!!! (btw I played on normal diff for my first game)

 

[Nefaro]

The latest update (1.06) reduced the difficulty on all diff levels.

If someone is still using an older version, I'd recommend playing it on Easy the first run through. Now, Normal should be okay I think, though I've not played the latest much yet.

 

[thedarkclown85]

Ok good to know, but what about the thing about losing battles and the AI getting exponentially more powerfull for every season you wait? Just started a new game again on normal, and im trying to get the stronghold in vincumumumum or whatever its called. This time I tried to go staight for it instad og doing the other missions first but they still have an army 3 times the size of mine...I know im a noob and all but I really cant see what im doing wrong!

 

[Mithelemir]

Thedarkclown85,

I just sent you a private message with my email address. Send me a save-game file from your campaign. I'll look at it, then post here with my opinion+strategic advice, if I can.

...But yes, you need to basically keep on winning in this game. A loss can be devastating.

 

[Schou]

Ok good to know, but what about the thing about losing battles and the AI getting exponentially more powerfull for every season you wait? Just started a new game again on normal, and im trying to get the stronghold in vincumumumum or whatever its called. This time I tried to go staight for it instad og doing the other missions first but they still have an army 3 times the size of mine...I know im a noob and all but I really cant see what im doing wrong!

I have the exact same problem. Even though the AI units aren't fighting anything at all OR have a stronghold they can still upgrade their units as well as gain swathes of experience..

EDIT: Also, don't use the auto-battle feature!!! It's 10x easier if you "DIY" the battles at least in my experience.

 

[Wyvern]

My advise would be to take a look at rk47's Righteous Christian Playthrough a few posts down on this forum. You can glean a whole host of tips and advise from that thread even if your playing a completely different alignment.

Playing out your own battles certainly makes it easier - only auto-resolve if you outnumber the opposition by at least four to one. Learn to use the magic abilities of your heroes. E.g. Cast Hold on a group of enemy archers, and then follow it up with a curse of shadows - equals one less enemy archer squad to worry about. Develop tactics to take out enemy archers first, and protect your own archers. Archers are kings of the early game.

 

[unmerged(316754)]

It took ages for me to get my gamertag linked, because EA site bugged for me. I finally got it to work not so long ago, and am finally able to see screenshots I've taken. And those were taken by accident, when I didn't know how to take 'em (only noticed the feature when "achievement unlocked" popped on my screen, for unlocking the one that you get from taking 3 screenshots). So they are mostly just closeups of ground, with couple knifekills