Finished playing on normal and had a great game, trying now on hard and it is absurd. Started the game and within 10 minutes game time the opposition teams had 1.2 million and five ships? Impossible for me to do.The AI's handling of the opposition is such that you are more or less so far behind within 10 minutes game time that you may as well give up. I finally gained four ports but didn't have enough $'s to adequately improve forts etc whilst the AI funded superpowers simply took the ports and built more fleets........ ridiculous. The imbalance of the AI compared to the players actual (game limiting) ability to be profitable is laughable and put simply destroys any possibility of a fair challenge.
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Yeah, that's why it's called "Hard". I had no trouble playing numerous campaigns all the way till late 1700s... so it's perfectly doable.
For starters, take that Cutter you've got and start pirating. And check my startegy threads for more tips how to pull it off. And remember, AI isn't an inch smarter than it was on Easy or Normal, it only gets 30% more income from trade.
For starters, take that Cutter you've got and start pirating. And check my startegy threads for more tips how to pull it off. And remember, AI isn't an inch smarter than it was on Easy or Normal, it only gets 30% more income from trade.
I have played a few games on normal/medium difficulty and I look at the diplomacy ledger sometimes and find it discouraging when the AI has more money and ships then me while selling only a fraction of the goods that I sold to my home port. This game needs more balance.
The great equalizer between the player and the ai bonuses should be naval combat. In the battles I fought it appeared that the ai had bonuses here as well. I spent a whole day improving my naval combat skills through quick battle and I still have a very hard time winning an equal fight with the ai.
The great equalizer between the player and the ai bonuses should be naval combat. In the battles I fought it appeared that the ai had bonuses here as well. I spent a whole day improving my naval combat skills through quick battle and I still have a very hard time winning an equal fight with the ai.
I pirate AI mercilessly all the time in my games. Always am at war with at least one company, always actively seek and board their ships (cheaper than building htem
) and it's usually the strongest of their companies. I sign peace after a while to not destroy them completely and move on to my next target, whoever rose to power in the meantime.
AI usually gets weaker financially when their fleets become big (more cargo being lost at once) and when they upgrade their ports (even with AI's discount it's still a hefty price).
As far as prices go, after a while you need Salesmen captains even for India, basically you need to give up on everything except Spices and Tea with weak captains. That's another reason for piracy, it allows to quickly level up captains to Salesman/Haggler (Navigator and Organizer isn't as helpful on Hard since it will lower prices even more).
In general, Hard is really hard... but it also is a powerplayer test. If you can't do it, you should learn the game some more, especially naval combat which for me is always where I can overcome AI and if they can't win there, they can't win the big picture either.
) and it's usually the strongest of their companies. I sign peace after a while to not destroy them completely and move on to my next target, whoever rose to power in the meantime.AI usually gets weaker financially when their fleets become big (more cargo being lost at once) and when they upgrade their ports (even with AI's discount it's still a hefty price).
As far as prices go, after a while you need Salesmen captains even for India, basically you need to give up on everything except Spices and Tea with weak captains. That's another reason for piracy, it allows to quickly level up captains to Salesman/Haggler (Navigator and Organizer isn't as helpful on Hard since it will lower prices even more).
In general, Hard is really hard... but it also is a powerplayer test. If you can't do it, you should learn the game some more, especially naval combat which for me is always where I can overcome AI and if they can't win there, they can't win the big picture either.
I have played many naval combat/trading games but I have the most difficulty with EIC. If I dont outclass or outnumber the enemy then I am likely to lose battles no matter what tactics I use. Are there any significant changes to naval combat in the expansions?