SP late game boredom?

[Actuarian]

I think SEIV automation routines are the equivalent of playing sloppy in Dom3. They'll both get you the win if your blowing everyone away, but don't get you optimal results. I personally find SEIV more tedious at end game than dom3, mainly because the SEIV AI rolls over after the game hits a tipping point.

[Sombre]

Yeah playing with VP is the answer. If you set the AI to a difficult setting and aggressive, play on a small/medium map and make each province worth one VP, game ends when someone has 50% of the provinces or so,... well then you have an actual goal to chase. The AI doesn't seem to take VP into account (as far as I can tell) but it certainly likes taking over provinces, so it does much the same thing as you. I'd also suggest roleplaying a bit,.. for example you might decide you're going to get full use out of every unit type available to you (even if they're a bit crappy) or try to use low level summons a bit more. It's not playing badly on purpose, it's just a matter of being varied rather than uber-efficient.

[jutetrea]

Thanks folks. Been playing either vp or dom win, and with higher lvl opponents. Its been a lot more interesting, unless I get an actual corner I'm usually in combat pretty quickly.

Is there anywhere in the manual where it goes over what the varying difficulty levels give to the AI? Will generally play a few hours on a faerun map, 10 players, 3 difficult, 1 mighty - seems like a big difference even with just 4 buffed AI. Been playing this game for quite awhile, MA Van for the first time - fun. Met 6/9 so far, 5 of which are at war with me

So, tougher opponents = more interesting, dom/vp conditions = attainable goals.

[Sombre]

Yep. I've always preferred fighting something of a losing battle. You have to make the most of everything once that's the case.

Of course I never want the AI to be so stacked against me that I have to use exploits. That also sucks the fun out of the game because you lose all variety.