How difficult is this game?

[Edratman]

Fenris99 said:
The game is not easy.

That about sums up the game. The more you play, the more intracies you discover. If you read the threads from the MP gamers you will discover tricks and depths you will never have thought of on your own.

Pretender/magic/scales set up is almost a complete game within itself. If you ask 5 players what is best, you will be lucky to be offered only 7 opinions. Where you set your options regarding indy strength, and % gold/resources/supplies and research speed also significently alters the game strategy. And SP is an entirely different game from MP.

If you play SP, you will develop your own preferences for settings. They will be absolutely correct for you and your expansion/research strategies will develop to reflect these settings. I myself play very difficult or impossible AI, indy 9 and leave everything else at the default (except for renaming- always allow renaming - you can rename commanders to "prophet", "scout", "5 death", "6 Nature", "Rainbow shield maker" or whatever you choose to help minimize confusion because the stock names are confusing and will also repeat.) It took me months to work up to "Impossible" AI settings.

Slippery Jim's advice on expansion rate is right on the money in my opinion, based on my also using indy strength of 9. This changes somewhat depending on which nation you are playing (some have better/more affordable early game troops), what settings you have chosen and your starting location, but it is correct. The mercenary advice is also spot on. Bid 5 gold above the mercenary asking price and you will always get them.

My expansion standard is to be ahead of the AI by about turn 10 on the province chart if I don't use mercenaries. If there are good mercenaries available in the first 2 or 3 turns and I'm playing a game where I will buy them, I will be ahead of the AI at the outset of the game. (For my first 6 months of playing, I always bought the good mercenaries. Now it depends upon my mood and the affordable early troops of the nation I am playing.)

This is a great forum and community, as you should be able to discern from the responses. Ask any question and you will get sound advice.