Posted September 13, 2012
So I usually play on impossible with advanced farming and none of the other advanced features on. Great fun and have played the game for years. However, the game is usually never in question. I know fairly quickly if an AI noble is going to break my meager defenses early on or if I can build myself into an unstoppable monster.
This led me to start fumbling with the options. I have found that turning off Advanced farming makes things considerably more difficult all by itself. Gone are the days of 12% tax rates and triple rations each season. Now I must subsist on cows and some paltry 600 or so grain harvests.
I also turned on the hidden movement option. This is pretty amusing for a while, it really ups the tension on smaller maps as you are just waiting to see that 3-man army come out of the black hole before you have a castle done. But it wears off quickly as you scout and uncover areas. There is no "fog of war" so once its uncovered, its done.
Finally, the auto calc option. I find this makes the biggest difference in difficulty. There is no more using battle tactics to minimize losses or sweeping castle after castle clear with one 1.5k army. It really makes it quite interesting. On the negative side it does remove one of the more amusing aspects of the game in the battle screen.
However, if you are looking for a change, I highly suggest the autocalc. It took me a few times to hold to it for real and resist using my macemen mercs to slaughter all the bishops archers... but it is a new wrinkle to the game if you are looking for one.
This led me to start fumbling with the options. I have found that turning off Advanced farming makes things considerably more difficult all by itself. Gone are the days of 12% tax rates and triple rations each season. Now I must subsist on cows and some paltry 600 or so grain harvests.
I also turned on the hidden movement option. This is pretty amusing for a while, it really ups the tension on smaller maps as you are just waiting to see that 3-man army come out of the black hole before you have a castle done. But it wears off quickly as you scout and uncover areas. There is no "fog of war" so once its uncovered, its done.
Finally, the auto calc option. I find this makes the biggest difference in difficulty. There is no more using battle tactics to minimize losses or sweeping castle after castle clear with one 1.5k army. It really makes it quite interesting. On the negative side it does remove one of the more amusing aspects of the game in the battle screen.
However, if you are looking for a change, I highly suggest the autocalc. It took me a few times to hold to it for real and resist using my macemen mercs to slaughter all the bishops archers... but it is a new wrinkle to the game if you are looking for one.
