With the newly introduced settings which we can alter some basic game play rules, what do you guys pick?
I usually play everything on default, but I had played games with shattered retreat off, deadly epidemics and 'more' on minor epidemics. I also tried playing around with turning defense pacts off.
Shattered Retreat: So far, I like having shattered retreat off since it makes wars more decisive and less drawn-out. It does make the game easier in a sense though, since a few well-planned rush victories can really go in your favor. On the other hand though, I have lost wars where I could had won, had shattered retreat been off
since AI knows to chase my routed army too.
Deadly Epidemics and More Minor Epidemics: settings is very difficult to handle in the beginning. It is a challenge just pumping enough heirs to survive... and reproductive traits and abilities become much more valuable. Aside from knowing that you and any of your heirs may drop dead anytime, the main annoying thing is the constant micromanagement needed for replacing councilors, physicians, commanders, children's spouse, etc. I had assumed that more dead people = better performance, but so far, I haven't seen any noticeable differences.
Defense Pacts: Threat was clearly introduced to limit or slow down constant blobbing, so turning it off pretty much feels like it is cheating. On the other hand, the whole defense pact thing can be a bit ridiculous once you get big.. and at that point it doesn't really make the wars harder, just more tedious (really drawn out wars that you will win eventually anyway), as well as more gamey (blitzcrieg assault small nations). It's also quite peculiar how far some foreign nations are willing to travel just get a piece of me in the pact (I've seen a persian dynasty bringing 40k troops to saxony). Needless to say, that persian dynasty crumbled shortly after the war, not from me per se, but from attrition.
What do you guys think about the default settings? Is there any particular setting that you play with other than the default? I'm interested to see what others have to say, and if there are any interesting game-settings that may give a unique play experience
I usually play everything on default, but I had played games with shattered retreat off, deadly epidemics and 'more' on minor epidemics. I also tried playing around with turning defense pacts off.
Shattered Retreat: So far, I like having shattered retreat off since it makes wars more decisive and less drawn-out. It does make the game easier in a sense though, since a few well-planned rush victories can really go in your favor. On the other hand though, I have lost wars where I could had won, had shattered retreat been off
since AI knows to chase my routed army too.Deadly Epidemics and More Minor Epidemics: settings is very difficult to handle in the beginning. It is a challenge just pumping enough heirs to survive... and reproductive traits and abilities become much more valuable. Aside from knowing that you and any of your heirs may drop dead anytime, the main annoying thing is the constant micromanagement needed for replacing councilors, physicians, commanders, children's spouse, etc. I had assumed that more dead people = better performance, but so far, I haven't seen any noticeable differences.
Defense Pacts: Threat was clearly introduced to limit or slow down constant blobbing, so turning it off pretty much feels like it is cheating. On the other hand, the whole defense pact thing can be a bit ridiculous once you get big.. and at that point it doesn't really make the wars harder, just more tedious (really drawn out wars that you will win eventually anyway
), as well as more gamey (blitzcrieg assault small nations). It's also quite peculiar how far some foreign nations are willing to travel just get a piece of me in the pact (I've seen a persian dynasty bringing 40k troops to saxony). Needless to say, that persian dynasty crumbled shortly after the war, not from me per se, but from attrition.What do you guys think about the default settings? Is there any particular setting that you play with other than the default? I'm interested to see what others have to say, and if there are any interesting game-settings that may give a unique play experience
