Normal Ironman is way too easy. How is Hard Ironman? Does it slow down player?

[Dr. B]

Hello! Question is as title.

Art of War and 1.8.x is great, I am glad I bought it. EUIV is a very fascinating and captivating game that I am happy to support. But the game, for someone who know the ins and outs and have played quite a bit, is super-easy. There is no challenge for the player in Normal Ironman, so it gets boring quickly and keeps me from playing much.

So I ask if somebody have felt like I do and played much on the hardest settings. No scumming or any of that nonsense, only strict Ironman etc etc. Does it improve the game? Will it slow you down a bit or can you still conquer whatever you want with one arm tied behind the chair?

 

[Dr. B]

I ask again, if someone would care to give their impression of hard ironman mode, compared to normal.

 

[Korsan82]

I might not be up to date regarding this game, but this "hard ironman" is already in game or is this a suggestion to add such a mode?
If it's already in the game:
How about simply trying?

 

[slv]

Adding AI bonuses may help you. If you don't get used to it it will look much harder.

 

[Denjell]

Its allready in the game.

 

[zodium]

For a definition of difficulty that only measures base tax growth speed, it's not that much harder. The AI is just more reactive to you, you get more AE, etc., but it's fundamentally the same dynamic where you apply the same fundamental strategies. You should try playing for goals other than "growing as fast as possible," though. It's a pretty narrow scope.

 

[Bellygareth]

Hard AI can be noticably more difficult in some contexts. I don't think AI bonuses is really making the game harder though. An Ai with better provinces and income will still be weak to a human player. It just means that the player can milk the AI for more ducats and better improved provinces.

 

[TheAtreides84]

The difficulty is tied to nations and goals, mostly. France will be easy at any setting. Now, try forming Jerusalem as Cyprus...

 

[zodium]

The difficulty is tied to nations and goals, mostly. France will be easy at any setting. Now, try forming Jerusalem as Cyprus...

It's tied to goals only, really. For a fixed goal, there is no qualitative difference in optimal strategy between playing as Cyprus or Japan or France, but the starting positions and narratives lend themselves to choosing different goals. If your goal is always to grow as fast as possible, then for sufficiently high levels of practice, all countries are (nearly) identical in terms of strategy and difficulty.

 

[Dr. B]

Alright, thanks a lot for pretty insightful answers.

I suppose the game is okay in terms of blobbing difficulty if you want to embrace as wide an audience as possible.

For those who want a more unforgiving playing experience, there is always mods.
Anyone care to recommend a good one for simply increasing unforgivingness and raw punishment?
(I'd like that if I for example manage to double historical France's borders from 1444-1700 by playing my best, I would be doing well... so almost history simulator and not sandbox.)


I really wish there was a toggle for the AI to take off the silky gloves and go for the throat once you gained some AE.
Like cranking up military AI algorithm to "total annihilation" mode instead of always "playful kitten".

 

[svenk91]

I found challenges again when I started achievement hunting. Just conquered Spain as Granada, took me atleast 10 turns before I got a good start that I could even survive (after that I was very lucky and took spain in no time).

 

[Freudia]

I want to know what starts you play, OP. I'm aware that a lot of starts are on the easier aspect, but I'm just curious as to what nations you tend to play.

 

[Seiska]

With AI bonuses, some achievements are pretty hard.

 

[zodium]

I really wish there was a toggle for the AI to take off the silky gloves and go for the throat once you gained some AE.
Like cranking up military AI algorithm to "total annihilation" mode instead of always "playful kitten".

I can think of any number of ways to make it incredibly hard for you to expand beyond a medium-sized country without facing incredible opposition, but at the end of the day, once you beat everyone, you've beaten everyone. That's it, the relative power difference only grows bigger from there. I just played an Ottoman game where I started expanding and just ignored AE while beating coalition war after coalition war. 19th "All Europe"-Ottomans Punitive War stuff. The only other way to do what you want here is to flat out slow expansion down, which will make the game feel sluggish and boring.

Basically, there comes a time in every EU player's life where they must choose whether they play for the base tax, or whether they play for the history/to screw with the AIs and mechanics. If you're in the former group, then the game is over when you get sufficiently good, because all countries become equally difficult and that difficulty is very easy. Again, that's it--once you've learned all the AI mechanics and dynamics, the challenge has been met; the achievement has been achieved, etc. It never gets more difficult from there unless you expand your goal space.

 

[Dr. B]

I want to know what starts you play, OP. I'm aware that a lot of starts are on the easier aspect, but I'm just curious as to what nations you tend to play.

I think my last games were Norway, Novgorod, Norway and Najd. I dont really have much spare time for playing, I enjoy mini-nations for reaching set goals as well. But it doesnt really matter, because Zodium above me pretty much summed up my thoughts. Once you grow to critical mass you are unstoppable. The starting country only decides how long that takes.
I like to be challenged so I guess it is game over.

 

[Zak Preston]

does Ironman have any levels of difficulty?

 

[slv]

does Ironman have any levels of difficulty?

You need to set difficulty/bonuses before enabling ironman (and you still can't have Player Bonuses/Easy difficulty).

 

[Viperswhip]

You can set the difficulty, but the game, as others have pointed out already has difficulty build in, depending on which country you play and how you play it.

If you say bye to Europe and colonize then maybe come back later England, Castile and Portugal are cakewalks, but if you try to win the 100 years war, become head of the HRE and fight the Ottos and Russia then England is more difficult.

 

[Zak Preston]

You need to set difficulty/bonuses before enabling ironman (and you still can't have Player Bonuses/Easy difficulty).

OMFG! OMG-OMG... I had that stupid "all hard" settings all the time... so many games were just f@cked or restarted because AI had that OP bonuses... That sunset invasion I tried to do like 5 times (I mean at least 5 times I survived Conquistadors invasions and was able to invade Europe)... Those Byz restarts... I had like 20-25 restarts for my second Theodoro game before I could beat and vassalize those Crimeans, take Caffa + Chios and then take Byz... I really thought I was quite bad because of those frequent restarts and messed up games...

And I just could set AI bonuses to "none"...

P.S. sorry for my bad English... I'm just shocked.

 

[Azraeil]

I can think of any number of ways to make it incredibly hard for you to expand beyond a medium-sized country without facing incredible opposition, but at the end of the day, once you beat everyone, you've beaten everyone. That's it, the relative power difference only grows bigger from there. I just played an Ottoman game where I started expanding and just ignored AE while beating coalition war after coalition war. 19th "All Europe"-Ottomans Punitive War stuff. The only other way to do what you want here is to flat out slow expansion down, which will make the game feel sluggish and boring.

Basically, there comes a time in every EU player's life where they must choose whether they play for the base tax, or whether they play for the history/to screw with the AIs and mechanics. If you're in the former group, then the game is over when you get sufficiently good, because all countries become equally difficult and that difficulty is very easy. Again, that's it--once you've learned all the AI mechanics and dynamics, the challenge has been met; the achievement has been achieved, etc. It never gets more difficult from there unless you expand your goal space.

This