Slitherine

I am not familiar with the original boardgame, so I do not know what adjustments were made on the 'hard' level of the game regarding reinforcement rates or troop availability. That being said, I have achieved a preponderance of victories on Hard Level against the AI by adopting a relatively simple strategy. First, I remove a Latin Legion from Genua. This seems to always prevent the AI from invading Spain on turn one. I take Gaul and Gallic aide. On turn 2 I invade Umbria, build up Africa, then ship to Spain, hence to Italy repeating as needed.Hannibal can recruit 2 units a turn in Umbria, plus 6 units for Treachery by cards, and 2 units for Extended march, and another two-four units for reinforce Hannibal cards. The AI seems unwiling to attack Hannibal once he hits 20 or 25 units. Once Hasdrubal arrives from Spain with another dozen units Hannibal is up to over 40, which is about the Roman replacement limit. The AI will sometimes leave Rome underdefended, 40 units is enough to take out the Roman militia and 2-4 legions I find. Or, I can raid other cities in Italy. Holding Spain and Umbria with a large army seems sufficient to win the game.

One thing which might make the AI invincible IMO would be a change in their naval operations. 8 Roman units in the Med every turn, period. This would force attrition roles on African units going to Italy or Spain. Right now the AI often leaves the path to Spain open, along with the random Storms at Sea opening paths to Italy. So, I'd recommend the change, then you wouldn't need any other Roman modifications on hard level.

First off, I want to congratulate you on finding a soft spot in the AI. You're right about the move to Spain. I am working on a patch to bring the game to version 1.0.3 and I'll try to add something that will work around this.

Now, you seem to be using the "Standard First Move" option. That has the advantage of making the first turn predictable for the Carthaginian side. Why don't you try a few games without that? That should add some variety to the opening move. You won't always have a card to remove units at the beginning of the game. The unpredictable results of Gallic Attrition can be annoying, but that makes it a challenge.

We are going to be testing a new beta version of the 1.0.3 patch. That won't have a fix for the "first turn to Spain" problem (yet) but you might find that it has some changes that will interest you. You can check at Matrix Games' site to see when the next beta patch will be released. It should be available soon.

Finally, let me say that the problem is not quite so much how to improve the AI in terms of making it harder. As I see it, the problem is to how to make it more challenging and still winnable. I have had a few people request that the "hard" level not get any harder!

This is a good topic and perhaps some other players will want to weigh in with their opinions. I will certainly think about what you said.

Thanks for buying the game!

Hello,

I am still new to the game, which I think is great. I have only played introductory level. MichaelGuth could you explain what you mean by getting troops for treachery and extended march cards.

Thanks,
John