Slitherine

noticed that changing difficulty settings change the "troop quality" of player and ai, not sure how exactly it works and when

so now i am not sure on which difficulty should i play against ai if i want to play without either side having bonuses or negative modifiers

for example i had my pikes on bellow average (on diety i think) , then 1 week ago they were average, and now on the most easy difficulty they are above average

what is the default, historical setting?

also can this affect multiplayer games?

Over level 3 you only not lose points, your troops have lower quality and in top level AI troops have a +1 in quality... average become superior for AI and your average troops become under average.... same with the quality of all units in AI and human team.

So level 3 is "normal" difficulty, isn't it?

The standard, most balanced difficulty is 2. Levels 3, 4 and 5 reduce the number of units you can buy. Only levels 1 and 6 change the quality of the units.

The bottom difficulty level is "Centurion", that gives the same points totals as "Tribune" difficulty, but it also skews the troop quality in favour of the player. So for instance an "Average" unit on the players side is bumped up to "Above Average". An "Average" unit on the AI side will be downgraded to "Below Average".

The second level is "Tribune", that just gives the player more points to spend on units.

The third level is "Legate", that is the normal level.

The fourth level is "Governor", that gives the player slightly less points.

The fifth level is "Emperor", that gives the player even less points to spend.

The top level is "Deity", that gives the player the same points as "Emperor" level, but also skews the troop quality in favour of the AI. So an "Average" AI unit becomes "Above Average", and the same unit on the players side becomes "Below Average".

As Paul says, the only levels that affect troop quality are levels 1 and 6.

Paul59 wrote:The second level is "Tribune", that just gives the player more points to spend on units.

The third level is "Legate", that is the normal level.

This is false. This can be confirmed by creating a custom battle and fiddling with the options.

If you set force size to very large, the AI will get 2000 points. Using pot luck or automatic force selection will give the player +100 points in lvl2 and -100 in lvl3, therefore it's even and can be argued either way.
However, picking an army and using manual force selection will give the player -5 points in lvl2 and -195 in lvl3, therefore lvl2 is closer to the AI's points.

In conclusion, using pot luck or automatic force selection, both difficulty levels have similar deviations, but picking an army and using manual force selection causes lvl3 to have a larger deviation. All things taken into account, lvl2 - Tribune is clearly the normal level. The manual supports my conclusion as well.

Cumandante wrote:

Paul59 wrote:The second level is "Tribune", that just gives the player more points to spend on units.

The third level is "Legate", that is the normal level.

This is false. This can be confirmed by creating a custom battle and fiddling with the options.

If you set force size to very large, the AI will get 2000 points. Using pot luck or automatic force selection will give the player +100 points in lvl2 and -100 in lvl3, therefore it's even and can be argued either way.
However, picking an army and using manual force selection will give the player -5 points in lvl2 and -195 in lvl3, therefore lvl2 is closer to the AI's points.

In conclusion, using pot luck or automatic force selection, both difficulty levels have similar deviations, but picking an army and using manual force selection causes lvl3 to have a larger deviation. All things taken into account, lvl2 - Tribune is clearly the normal level. The manual supports my conclusion as well.

Well, it depends on what you mean by "Normal". You obviously regard it as when both sides have the same points. Bearing in mind that a human player should have a natural advantage over the AI, it is not unreasonable to give the AI a little points advantage to have a fair and challenging game.

I was getting my information from the scenario scripts. Here is an example from the stock Bagradas scenario:

if ((mode == 1) || (mode == 2)) // Easy or Very Easy
{
return 800;
}

if (mode == 0) // Normal
{
return 540;
}

if (mode == 3) // Hard
{
return 300;
}

if ((mode == 4) || (mode == 5)) // Very Hard or Nightmare
{
return 75;
}

Level 1 (Centurion) is described as Very Easy, Level 2 (Tribune) is described as Easy, Level 3 (ie mode 0, Legate) is described as Normal, Level 4 (Governor) is Hard, Emperor is Very hard, and Deity is Nightmare.

So the game designers regard Legate as Normal.

Paul59 wrote:Well, it depends on what you mean by "Normal". You obviously regard it as when both sides have the same points. Bearing in mind that a human player should have a natural advantage over the AI, it is not unreasonable to give the AI a little points advantage to have a fair and challenging game.

That is entirely subjective. Using the same argument I could claim that the normal level is Deity, because that's the one where I can have a fair and challenging game vs the AI.
But we can drop the 'normal' word if it is causing any confusion. We can use 'even', or 'balanced', in regards to the units fielded by the armies. I believe that is what is being discussed here.

Paul59 wrote:I was getting my information from the scenario scripts. Here is an example from the stock Bagradas scenario:

if ((mode == 1) || (mode == 2)) // Easy or Very Easy
{
return 800;
}

if (mode == 0) // Normal
{
return 540;
}

if (mode == 3) // Hard
{
return 300;
}

if ((mode == 4) || (mode == 5)) // Very Hard or Nightmare
{
return 75;
}

Level 1 (Centurion) is described as Very Easy, Level 2 (Tribune) is described as Easy, Level 3 (ie mode 0, Legate) is described as Normal, Level 4 (Governor) is Hard, Emperor is Very hard, and Deity is Nightmare.

Perhaps lvl3 is indeed the most balanced/realistic level in Scenarios. It clearly isn't the most balanced in Custom Battles and probably isn't in Campaign either.

Paul59 wrote:So the game designers regard Legate as Normal.

I could say the same about Tribune after reading the manual. Which source is "most correct" then?

I have tried to play some Campaigns in fourth level "Governor". It is too hard to win. I never passed the first stage.
The AI units are more resilient in fight. The whole AI strategy in the battle is more complicated in order to confuse and destroy you.

When i have tried the same Campaign in Level 3 "Legate", everything was normal. I think the third level is the best to understand the secrets of the game and the armies.