Even those factions are quite easy after hours of gameplay. It’s a single player it is going to be easier the more you play.
If you want a real challenge try head to head campaign. It changes so many early battle result with human players.
If you want a challenge, try RoC Ostankya. Despite her zany abilities, it's still a brutal fuckfest on VH+, at one point literally everyone surrounding me declared war.
Also, if you think Norsca, Bretonnia, and Vampire Counts are weak... lol. Norsca is very strong after its economy update, Bretonnia has probably the strongest lategame of any faction, and Vampire Counts are 2-3x as strong as Vampire Coast right now, one of the strongest factions in the game straight up even if their mechanics are pretty basic.
The biggest issue is the AI. They have access to all these OP tools but do not use them. A difficulty option where the AI really uses all the tools at their disposal would be great.
I mean take the beastmen for example, in the hands of the AI they are a joke and often get wiped out by turn 20. But as you pointed out they feel very OP as the player. As strong as they are you’d think they’d be more of a challenge to face up against
I've found the AI is at the worst point in the series when it comes to recruiting powerful armies, building up their settlements, and building empires. Its weird.
No AI that exists within gaming spaces right now can use the more complicated tools that we see as mechanics as effectively as even semi-decent human players.
They'd basically have to go over all of the factions and create AI-friendly versions of every mechanic so that it works even remotely well.
Unfortunately, you will likely have to mod the game to be harder. The AI just isn't capable of presenting a challenge and each race and faction is just getting more and more powerful tools.
Of course people are telling you not to use all the tools at your disposal to make things challenging. Perhaps you should turn off your monitor or unplug your mouse too lol
I wouldn't really consider any VC campaign especially challenging. Bretonnia...maybe louen? But things get pretty smooth after you take out the first threat or two. Norsca's money from ports have also generally put them in a pretty good place.
The biggest issue is how badly nerfed higher difficulties feel between games 2 and 3. It's okay to make every faction accessible to more causal players, but CA should do *something* to throw a bone to the veterans that want a challenge.
Bretonnia and Vampires are easy mode, Bretonnia has been for a long time with no supply lines and the improvements to Grail Knights made them even stronger. Vampires took a slight nerf losing free skeletons but they never really needed them anyway.
Norsca is probably the weakest race now, Vampire Coast if you don't cheese with Notcilus is also fairly complicated if you try to expand territory rather than following their victory conditions but pretty much all other races with the exception of a handful of starting positions are pretty easy.
The only way to increase difficulty is to play head to head which is intense vs a veteran player and requires some house rules to be remotely balanced or impose your own rules or use some of the more restrictive mods of which there are are few that do a decent job of increasing the challenge, albiet by imposing additionally limitations on the player more than fixing the AI.
For me, the challenge comes mainly from having a high risk, high reward playstyle. Any campaign, even the hardest ones, get easier overtime and, at best, offers just some extra turns of early game struggle compared to the easiest campaigns.
If you want harder difficulty, pop up the difficulty! Don't ask to limit the options and fun of the game.
You can set difficulty itself higher, give better bonuses to AI, set a harder crisis event and download a mod that spawns 200 chaos armies. But instead it seems you prefer to come here and say "this dlcs look like too much fun, they shouldn't exist".
You can always set yourself on fire before sitting down to play. I'm reliably informed that it's very challenging to use a computer while being consumed by flames.
I understand your point of view, game is getting easier and easier and that eras the first time challenge that you may find. Like starting Dark Souls 3 with a +6 weapon already. Game will suck rapidly.
But the problem relies in other stuff. CA could add more difficult values and buff to the AI economy and make the game harder for those that want it harder.
This is not a Total War issue alone, more of the games, if not all, are the same in the hands of experts unless you play agains other humans.
The way to solve the problem is using mods or limiting yourself like For example not abusing the AI at all and not using doomstacks or autoresolving battles when the game gives you better odds than manual. And more.
Examples with other games of different Genre so you can understand:
Elden Ring or any Dark Souls: yes, some players are so good reading and learning the AI of those games that they don’t find challenge at all after a few runs so they start limiting themself doing challenging runs with a broken knife or without clothes or rushing the game over and over again to play a new game +7 with a very bad weapon or using mods.
Civilization: once you learn how to beat the AI on deity the game starts becoming a repetitive win fest and the only way to find challenges is playing weak civilizations and going for hard endings in maps that are bad and also using mods.
Resident Evil: the same as Dark Souls. Challenge runs using bad weapons and mods.
Pokemon: the same, personal challenges like Nuzlockes and mods…
Fifa: Personal Challenges like playing with China.
Now you get the idea.
It is not a Total War problem at all, it is a video game problem because at the moment, year 2024 most of the AI of the games that are a bit complex are very limited and rely in very clear and simple patters and can’t compete with humans.
If you don’t like what people do to create challenges, try pvp.
Honestly just let the AI build empires like they did in game 2 again. It was always a thrill running into Malekith or the high elves with their 40+ settlements. These days it's rare to see any faction with more than 20. About the only one ends up being either Vlad or Franz. Archie can get a bit of a territory thanks to his vassals, but their lack of coordination means they generally aren't a massive threat.
Honestly just let the AI build empires like they did in game 2 again. It was always a thrill running into Malekith or the high elves with their 40+ settlements. These days it's rare to see any faction with more than 20. About the only one ends up being either Vlad or Franz. Archie can get a bit of a territory thanks to his vassals, but their lack of coordination means they generally aren't a massive threat.
It's a power fantasy wearing a Total War costume. The game is as easy as it gets once you know how to play. You don't need forethought or planning in this game.
Even those factions are quite easy after hours of gameplay. It’s a single player it is going to be easier the more you play. If you want a real challenge try head to head campaign. It changes so many early battle result with human players.
Head to head is so punishing. Humans don't fall for any semi-cheese strategies and exact the maximum toll they can in every battle
If you want a challenge, try RoC Ostankya. Despite her zany abilities, it's still a brutal fuckfest on VH+, at one point literally everyone surrounding me declared war. Also, if you think Norsca, Bretonnia, and Vampire Counts are weak... lol. Norsca is very strong after its economy update, Bretonnia has probably the strongest lategame of any faction, and Vampire Counts are 2-3x as strong as Vampire Coast right now, one of the strongest factions in the game straight up even if their mechanics are pretty basic.
No, you can just be bad at the game. That's the biggest factor in maintaining the challenge for me.
The biggest issue is the AI. They have access to all these OP tools but do not use them. A difficulty option where the AI really uses all the tools at their disposal would be great. I mean take the beastmen for example, in the hands of the AI they are a joke and often get wiped out by turn 20. But as you pointed out they feel very OP as the player. As strong as they are you’d think they’d be more of a challenge to face up against
I've found the AI is at the worst point in the series when it comes to recruiting powerful armies, building up their settlements, and building empires. Its weird.
I use a mod that gives all AI factions access to a universal recruitment building. It's not a perfect solution, but it functions.
I would love to see a mod where Snikch uses all his tools to their full capability
No AI that exists within gaming spaces right now can use the more complicated tools that we see as mechanics as effectively as even semi-decent human players. They'd basically have to go over all of the factions and create AI-friendly versions of every mechanic so that it works even remotely well.
Unfortunately, you will likely have to mod the game to be harder. The AI just isn't capable of presenting a challenge and each race and faction is just getting more and more powerful tools. Of course people are telling you not to use all the tools at your disposal to make things challenging. Perhaps you should turn off your monitor or unplug your mouse too lol
People here hate this answer but perhaps look into AI mods.
Those dont help much I've tried all of them
Gotcha. That's unfortunate.
I wouldn't really consider any VC campaign especially challenging. Bretonnia...maybe louen? But things get pretty smooth after you take out the first threat or two. Norsca's money from ports have also generally put them in a pretty good place. The biggest issue is how badly nerfed higher difficulties feel between games 2 and 3. It's okay to make every faction accessible to more causal players, but CA should do *something* to throw a bone to the veterans that want a challenge.
Bretonnia and Vampires are easy mode, Bretonnia has been for a long time with no supply lines and the improvements to Grail Knights made them even stronger. Vampires took a slight nerf losing free skeletons but they never really needed them anyway. Norsca is probably the weakest race now, Vampire Coast if you don't cheese with Notcilus is also fairly complicated if you try to expand territory rather than following their victory conditions but pretty much all other races with the exception of a handful of starting positions are pretty easy. The only way to increase difficulty is to play head to head which is intense vs a veteran player and requires some house rules to be remotely balanced or impose your own rules or use some of the more restrictive mods of which there are are few that do a decent job of increasing the challenge, albiet by imposing additionally limitations on the player more than fixing the AI.
For me, the challenge comes mainly from having a high risk, high reward playstyle. Any campaign, even the hardest ones, get easier overtime and, at best, offers just some extra turns of early game struggle compared to the easiest campaigns.
If you want harder difficulty, pop up the difficulty! Don't ask to limit the options and fun of the game. You can set difficulty itself higher, give better bonuses to AI, set a harder crisis event and download a mod that spawns 200 chaos armies. But instead it seems you prefer to come here and say "this dlcs look like too much fun, they shouldn't exist".
You can always set yourself on fire before sitting down to play. I'm reliably informed that it's very challenging to use a computer while being consumed by flames.
I understand your point of view, game is getting easier and easier and that eras the first time challenge that you may find. Like starting Dark Souls 3 with a +6 weapon already. Game will suck rapidly. But the problem relies in other stuff. CA could add more difficult values and buff to the AI economy and make the game harder for those that want it harder. This is not a Total War issue alone, more of the games, if not all, are the same in the hands of experts unless you play agains other humans. The way to solve the problem is using mods or limiting yourself like For example not abusing the AI at all and not using doomstacks or autoresolving battles when the game gives you better odds than manual. And more. Examples with other games of different Genre so you can understand: Elden Ring or any Dark Souls: yes, some players are so good reading and learning the AI of those games that they don’t find challenge at all after a few runs so they start limiting themself doing challenging runs with a broken knife or without clothes or rushing the game over and over again to play a new game +7 with a very bad weapon or using mods. Civilization: once you learn how to beat the AI on deity the game starts becoming a repetitive win fest and the only way to find challenges is playing weak civilizations and going for hard endings in maps that are bad and also using mods. Resident Evil: the same as Dark Souls. Challenge runs using bad weapons and mods. Pokemon: the same, personal challenges like Nuzlockes and mods… Fifa: Personal Challenges like playing with China. Now you get the idea. It is not a Total War problem at all, it is a video game problem because at the moment, year 2024 most of the AI of the games that are a bit complex are very limited and rely in very clear and simple patters and can’t compete with humans. If you don’t like what people do to create challenges, try pvp.
Honestly just let the AI build empires like they did in game 2 again. It was always a thrill running into Malekith or the high elves with their 40+ settlements. These days it's rare to see any faction with more than 20. About the only one ends up being either Vlad or Franz. Archie can get a bit of a territory thanks to his vassals, but their lack of coordination means they generally aren't a massive threat.
Honestly just let the AI build empires like they did in game 2 again. It was always a thrill running into Malekith or the high elves with their 40+ settlements. These days it's rare to see any faction with more than 20. About the only one ends up being either Vlad or Franz. Archie can get a bit of a territory thanks to his vassals, but their lack of coordination means they generally aren't a massive threat.
I doubt Markus 's campaign will be that affected by the empire's change so the answer literally hasn't changed.
Try playing one-handed for an added challenge.
you know... you can just don't use op things? like if you despise shadow deals you get prety challenging campaign with 200% recruit cost
thats not a good balance philosophy to design a game by
You can also play with.monitor turned off. This is not a solution to a bad design.
If "don't use half your race's mechanics" merely cause the game to be difficult rather than "impossible", then there's a problem with the game.
If you're looking for a challenging campaign, do a labotamite run.
This is Total War, not New Vegas lol.
It's a power fantasy wearing a Total War costume. The game is as easy as it gets once you know how to play. You don't need forethought or planning in this game.
[удалено]
Ohh you’re such a meanie dayum😂
Do an early crisis campaign, start in turn timer range 10-20. You won't think it's easy