I have started games of FE, where as a disclaimer I believe has moved in the right direction, but on Normal difficulty there is no incentive for me to build units and buildings in the early game despite having the option to build so many of them.. The AI is key to this and game balance.
Ok sure there is an environment to explore and defeat but it needs to interact not simply sit there as fodder. The AI needs to WANT to win also, not simply sit there as a simple measure of your empire building status. If I am impelled to build building or unit A because I am at threat of losing, then the game is infinitely better, more immersive and challenging. I don't want to play against a non crippled AI that has bonuses, I want to play against the best AI possible that plays by the same rules as I. If this is possible, and I'm still winning, then I move onto the next difficulty level and the AI gets bonuses.
This is a request to fix the AI difficulty options/tooltips (below) and make the full AI available as a difficulty selection with customizable options.
Some ideas have been for making the AI difficulty selection better.
What I'd like : two separate options for AI and for bonuses : Sometimes I'd like to play with the best AI but with economic maluses for it. Or a dumb player with a looot of economic bonuses (which should be separate)
So at start you would choose : AI, gildar generation bonus (flat and/or percentage), mana generation (flat and/or percentage), building time (flat and/or percentage), first level of all created armies (new armies starts at level 2 or 3 or 4 etc.), research bonuses (flat and/or ... you know the jazz), etc.
We also need a separate XP slider, so people who dont want Champions of doom can set their heroes to get like 90% less XP and those who want more active heroes can set it to get full XP amounts. This will also do wonders for the difficulty level.
Why not simply have two different sliders? One for AI intelligence and one for AI bonus. Give us the option. If we want to play against the smartest AI brad can come up with but with no bonuses then by all means let us. If we want dumb AI but huge bonuses let us.
This seems like such an easy and obvious fix that I'm amazed that its included on zero actual games that I can think of.
Update: For those wanting to play with uncrippled AI and no bonuses, because its not obvious and the tooltips are incorrect in v.77 atm, choose challenging difficulty on the main difficulty screen! The main difficulty options screen changes the AI in the customize opponent screen. So if you want some varied difficulty opponents, change them there instead.
