Did you set the world difficulty to be higher than the AI's difficulty?  This would explain a lot.  

I think this is due to the text of the World Difficulty setting - which still mentions AIs.

Hehehe, i want to see her face when she tastes the real insane ))))

If the OP has not made an honest mistake, and forgot to set the AIs to insane (which of course would totally cripple them against an insane world) here is what may be happening:

1. In the beginning, the AIs were still expanding, and thus peaceful.

2. The setting is "epic" which I have never played, but very likely it has slowed down the AI a lot, and they feel they are not ready for war.

3. By using his sovereign's advantages, the player got a ton of high level heroes, and is appearing very strong.

4. The AIs are understandably unwilling to attack.

The player has not won the game yet. If one of his enemies has reached "Weaponry", he may already be in trouble. Furthermore, should we be surprised that after designing a world that maximizes the advantages of his side (adventurer) he is winning, at least in the beginning?  I mean, I have won on insane (once, it's too much work) without moving the world settings from normal/moderate/default/etc. and without reloading (which changes the game a lot)

---

That said, I would like to look at a save.  But without one, I bet that one of two things is true:

A) The AIs are NOT insane      B ) The player is in for a rude awakening once he starts fighting

Hi guys,

thx for all the quick replies! I did not make the threat to boast (as I mentioned, no challenge yet so far), so of course I can post a screenshot if you like, just tell me what should in it (never did this for another game, but this game is just too much fun not to get to the roots of the problem).

I am 100% sure that I have put the settings in world = insane + as well as AI = insane.

So please don't chalk it up on me that i modify the world according to the highest settings. I had to prioritize strongly in exploring the world, otherwise the AI had recruited all these heroes before i could do it.

For my hero, i have of course also made use of the opportunity to create my own one.

Adventurer skill, right, you guessed it . for i had planned to recruit as many heroes as possible to save the costs of traditional forces, i have chosen "Betrayer" as well.

For I dont rely much on big cities (all my heroes can deal with themselves quiet well) my weakness "cruel" provided me +1 attack while giving me another point to spend wisely in a peaceful sort of equipment named "crone of something i forgot the real name" (providing no enchanment costs on my hero unit). 

Still, my main hero is still level 6, so my exploring troops getting the level 9 guys now far outreach him, this is not the reason for success.

Its more move all new heroes until i spot and can recruit another one, start exploring with the new one and fight with the old one not to lose time etc.

This strategy that i only reveal for i do not intend playing this on mutiplayer (one round would last 1 hour ) worked so incredible well, that mayb, indeed what

Tuidjy stated:

"3. By using his sovereign's advantages, the player got a ton of high level heroes, and is appearing very strong.

4. The AIs are understandably unwilling to attack."

Don't forget, the eenemy was ahead of me for 30 turns or so before i started to turn over.

Sadly, due to my flawless strategy, i miss all the fun of army units, new technologies and stuff. I only researched all stuf until level 9 heroes could be recruited, priorizizing research bonus monster dens and trading with the ai for reasearch in magic.

Ah, now that talkative Deadly Julia realizes, she has chosen also a perk called "stealth" (it prevents monsters from attacking me), could that be the case that ai is treated as a monster?

In any case, once i attack them or stay in their territory also having been warned, they will declare war.

Sad greetings, your too-powerful Deadly Julia

Well, if you have 8 AI and yourself on a medium map, along with dense monster and epic game length the AI might not be able to expand at all. I'm surprised you were able to get room for that many cities yourself without dragons eating them. Still doesn't sound right, I am doubtful of this.

Hi Tuidjy,

ill sure post a screenshot later this evening, busy atm. For the savegame, ill consider this later, too. Eager to find out about the cowardish basterd, the ai .

@Lord Xia: rememember i ahve chosen the "Stealth perk", monster don't attack me

For the map; its nearly fully covered by enemey cities, mine inbetween + some wildlands.

Plenty of room for monsters still, but indeed maybe only space for 2-3 more cities..

Thx for your help guys, until later!

Hmm...I just question how you managed 6 cities on a medium map with 8 A.I's and wildlands in the max.  I barely managed 5 cities on Large map with 8 A.I's  and default wildlands yet you claim to have 6!  You have no civ tech so you couldn't have rushed pioneers.

I am playing norma/normal game on epic with adventurer and betrayers and wealth and I also have champions on dense to utilize the adventure/Betrayer combo.  I beelined for the civic tech that allowed me to rush and I managed the tech in 26 turns as my starting champ was a loremaster, so I used my first city to produce 2 pioneers in the first 26 turns (13 turns each) and then I rushed 4 while I had my heroes scouting for city spot.  I ran my pioneers without escort to the city spots dodging monsters but sadly I found no spots close to home so 2 of my pioneers got eaten by monsters.

 The first thing the A.I does after founding the initial city is making a pioneer and settling a second city and they usually dip first into the civic tech tree so on insane with the economic bonus the A.I should be rushing ahead.  

As I am apt to tell to people that I don't know on the internet:  Proof or it didn't happen. 

I'm very curious about the number of cities placed as well. I just finished a game on a large map with only 4 AI's and default wildlands - I managed to place 4 cities, the biggest AI managed 5 cities, and 2 of the AI's were limited to 2 cities (there was no more useable land at this point until wildlands were cleared). I can't for the life of me figure out how anyone could place 6 cities on a medium sized map with 8 AI and no pioneer rushing. At the very least, if you did manage to place 6 cities, none of the AI could possibly manage to have found room for more than 1, MAYBE 2 cities. I don't have any experience with 'max' useable land setting (and the OP doesn't say if that is setting is on or not), but unless it makes almost all land outside of wildlands settle-able, I just don't see how this is possible.

As I thought it doubtful that the OP had achieved what he had achieved I have played 41 turns on insane/insane difficulty.  Custom Faction with Betrayers, Stealth and Scout with the -10 research as weakness.

Sovereign Tarth blood, Adventurer, Water and Earth apprentice (for production and research) Brilliant (to offset the faction research penalty) Attuned (as I'll be beelining for Breon's letters and producing pioneers I will get precious little mana) and Porcipinee circlet (to emulate the OP) and Cruel as a weakness

 Map size medium, Champions dense, Wildlands maxed and resources maxed and game speed epic like the OP.

 I started with production of pioneers, cast hammers on the capital and inspiration.  All settlements that I founded and had essence got inspiration and hammers and were made to produce more pioneers.

 I actually have managed 5 cities -1 that got destroyed by rampaging dragon that I founded next to so I have 4 cities at the moment and could actually be able to found 2 more.  But only 3 are close together and the A.I is closing the borders quickly now and I have no way to negotiate non aggression pacts with anyone becaue of lack of funds.  I just managed to get  Ereog's journals to unlock 7th level heroes...but it won't do me any good because the A.I either has them or has me zone locked out so I'll maybe manage to snatch 1 or 2.  It's still 38 turns to Breon's letters and that is with all settlements with essence running inspiration, I actually got lucky and managed to claim around 5 lost libraries and that helped alot with research.

None of my heroes are grouped together so I can scout more easily and snatch up more heroes, I've been avoding fights as a lone champ doesn't stand much chance against anything bigger than a solitary darkling and I have little or no mana to cast spells.  I have only managed to snacht up 6 champs and I'm doubtful that I'll manage to get to 10 as the A.I cities have so big zone of control that I'm having hard time getting past them and I get attacked in the wildlands as my stealth doens't work there.  So far the smaller monster lairs haven't caused any problems for my cities and rampaging monster haven't attacked except for the city I founded next to a dragon.

 So at turn 41 my faction power is 20, I've met 7 of the A.I and the lowest faction of the A.I is Altar with 83 and Ythril tops the list with 183.  5 of the A.I's have 2 cities.  1 has 1 city and 1 has 3.

To be able to outpower the A.I with hero strategy by turn 30 is......doubtful.  Most of the fights I've won are autocalc because autocalc is much more generous than actual tactical battle .  The A.I extorts me regularly and is fielding multiple stacks with 6 units that have 600 hp in total and isn't running into much trouble clearing the map.  The A.I faction haven't crushed me yet because they don't feel like it I guess and there is still land to settle.  As I'm lowest in the ladder I'll expect a dogpile very soon.

I don't think that autocalc takes into consideration the amount of mana I have to actually cast my spells, so when I have almost no mana autocalc is a better bet rather than fighting a battle I know I'm going to lose (this applies mostly to wildlands because else I can pick and choose my battles)

Okay guys, i just hopped into the game.

Here are the facts after one more turn played:

Against my statement above, it is only turn 39 now. Thought i would be much more turns into the game, but for one turn takes nearly 30 minutes now (with all the crappy reloading after a lost fight due to new monsters i meet and no experience yet how to beat them best, hehe ) i was wrong.

1)     So turn 39, not 50+. Which makes me appear even stronger for one guy here doubted me to overturn most by turn 30 .

2) I am not ranked 2^nd, I am ranked first now. Recruited 4 level 9 heroes last round and got a lot of faction points. That’s an explanation why I look so strong to the enemy.

2) cities: i also remembered wrong here, i ahve only 5 cities, sorry. I have a pioneer walking to the spot of the new city, but it is not build yet (in 3 turns). Someone here said i couldnt rush pioneers. Well, i also played civilization I,II and V, and i know about the importance of cities. I love strategy games, so the first thing my cities were building is pioneers. that took me from 7 in my capital to 9 in my second citiy allowing me to build 1 outpost. An outpost merely, yes, because: the ai founded a city right next to my capital destined for my new one, so i wouldnt bother to reload 7 turns, couldnt prevent it and was not ready for war yet. And i wanted to find out if outpost make sense at all, for i dont see the sense right now at all besides connecting your cities to reduce unrest. The boni they give? As long as they do not provide production or research or gold, i couldnt care less.

So 2 pioneers built from my cities = 3 cities. The last 3 pioneers i didnt build but received from quests. I had to pay a meager 60 gildar and got a pioneer for free. For the settling areas get rare lately i had indeed build inbetween the map between ai cities.

3)Captain Quirk: great idea trying to reproduce the "challenge" i am in, here are 2 hints for you:

A: to cross enemy territory, you will notive after a few turns after the ai has built a new city it will automatically get connected with roads. Probably its the ai cheating that or its a technology i of course have not yet. Use these roads to cross their territory. If you cant make it with the usual 2 moves per unit (which should be doabale in most cases) enter THEIR territory and buy a horse there (not a warg, this stupid dog only provides 3 moves and is too expensive)

B: Reload. I would never allow myself to lose a unit, an in any case a pioneer, haha. No shame in relaoding, save before every fight, and optimize everything!

So, here is the screenshot (the name of my empire is whited out, because it is a gaming nich I often use. For it has become quiet legendary, I won’t reveal it :

https://rs886p9.rapidshare.com/files/2595827182/Enemy%20Leader.jpg?directstart=1&bin=0

https://rs886p6.rapidshare.com/files/4080819881/Empire%20from%20above.jpg?directstart=1&bin=0

I have 31 armies atm many consisting out of 4 heroes. So this leads to another problem I just realized:

!!!!!!!

Heroes share their experience! Damn it.

Normal units (army/beast) get experience, but don’t share it with the hero!

So this means there might not be enough exp to gain to level my heroes up to level 15. It will take ages if I sum up 5+ heroes in one army and beat an enemy.

This means:

I seem incredible strong atm, but a hero is quiet weak even with level 9. So the optimal army would consist not of 5 heroes, but of maybe 2-3 heroes + military units.

I can recruit beasts and units in the next rounds to mix my armies like that, but still it will take ages.

I rather have few heroes and dont share the experience getting them to level 15 quikcly, instead of having 5000 heroes and letting them all elvel up slowly as a snake..

So I will start a new game now.

For that, please propose the hardest map you have (can be one someone of you designed). I will beat this one with a hero of my choice and post the savegame in the end. I will name my hero and empire in a way that I can reveal the savegame.

Give it to me, honies, I want a challenge