0 A.D. Way Too Difficult After Latest Update???

[bigsmit19]

Call me a newb but I have been playing this game on and off for about a year now and could never beat the ai players on medium difficulty or higher. I found it unbelievably hard to do anything without the ai just showing up and destroying me like 3 minutes into the game. I started playing on easy and still found the ai to be just unbeatable without having fully maxed gear upgrades from the forge or a church literally where the battle was occurring. I switched to very easy and was actually able to beat the game several times without assistance and so I stayed on "very easy." I have been absent from the game for a few months now and decided to load it up today. I am now getting annihilated once again but this time on very easy. I literally cant do anything more on the strategy side of things to beat this ai. I'm almost convinced that this is just a bug with the game or something.

I'm on very easy balanced settings for the ai

- What I'm Doing -

I start out by directing my women to gather food and order more women instantly from the civic building to gather wood as my men are building a storage room and 1 house. I direct the horse to scout and find the enemy but don't allow myself to be attacked by them. I then go in increments of 5 and get 10 women on trees and food while the soldiers are building whatever may be needed.

I try to get all storage upgrades as soon as i can and upgrade to town phase. Around this time I get attacked by the enemy and they run right past my soldiers to my women who are the furthest away from them and kill at least 1/4 of them. After the women finally run inside from me raising the alarm, my soldiers get attacked and I usually lose about 4/10 of them and the remaining ones have a sliver of health. I resume and keep getting attacked and even though I have stone towers fully upgraded, fully garrisoned, the enemy soldiers just seem to be unphased. Their health goes down but its like taking out 1 soldier every 45 seconds which I never remember the game doing.

Today I was playing a naval map and due to being on an island I was able to build my civilization to have a massive army before sending them on ships to the enemy shoreline. I had fully upgraded ships, fully upgraded armor and weapons, fully upgraded rams, heroes, etc. Got there and I was OBLITERATED!!! My rams health went down like butter and at least 3/4 of my army died (50+). I've also never seen my heros health bar go down so quickly. The enemy territory wasn't anything special. Maybe 3 stone towers, a civic center, 2 ships, several horses, army of like maybe 20 and I got destroyed.

I look online and there's people saying that hard difficulty is quite easily doable if you're an experienced gamer which I consider myself to be. Yea right dude.

I never remember it being this hard. Its almost like the enemy is just able to deal more damage and take more of my damage for some reason.

I know I updated the game recently so maybe that had something to do with it??? hopefully???

Really liked this game but its just unplayable now sadly.

Hopefully someone has a fix

[Gurken Khan]

Hi @bigsmit19, welcome to the forums. Sorry to hear you're not happy with the game. Maybe if you uploaded a replay people would be able to point out more exactly what you could improve.

A few thoughts. I find it pretty predictable which route the AI is taking, so I try to have a "welcome center" expecting them; like you described with having a temple where the fight happens. You can also use buildings to warp your soldiers into favorable positions; garrison your melee fighters and release them right in front their cav, save your ranged fighters from their melee and release them on the far side etc. If you pull the slider for wounded units to a ~50% threshold it's much easier to save them.

I would advise against fighting around fully garrisoned CCs etc. If you select the building and hover the cursor over the sword & shield icon you can see how many arrows they're firing; move out of sight and they will ungarrison. I like to have ten healers with me, if I pull my wounded units behind them I can save a lot of them.

To protect my women they're generally working towards the back of my territory and have houses near them, a ring of houses around the fields etc. Having the loom greatly increases their chances of getting away, sometimes I use a "conga line" to save them (have them run to the nearest house, unload that house towards the next etc.). HTH

[AInur]

Hi @bigsmit19, these videos from an expert player might help you out:

 

 

If you follow these pro advice, you will find even the hardest AI too fragile!

[Grautvornix]

@Gurken Khanwell described!

@bigsmit19I typically do similar things (fields surrounded by houses so that women gatheres can seek shelter quickly). Houses generally make a good barrier against attackers also next to the CC. Attackers would go at the houses first while the CC is firing arrows at them - buys you some time to train some new troops.

If I build a tower, I fully staff it and then surround it completely by houses so that attacking enemies can be decimated by the tower while they make their go at the houses.

In addition to that - if you focus more on building your economy and using many women with only a limited army - I would probably garrison all my soldiers in the CC when attacked. Particularly in the initial phases, it is almost not possible to conquer or destroy a garrisoned CC and your enemy would waste his forces.

Bottom line: if you feel weak, don't attack and only fight back carefully from the relative safety of your CC.

Unless you have significant forces, don't move next to your enemy's towers or CC as they would deal significant damage. If you take over a tower, man it immediately. It will provide nice backup for your operation and decimate the enemy even after you left their territory. Attack a CC only when you have large upgraded forces and siege units. 

Hope this helps a bit, and hope you continue to have fun with the game!

[zyli]

@bigsmit19
You're not the only one with this problem.

In my opinion, it follows that there are two types of players:
1. Let's call them 'builders' - they plan, build, develop the economy and at the same time develop the army,
2. Let's call them 'rowdy' - at the beginning they focus on producing soldiers and at all costs send them immediately to the opponent.

The first one has no chance against the second one (and this is how Petra plays) - unless there is some obstacle, e.g. the sea.

That's why I suggest you try your hand at naval maps (random).

For example, the Migration map, a very large map, four players (human + 3 computer players).
There are four islands (each for one player) and a continent.
In order for the computer player to attack you, he must first develop the economy - just like you, because he must build warships.
Even if he attacks you later, you will defeat him, because you will already be at a certain level of development.
I suggest playing as Carthaginians and sending a crew to the continent as soon as possible in a merchant ship to set up a base somewhere in the interior, because the resources on the island will soon run out.

It is best if you play on the outermost island - you land in the corner of the map, build a port and a trade route, etc.

Once you get the hang of it, you will win every time on the most difficult level.

A more interesting (but also more difficult) map is Elephantine (very large, four players).
Because on the central island (Elephantine) you can take over a wonder defended by Gaia warriors.
As soon as you start building your own wonder, send heavy cavalry (approx. 80) to the central island to take over the Gaia wonder.
When you have two wonders, no one will threaten you.
First, you have to defend yourself against one opponent from the same coast or form an alliance with him (neutrality).
And taking a third wonder from an opponent is a real joy.

Good luck.

[Gurken Khan]

@zyli I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you on a couple of points.

14 minutes ago, zyli said:

human + 3 computer players

If someone has problems defeating one AI I wouldn't propose to play against three.

12 minutes ago, zyli said:

2. Let's call them 'rowdy' - at the beginning they focus on producing soldiers and at all costs send them immediately to the opponent.

The first one has no chance against the second one (and this is how Petra plays)

I've never encountered an AI player that sends units "immediately". Starting with medium resources I have to expect uninvited visitors around the seven minute mark; playing against teams that can be a coordinated attack. I'm on a27 RC but I don't think that AI behavior was changed much; the behavior depends on the selected behavior (balanced, defensive, aggressive - can be randomized).

23 minutes ago, zyli said:

That's why I suggest you try your hand at naval maps (random).

Personally I find ships to be a pain in the averywhere, don't think I'd recommend it for newbs.

26 minutes ago, zyli said:

Because on the central island (Elephantine) you can take over a wonder defended by Gaia warriors.

It's a kush temple, not a wonder.

27 minutes ago, zyli said:

When you have two wonders, no one will threaten you.

I never had two wonders. I don't think the AI takes it into consideration. Did you mean nobody is going to be a threat because you have such a big army? You'd have to build a wonder, develop that tec and then build your huge army on top; again, nothing I'd recommend for newbs. If you want to make sure your AI opponent puts up as much resistance as possible leave them unbothered for a long time; this seems to be a recipe for that. I never encountered an AI even starting to build a wonder on medium difficulty.

[Outis]

Hello @bigsmit19 i recommend you to take a look here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/0ad/comments/w1ge65/comment/ijrkwue/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

[Reyu]

I think practicing playing against the easiest/easier level AI will help a lot. Something I found really good for practicing the game when I first started was playing against the AI and learning from it. Another thing that might help you learn how to play is watching players in the game lobby play. This can teach you how to boom and develop a high level strategy to gain population fast and defend anything.

On the topic of the Petra bot, an easy way to beat the AI is to focus on building buildings very far out and attacking the units while they attack your buildings. Make sure you have a barracks (to train soldiers) so you can defend this attack. Also focus on getting forge techs, as the AI will destroy you every time if you don't have any.

Have fun practicing and you'll be better in no time!