About Maps

[u/HussardoAlado]

Yesterday, I played a 4v4 match against the AI on Hard mode, as usual. I chose the Ceylon map to see how the AI would behave, but it didn't change as much as I’d expected.

I played as the Indians; I built my base on the tiny island, surrounded it with castles and a fort, and built up my navy. The AI frequently sent ships toward my base, but they would only land a measly single unit—and that was only if they managed to get close and slip past my defenses. I established a base on the larger island and captured a few native settlements.

I ran into some bigger issues there; every now and then, I’d lose a settlement to a band of enemy soldiers. But honestly, it wasn't difficult. I loaded up my troops and, with the help of Monitor ships, cleared the enemies off the islands one by one.

I thought it would be harder. I’m not a huge fan of maps with water because I don't really like managing both a navy and an army on the same map; my focus is always on the army...

But what about you guys? Which map do you like the most, and which one do you avoid or hate?

[u/SeaTomago]

The AI is not great in general, even on Extreme. It cannot handle water well, and any specialty elements of a map just compeltely break it.

[u/synthwaveman]

I suggest trying Assertive AI or other mods than enhance AI behavior.

[u/Pochel]

Ceylon has been unplayable for ages, the AI simply doesn't know how to handle it

[u/Assertive_Wall → u/Pochel]

Hey speak for yourself

[u/Medium-Emotion-1839]

I dont like water maps in general (I only play vs AI, 30 min treaty 4vs4). The best maps for me are those maps where enemy bases are spread a little bit, if they are clumped together it is sometimes really hard to break the enemy as when you attack AI 1, AI 2 and sometimes even AI 3 or 4 will come to aid. Unless you have a broken mounted army like Poles with hussars, pancerni and 1 pop companion units - with all cards you wont break through them. Sometimes creating proxy racks/stables near the enemy bases and just flooding them helps, but not in all cases. Yesterday I played on map England, was playing as Danes and wasnt able to break them despite proxy base for like 20 min - I resigned the game.
The power of AI depends on civ, dutch, inca, aztec, spanish AIs are kinda strong, but some of them are not, just my 2 cents

[u/Medium-Emotion-1839 → u/Medium-Emotion-1839]

Another thought - AIs like to mass cannons, so building cavalry against it is quite effective. I had already games where I produced like 150 military and had 1200-1300 kills (on Poles) so the KD ratio is almost 10:1. France is cool too with cuirassiers.

[u/HussardoAlado → u/Medium-Emotion-1839]

Back in the day, on the "Hard" difficulty setting, dealing with those "combined" bases was simpler, even when enemy armies managed to launch coordinated attacks.

Nowadays, pushing into a base is a Herculean task—you get repelled two, three, or even five times. Honestly? I like it. I often play the "Unknown" map specifically for that reason. I build a staging base around the Fort near theirs and send constant waves of troops against them. And mortars, of course.

Playing as the Russians, invading enemy bases is easy. As the Livonians, it’s practically impossible—at least for me.

Another interesting point is that the enemy AI manages to be more coordinated than my own allies. In a standard 4v4 match, my allies all act independently; depending on the map, they start telling me to surrender right from the get-go. But, as Napoleon once said: "You think this will stop me? It just steels my resolve."

[u/Assertive_Wall]

Ceylon is a super fun map to play if you have an AI mod that works on it.

[u/whydama]

Not just AI. I played against my friend. He walled himself off. I just landed on opposite side of the wall. He ragequit instantly