Why is Hard Difficulty Not Hard at all?

I am playing the game that was released in 2019. I am on standard game against the computer, 1-1 against one opponent. I have the game set as follows: Resources – Ultra High; Map Size – Giant, all visible. Population – 300. I have a question. When I play on Hard difficulty my opponents either build a very small army or no army at all. They seem content with just building their economy and they never attack. I get more hostility when I play on Moderate difficulty. It makes for a boring game when I play on Hard. If I play Hardest, I am wiped-out immediately, impossible to win. What am I doing wrong?

eh i dont think this is AOE 3 is it? that would be AOE2DE.

Yes. You are correct. Still I have the same question…

You are on a forum for a completely different game.
Anyway, make sure you don’t have the old CD AI or HD AI selected, as those perform generally worse.

These are highly unorthodox settings, no wonder the AI is very inefficient. It’s optimized for 200 pop, standard resources and appropriate map size.

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It appears, that AI is for some reason too passive on hard difficulty level (compared to moderate and hardest). @Chesqin Can this be fixed?

Thank you for the report (and also thank you for tagging me @Yorok0) . :slight_smile:

Do you have a recorded game of this @CJSAM82?

-Promiskuitiv

Please pardon my ignorance. I do not know if I have a game recorded and even if I did, I do not know how to get it to you via this medium. It would help if you gave me some instructions. It does appear to me that if the game offers the options and settings it does, it would be able to perform accordingly, correct?

The replay files can be found as following: Main Menu -> Saves & Replays -> Open Saved Games Folder.
In there you can find Saved Game files (.aoe2spgame/ .aoe2mpgame) as well as Recorded Game files (.aoe2record). Any .aoe2record file that is showing the issue could be very helpful for us.
If attaching it here doesn’t work then feel free to send it to mbeck@forgottenempires.net .

Thank you!
-Promiskuitiv

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Chesquin I am sorry. I did find a recorded game but am having a tough time attaching it. Can you send me more specific instructions?

No problem at all, are you able to send it as an email attachment to mbeck@forgottenempires.net or is it too big?

-Promiskuitiv

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