Difficulty Levels

[Jobylens]

Hi all i'm new this game and still stumbling my way through it...can someone tell me what the difference is in the difficulty levels ? Does the AI get bonuses or does the human player get penalties etc?

[elmo3]

Welcome to the forums Jobylens. From the manual:

3.3.2. Difficulty Level
There are five general difficulty levels, Easy, Normal, Challenging, Hard and Impossible. The difficulty level is set by varying the percentage of five different factors; morale, fortification building speed, supply, transport, and administrative points (3.3.3). Using the format xxx/xxx, where the first number is the human player and the second number is the computer player, Easy difficulty level has all values set to 120/80, Normal has all values set to 100/100, Challenging has all values set to 90/110, Hard has all values set to 80/125, and Impossible has all values set to 70/150. Players can generate a custom difficulty level by manually setting any of the factors for either side. The default setting is Normal.
Whenever the morale level is set to 110 or greater, then leader admin checks for movement allowances are always successful (14.1.2) and the Soviet AI is able to build combat units so as to maintain a force of 300 divisions and 100 brigades at no additional admin cost (12.2.4). In addition, whenever the morale level is set to 125 or greater, all leader initiative checks for movement allowances points are also automatically successful.

[Jobylens]

Thanks Elmo....guess I need to go and read the Manual again.....properly this time [:)]

[Klydon]

IMO, the two biggest for the Russians are the moral and admin point settings. For the Germans, the moral setting has a big impact as well.

If you are playing against the Russian AI and are over the 110 admin setting, they basically get unlimited admin points. This means armies will pop up out of nowhere and when it comes time to be able to upgrade into corps, the entire front will suddenly have a pile of infantry corps from one end to the other.

[SigUp]

You can also adjust the settings in-game. So for example you can go with a higher setting in summer/autumn 1941 to help the Soviet AI out and then switch to a lower setting once blizzard arrives.

[gradenko2k]

ORIGINAL: Klydon
IMO, the two biggest for the Russians are the moral and admin point settings. For the Germans, the moral setting has a big impact as well.

If you are playing against the Russian AI and are over the 110 admin setting, they basically get unlimited admin points. This means armies will pop up out of nowhere and when it comes time to be able to upgrade into corps, the entire front will suddenly have a pile of infantry corps from one end to the other.

One might say that this is not necessarily a bad thing - if you can damage Soviet manpower and industry badly enough, the AI will keep building division/corps "containers" that it will never be able to fill up to a decent TOE. Their whole line will be all the weaker for it because the strength will be so diluted.

[buchand]

For the less capable general, i.e. me, the settings have made the game for me. Personally I only adjust the settings for the side I am playing and leave the AI at normal. Supply is key for the axis for the start of the game, followed by morale. As noted above admin then morale for the USSR.