GC Discussion: Difficulty Ratings

[Corey]

Because of our attempts to represent the relative strengths and weaknesses of different factions at different times in the post-Endor era, different GCs have always provided different levels of difficulty for different factions by design. This can sometimes cause confusion to newer players who, for example, jump straight into From the Ground Up. So, one of the things we're doing in 2.2 is adding a section to the GC descriptions for difficulty (ala what you'd find in faction select for a Total War game).

As the people who've played the mod most, we want your opinions on which GCs are hardest are hardest, and which are easiest, broken down by faction. For simplicity's sake, we're keeping this to  five different levels (Easiest, Easy, Normal, Hard, Hardest).

[Eclipse]

Well the hardest has always been FTGU startint with one planet is hard, I think I've never completed it
A hard one with the IR is the one in era 4 with daala wich you only star with the maw and kessel and maybe the black fleet crisis too
Easy the era 3 campaign with the empire
And the easiest for me was the era 1 with isaard as the empire, long campaign but I could build up my forces really fast and the NR is not so powerful in ships or fighters in comparison with later eras.

That's all I remember, I have to reinstall EaW and I'm waiting for 2.2 beign released to download. I've played some other campaigns as well but they weren't extremely difficult or remarkable easy

[tlmiller]

Basically agree.  Shadow Hand as the IR is super easy even on the highest difficulty settings, while Reunification with Daala is EXCEEDINGLY hard...the first couple times until you learn how to do it, then it's pretty easy.

Most of the PA GC's are a bit harder than the IR's due to their situation between the IR and the EoTH and their weak starting economy.  Part of why I enjoy them more.

[Vulcanus]

Final Imperial Push is a well-balanced GC that provides challenges for all 3 factions, so either Hard or Normal for EotH and NR, Hard for IR. If you remove buildable fighter squadrons or reduce their recruitment priority to prevent IR fighter spam that is very prominent in Era 5 and easily countered I would say Hard for everyone.

Thrawn Campaign either normal or easy for both.

Reunification Hard for IR (well Hardest unless you know what you're doing, in which case it is Normal), Easy/Normal for NR.

BFC Hard for NR, Easy/Normal for Yevetha.

Any Era 1 starting IR GC = Easiest.

[kucsidave]

I'm going to go in order of the GCs from the selection menu to make it simple.

The Stars Align:
  -Imperial Remnant: Easiest
  -New Republic: Hard
  -Pentastar Alignment: Easy-Normal

Fractured Empire:
  -Imperial Remnant: Easiest
  -New Republic: Hard
  -Pentastar Alignment: Easy

The Hunt for Zsinj:
  -Imperial Remnant: Easy
  -New Republic: Normal-Hard

Thrawn Campaign:
  -Imperial Remnant: Easy-Normal depending on how many Katana Dreadnaught you could get. (Because if you could get 27 like I did once... Let's just say it's a big boost.)
  -New Republic: Easy-Normal depending on how many Katana Dreadnaught you could get.

Empires at War:
  -Imperial Remnant: Easiest
  -Pentastar Alignment: Easy
  -Empire of the Hand: Normal
  -Duskhan League: Hard (I know they are not playable, but I hope they will become playable too in 2.2 so I decided to add them into this one too)

Into the Cluster:
  -Imperial Remnant: Easiest
  -New Republic: Hard

Shadow Hand:
  -Imperial Remnant: Easiest
  -New Republic: Hard
This comes from the fact that IR has Ardus Kaine and Palpatine + the Sovereigns which can oneshot Wedge and the Lusankya which is a great problem. If you could find a way to limit the superlasers' maximum fire duration under the point where it destroys a SSD(or viscount) then it could be much more balanced and more challenging to the IR players... though it would lose some difficulty from the NR's POW
  -Imperial Remnant: Easy
  -New Republic: Normal

Reunification:
  -Imperial Remnant: Hard
  -New Republic: Easy-Normal

Black Fleet Crysis.
  -New Republic: Normal
  -Duskhan League: Easy

Final Imperial Push:
  -Imperial Remnant: Normal
  -New Republic: Normal
  -Empire of the Hand: Normal
I think this is the most balanced GC in the whole game in my opinion. I could say that EotH has a slight disadvantage because they have no SSD, but the Phalanxes and the strong bombers and fighters balance it out, so it is perfect. I play this GC the second most.

Essence of War:
  -Imperial Remnant: Easy
  -New Republic: Normal-Hard
  -Pentastar Alignment: Normal
  -Empire of the Hand: Normal

Imperial Civil War:
  -Imperial Remnant: Easiest
  -New Republic: Normal
  -Pentastar Alignment: Easy-Normal
This is the top spot in my book. Played this GC the most... What can I say? I love large GCs.

Art of War:
  -Imperial Remnant: Easiest
  -New Republic: Normal
  -Pentastar Alignment: Easy
  -Empire of the Hand: Normal

From the Ground Up:
  -Imperial Remnant: Hardest
  -New Republic: Hardest
  -Pentastar Alignment: Hard
  -Empire of the Hand: Hardest
As I noticed the PA version is MUCH easier than the others because they start in a region with good income and when Dathomir is taken there is nothing what can stop PA from taking the CSA and gaining lucrehulks and getting more good income planets.
Corey, we need a harder one for the PA

You have to ask someone else about the balance in survival though... I remember trying once with the Remnants, but lost interest. It's not my thing.

I hope this will suffice.

[Slornie]

Of course all (or alot) of the above is liable to be very different with additional active warlord factions..