Difficulty Levels

[anon19]

Just curious, I was wondering if the differences between the difficulty levels are detailed anywhere (I sought but did not find).

Also, what is the function of "Global Difficulty" in a multiplayer match?

Thanks.
Long live the mind worms.

[CEO Aaron]

Uh... I think it's in the manual. The main difference is the AI's free industry and growth bonuses go up every level, and the number of free non-drones for your own bases goes down every level. At transcend, I believe the AI has +4 growth and industry and you get 1 population per base that's non-drone, before other factors are taken into account.

[anon19]

I looked in the manual but couldn't find it, but I remember the drones thing.

Thanks.

[Googlie]

The Prima Strategy Guide covers all the formulas affected by DIFF level.

See:

http://www.gameshadow.com/gamepedia/content.php?content_type_id=16&content_id=5199&content_name=Sid_Meier_s_Alpha_Centauri_Prima_Official_Strategy_Guide

It's been my "Bible" for many years now!!

cheers

G.

[Petek]

Originally posted by Googlie
The Prima Strategy Guide covers all the formulas affected by DIFF level.

See:

http://www.gameshadow.com/gamepedia/content.php?content_type_id=16&content_id=5199&content_name=Sid_Meier_s_Alpha_Centauri_Prima_Official_Strategy_Guide

It's been my "Bible" for many years now!!

cheers

G.

I didn't realize that the Prima strategy guide was now available for download. $10 is pretty expensive, though. You can get a used copy on Amazon for $4.

[McLaine]

At the lower difficulty levels, you don't pay extra for prototypes (if I remember well).
Also, there is the drone thing - actually something that was taken over from CIV (the CIV without a number on DOS). The higher the difficulty level the lower the base sizes without drones. Very nasty if you find yourself next to Yang.
It seems to me like the other factions are more short-tempered too although that could just be the game playing tricks on me.

[Archaic]

They are more short tempered. They also seem more open to bribes however, so long as you start plying them while they're still no worse than neutral to you.

[Alinestra Covelia]

What about "Global Difficulty" in multiplayer?

I remember hearing about this and having to restart a multiplayer PBEM game once because of it. Something about a bug that means all people get different difficulty settings or something?

[Googlie]

yes - the CMN needs to be alert to the "set diffifculty" flag which defaults 2 levels for the first human player entered. (I think that's what we deduced)

There is a button "force current diff level" that must be checked in the "Scenario rules" subset, before finalizing and saving the scenario. Often this was overlooked in the early days by the CMN resulting in some restarts being necessary, with much aggravation.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Okay nice. I'm trying to set up a PBEM with my brother and I wanted to get that straight before I start.