Difficulty Levels

[Cort Haus]

It seems to me that there are three elite levels (Emperor, Demi-God and Deity) which relatively few people will ever reach, but a gap at the level which many people will want to play - between Prince and Monarch.

I reckon that a couple of levels in that large gap between Prince & Monarch could go down well.

Thoughts?

[Enigma_Nova]

Suggestions.

[Blake]

A good intermediate difficulty would be Prince plus free worker, or Monarch minus free worker.
And no Archery for free, maybe Hunting, free archery changes the dynamics of attacking a bit.

[Arrian]

Intermediate levels are always a good thing, IMO. I always wished there was a CivIII level between Monarch and Emperor. In CivIV (for now), I'm right with you: something between Prince and Monarch.

-Arrian

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Blake
A good intermediate difficulty would be Prince plus free worker, or Monarch minus free worker.
And no Archery for free, maybe Hunting, free archery changes the dynamics of attacking a bit.

Free Archery?

[Arrian]

We need a chart that lays out exactly what the AI gets on different difficulties... I understand it's all in the XML somewhere, but I'm not the sort to figure all that out (lazy, incompetant... take your pick).

-Arrian

[Solver]

The biggest difference for Monarch is that the AI gets a free Worker, which really changes the dynamics a lot. It gives them a very good growth jumpstart if they have a food resource neraby.

An intermediate level could be easily created by having all the Monarch bonuses stay, except the Worker.

[Blake]

Well basically every difficulty level makes "stuff" 5% cheaper across the board, growth, production etc.

On prince, the AI gets a free explore unit.

On Monarch, the AI gets a free defensive unit (doesn't get a free explore unit), a free worker, and free Archery tech.

I think the jump is so big because the AI gets two rather powerful freebies, they don't even need to research hunting in order to get decent defense, they can completely safely research improvement techs, and use the free worker to create the improvements with no loss of capital growth, so it's a very powerful combination. In short the AI has an ~20 turn headstart.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Blake
Well basically every difficulty level makes "stuff" 5% cheaper across the board, growth, production etc.

On prince, the AI gets a free explore unit.

On Monarch, the AI gets a free defensive unit (doesn't get a free explore unit), a free worker, and free Archery tech.

I think the jump is so big because the AI gets two rather powerful freebies, they don't even need to research hunting in order to get decent defense, they can completely safely research improvement techs, and use the free worker to create the improvements with no loss of capital growth, so it's a very powerful combination. In short the AI has an ~20 turn headstart.

Yeah, they're two big goodies. I'd be happier with a straight %ge bonus slider and tickboxes for special AI powerups like Archery, Free Worker etc for '|337' mode.

[Spaced Cowboy]

I wished there were sliders to set the difficulty level instead of a set named difficulty.

Sliders where you could set things like the number of units the AI gets to start, and additional combat bonuses they would get, Your combat bonus (or lack of) against barbs, Your and the ai's starting bonuses to health and happiness, etc.

In this manner, you can play more of your game, but still be able to tweak the difficulty if needed in smaller amounts than you can now.

[Dis]

I feel as if we need one more. One difficulty level I completely dominate, but the next higher difficulty level I've only won once (before the patch), and I haven't been able to win again. I'm quickly becoming bored of the game this way.

[Enigma_Nova]

What would you call a difficulty level between Prince and Monarch?
Or, what would you rename Monarch to put it between Monarch and Emperor?

[Son of David]

Civ3 Conquests had 'Regent'. That would be a good one to have following Noble (a regent in someone who takes the throne when the monarch is otherwise incapacitated if I remember right), then Prince, then Monarch.

[Enigma_Nova]

Cool, we have an idea (Remove the free worker), a Name (Prince renamed to Regent, the Monarch-sans-worker is now called Prince), and all we have left to do is mod it.
Since I don't know how to do that , I suppose it's up to the folk in the creation forum.