Question about AI difficulty setting in custom games

[NFIH]

When I choose custom game, I see I can choose the difficulty setting beside my name (I play "settler" since I'm new to the game).

I set the AIs to random leaders, but the option to choose difficulty is greyed out beside their names and is set to "noble," IIRC. Does this mean the AIs are playing with "noble" settings while I'm playing with "settler" or does my "settler" setting work as the "global" setting?

[MikeH]

Basically, I think the way it works is that whatever difficulty level you play at determines what penalties and bonuses you get as well as the bonuses that the AI gets. But it is very confusing and I don't think I've ever seen a clear description of how it works.

I had a question related to this as well, that I don't think I ever got an answer to, if you play hotseat (or PBEM or other MP game) with (as a real extreme) one player on settler, one on monarch and a bunch of AIs, what bonuses do the AIs get?

[NFIH]

Originally posted by MikeH
Basically, I think the way it works is that whatever difficulty level you play at determines what penalties and bonuses you get as well as the bonuses that the AI gets. But it is very confusing and I don't think I've ever seen a clear description of how it works.

Yeah, this is sort of what I figured. I ask because of the relentless number of barbarian attacks I have to deal with. If this is what settler level is like, what on earth happens at the higher levels? I'm afraid to find out.