Multiplayer question

[Theben]

I finally played CivIV MP games last weekend with some buddies, only one of them was even close to being as good as me. So they picked easier difficulty levels for them, I got the highest (they didn't want AI archers at start, so I was at Prince level while they were at noble or warlord).

My question is how does different levels of difficulty affect an MP game? The AIs all have to be at the same level, what's my disadvantage?

[snoopy369]

The AI is always at Noble in MP. Your difficulty level only affects the handicaps you play under, IE # of unhappy faces, health, unit costs, etc.

We do have a MP forum, you know ...

Your buddies just got happier citizens, basically, the AI won't get archers or whatnot. There's no way to have non-noble AIs in a MP game, as far as I know.

[Krill]

Your opponents require less beakers to research techs, better odds with goody huts and barbs, less maintence etc. Basically the game mechanics go easier on them than you.

[Krill]

And IIRC, the AI are actually at the average of the difficulty levels for the human players for the game mechanics, but it has been so long since I checked on that stuff I could easily be wrong.

[snoopy369]

I'm fairly sure it's just Noble.

[Krill]

As said, it's been a while since i checked.