Ai in multiplay, what level?

[Spaced Cowboy]

If the human players include some AI player in their games, as we often do, and the human players play at different levels due to handicapping, at what level does the ai play at (noble)?

There does not seem to be a way to adjust this on the start-up screen.

Does anyone know the answer to this one?

[MasterDave]

The AI's in a multiplayer game are fixed at noble level I believe. When humans choose levels to play at, they either handicap themsleves or give themselves bonuses relative to the AI at noble. So, if you play at Monarch level, for example, research and production will cost you a lot more than it costs the AI's, which are running at standard noble levels. Also, the usual happiness/health bonuses per difficulty level apply to the human players.

It turns out that these difficulty levels are even more steep when applied individually in a multiplayer game, meaning that it is a LOT harder to win as an individual or team set on Prince level in a multiplayer game than it is to win a single player game on Prince level. I can beat the computer about half the time on monarch level, while my wife wins consistently on prince. However, we have played several team games against five AI teams on our LAN and we have only beaten them once with us set to Prince level. Our first try was on Monarch, and that was a total slaughter.

[Spaced Cowboy]

That was my thought also, that they start on noble.

Can someone who knows for sure confirm this.

[CanuckSoldier]

Confirmed It's not the AI's difficultly you adjust but your own, they are on noble which is the no advantage setting if everyone is on it.

CS