Is Combat and/or Chieftain difficulty buggy?

[Regault]

Okay, I've played several games on Chieftain level(Considering how the difficulty ramped up insanely in the first two Civ games as the AI cheated more and more.)

A stack of 5 veteran archers are almost incapable of killing a single regular spearman in a town with Barracks. This game needs a besiegement function to block repair to surrounded towns. The game is way too slanted towards defense as it is.

Promotion to Elite is a death sentence for units. Out of 20 elites, 19 of them died in their next combat. Most had full health and were going against regulars. My brother had the same problem in his game.

Opponents are overly demanding in trade deals. For some reason, they'll be insulted if you dare suggest trading one luxury resource for another without giving them a sizable bribe.

[Ignis Fatuus]

I am playing on the chieftain level and have not experienced any of the items you mentioned. In fact my elite Calvery are some bada@@ mofo's seldom losing a battle and often taking out 3-4 enemy troops along the way.

[beorhtwulf]

FYI, Soren from Firaxis has stated that difficulty level has no effect on combat (except for the barbarian bonus).

Re: trading, the AI makes a judgement of the relative benefits of the luxuries to your and its civ when deciding how to trade. If you have a much larger civ (more cities to benefit from the lux), it may want more. Presumably the happiness in its civ is also a factor.

I have heard a rumor that the random-seed calls may have some strange features to prevent the "I lost a combat so I'll load the save game and try again" cheat; you might try not sending series of identical units into the same combat in the same turn. E.g., if you lost an elite cavalry to a regular spearman, try engaging some other enemy elsewhere on the map or something before you send the rest of your cavalry at him. I haven't experimented, so this tip is worth what you paid for it.