How do you progres in difficulty levels?

[Monoriu]

I have been playing all the civ games, civ 1, civ 2, CTP, CTP2, SMAC... for years and I have beaten all these games on their respective highest diffiulty settings.

First game in civ 3 was Regent, standard map, 8 civs. Bad start and I learned some of the stuff in the game the hard way.

Second game Regent, standard map, 8 civs and I won. Actually I didn't, I wanted to move on to the highest difficulty level as soon as it was clear it became a gigantic mop up operation.

Third game Monarch, large map, 16 civs. Won.

4th game emperor, standard map, 6 civs, (I now realise that more civs = easier game) large land mass. Built a ton of cities because I didn't realise this setting is going to allow a lot of space for expansion. Abandoned the game before middle ages because it wasn't a setting that I wanted.

5th game emperor, standard map, 6 civs, standard land mass. Playing right now.

Next game is going to be on deity level, probably with more civs to make it easier.

Then I plan to play on deity on a variety of settings before I move to the SP ultimate challange that I have been thinking of:

Deity level
Max Barbarian level
One civ as opponent: Greeks
Huge Map
Continent map

I know that the strategy to beat Deity level is early conquest. This setting is designed exactly to prevent that and to allow the AI a lot of room to expand and build like crazy before I encounter it.

[Kaesar]

I was never a great civ2er so I started with the tutorial, but I found it really didn't teach me the game mechanics

I then decided to jump right into regent and got my ass wooped, but I learned a lot from the replay and started again and again until I got rexing down good. Finally won a game at this dif.

Now I'm nearing the end of a Monarch game, I've been in first place through the whole game. One of the AI's attacked me in the middle of the game and I haven't let him forget. I'm in the middle of the 1700's and midway through modern. I've definitely agree with others that I will turn off diplomatic and space victs. The AI decided to start the space race so I guess I have to go and win now. Otherwise I would have tried to run everybody into the ocean.

I think I will move up to Emperor in the next game, but damn, FINALS ARE COMING.

[Kriton]

I played my first game on chieftan and then went to emperor. When I found that I could compete there peacefully, I went to diety. The upper levels teach you infinitely more than the lowers. I have always been a fan of perfecting the beginning of the game, then the middle, and finally the end. This helped me greatly in AOK.

This setting is designed exactly to prevent that and to allow the AI a lot of room to expand and build like crazy before I encounter it.

I think it will be harder if you have more civs. When I play on diety, I usually put 16 on huge map. Trading becomes the most important factor of success early on. If you fall behind in tech, you can buy/sell from the AI and come up to par. If you fall too far behind, you are dead.

I once mistakenly did 8 rather than 16 civs in a game. While scouting, I found tons of awesome land and no civs around me! When I finally realized that I had only 3 other civs around me, and that they were expanding twice as fast, it was game over. Scouting is crucial to success. As is getting writing and mapmaking.

But the greatest help, of course, is reading the successful strategies that ppl post on this board. And remember, this is a game, so if you want to be good at it, you must understand everything about it and its rules.

[Adm.Naismith]

I haven't the game yet, but my usual start (Civ II, SMAC and others game) drive me to plan a start as

Difficulty Level: Regent (Prince)
Map Size: medium
Number of Civs: 8 (mine included)
Weather: Temperate

I play tutorial only if it sounds useful (I learn that in advance by word of mouth by others players ).
In SMAC I left ON the tips pop-up until I managed the interface.

I usually prefer to start at middle level, because often it's the more balanced / less AI cheated / more tested.

I must add I haven't plenty of spare time to spend playing games, so I must avoid too many games at level so high to require a hell of micromgmt and continuous attention to enjoy them.

Ehi you deity vets, don't shot on me, I have also a real life to take care of and I'm not so a smart & quick player or not as organized as you.

[Roytheboy]

Never played any of the Civ games before but I have played PC games and wargames.
I started on the tutorial did OK ish made some mistakes abandoned it.
Made a couple of starts on Warlord trying different starting strategies. Found one I liked and couldn't stop playing it, Its now 1950 , I'm in second place and will probably win. Learnt enough to think I should win easily on Warlord in a new games so next game I play will be at a higher level.