Difficulty Level Question

[bsklepzig]

I'm new to Civ games and have been enjoying my first games with Civ3.

I'm on my second game on the Chieftain level and appear to be on the way to a landslide victory via culture (fyi - playing Iroquois, huge map, 8 civs). It's been a lot of fun learning the game. For me, I think there will be a lot of replay value trying for different types of victories with different types of civilizations. I also look forward to trying different difficulty settings so I can enjoy a stiffer challenge than this second game seems to be posing.

My question is this:
How does the game change the difficulty level as one ramps up to a "Diety" game?

Are the types of changes consistent from level-jump to level-jump or are different strategies used by the designers to make the game tougher at higher levels?

I would hope it would be things like:
* the level of micro-management given to cities (production, happiness, etc.)
*level of adherence to goals relevant to the AI civ-type
*awareness of enemy troop movements
*smarter choices regarding improvements and wonders relative to victory goal
*etc.

My fear is that harder levels simply cheat:
*units get produced faster than physically possible
*resources get placed away from the human player
*AI civs automatically identify and gang up on the human civ.
*etc.

Has anyone begun to document the mechanics of this?

Thanks.

Edit: Does anyone have recommendations for the next level to try? I want a tougher challenge and Chieftain seems way too easy, but I don't want to be "newbie-hosed-by-AI's-stacked-deck."

[Arrian]

As far as I know, the difference is mainly the production/science cheats the AI gets (80% of what you pay on Monarch, 60% on Emperor and 40% on Diety, I think). Also, I think they're more aggressive on the higher levels, but that may well have to do with the fact that they've got more units, and so the power calculation they make (a simple # of units evaluation) comes out in their favor more often.

EDIT: I forgot to add that the AI gets bonus units upon founding a city on levels above Regent.

I am unaware of any cheats involving resource distribution, but they again, the starting spot for the human (in terms of nice land, not resources, really) seems worse overall... generally resulting in me restarting until I've got a decent one.

The AI always knows where your troops are, on any level. Try removing all the units from a city far, far away from the front during a war, and watch the AI task units (either land or sea w/land troops onboard) to go capture that city.

I don't think the AI is any smarter on the higher levels. It's just able to build and research faster. I too would love an AI that gets smarter depending on the difficulty level, but that may be the AI of the future.

-Arrian

p.s. I'm not too clear about Emperor and Diety, as I usually play Monarch, where the AI cheats are slight.

[bsklepzig]

Originally posted by Arrian
Also, I think they're more aggressive on the higher levels, but that may well have to do with the fact that they've got more units, and so the power calculation they make (a simple # of units evaluation) comes out in their favor more often.

Yeah, one of the things that is making this game drag some is that no one is fighting. I've chosen a non-attack, cultural strategy for this game, but no one has attacked me at all and it's 1782. Diplomacy tells me that America violated a treaty with the Aztecs, but that's the only rumor I've picked up. Maybe at Chieftain level the AI won't attack without being attacked?

[Darth Sidious]

1: happyness. on emperor/deity, you only have 1 content citisen, the rest is from nature unhappy. This rises to 4 content citisens when you decrease dificulty.

2:start units. on deity, the AI gets 2 settlers, and maybe other units as well. Dunno, for sure about other units, but i was amazed to see 5 ! hoplites moving around after only 5 turns last game.

3:resources cheat. if you investigate a city, you can see how much they pay for their stuff. while you have 10 horizontal lines to fill, they have less. dunno how many at lower diff's, but at deity they pay 60% for both production and growth.

4: strategy. not sure about this one, but i have seen people mention the AI trades more tech with eachother and plays more agressive at deity. I only play deity, and they indeed trade like whores.

[bsklepzig]

Darth (or others),

Is the net effect at higher levels that you start out ridiculously behind and claw your way back in by later stages?

Ben

[SlowwHand]

Isn't that kind of an assumption?
"If all goes well" should be included somewhere, shouldn't it?

[Darth Sidious]

You start way behind indeed.
later stages is as soon as i get iron for me. I use it to mass an army of swordsmen asap ,both by upgrading warriors, building them normally and sometimes even rushbuying them, resulting in that ALL resources are used to get an army fast. With this i kill an opponent fast, let him pay his techs (i am behind in tech) for his last city and i take the conquered ground with the forbidden palace.
From that point, i can usually stay about even in both tech and militairy power with my opponents but i will be behind in culture for a long time to come.
This is not really a problem though, since i will rarely try to occupy a captured city; if there is no usefull wonder, i will raze it.

From the point where i am equal with my opponents, it is not so easy to grow far beyond them (at least not beyond all of them).
That's why i play deity, it is boring to be 10 times stronger than your opponents.

How deity goes without killing an opponent fast i don't know, never tried it yet (only played a few games yet)