What level do you play?

[DrFell]

Deity, of course.

[Jaguar]

Who is that in your avatar? Hammurabi? He looks kinda like Albus Dumbledore.

[lockstep]

Monarch. I've recently moved up from Regent and have won two games out of two so far, bur it was close each time. A space victory with to other civs having built 9 out of 10 spaceship parts, and a diplomatic victory (4:2).

Who knows .. maybe the AI wipes the floor with me next time, and I have to go back to Regent.

[cassembler]

Emperor!!!

Emperor all the way... Diety kick-ed me butt-o, but the harder difficulty levels are like Tobasco sauce... spicy and acquired taste.

Monarch was just a bit too easy- I could win %99 of the time if I was just goin for victory.
Emperor is much harder, though I cheat a hair and start off with an extra tech or two (not future techs either- stuff like alphabet and pottery)

[notyoueither]

Re: Emperor!!!

Originally posted by cassembler
Emperor is much harder, though I cheat a hair and start off with an extra tech or two (not future techs either- stuff like alphabet and pottery)

Can't trust them cattle, especially the drunk ones. Turn yer back and, pfff, there goes another state secret. Sold to the Russians, no doubt.

Salve

[aahz_capone]

being a civ1,2SMAC veteran I STILL started at chieftan (culture scared the crap out of me, but now it's my best friend ) I moved fats through the ranks though, finding my niech at monarch. I tried emperor, but since the tech whoring in 1.17f I've gone back to monarch.

[Pius Popprasch]

Civ1 - even level(no bonuses*) Prince
Civ2 - even level(no bonuses*) King
Civ3 - even level(no bonuses) Regent

I'm playing Emperor and I think it's like Deity in Civ2.


*A.I. had certain bonuses at all levels.

[DrFell]

Actually I believe the even level was king on civ1 as well. Although of course the AI got free wonders etc on civ1, which was a bit of a horrible cheat. It cheated less in civ2, at least (and some rule fixed got rid of some unbalancing issues).

And yep, it's modern Hammurabi alright.

[Spatzimaus]

Regent or Monarch, depending on my mood.

Personally, I never play the standard rules any more. I've made a bunch of changes in my mod, many of which favor the AI, so playing on the even-resource level (Regent) is actually a nice challenge now, although I'm getting good enough that I'll probably stay on Monarch now.

The problem isn't so much that the AI cheats, it's that the AI is incapable of planning towards a specific long-term goal. It makes choices in the short term that a human player would never make: building excess units that can't upgrade, attacking a player simply based on his standing army size (I've suckered people into attacking me this way before), building Wonders it doesn't need, putting too many defenders in backwater cities, and NOT attacking when it realizes it's missing a key strategic resource.

A player might know that Longbowmen are worthless if you can make Knights, but the AI doesn't. So, either remove the Longbowmen from the game, or make them useful enough that the AI isn't penalized for building them. Same goes for bombardment units, Swordsmen, most naval units...

The AI builds a Swordsman/Legionary/Immortal in the early Middle Ages, not knowing that since it doesn't upgrade he'll be stuck with it long after it stops being useful. But, make the Swordsman part of an upgrade chain (in my case, Swordsman to Man at Arms to Marine to Paratrooper to SEAL) and suddenly it's not a dead end any more.

When Barbarians are those piddly conscript Warriors, even a single Spearman can defend a city. But, make the Barbarians be Swordsmen/Knights/Privateers, and you'll be heavily defending your cities well into the Middle Ages, just like the AI does.

The AI will still make tactical mistakes (pushing at several cities at once using unstacked foot units instead of focusing on one city at a time, for example), but by removing the penalties for strategic mistakes it becomes a LOT tougher to beat.

[ShuShu]

Emperor pre/post patch

I played Deity but IMHO the emasculation of the sience city and the brute force of Temple culture (50 temples = 10 temples, libraries, coloseum, cathedral) kills the peacefull option at Deity. So Deity = Zulus.

For those of you (Vel ) who have stated Emperor mandates a military option, I just finished a game last night as Hammurabi where I never fired a shot the entire game. I got the tech lead at Natural sience and maintained it the rest of the way to the space ship. The only pre-industrial wonder I managed to build was Hanging Gardens (consolation prize), and my starting position had no specials beyond a river.

I am actually finding it easier to win emperor post patch rather than pre patch.

I set the geography to Pangea because lack of contact is suicide for a builder.

[lockstep]

Originally posted by Spatzimaus
When Barbarians are those piddly conscript Warriors, even a single Spearman can defend a city. But, make the Barbarians be Swordsmen/Knights/Privateers, and you'll be heavily defending your cities well into the Middle Ages

I agree. Strengthening the barbarians is one of my favourite changes.

The AI will still make tactical mistakes ... , but by removing the penalties for strategic mistakes it becomes a LOT tougher to beat.

Sounds like Soren's design approach to me.

[Zopperoni]

I usually play Chieftain, because I want a relaxing game

[Txurce]

After a few games learning how to play, I settled in at
Monarch, mistakenly thinking that this was the "even" setting. It's been fun in that a bad position is challenging, but I seem to always find a way to win the space race. One big advantage is the AI's lack of end-game focus - a civ is clearly going for the big ship, but veers off to build Recycling. I'm going to try a Domination game next, then Culture. For some reason, I build very few Wonders. Feeling cocky, I tried one game at Deity, and was shocked at the disparity as my Zulus fell hilariously behind. I haven't tried Emperor yet.

[DrFell]

'Sounds like Soren's design approach to me. '

If you remove the penalties for making mistakes you take all the skill right out of the game.

[Hywel Dda]

Well I voted Emporer but the truth is I'm actually finding this level - which I only moved up to recently - very tough going - and I may move back down. I was finding Monarch a bit same-ish though. Maybe I should follow the advice of Rusty and others and edit myself a level in between!