What are keys lessons for each difficulty jump?

[dunk]

Originally posted by panag


hi ,

well , many things , for one or the other reason the AI acts different , its like he use's his units in a more tactical way , tends to get more for the dollar , is more agressive , goes after your luxury , but with a more intresting way , ....

there has been loads of talk , but one thing is for sure , when you use it , and with a deity yourself , it is more the less acceptable , ....
put then basic barbarian as rifleman , advanced as infantry and the sea unit as a destroyer , with them at raging , you are of for a spin , .... , .......

when you put the comp at deity , but dont know it that good , you can always give yourself more units , or less for the comp , .....

making a map for yourself is also fun , it take's time but its nice and lots of fun , ....

have a nice day

If I put the AI difficulty level at Diety, does he get the bonus units for Diety even if I play at Regent? I think the AI gets 8 defensive ground units, 2 settlers, and a couple workers to start the game on Diety.

[jshelr]

At Monarch you need to pick a plan early and execute it. The most common one starts with researching basic military tech quickly, then hoarding gold while employing the military tech to extort new tech and gain land. Monarch's not that great a jump. Most of your winning games at lower levels might be winners at this level too.

At Emperor, you have to try hard, employ the ideas from these boards and, at least for me, endure some setbacks while your production disadvantages make you behave like the tourtise running against the AI's hare. Patience and cunning. There's no need to be ahead all the time and the fun here is often the late game comeback and bargaining your way to tech parity, if not a tech lead. Civ III actually favors the defense and peaceful (strong) civs win the late games with SS turned on.

On Deity, I haven't got a clue.

[Slax]

Originally posted by planetfall
Apolex-- thank you for the hard core suggestions. As I am slowly, painfully moving up the levels, it is becoming more and more apparent the only way to win is:
1. fight a lot
2. use a lot of bartering
3. redirect AI's to self destruction
4. ignore most research.

It is so ironic. Take the way you are told to play the game and then do the opposite, or die.

Well I don't agree with 2-4. I am winning at Regent with consistency, and I hardly try to get anything through the AI (except when they beg for peace!) and do almost all my own research. My formula at Regent is to expand quickly and stay at war. Have a lot of cities and commerce to do your research. I build most of the wonders, temples and marketplaces in all cities, and usually win the game with (and at the time of) cavalry units.

[jshelr]

To Haupt. Dietrich
___________________________________________
Another mistake I've been making is not adjusting my rate sliders after I've built up my infrastructure. Sure you can max out your money rate and just buy or beat tech out of the AI, however....After you reach the late medieval/early industrial tech's become so expensive and the AI is usually unwilling to sell them to you. You are technilogically inferior and can't even beat them up at this point. In other words, "game over man!!!!"
____________________________________________
Read Aeson's amazing thread on the cold map generator!!

It's ok to fall behind on tech and ok to be in "impossible situations." The damn game lasts forever. The AI is going to screw up. You can even help them screw up. If you are ready to pounce at the right time, you can pick up ground gradually. There is very nearly always a way to get back in the game. (I have more fun in the games when I'm struggling than in the perfect early wars type of outcome. Good thing too, since I'm not nearly as efficient as these other guys at getting a flying start.)

[DeepO]

For me, chieftain was just a refreshing of basic civ terminology, and the second game I played (on warlord) also didn't taught me much.

The third game, on regent, was what started me to think more thoroughly on tactics and concepts, and while it is hard to miss a tech lead on the AIs, you get an idea about how they will trade everything amongst each other. It was, for me, the first level where I noticed just how much techs are worth to AIs.

In Monarch, the challenge became a bit more 'real', in that you need to understand diplo quite well, and if you don't pay attention someone will out-research you. Also, it is the level at which early warfare starts to be a winning tactic (on lower levels, it just is a nice bonus, not a necessity.) You start to value your workers more, and start to perfect your early build queues in order to out-expand the AIs. Further, you start to be more reflecting on the micromanagement issues: sliding the techrate nearly each turn to have the perfect gold/tech balance, palace (and other) prebuilds to make sure you get a wonder or a new unit first, etc.
Diplomacy gets a whole new meaning, fighting all civs at once is a sure way to loosing the game.

On Emperor, things get a whole lot more difficult. The AI's production bonuses start to kick in, you always get behind on tech in the ancient times, and must devise tactics to get equal. Either you extort them out of enemies, buy them through tax, or go for a southern-line research to be able to trade techs with the AI.

Further, depending on the situation, it is the easiest to have early wars, just to make sure you can both have a large empire, and some army running around. Otherwise you have one of the two. But, with a little difficulty, it is still possible to be a 'pure' builder, and winning the game without one battle. In fact, diplomatic victories are relatively easy to perform, if you get through the ancient era with enough territory and without long-standing enemies. SS is almost certain, you can be behind in tech in the modern age, and still build your spaceship.

Micromanaging certain things is a necessity, and so is a good diplomatic play. Rare are the games in which you don't need to enlist some allies at some point, if only to keep them from joining the other side. Also warfare can become more intimidating, as you see the huge stacks of AI units moving around from time to time (I haven't seen this on easier levels, but I haven't played one of these with 1.21f)

Deity? I don't know yet. I'm growing pretty confident in emperor, in that I can win with any civ in nearly every starting position, but I have yet to pull of a cultural victory. This annoys me, as culture is always one of my biggest goals in a game, so lacking a cultural victory in emperor proofs that I still need some perfecting of strategies to do. It might be needed to play more on huge maps in order to achieve it...

DeepO

[Arrian]

DeepO,

I think the only way to win a cultural victory on the highest levels (Emperor/Diety) would be, ironically enough, through warmongering like crazy. It is highly unlikely that you would be able to get a 20,000 cp city on Emperor, so you're shooting for 100,000 civ-wide cp's, which requires that no one AI has 50,000 or more. On that level of play, the AI will most likely be able to come up with that. Therefore, the best way to win culturally is to beat down the AI. The more cities you have, the more culture you will have, and the opposite will be true for the AI. Basically, you win by having 50 cities with temples, rather than 20 cities with everything.

-Arrian

[DeepO]

Arrian, I agree, but this is exactly where my tactics still lack. Either I am ultra-aggresive, but then I have great difficulties building up culture and even loose cities flipping back! Or, OTOH, I play culturally, while only doing a little ancient war, and I don't have enough cities to get to 100,000. I still have to balance it better, and in that respect start to prefer the Persians: cheap libraries are better then cheap temples, and you get a UU which can be used up until musketmen come around.

I must say that part of the reason why I have yet to win culturally is that I tend to grab the first type of victory I can. When on road for a cultural vic, it is quite easy to score a diplomatic one earlier. Quite a few games finished like that...

Oh, and 50 cities with only temples? I tend to have 50 fully equipped cities, and some 50 more with only temples/libraries. If, at the end of the game, I've got only double of the culture of the next AI, I had a terrible game

DeepO

[Arrian]

DeepO,

Yeah, that's how my games tend to go too (though I'm talking about Monarch). I end up dominating before winning culturally.

Of course, culture and domination go hand-in-hand, since you need culture to expand your borders.

Persia sounds like a good civ for Emperor... though I still prefer religious to scientific.

-Arrian

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by jshelr
To Haupt. Dietrich
___________________________________________
Read Aeson's amazing thread on the cold map generator!!

It's ok to fall behind on tech and ok to be in "impossible situations." The damn game lasts forever. The AI is going to screw up. You can even help them screw up. If you are ready to pounce at the right time, you can pick up ground gradually. There is very nearly always a way to get back in the game. (I have more fun in the games when I'm struggling than in the perfect early wars type of outcome. Good thing too, since I'm not nearly as efficient as these other guys at getting a flying start.)

jshelr:

Thanks for the tips. I did read Aeson's cold map generator thread and was blown away. I agree that there must always be ways to get back into the game. It is up to the player to find out how. Half the fun of Civ3 or any game for that matter is figuring out how to improve and meet each challenge. And yeah, I'm light years behind these Civ3 god's when it comes to getting off to a flying start but that's ok. Still finding that Civ3 is a fun and challenging game to play.

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Arrian
Persia sounds like a good civ for Emperor... though I still prefer religious to scientific.

I did so for a long time, but I'm partial atm. If you build for a ancient war, there is a good chance that you have access to libraries by the time you want to build something cultural in your first cities. In that case, building libraries is obvious: temples are no good for happyness, and libraries give more culture each turn. And with the Persians, you almost always use up your golden age in the ancient times, which you should be able to plan right in time for building libraries everywhere.
The only real advantage to religous is the lack of anarchy when switching governments. It can be very hard to wait 4-8 turns when you're used to 1 turn. It's the only reason I still like the Egyptians. That and Cleo's nose, of course

DeepO

[Theseus]

What do you mean temples are no good for happiness?

[DeepO]

well, no good maybe a bit of an exageration, but they will only give one extra content face, in stead of an unhappy one. That doesn't make much of a difference, certainly not when setting the slider to 10% happiness can mean 1-2 extra happy citizens in each city.

Libraries, from the other hand, produce 50% more science, so building a library in each city means you can set the happiness-slider to around 30% to get the same effect tech wise as without libraries. So, in my view, libraries are better for happiness than temples, and temples should only be built after libraries are in place.

And in newly conquered, non-corrupt territory, or in situations where a city is late blooming in between my core cities, I will always build a university before a temple. Happyness sure is important, but city improvements are the least effective way of handling problems. Luxuries is what you need, so if you can trade techs for luxuries, you have another point why you need to be good in research

DeepO

[Arrian]

Actually, I build exactly 1 cultural building in totally corrupt cities: a temple. Then, assuming it's not in a warzone, the next priority is a marketplace. If it needs an aqueduct, it gets one.

The temple and marketplace will keep that city happy enough. You're right that luxuries are the key. The 8 luxuries, with markets and 10-20% luxury spending will keep your entire civ in WLTKD.

Temples are more powerful in the early game simply because they can be built right away. Later, they allow you to build cathedrals, which are powerful if you have the Sistine... which I insist on having. Libraries are very nice in good cities... but I'm long past the days of rushing libraries in capture towns. That's a waste.

-Arrian

[Catt]

An awful lot of good points in this thread (which I won't repeat ).

My $0.02 (relating primarily to moving from Regent up through Emperor):

You must learn to exploit the civ traits bestowed upon your selected civ. I am having a great deal of fun and challenge adapting to the game conditions generated by the "random settings." Map conditions, neighboring civs, and your own civ all combine into a different feel each game -- and a different set of tactical and strategic requirements to victory.

If you always play XXX civ on a standard pangea, 5 billion, normal, temperate, etc., then my sense (shared with others here) is that the fundamental challenges moving from level to level are (1) dealing with increased unhappiness, and (2) understanding the need to assert oneself more forcefully early in the game.

But if you play different civs in different settings, the difficulty level really magnifies the civ specific traits. Play any style you want on Warlord (builder, warmonger, buildmonger) with any civ you like -- as you develop your skills at the fundamentals -- making cities productive, making your empire productive -- you will come to the point that you can win all your games. If, on Monarch, you're handed the Zulu as your civ, you need to be able to effectively exploit Militaristic, Expansionist and the Impi. If, OTOH, you are handed the Babylonians, you need to be able to exploit Scientific, Religious and the Bowman.

It's my sense after six months with this game that the failure to effectively take advantage of your civ's traits to their potential will cost you a decent piece of your available relative "advantages" -- and the higher you go, the more precious that bit of relative "advantage" becomes.

Catt

[Disclaimer: I have only played a few games on Deity and haven't won there. The best players on Diety seem to play a pretty standard "game plan" to beat Diety, regardless of civ or map settings -- so maybe my belief on the importance of civ traits resembles a bell curve -- not so important at Chieftan and Deity, most important at Regent and Monarch. Then again, advice may prove silly when I've gotton to the point where I can do anything I like on Monarch with any civ in any map and win - I'm certainly not there yet ].

[DeepO]

Arian, that is a difference in style issue, and I don't think one is better than the other. If I play a religous civ, I will always rush temples in conquered cities, when possible. With the Persians, however, rushing libraries is easier...

For totally corrupt cities, I go for the cheapest cultural building, and after that start on a marketplace, or a university. Never build aquaducts and certainly no hospitals, it's better to have a content city than a big one.
If there is a little to gain from building improvements, the cities will only produce workers, which, when not needed anymore, will be added to core cities.

In cities which have a chance of producing some shields, I'll go for a courthouse right after the first culture. Even if it takes 80 turns, it could be worth it (a little). These sometimes get rushed when I have excess money laying around. After that, I'll go for an aquaduct, then a marketplace. I never, ever build a hospital in a city that doesn't have a marketplace already.

BTW, the only exception to this is that in any city producing 5 or more shields I'll build a factory. If this is before a courthouse, I might think of putting a courthouse in first. If this is before an aquaduct, I rarely build a worker, and even more rarely build a aquaduct. Those factories are just to good to forget, and even if they take 48 turns to build, they are more than worth it, certainly with Hoover (which, in my experience, only works when a city has a factory in place)

Cathedrals can be powerful with Sistine, but at Emperor there are many games where you have to miss that wonder, as it is on a direct path to education, and therefore quite attractive to AI scientists. Bach is easier to get. But, at any rate, with a scientific civ (Babs included) I like to go for a university before a temple, but after a marketplace when my happiness is dragging. And the situation dictates whether I build temples/cathedrals before a hospital or not... I prefer not.

DeepO