Difference between Monarch, Emperor, and Diety. Difficulty Wise.

[Artifex]

I usually play Monarch. Thinking I might make a step up. How much more difficult is Emperor and then Diety. Compare the difficulty levels. Is emperor alot more difficult than Monarch and then how much of a jump is diety from that?

[Wormwood]

In those higher levels I believe the AI starts out with additional units, and the more militaristic civs tend to send them on you pretty much from the get go. Is stick to Monarch myself, unless I play on one of my maps where I know I'll have a little breathing room.

[Capt Dizle]

Emperor isn't that much different from Monarch. Diety is like, you build your second city and one or more AIs show up with stacks of 10 or more warriors and they have 4-7 techs before you have researched your first.

[Aeson]

The main difference between Monarch and Emperor is the happiness. You'll only get 1 content citizen in Emperor. The bonuses the AI gets doesn't make too much difference, so plan on handling your citizen's moods a bit quicker. Wonders are a bit harder to build, the tech rate a bit faster, but a good Monarch player shouldn't have too much difficulty adjusting to Emperor.

From Emperor to Deity is more like Regent to Emperor. The AI gets considerably more forces to start, the tech rate jumps quite a bit, and the % of optimum number of cities you can build takes a larger dip than it does between other difficulties as well. A good Emperor player probably has to make some major changes in playstyle to do well on Deity. That's why a lot of people don't like Deity. Not because of the difficulty, but because you almost have to play a certain way to win.

[Lord Merciless]

I tried to play a deity game tonight, got busted. Archer rush is no longer working because the tech rate is very very fast. It may be a better idea to REX first, then begin a combined Swordsmen/Horsemen rush.

[Robert]

I play emperor, which works good.
I didn't try deity so far. Are there people who play deity on a regular base ? And if so, do you win?

And if you win, do you win by being the biggest civilization? Or did Firaxis finally create a level that's really hard to beat?

The happyness in the cities is indeed the hardest thing to deal with.

[Ribannah]

So far I haven't played many games of Civ3, but Emperor suits me fine. You have to plan well and really compete for at least the early wonders. I have no trouble beating the AI though, not even from a bad starting position.
Deity is another story. Still winnable but indeed rather boring since you have so few strategic options.

[NeoStar]

Deity is challanging, you have to be on your game but I agree too it can be so limiting.

What I'd like to know is has the difficulties changed since the patch? (I have heard of AI changes) I haven't played a full game yet.

[Galvatron]

Yup on higher levels the AI got more units from the beginning (like we are used to it from other civ versions) and it also influence your starting position.

Lower level: more room, enemies far far away

Higher level: 3 or 4 enemies just next to your corner

[Moonsinger]

Originally posted by NeoStar
What I'd like to know is has the difficulties changed since the patch? (I have heard of AI changes) I haven't played a full game yet.

Since the AI tech rate has been slow down quite abit at Deity level with patch 1.29f, that makes it easier for us to catch up.

[cracker]

With V1.29 the difference between the AI tech rates and the human tech rates has not changed. What has changed is that the AI rate is held constant at a 10 factor while the human rate is divided by the AI cost advantage. This means that the tech rate progression is slowed down on Diety, Emperor, and Monarch but that the AI researches at the same rate as it does on Regent. What has changed is that the Human tech rate is slowed down to handicap the human player. On diety, I believe the human tech rate is now 10 X 10/6 which is about 16.67.

Another factor that has been changed effects the ai's propensity for stacking and attacking. In V1.29 you are far more likely to see attack waves instead of just single SODs aimed at your weakest city. Barbarian hordes will fan out into 3 to 5 stacks of between 8 and 4 horsemen each instead of just single stacks of 24.

[Egyptian]

The AI gets some cheats on Emporer and Diety. I have won on emporer, but usually play on monarch due to the fact that I just don't like the cheats the AI gets of more units and faster techs. I hate seeing a stack of 4 Roman spearmen and three warriors march by while I'm just finishing my second warrior. Playing on monarch still produces good games for me that can be a challenge due to various starting positions and playing a random civ and map.

[Lord Merciless]

Playing on Deity also requires efficient management of city placement, expansion strategy, early city productions, and exploration moves.

[N. Machiavelli]

Diety isn't easy by any means. Though it may seem constricting, you really only have to follow a couple of patterns rather than have a set style of play. Diety is the only difficulty I play now except when testing mods and scenarios. I usually have a choice of Diplomatic (usually turned off) or Space victories as "easy" wins, but really challenge myself by trying to wiping out the other 17 civs on a huge map.

As said, the jump from Emperor to Diety is much more profound than the hop from Monarch to Emperor. Give it a go at least once in your Civ3 career. Who knows, you may have a knack for it.

[candidgamera]

Wondering if anybody has tried going into the editor and making the adjustables: ai troops, happiness level ect of diety into regent and then playing "regentized diety". ie ai plays with same resources you do (as adjustable) but with the hidden extra smarts of diety.