Difficulty Levels

[GarethDaragon]

i tried to search the boards for info on the specific changes for EACH difficulty level, but the search engine picked up some VERY scary posts...

can someone provide me to a link that has a good descrption of the difficulty levels (# of unhappy people, tech bonuses, unit bonuses for the A.I.), or just provide a list. i've only worked my way up to regent level, but i'm curious exactly what the specific transitions are from one level to the next.

[Arrian]

If I recall correctly...

Regent is even.

On Monarch, the AI has a 10% bonus to production/food box for city growth/research. That is, it only needs 90% of the shields you would need to build something or 90% of the beakers to research something. They also get 1 or 2 free units per city and some extra free unit support.

On Emperor, it's a 20% bonus, with even more free units/unit support.

On Diety, it's a 40% bonus, with yet more free stuff.

I know there are better lists, but these are the basics.

-Arrian

[GarethDaragon]

thanks alot Arrian... 'preciate it.

so in other words, while i was playing warlord difficulty, "I" was the one cheating not the a.i.? i should be ashamed of myself...

[Arrian]

Yeah, on warlord and chieftain, the AI actually has penalties. I think the production/research penalties are roughly the reverse of Monarch & Emperor.

Warlord, by the way, is a good level to learn the game at. I think Chieftain actually teaches very little, because the AI is so crippled that you're lucky to reach the modern age before the game ends.

I play Monarch. It offers advantages to the AI, sure, but nothing too drastic. I may move up to Emperor, at least for warmonger style games, but I doubt I will play Diety for quite some time.

-Arrian

[rpodos]

GD,

Nero Would created a "CivStats" Excel file, which is posted in the Files forum.

Besides being an excellent computer-side companion, it shows the differences between difficulty levels.

R

[Spaced Cowboy]

Hey and don't forget the city size equation. I just found that out last night when I upped it from monarch to emperor. My size two cities went balistic at this level and had to alter my stategy.
RPM

[watorrey]

What i don't understand is... if regent is suppose to be even, why is the city limits set at 90% instead of 100%?

I would think the city limit percentages should be 100% at regent and then change by 10% in each direction.

I believe this would make a big difference for newer players, especially on larger maps.

[Alex]

Originally posted by watorrey
What i don't understand is... if regent is suppose to be even, why is the city limits set at 90% instead of 100%?

I would think the city limit percentages should be 100% at regent and then change by 10% in each direction.

I believe this would make a big difference for newer players, especially on larger maps.

Sorry, I did not understand this. Could you clarify?

[watorrey]

In the dificulty settings in the editor, there is a setting that affects what percentage of the map size related city limit (optimal cities) will have normal corruption effects. It is set at 90% for regent level.

For example: Large map has a city limit of 24. Assume a forbidden palace in the right place to double this gives 48 cities before total corruption. 90% of that is 43.2 cities instead of 48 that do not have total corruption.

Chieftain = 100%
Warlord = 95%
Regent = 90%
Monarch = 85%
Emperor = 80%
Deity = 70%

If regent is the defacto standard for an even playing field, why is there a city limit penalty?

Regent should be 100% and it should vary by 10% in either direction. This would make it alot easier for the newer players who are trying to learn the game and would keep emperor and deity the same.

They also refer to it as 'Optimal # of cities'... there is nothing optimal about it... it is a LIMIT

[Alex]

Oh, now I see. Thanks.

But I think that the main reason for the city limits being 90% in Regent is because this feature affects not only the human player, but also the AI. Since there is a increase in difficulty from Chieftain all over to Deity, these city limit percentages are accordingly reduced in order to make things harder for the human player -- only, in this case, this affects also the AI.

[watorrey]

That doesn't make any sense to me. Why have a difficulty setting that affects the AI the same as the human? Why have the setting at all in that case?

[Alex]

Originally posted by watorrey
That doesn't make any sense to me. Why have a difficulty setting that affects the AI the same as the human? Why have the setting at all in that case?

Difficulty levels are split in two parts: one of them concerns to how the player manages his own empire, the other concerns to how the player interact with the AI.

From Chieftain to Deity, the player experiences more corruption and more unhappiness on its cities, thus making it harder to manage a big empire. But I don't know how these settings affect the AI.

Also, from the lower to the higher difficulty level, the AI goes from severe production penalties to great production advantages.

Therefore, the game is easier on Chieftain because the player produces quickly than the AI, as well as experiences less corrpution and unhappiness. On Deity, the game is harder because the AI gains production advantages and the player experiences more corruption and unhappiness. Two different settings.

At least that is how I see it. I may be wrong, though.

[watorrey]

Now that you mention it... i believe the AI has the same unhappiness penalties the human has. Looking at corruption due to # of cities from that point of view does seem to make some sense. Is this documented somewhere or has firaxis stated that the AI suffers it also?

Yes, i understand the part about production bonuses/penalties and was thinking that this % setting was a similar penalty.

I still think my idea is a good one for newer players. The newsgroups and forums are full of ppl that are having trouble winning at even warlord level. And since regent is suppose to be the 'standard' level, it makes more sense to me.

BTW: i play monarch and would only get a 5% boost. I am thinking of all the trouble new players have getting a handle on the game.