I was wondering if someone could recommend a difficulty level for me?

A little about me and what im looking for:

First and foremost, im not too much of a n00b. I played all the other civ games to death and have logged a moderate amount of playing time on this version. I recently had a game on warlord going and thought that would be the diff for me. I got way into that game and started dominating everyone by ways of wonders, cash, tech, etc. Combat was still a bit tricky though which I found a little odd. In any rate, i want to pick a difficulty and not find out mid game that It was too easy and in essence waste all that time. Like I said, I tried warlord and found everything but the combat way too easy. Id like a challenge, be neck and neck with the comp, but not want to break my computer out of frustration from being so far behind. advice appreciated, thanks.

The jump to noble is very noticable I have found. The AI actually starts to build wonders at the same rate as you, they expand quickly and have no quams declaring war on you when you annoy them enough. Always have a decent army on hand incase you get attacked. Good luck!

Try working on Noble, you and the AI will be on roughly the same parity in most areas.

I was wondering if someone could recommend a difficulty level for me?

I recommend the Deity level on a dual map size. You will always behide in income, tech, and everything else, but you will also have at least 75% chance of winning the game.

What exactly is your problem? Play Standard/Continent or Pangaea. If you win (or win is obvious in the midgame), increase the difficulty level. If you lose, stay at that difficulty.
For some fine tuning use the map size. Usually larger maps are more difficult, small ones are easy. Continents is slightly harder than Pangaea, depending on the number of opponents on your Continent.

What exactly is your problem? Play Standard/Continent or Pangaea. If you win (or win is obvious in the midgame), increase the difficulty level. If you lose, stay at that difficulty.
For some fine tuning use the map size. Usually larger maps are more difficult, small ones are easy. Continents is slightly harder than Pangaea, depending on the number of opponents on your Continent.
Most true, I find small maps to be easier.

Try noble.

I started on monarch and never lost since after playing a lot of civ3, studying the civilopedia a bit, and reading some threads here. Most experienced players seem to get stuck at the emperor level, so my guess is that monarch will be a decent challenge for you.

I would agree, i abandoned my first civ iv game on noble because i got absurdly ahead despite not really knowing the game/ key techs. Civ 3 experience does help despite the differences.

The AI is still dumb, although the diplomatic mechanisms are more difficult to manipulate.

In terms of game mechanics, built time ratios, health points etc., what are the differences between the levels?

Anyone know that ?

I recommend the Deity level on a dual map size. You will always behide in income, tech, and everything else, but you will also have at least 75% chance of winning the game.


Doesn't that highly depend on whether playing with or against incas/romans?

Playing inca duel on immortal has close to 100% win chance due to quecnha rush.

Carn

im about the same description as you. I played a first game on chieftan and won a domination victory with 6000+ points.

Now im on noble.

What happened? I had a reply posted in this thread and it disappeared!

Thanks, tried noble and its working well. I think I may have to restart on a higher level but too early to tell. I was happy that on this difficulty I was actually worried for a minute If I would get a religion. Thankfully Christ died in Krondor in the year 130AD and subsequently christianity was founded.

I say jump to monarch, after some defeats, you will learn the fundamentals and play better. Plus, a lot of tricks you pick up on lower levels don't work at higher level, so might as well save yourself the trouble of unlearning inefficient habits down the road. Also, micromanage for max food and then max commerce (from cottage) in early game, certainly made a difference in my game.

The best way to do it is to start a game on the next highest difficulty level, and by mid-game if you're crushing everyone else, then quit it and start one level higher, wash rinse repeat.

Always have a decent army on hand incase you get attacked. Good luck!

This is KEY to successfully making the jump from Warlord to Noble. You need to do at least one ancient troop rush to hold off a relatively devastating initial invasion (i.e. it won't happen at all if you're well defended). If you plan on wreaking any havoc early on you'll need to do a couple or three ancient troops rushes as techs allow military unit upgrades.

Does the AI cheat at all on the higher levels?

Does the AI cheat at all on the higher levels?

The AI gets bonuses at levels above noble. The human gets bonuses below noble. AFAIK things are even at noble.