What difficulty level does the game cease being enjoyable for you?

Artifex1

Warlord
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
284
At what difficulty? Does it start to feel more like a task and why?

I am not talking about what you can beat or how great you can play but what point is not fun for you? Even if you can beat it sometimes?
 
It becomes difficult during the Immortal and Deity difficulties but I don't think that these difficulties are a task since sometimes groups like challenges.
 
It feels more like a task at Prince for me, and that's why I play Warlord. I like massive extensive empires, and I could win at Prince with only 4-8 cities, but that's not how I want to play.
 
Immortal and Deity require the Bag of Tricks in order to have a hope of winning (Bribing AI, stealing their workers, going for Diplo victory, etc.) which I find enjoyable in a puzzle sort of way. Like any puzzle though, once it has been solved I see little reason in repeating it.
 
Absurd Deity "AI-Cheats" -- drippling down from there in a progressively less annoying pattern of gameplay tricky conditions.
So it's King or Prince for me. Conventional, challenging enough for fun, strictly Fairplay.

If i want variations... i simply add AI-opponents and a few more CS while randomizing (some) options (with Really Advanced Setup by GenTso) and map types.
 
That's what makes groups like a challenge. Stealing workers and bribing the ai at the higher difficulty levels can be done a lot easier since ais have more to offer than lower difficulty ais that have less to offer.
 
Deity isn't enjoyable to me due to being in a straight jacket.

But King and below isn't enjoyable to me either since playing on those levels would bore me to tears.

This leaves Emperor & Immortal being the only enjoyable levels for me.
 
I find Immortal to be the most enjoyable, but Emperor isn't bad. Deity feels like a chore, and King and below, the AI just feels like they are in the way.
 
That's what makes groups like a challenge. Stealing workers and bribing the ai at the higher difficulty levels can be done a lot easier since ais have more to offer than lower difficulty ais that have less to offer.

True, I've always wondered how people get such fast science victories, then when I tried Deity I found about how that works. Techs that the AI already have become cheaper so you can slingshot yourself and they throw research agreements around left right and center. Still not worth the agony of having to strain yourself each turn.
 
At the moment, I'm playing through the civs on King with about 4-5 left. King is definitely a fun play right now. Certain civs and their bonuses I play into and early lead an never let up. Most often I win by Technology or Diplomacy. I've fallen way behind with some civs, only to take over late in the game. Once I get 4-6 battleships, game over. Capitals fall. Eager to get going on Emperor. It could be my limit.
 
Having research agreements can be a risk sometimes because other civilzations can steal the technologies when you researched them from paying off the research agreement. The other spies don't stand a chance if you leave your spy at home though. It really is a lot safer for a spy to be at home with the counterespionage mission, but it could be a risk if you have the spy in another civilization's city trying to steal a technology or two. However, an ai can still steal a few technologies even when your spy is in counterespionage.
 
Immortal is the sweet spot for me, as if I ramp up very quickly I know I have a shot to build wonders at least, and I have to be at least kind of careful.

If I wanted to play around with non-Tradition paths, then it'd be Emperor.

I do play Deity now and again but I dislike the almost non-existent room for error and that you need to micromanage everything in order to win.
 
I don't find any level enjoyable any more. Warlord is too easy now but Prince is unbearably difficult.
 
immortal with great civ and great start is still enjoyable for me.
deity nah-ah, the bonus alone that the AI gets i could live with, but the starting units they get make the game unplayable for me
 
To me, Warlord is too easy, and I'm comfortable with Prince. I tried a few King games and was getting my butt kicked.
 
To those who find anything <Emperor too difficult -- the strategy guides on this site will allow you to crush anything King and below with ease.
 
^^^I've tried some of the guides, but in a lot of my games nothing goes according to plan. I either have to change my build order or tech because of barbarians, someone forward settling in my face very early in the game, etc.

And I've watched several of the videos (the higher levels of course). On lower levels there is no way I can generate that kind of gold. And it seems in those videos, folks don't have problems with barbarians early game; whereas in my game, I've got barbs coming after me on turn 15 or so.
 
^^^I've tried some of the guides, but in a lot of my games nothing goes according to plan. I either have to change my build order or tech because of barbarians, someone forward settling in my face very early in the game, etc.

And I've watched several of the videos (the higher levels of course). On lower levels there is no way I can generate that kind of gold. And it seems in those videos, folks don't have problems with barbarians early game; whereas in my game, I've got barbs coming after me on turn 15 or so.

I don't find it easy to follow the strategy guides either. Can understand them just fine and all but actually applying what I've learned is a whole other matter. Like you immediate circumstances often override any plans I've set and undermine any advice I've been given. Just don't know what we're doing wrong. I'm hoping it's just a case of overthinking.
 
^^^I've tried some of the guides, but in a lot of my games nothing goes according to plan. I either have to change my build order or tech because of barbarians, someone forward settling in my face very early in the game, etc.

And I've watched several of the videos (the higher levels of course). On lower levels there is no way I can generate that kind of gold. And it seems in those videos, folks don't have problems with barbarians early game; whereas in my game, I've got barbs coming after me on turn 15 or so.

You do have to adapt a bit, but you should still see a clear priority order when building. If you need to build an extra unit or 2, build them, but then get back to the guide.

Most these guides are set at Immortal or Deity, but at King or even Emperor, you can detour from the guide for many turns and still crush the AI. Although it is often the case that the reason you had to detour is because of mistakes you've made.

One major difference between the guides and applying to lower level is you will likely need to hard build at least 1 worker early on. This puts you 10ish turns behind the guides early on, but is easily overcome as the game continues.
 
Top Bottom