Marthon speed easier than normal?

[comrade7]

Hello everyone!

I've got a question to those who play both marathon and normal speed (I played only normal so far). Do you find marathon easier (with the same map size, difficulty etc.). I mean, on marathon there are AFAIK twice as many turns as on normal, (so building/research speed is twice as slower), but unit movement has not been adjusted (it'd be hard to give 0,5 speed to unit..). Anyway, this means that units can move two times faster than on normal speed. I play on emperor (so most games are all about war and conquest) and all the time I wage war, i'm under pressure to capture cities quickly before superior AI units appear.

On normal this pressure is very sensible, on marathon speed, the time in which you might expect those longbowmen popping uip in enemy cities is twice as long, I mean - when you have tech superior units - you have TWICE as much time to benefit from this. So marathon should be much more easier?

[Samson]

I think marathon is 3 times longer than normal. I have not played marathon, but I think epic is definatly easier, basically for the reasons you state. Generally war is more powerfull, and the AI is rubbish at war.

[MrCynical]

Generally marathon does seem easier. The human player is generally better at warfare than the AI, and marathon favours this as units move faster relative to the length of the game. Particularly at high levels where the AI races ahead on tech, the human player can make much more progess on marathon with units like axemen before they finally go obsolete.

[Mahatmajon]

IMO Epic Emperor is about the same as Normal Monarch. I'd imagine that Marathon only increases the disparity further, but I can't play marathon without being bored out of my mind or only fighting early conquest wars.

[stuge]

True, warfare is easier on marathon, but there's a filp side to it as well. If you kill your economy by REXing or whatever on normal, you can recover pretty well by building cottages. But on m., those lifesavers take longer to build and mature and you're still losing lots of money each turn.

It forces you to plan your expansion more carefully. I at least learned a lot when I started to play marathon.

[Nestorius]

Its probably a bit easier, but at least you get to fight a few wars with the various units of each era. The only thing I don't like about Marathon is the end-game, after railroad, where you can spend days just pressing enter and waiting for the next turn to load.

[Masquerouge]

Don't forget that units may move twice as fast, but they take at least twice as long to build...

[Antilogic]

It's not so much moving twice as fast, but moving twice as much. There is a difference.

That being said, the only time I managed to conquer a Pangaea by 10 AD (and it was 10 AD) was as Rome on marathon. Every other game I've played lasted past 1400 AD (on Epic). For the aforementioned reasons, Epic/Marathon is easier because you can exploit the human factor more in the game, especially early on.

Although, I find Marathon to be really tedious--try the Epic speed. It's the only one I play on right now, great balance.

[CivDude86]

Units only cost 2x as much while buildings cost 3x as much so that also helps if your not the builder type.

[DaviddesJ]

Marathon speed is much easier for the human, probably about two difficulty levels difference from Normal.

[Antilogic]

Originally Posted by CivDude86

Units only cost 2x as much while buildings cost 3x as much so that also helps if your not the builder type.

What? I've never noticed this; is that correct? I assumed all production was scaled equally...

[CivDude86]

<Type>GAMESPEED_MARATHON</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_MARATHON</Description>
<Help>TXT_KEY_GAMESPEED_MARATHON_HELP</Help>
<iGrowthPercent>300</iGrowthPercent>
<iTrainPercent>200</iTrainPercent>
<iConstructPercent>300</iConstructPercent>
<iCreatePercent>300</iCreatePercent>
<iResearchPercent>300</iResearchPercent>
<iBuildPercent>300</iBuildPercent>
<iImprovementPercent>300</iImprovementPercent>
<iGreatPeoplePercent>300</iGreatPeoplePercent>
<iCulturePercent>300</iCulturePercent>
<iAnarchyPercent>200</iAnarchyPercent>
<iBarbPercent>400</iBarbPercent>
<iFeatureProductionPercent>300</iFeatureProductionPercent>
<iUnitDiscoverPercent>300</iUnitDiscoverPercent>
<iUnitHurryPercent>300</iUnitHurryPercent>
<iUnitTradePercent>300</iUnitTradePercent>
<iUnitGreatWorkPercent>300</iUnitGreatWorkPercent>
<iGoldenAgePercent>200</iGoldenAgePercent>
<iHurryPercent>33</iHurryPercent>
<iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>300</iHurryConscriptAngerPercent>
<iInflationPercent>10</iInflationPercent>
<iInflationOffset>-200</iInflationOffset>

Thats what the XML says. Its cheaper units which will probably benefit a human more and shorter GA will definitely help the human more since they usually only get 1 or 2 instead of the half dozen the AI gets but at least there's shorter anarchy will probably benefit the AI more since they like the change civics a lot. Don't know what the barb% is (its only 150 for epic).

[kcbrett5]

Originally Posted by DaviddesJ

Marathon speed is much easier for the human, probably about two difficulty levels difference from Normal.

I dont agree with this. I can consistently win domination victories at normal speed on emperor level. But lately I have been playing only marathon and I am winning about half the games by space race on immortal level. The other half I am losing by diplomacy. All of this is on continents.

I am just one example of course. But for me marathon is probably only 1 difficulty level easier than normal speed.

[DaviddesJ]

Originally Posted by kcbrett5

I am just one example of course. But for me marathon is probably only 1 difficulty level easier than normal speed.

Well, it depends a huge amount on which level, and on map type. On Continents, the effect is much less---the advantages of the human on a Marathon map are by far the greatest on Pangaea maps, where you don't have to worry that much about the whole tech race and being left behind by the other continents.

I should have said that, with favorable map settings, Marathon is two levels easier than Normal. With unfavorable map settings, not as much.