Have you changed your difficulty level?

[manu-fan]

I got used to playing Prince in G&K and stayed Prince for BNW. I lost my first two games horribly, but have finally figured out how to play BNW and am steam-rollering my third game.

Cheers.

 

[JustinianIV]

I think a lot of people, like me, don't care that much about playing at the highest possible difficulty they can thrive on. I'm one of many people who hate the artificial difficulty that is very noticable above Emperor. So with all the new things added, there are more options for me to find my own challenges in the game without resorting to handing cheats to the AI, hence why I turned it down a notch

I guess some people see this as RP'ing? But the game should be easier for me now from what I've read. On high difficulties, aggression before I could catch up was my biggest problem and that seems lessened somewhat.

EDIT: And btw, things like a four city opener are pretty straightforward. Even people who don't frequent the boards do those, usually exactly the same. Most people that enjoy this game know how to think for themselves.

You made some good points. I sometimes forget that others are more into the role playing aspect. I tend more toward winning and doing so as efficiently as possible. I will say this about prince, it is an excellent level for role playing.

The four city opener is straightforward, but now there seems to be more paths to open with.

 

[rondiggity]

I normally play on King but I went down to Prince with BNW just to try out all the new civs/SPs in a sandbox type environment.

 

[HerrDoktor]

I usually play Prince, but it's more for not being fond of artificial difficulty, as it's always a bit too easy. I didn't feel the need to change the difficulty, but I had some botched games, mainly for not understanding the new system and reworked wonders.

 

[OmniPotent42]

I went down to Emporer to see the new systems, but I've been doing fine on Immortal again now, and it's a tad easier than G&K because I don't have to worry a lot about runaways now that there's a 5% tech cost penalty per city. You can be a lot more flexible in terms of policies and victory conditions now.

 

[Danthor]

Once I got the hang of the new mechanics I found myself playing my first Emperor game (I usually played on King), and I found it really engaging. Less maniacal AI, I think, helps to get your civilization developed before the big wars start and makes the late game more interesting.

Same here. I find BNW much easier than G&K. Probably because I have more of a builder style.

 

[digrosz]

I've always played on Emperor, so my first game was Emperor as well. Made some mistakes ere amd there and got a really close game in the end - loved it! - but it didn't feel like it was that much harder/easier than GnK.

 

[Shafi-is-back]

everything went well in my 2nd immortal game (was playing france and going for culture) got all the wonders i wanted - which suprised me and then on turn 312 when i though i was coasting. (all 5 remaining civs following order) so i thought it was in the bag and Shaka happened.

I had a reasonable military - about 4 infantry, 1 cannon, 4 gatling guns around the city in question + rush bought 3 bombers and 1 sub

It took him all of 3 turns to take the city ... it was all going south from there so i chalked it up as a loss ....

I guess im still not ready for Immortal - Shaka

But otherwise for someone who just moved up to Immortal i feel quite comfortable ...

 

[VainoValkea]

I never found King too easy and struggled with Emperor, but with BNW, I've got a fairly sound strategy that helped me win even Emperor with relative ease. I guess I should upgrade to Immortal, but first I want all victories on Emperor.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

everything went well in my 2nd immortal game (was playing france and going for culture) got all the wonders i wanted - which suprised me and then on turn 312 when i though i was coasting. (all 5 remaining civs following order) so i thought it was in the bag and Shaka happened.

I had a reasonable military - about 4 infantry, 1 cannon, 4 gatling guns around the city in question + rush bought 3 bombers and 1 sub

It took him all of 3 turns to take the city ... it was all going south from there so i chalked it up as a loss ....

I guess im still not ready for Immortal - Shaka

But otherwise for someone who just moved up to Immortal i feel quite comfortable ...

3 Turns? What kind of military did he bring? I've never seen the AI take a city that efficiently, against what seems like an adequate defense... Unless he was out teching you?

 

[Aldor]

I usually play Prince, but it's more for not being fond of artificial difficulty, as it's always a bit too easy. I didn't feel the need to change the difficulty, but I had some botched games, mainly for not understanding the new system and reworked wonders.

Same for me. I prefer prince although I should probably have moved to king a long time ago..

I played my first BNW game on settler difficulty, to get familiar with the new concepts. After that tho, I had no problem playing prince again (although its seriously annoying at times if an AI decides go wonder-spamming...I like my wonders too

 

[spfun]

I play immortal mainly, but its just to easy to keep me interested. I Played a deity game and won my first game no slower than an immortal game. No wars the entire game... Literally press enter to victory in 269 turns for diplo or 285 turns for space. ( standard settings continents Venice) But I'm more of a builder and I miss been able to build lots of wonders so constant Deity isn't an option as its boring.

tbh I'm finding this expansion less fun than G&K. Myabe i'm just finally getting tired of Civ5 (1550 hours so far) I'm thinking of waiting for a patch to play again or taking a break.

 

[bison21]

Is it just me or do people who used to play on the high-end of difficulties find the game easier now, whereas those in the mid-range find just the opposite? CivFanatics certainly does not represent the broad player base. The win-on-deity achievement on steam has been given to less than 1% of the player base and the facebook comments seem to favor warlord up to king.

I am certainly part of the latter. I was just getting used to Emperor and enjoyed trying Immortal so see how exactly I got defeated every single time, but I find BNW so huge that I have now dialed back to King and sometimes even opt for Prince. It's quite embarrassing really. I am watching a lot of Madjinn and certainly want to pick up speed again soon. Though I must admit I did not read into the new features as I like to trial and error my way through the game, so maybe it's to be expected..

 

[Nickel_lion]

Once I got the hang of the new mechanics I found myself playing my first Emperor game (I usually played on King), and I found it really engaging. Less maniacal AI, I think, helps to get your civilization developed before the big wars start and makes the late game more interesting.

Ok, he just said exactly what I think about BNW and why I like it SO much now...

 

[Chee]

Was playing at Immortal on G&K. Dropped down to King for first BNW game (after not touching CiV for about 9 months). Won easily so moved up to Emperor and have won pretty every game there too.

Looks like it's back to Immortal!

 

[kkapalk]

Bison21, I think you are right. Certainly in my experience. I have always found King just right on Gods and Kings, giving me a good challenge which I have usually managed to pull through against. I have tried King on BNW twice and got nowhere. I am now playing on Prince level and am starting to make headway. Brilliant expansion though.

 

[bison21]

Bison21, I think you are right. Certainly in my experience. I have always found King just right on Gods and Kings, giving me a good challenge which I have usually managed to pull through against. I have tried King on BNW twice and got nowhere. I am now playing on Prince level and am starting to make headway. Brilliant expansion though.

I just started another King game with Assuria, 104 turns in, Germany (DoF) backstabs me and corners me towards Genghis, 10+ units vs my composite bow and a melee. Wtf. Bismarck beat me to the Great Library, Genghis on the Temple of Artemis, and Persia... he built the Hanging Gardens, and in that turn I started the Petra, thinking 7 turns will be fast enough- no chance, 5 turns later he's got that as well. Genghis had already taken out city states.

"Lack of aggression"?

What bugs me is that I have hardly come across the majority of the new systems before epically failing like this. I mean I already got trade routes running, good gold, good happiness, golden age, running a little low on culture but just researching some top-row techs...I have a comp bow for each city, 3 swordsmen and one spear-man... I am totally out of ideas.

Settler it is!

 

[spherejoint]

I am actually thinking of moving up a level as in my last two games I got on a good footing to win Cultural but the game dragged on and on tech-wise. I quit from boredom as I only got airports in 2020 and was still 100+ turns away from becoming Influential with the last three civs. I was also playing Huge map on Prince and I've seen around the forums the game balance seems not to scale to that size. Now I'm thinking of doing King/Large and see if everyone techs at a more reasonable pace. No way I was going to click Next 50+ times to get to the Internet and finally overwhelm the other players. This is even with 300 tourism per turn and International Games won. I'm thinking that's not the way it's supposed to be.

@bison21 I wonder if this might be an explanation for higher-level players saying it's easier and lower-level players saying it's harder.

 

[homegrown]

I have been a long-time prince player. But before the release of BNW I had registered my first wins on king and emperor. I dropped down to prince for the first two games, then went back up to emperor. Found myself running away in the modern age. Now i'm trying Venice on Immortal. I'm behind, but I'm not last! (well, except for score).

 

[rodrigoq]

I've always played diety.. Never really found that I needed to dial back for expansions, or even new games. Civ 5 diety I find much easier than civ 4..