A question about difficulty levels.

[Pa Phigg]

Hello.

My question is in regards to my theory on fun. I like to begin anything as large an underdog as possible. This way victory makes my teeth ache.

Anyway, up until yesterday I regarded Diety as the ultimate accomplishment. Then after reading through a thread, I learned that the AI is overstacked to the point that it is unbalanced. Is there truth to this?

My style of play includes capitalizing on my surroundings, ignoring equations, and a little bit of fortune telling. I guess the "sandbox" ideology best suits me.

All in all, is there a difficulty level that best represents a balanced AI?

(I have to exclude MP, as I am a papa of six, and my time in between turns can sometimes last weeks.)

Thank you

 

[Civsassin]

All in all, is there a difficulty level that best represents a balanced AI?

Honestly, I am like you. I don't like to stick to the same strategy in order to win the same way each time. I like varying everything. I can play at Immortal pretty well, but for a balanced game that is fun for experimenting, I prefer Emperor. I win at Immortal ~50% of the time, and it is a very challenging game for me. However, when I am trying a radically different strategy, I will drop down to Emperor to assess the benefits.

 

[joncnunn]

Balanced as is no handicaps whatsoever? Nope, and there wasn't in any previous version of the civ series series:

Civ I: AI peroidically gets granted Great Wonders

Civ II: Among other cheats AI can start an irrigation tile not near water. [Interesting thing is a human could as well by seting working to automate]

Civ III: Most notable was the AI has full knowledge of units in any tile its already explored. (This was also notable on how easy it was to use this AI knowledge against it)

Civ IV: Biggest AI boosts were reduced inflation and ultra cheap unit upgrades

Civ V: AI playing with chieftain level happiness is probably the biggest

It's generally been Prince that is closest to even; but AI is so bad that it is not a challenge.

There's some players who can win Immortal without breaking a sweat (I'm not one of them) I'm in the larger group in which Emperor is too easy.

Large gaps are between Emperor and Immortal / Immortal and Diety. There's also a gap between Prince & King.

 

[fat_tonle]

I want to give Diety a shot... I just hate having to micromanage every single thing. I would rather turn click to be honest. Immortal is a solid challenge most times. They key for me is trying to win in different styles.

Space Race is too easy. It's a joke really. I mean you spam enough RA's and hit the scientific revolution policy and you can pretty much one shot Particle and Nano.

Don't know why Fusion is not a requirement for Engine.

And I know it is pretty much lore and a focal point in the franchise in its entire history, but Alpha Centauri is a pipe dream. Make it a mission to Mars or a colony in space ore something.

 

[headcase]

On Prince, the AI can be roughly twice as large as you can be without being unhappy, if you both had the same number of happiness buildings. This leads to way more gold, and it can build more units, and makes it easier for one AI to take over a continent of other AI unchecked.

On King and higher, they also get large bonuses, particularly in the early goings, on top of the happiness edge it will always have on you beyond the Chieftain difficulty.

The NiGHTS mod is said to cheat even more in some regards, but I still like it.

 

[Ruler]

Human vs AI, its just nonsense to talk about balance.

I really love Immortal, if you build NC immediately, make tons of Scientists, you can win without RAs, wonders, peaceful games, so yes Immortal gives player alot of flexibility. I wouldnt exactly call it fair but its fun for me.

 

[TPQ]

Supposedly the most balanced level is Prince, but in reality it's too easy. I'd say Emperor offers a nice balance between how casually you can play and how challenging the play is.

 

[lollibast]

I think it depends very much on random chance how the game evolves from the start. Only yesterday i played on emperor, standard map, random settings. One thin stretched continent and Bismarck, who started on the far side from me, conquered all the other AIs and finished Manhattan project in 1655(!). Although i was faring very well, had mech infnatry in 18-something he just took off into space. So no player no matter how good is ever going to win such a game. The only way is to cripple an opponent who is progressing too fast. But if youre on the other side of the supercontinent or on another, smaller, continent you have no chance.

 

[RedRover57]

Immortal seems to be the sweet spot for me. Deity is winnable most of the time as long as I survive the early game (very map dependent), but can be tedious and limited in strategies that work. Emperor is usually not enough of a challenge unless i play with many self-limitations (like no RA signing, no Liberty tree, etc.).

If you want a more balanced game try the UP/VEM mod. For a solid Immortal player, it can be challenging on Emperor using that mod. There are changes to the game in that mod that significantly help the AI, particularly a revamped RA system that is less exploitable by the human player, nerfed GS (also making them a bit less exploitable by humans) and a defensive line of troops that are used more effectively by the AI. There are also many balances to the SP trees.

 

[danieladler]

Yeah, as someone said in this thread i find myself in the situation where emperor is to easy and immortal too "corrupt" to enjoy. A sollution would be to adjust the settings, or find the perfect number of civs and citystates on a perfect map. Unfortunately, there isnt much you can do with the settings. I think i would like to slow down the ais production so i dont get swarmed with ultrahard units that much. So far marathon or epic gamespeed makes a small difference in number of units the AI can drown me in. Im still working on finding the best sollution. Banning research agreements between AI´s would be a nice setting that would be a step in the right direction for making immortal more enjoyable for me. That way the AI could continue drowning me with units but not as superior ones. Just an idea i have.

 

[Ellye]

I'm in the same boat, basically. My solution, for now, is trying to make an "Ideal Difficulty" mod for Single Player, mainly for personal use (since it's pretty much my preferences of what a ideal difficulty would be), but still hadn't the time to finish it up. So, Emperor, for now.

 

[headcase]

I'd want a difficulty around the level of King, except with less AI happiness and gold and a little more bonus for the AI everywhere else.