BtS harder or easier on same difficulty than Vanilla/Warlords?

[IronCrown]

I often read posts stating that people had to go down a level with BtS because the game has become harder.

I, however, found the game to be easier on the same level. I agree that the BtS AI IS smarter, but it also has fewer bonuses... it plays more humanlike than Vanilla, but the overall difficulty to beat them is slightly lowered compared to Vanilla, imho.

I conclude that it depends on your play style... a friend of mine won regularly on Monarch in Warlords and now has great difficulty to beat that level in BtS.

 

[Airefuego]

i moved down two levels when i got BTS because i wanted to try out the new features (spies, corporations, AP) without getting pwned in the process ... moving one down might have been enough but moving two down was luxury

 

[Meanness]

BtS is definitely harder for me...even though I've been playing BtS for months, my win rate on Monarch (random everything, default options) has dropped from about 75% on vanilla to 30% on BtS.

I can't stand espionage, though, so ignoring this aspect of the game (other than defending against it) may have led to my reduced winrate. I'm curious...those who say BtS is easier, do you take full advantage of espionage?

 

[Unconquered Sun]

BtS deity is easier. The AIs research slower, build less units, need more time to upgrade units. They do get cultural victories now though.

 

[Supr49er]

BTS was initially tougher for me too. I had to start at nobel and work back up.

 

[Snovvdog]

The ai was smarter from BTS, I must say I've stayed at the same lvl back then, I was at noble and sticked to it.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

I would say emperor is the point where the two are the same. Anything lower and BTS will be tougher, while immortal and deity are made easier. Although you'll still notice that large gap between immortal and deity, and I still need to get quite lucky to win a deity.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

BtS deity is easier. The AIs research slower, build less units, need more time to upgrade units. They do get cultural victories now though.

They give the AI less bonuses in BTS on Emperor-Deity. While the AI plays slightly better, it can't make up for the greatly reduced handicap. Also, in BTS deity the happy cap is higher for the human player at the high levels.

Basically, BTS made the lower difficulties harder and the higher ones easier...I guess normalizing them somewhat.

Emperor is still pretty damn hard for me atm though.

 

[LegionSteve]

I found the initial release of BTS easier on noble/prince/monarch levels. I found that I could win on monarch which I couldn't in vanilla (never played warlords). Then when I patched to 3.13 + bhruics I found it suddenly got a lot harder and I was back down to noble. I have eventually made it back to monarch but I had to read this forum a lot and learn to play

 

[Iranon]

I agree wholeheartedly with the general sentiment that the higher levels have become easier. Prince seems comparable, I can't say anything about the lower levels since I never played those competitively.

 

[grommit5]

60% say harder and I agree.

 

[glaivemaster]

I was in the middle of my getting better-er curve when BTS came out, so I didn't really notice much different apart from cool new stuff. Stayed on Noble and continued to improve (still am really)

 

[bentley004]

I went from vanilla as a prince player winning ~75% of the time to BTS and found it to be easier- never lost a BTS game on prince and have now moved up to monarch.

The AI does seem smarter overall (especially in war) in BTS, but I seem to out tech them more easily... I could just be getting better tho

 

[joncnunn]

BTS is easier than Warlords + Better AI by a full difficulty level even with Bhuric's patch.

Primarily because The AI wastes too many resources on spying; lowering it's science rate, slowing down production of real units/buildings, etc.

 

[Lexicus]

I can play Warlords on Noble comfortably. In BTS I have trouble on Chieftain.

 

[MrCynical]

At the higher difficulty levels I'd definitely say BtS is somewhat easier. The AI doesn't use corporations or espionage very well, giving the human player an edge there, and the AI isn't so much "better" as "different" in other aspects relative to older versions.

 

[r_rolo1]

IMHO monarch to immortal BtS is easier than Vanilla/Warlords... not enough experience below and above to form a well based opinion. BtS AI plays better than the previous versions ( especially in naval warfare and in rushing defenders... in spite of some irking issues with war, like the comeback of the Civ III kill zones ), but the bonus that it had in higher levels were significantly nerfed, making it easier.OTOH BtS AI clearly does not understand well the new elements in game ( for a example , they try to outspy every time ... this means that you can drain their research using a dedicated espionage system .... Their AP management is pretty stupid as well ) and clearly underperform in SS races ( their tech order is awful ), a thing that clearly helps a human player if he bets in that.

 

[Winston Hughes]

BtS AI clearly does not understand well the new elements in game

I'm surprised you didn't mention their idiotic use of colonies...

 

[r_rolo1]

^^ Must had skipped that.... yup, BtS AI makes a really poor use of colonies and does not know how to take full advantage of having ( or not having ) a colony.

 

[Balderstrom]

Seems to me, the bonuses granted by Corporations (and earlier Spies) along w/ new Buildings make BTS easier than more difficult. Its slightly more annoying not being able to see other CIVs on the power-graph et al until you have enough Espionage Points against them - I really don't like that aspect being part of the whole Spy Mechanics, otherwise its pretty cool.