C2C Difficulty levels explanation?

[Logik]

Good evening everyone i apologize if i opened this thread in the wrong section. Now my question is can someone give me an explanation as to how each difficulty level is different from one another as it pertains to the C2C mod?

Is it the same as vanilla civ 4 in regards to ai bonuses etc? I am currently playing on warlord to get a feel for this mod and all the things that it brings. I have always whether is been civ 5 or civ 4 have played on prince difficulty and i am looking to step up to monarch or higher to give myself a better challenge as i am breezing thru my current campaign.

I've searched thru the forums and couldn't find an explanation for difficulty levels using this mod and al the strategy guides etc seem to be a bit outdated.

So if someone who is experienced playing this mod can help a fellow gamer get a tough but fun campaign out of this great mod and along the way give me an outline as what each difficulty setting does i will be very grateful. Thank you very much.
Respectfully Logik.....


P.S Here are the settings i play while using this mod i don't usually deviate from this settings. It just depends but i normally tend to stick with these settings below.

Map giant earth no preset civs i place them myself always. Gigantic world size. Between
30 and 42 civs.
Speed Eternity.
Game type Domination don't like playing no other way.
No tech trading or brokering or diffusion.
No espionage or vassal states, inquisitions , no city limits from civics.
Multiple research and production.
Surround and destroy ,advanced diplomacy, Unlimited wonders,
Barbarian generals, raging barbs sometimes, Assimilation, Great commanders,
Advanced economy, realistic culture spread, religion decay, guilds, modern corporations,
Advanced nukes, Divine prophets, infinite xp, unlimited national units, developing leaders, start without positive traits , focused trait.

Hopefully that will give a understanding how i like to play. I am a turtle player but not always. Like to play tall in most campaigns.

 

[MagnusIlluminus]

What I've always heard/seen is the recommendation that in C2C one should play at two difficulty levels higher than you play regular BtS. Assuming you want a reasonably challenging game anyway. That's as detailed as I can get though.

 

[Thunderbrd]

If you can understand the XML, the Assets/XML/GameInfos/HandicapInfos.xml file pretty much says it all.

 

[Hydromancerx]

Not checking off Unlimited wonders and Unlimited National units should make the game harder for you if you think its too easy.

Both are highly unbalanced.

 

[pi4t]

Wait, do you mean enabling, or disabling, unlimited wonders is unbalanced?

 

[Koshling]

Wait, do you mean enabling, or disabling, unlimited wonders is unbalanced?

Enabling unlimited is not balanced.

 

[pi4t]

Enabling unlimited is not balanced.

Oops. Ah, well, it's enabled now and I wouldn't have built certain wonders I did if it hadn't been

Did I read somewhere that the limit varies with the culture of the city? If so, do you happen to know the amounts needed?

 

[Hydromancerx]

Enabling unlimited is not balanced.

Correct.

 

[Koshling]

Oops. Ah, well, it's enabled now and I wouldn't have built certain wonders I did if it hadn't been

Did I read somewhere that the limit varies with the culture of the city? If so, do you happen to know the amounts needed?

Each tile-radius expansion (if you realistic culture spread off anyway - realistic culture advances in more micro-steps, so the correspondence is lost), grants one more great and one more national wonder (limit)

 

[Logik]

Thanks for your responses I'll check the xml files as suggested. And I'll consider playing without unlimited wonders and national units. If Anybody got anymore tips I'll appreciate it. I'm trying move up to monarch. Thanks.

 

[Taxman66]

I play with unlimited, simply because I can't keep track of the limits and all the culture requiments, and the last thing I want to do is wind up shutting myself out of a culture because I built one too many wonders in a particular city.

Could there be some way to seperate out culture wonders from normal world wonders and keep them on a separate limit?

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

Could there be some way to seperate out culture wonders from normal world wonders and keep them on a separate limit?

Since we already do this for religious holy shrines it should be possible for cultures to not count as well.

 

[Logik]

Since we already do this for religious holy shrines it should be possible for cultures to not count as well.

I agree with this i think i would be a great idea to implement.

 

[God-Emperor]

But it is unbalanced...

You should not be able to stack up culture after culture without limit for exactly the same reason as the other wonders. Cultures give you benefits just like other wonders do, some of them better than almost any other wonder.

By the way, if you want to make the game harder, Logik, you should also turn off infinite xp. Having a unit's XP trimmed back when upgraded slows down their promotion rate and reduces the number of super-promoted "I can walk into any enemy city without effort and without siege reducing the defenses" units you have. For units that have over the XP limit (25) it gives you the choice of trying to continue on with the existing unit after the upgrade is available in order to get promotions quicker, or upgrading to get a stronger unit but requiring extra XP to get to the next promotion. Unless, of course, you have a great general attached since they let that unit keep all of the XP it has.

By that same "harder" goal, you should turn on tech diffusion. It helps keep the AIs from falling as far behind in tech as they often do while not really helping the ones that are keeping up (or pulling ahead).

Also, turning city limits from civics back on will probably slow you down a bit as well. They are not hard limits, they just give some unhappiness in all cities if you go over them.

The AI is not so good with surround and destroy either, so turning that off will remove an advantage you have over the AI.

In essence, it is a bit like you specifically pick your game options to make the game easier for you then ask how to make it harder. Stop picking the ones that make it easier and it will be harder.

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

But it is unbalanced...

Not really since you can only build them in cities with the correct terrain (base, features and resources).

 

[Hydromancerx]

Not really since you can only build them in cities with the correct terrain (base, features and resources).

I think its a matter of how much its unbalanced. Sure they have their own requirements which means you can't make every wonder in the same city, however the fact you can make a ton of wonders in the same city is unbalanced.

Unless they have very strict or rare requirements then chances are whomever is in the lead wil get most of the wonders. With the limit on at least they are limited to how many can fit in the cities they have. Thus giving a chance for other players/AI to get more common wonders too.

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

I thought we were talking about Culture buildings, the ones that give the culture resources.

 

[God-Emperor]

The culture buildings are wonders. If you are not running unlimited wonders, you can't build it if the city with the correct vicinity bonuses is at its wonder limit. Alternatively, if you are not at the limit and do build it you can build one less of the non-culture wonders there. It's a trade-off. Separating them from the other wonders means you can build more wonders in that same city.

As it is, it also requires some minimal amount of planning to do. If this is the only city where you can build the Jersey Shore Culture (such as it is), you should not build up to the limit in other wonders. The limit is, of course, dynamic as it increases with culture levels but you still have to be careful or you'll find that it is another 200 turns until you can build the culture wonder when you get the tech that allows it since you forgot and built the Great Carpark (free parking in all cities) and have to wait until the city's culture hits the next level and the limit goes up.

 

[Faustmouse]

Have you ever considered making the culture wonders normal buildings? I don't see why cities with the same ressources and terrains around it shouldn't develope the same culture.

 

[MagnusIlluminus]

Only one Culture Wonder is needed, as that gives you the Resource, and is thus shared across all cities.

Something that could work as a compromise would be to separate the Culture Wonders from normal Wonders, but have a hard limit of one Culture per city. Alternatively, this limit could vary by Civic, perhaps along the 'Language' line. 'None', 'Native', and 'Trade' would only allow one, 'Interpreters' could allow two, 'Language Education' could allow three, and 'Universal Translator' could be unlimited.

This may have been suggested before, but could perhaps the Cultures be turned into a 'religion' or 'corporation' like system? Then making the Wonder would give one (or more) free 'emissary' units that could spread the culture like a Missionary does now. This would add another level of micromanagement, but it would be easier to control where you have which cultures.