Civ 4 easier with latest patch.

[THARN]

Iv'e enjoyed civ 4 from the get go- I think the latest patch makes the game run better and play better. But for some reason in pre patch Games where I would be in the top 3 or so out of 8 or 9 civs on Noble throughout the game- post patch playing Noble, I am usually much further along and in the top spot.
Has anyone else noticed this in their Games?

I might be finding this because Iv'e learned more about the game and also
It might be that cutting down trees doesnt garner as much hammers early game as it used to- something that the AI had over me before since I don't chop rush much. I normally play aggresive AI/Random Ai Perrsonalities/ no space victory/ no tech trading on continent type maps. Large/Epic

Anyway- civ 4 is shaping up to be the great game it was suppose to be.
Might bump it up to the next level and get my head handed to me...But thats what it's all about.

 

[The Tyrant]

Well, I just discovered that with the patch I can now play huge maps (before, my computer would crash simply generating a huge map). The game I'm playing now, on Monarch, seems to be a just a little harder than it was before. That may be due to the slight reduction in chopping or it could have something to do with the fact that I had to chop my way out of the jungle. Great grasslands now that the jungle is gone, but that made for a slower start.

Probably, the higher the difficulty setting, the more you'll feel the impact from the changes in the patch. On levels above Noble, the AI gets bonuses and the former strategies used to counter those bonuses generally revolved around chopping. Chop to get a settler out quickly, chop to do an axemen rush for an early land grab, chop to get the one early wonder you really want, etc. I chopped all the time, and still do after the patch, but I think they did a good job with balancing everything. It might make for a slightly more difficult game on levels where the AI gets bonuses, but I don't mind that. 'Just makes me work harder and think more.

 

[Cam_H]

"Boo hiss" to the new patch!

The game gives the player nothing and the AI everything!

... and there's a conspiracy ... have you all noticed that Barbarians in the BC ages are 'so' much more likely to cause problems? Did they mention this in the patch notes? No!

 

[kernok]

take it easy
as a human you've got plenty of advantage upon the AI
you've got to train a little and soon you will find yourself forced to play at a higher level

 

[Cam_H]

I'm a regular Monarch player, and it's like they've taken every reasonable 'human' advantage and screwed you. It's like the dark days of Civ3, where you're just founding your third city, and 'somehow' the Aztecs march over the hills with 23 units that your meagre tribe has never seen. It's totally absurd, and how anyone can claim that the patch is in any way beneficial frankly surprises me.

(Cat amongst the pigeons)

 

[Beamup]

Translation of the above: "If I use cheesy, ridiculous, grossly overpowered tactics the AI doesn't have a clue about, I can beat higher levels than otherwise. HOW DARE THEY actually make it so the grossly overpowered tactics are less overpowered so I can't as readily cheese my way to a trivial victory on levels way above my actual skill."

 

[Lars_Domus]

I'm a regular Monarch player, and it's like they've taken every reasonable 'human' advantage and screwed you. It's like the dark days of Civ3, where you're just founding your third city, and 'somehow' the Aztecs march over the hills with 23 units that your meagre tribe has never seen. It's totally absurd, and how anyone can claim that the patch is in any way beneficial frankly surprises me.

(Cat amongst the pigeons)

More like "pigeon amongst the cats". Your "human advantage" is that you're not restricted to follow a rigid algorithm that the AI will eventually be able to predict, and as such should be able to find new ways around a problem when the old solution is no longer effective. But then again, what do I know? I'm just a lowly Noble-player...

@ Beamup:
Also, I love your sig.

 

[TheNiceOne]

I'm a regular Monarch player, and it's like they've taken every reasonable 'human' advantage and screwed you.

I don't see why it's more fun to play 1.52 on Monarch following the same pattern every time (chop rush etc.), than playing 1.61 on Prince while having to actually think before deciding your strategy - where maybe developing food resources instead of chop rushing is a viable strategy if the surrounding land is right.

It's totally absurd, and how anyone can claim that the patch is in any way beneficial frankly surprises me.

Well, I like to play a game where I don't necessarily know from 4000BC what the best strategy will be. Choosing strategy depending on the world around me is certainly more fun than automatically chop rushing each time. Each to his own I guess...

 

[GIO888]

Patch makes the game run faultlessly on Standard map, Noble, Epic, for me.

I like you can't just buy Wonders so easily any more, and chronologically it's more accurate - harder game yes, but much more satisfying.

And the lag after 1800 A.D or so has been cut by half for me -

Nice Patch! Me like!

 

[scooter]

Translation of the above: "If I use cheesy, ridiculous, grossly overpowered tactics the AI doesn't have a clue about, I can beat higher levels than otherwise. HOW DARE THEY actually make it so the grossly overpowered tactics are less overpowered so I can't as readily cheese my way to a trivial victory on levels way above my actual skill."

Took the words out of my mouth! I love the patch

 

[Armorydave]

I've only played one game since the patch (was finishing a huge map on the old patch) and it has been a pain but I am about to win. I play on Monarch (Epic/Large, Raging Barbs, Aggressive AI) and the beginning was a good bit rougher than usual but once I settled in it was fine. I like the new patch it toned down some strategies that were clearly imbalanced.

I played on Archipelago so barbarians weren't much of an issue. Intend to try a continents game next.

 

[Zhahz]

"Boo hiss" to the new patch!

The game gives the player nothing and the AI everything!

Um, that's the way "difficulty" has always been handled in Civ. The AI is consistent, the only changes in different difficulties is that you/AI gets more/less.

IMO, too many people have been dominating higher difficulty levels with such ease that the higher difficulty levels were/are a joke (even if some element of picking perfect maps, civs, starts, or exploiting is sometimes a part of it), so if the patch forces some players down to realistic difficulty levels it's a good thing.

 

[johnny42strom]

I agree that the patch has improved much more than it has hindered. I am glad that the proper strategy now is not to chop everything in sight to rush out units since other options are viable. I do have to keep a larger army now just to guard home from those darned barbs, but that's what makes them so lovable. If it makes the game more challenging without being unfun (in this case, bringing in more strategies without being impossible), than I believe it's a good thing. Also, now I can play a full game on a huge map without a crash, and my system is way over the requirements.