Combat on Monarch

[Siddhartha]

Ok, I have recently moved up to Monarch from Regent. I am able to win about 40% of my maps, but I am getting a little frustrated with the apparent advantage increase the AI has in combat in monarch over regent. I don’t know how many times I have had one Hoplite wipe out 15 Calvary or one Rifleman taking out 20 Infantry. This never happened on regent level. Is this my imagination or is there a specific strategy I should be aware of as the difficulty level increases?

 

[Arathorn]

It's your imagination. It's been tested to death and confirmed by numerous programmers that there is NO combat difference between difficulty levels.

The main difference is that the AI will have a lot more units (and maybe larger cities for that bonus) and might have walls or other helpful stuff.

Nothing else.

Good luck on Monarch and welcome to Civfanatics!
Arathorn

 

[dgfred]

@ Sid, Although it has been shown by others that this is not true, I FEEEEL
that the AIs as well as the barbs are tougher and smarter in battle ; but it does seem to make a much more
interesting game .

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Well the AI should be smarter, and the Barbs should be tougher

 

[Arathorn]

I guess I gave an incomplete answer. The human player has bonuses against barbarians on all levels short of deity. I don't have the numbers handy, but there definitely is a combat difference versus barbarians on different levels.

The rest is your imagination/feeling, which is fine but not to be trusted...

Arathorn

 

[dmanakho]

No there is not difference in combat. It's all the same.
It was something else. Like if city is on a hill it's always harder to attack units in it, or if you attack accross the river you can always lose a lots of units for nothing. Fortified vs. non-fortified also playes role...
So many factors and last but not least - RNG sometimes plays bad jokes for human player.

Good luck at monarch. I didn't see much difference switching from regent to monarch, but i felt somewhat the same when i first started playing emperor.
Still trying to polish my game at that level (don't think i will ever play anything above that, I don't have so much patience )

 

[dmanakho]

@ Sid, Although it has been shown by others that this is not true, I FEEEEL
that the AIs as well as the barbs are tougher and smarter in battle ; but it does seem to make a much more
interesting game .

Actually barbs are tougher on harder levels, It is in documentation.

 

[dgfred]

Mostly I'm speaking of their battle tactics in C3C . They used to
make more fruitless attacks where as now they fortify alot more and also
bypass sometimes when you would think they would not .
The battles now are much more fun and war takes more planning .

 

[sabo]

THere is no difference in combat odds or smarter AI at higher levels.

 

[Jamesds]

Correction: The AI is not necessarly smarter, but just has more advantages over the human.

I might be wrong - has this changed in c3c since civ3?

 

[Dell19]

In general things haven't changed although with more benefits the AI will look smarter as its more likely to upgrade troops...

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Well I was pretty sure at the Very low levels the AI was 'dumber'.. at least in terms of pursuing victory.

 

[Dell19]

Perhaps but that may just be because the AI is probably less agressive on lower levels and misses out on building wonders so its less likely to be in a position to win.