difficulty levels affect the game..how?

[wurrble182]

what specific game mechanics are affected by the difficulty level?

having just won my first game on normal difficulty cant decide whether to up the ante a little bit or wait for a patch and see if it drastically changes the way the game works..

 

[Desert-Fox]

Indians are more PITA and fellow Europeans get bigger quicker... and first two levels have more starting gold... maybe anything else.

 

[vladstrutzu]

Bigger REF (or more precisely: smaller number of liberty bells required for a REF increase)

 

[nacc]

Prices are more sensitive. You get bad outcomes from ruins often (especially with no scout). Tribes are aggressive. Not much gold from pillage, either.

 

[dalgo]

I have played on five different difficulty levels (explorerer up to revolutionary) and I must say that I have noticed very little change between them. I kept moving up a level expecting to get king-hit by the game but the gameplay didn't seem to change. I haven't played Civ4 but in Civ3 there is a huge difference in just stepping up a single level.

 

[Bloink]

I have played on five different difficulty levels (explorerer up to revolutionary) and I must say that I have noticed very little change between them. I kept moving up a level expecting to get king-hit by the game but the gameplay didn't seem to change. I haven't played Civ4 but in Civ3 there is a huge difference in just stepping up a single level.

Once you have figured out a sound strategy at the lower difficulties I don't see any reason not to play on Revolutionary. The only real difference is how frisky the natives get and the REF AI seems to be a touch brighter(not much though). Civ4 is similar to Civ3, each difficulty step was a pretty major jump in difficulty.

Does the REF grow faster on Revolutionary? If so I haven't noticed.

 

[scottfreitas]

Once you have figured out a sound strategy at the lower difficulties I don't see any reason not to play on Revolutionary. The only real difference is how frisky the natives get and the REF AI seems to be a touch brighter(not much though). Civ4 is similar to Civ3, each difficulty step was a pretty major jump in difficulty.

Does the REF grow faster on Revolutionary? If so I haven't noticed.

The REF seems to me to grow larger MUCH faster on Revolutionary level. I flat-out freaked the first time I played that difficulty. I started generating Liberty Bells early on, to try and keep the AI from snagging the good Founders (soon enough I just paid the Natives to wipe them out, my usual French strategy, which so far always works), and within just a few hours the REF was so freakin' huge I just gave up. Eventually I probably couldve built an army big enough to kill them as they landed ashore, but the battle wouldve taken many many many hours... im taking well over 1000+ REF at that point, with no end in sight. Every turn they just added more units... it was scary. :/

 

[pajeg]

Every turn they just added more units... it was scary. :/

if you're gonna rush some ff, boost your bell production to get them faster

put the elders in your food colonie (you need more colons at this point), rush the press (2 elders at 150% cost less than 3 at 100 %)
you just have to build lots of colonie to get the most of winthrop and hamilton when you'll get them, and when you get them, you just get a huge boost to rush cyrrus (by bells and/or politicals point)

 

[dalgo]

The REF seems to me to grow larger MUCH faster on Revolutionary level. I flat-out freaked the first time I played that difficulty. I started generating Liberty Bells early on, to try and keep the AI from snagging the good Founders (soon enough I just paid the Natives to wipe them out, my usual French strategy, which so far always works), and within just a few hours the REF was so freakin' huge I just gave up. Eventually I probably couldve built an army big enough to kill them as they landed ashore, but the battle wouldve taken many many many hours... im taking well over 1000+ REF at that point, with no end in sight. Every turn they just added more units... it was scary. :/

Strangely enough the size of the REF in my Revolutionary game was the smallest of the five different levels I've played (only 428 at turn 214) and I also generate bells from the start. However in that game I did declare at 56% when I usually leave it until later.

Actually in my previous games I had declared independence by talking to the King on the Foreign Advisor screen but in that game I was looking at the Revolution Advisor screen and thought 'I wonder what that button does ...'. Oops. So much for my long careful build up!

 

[HermannLombard]

I started generating Liberty Bells early on... and within just a few hours the REF was so freakin' huge I just gave up.

(Liberty Bells early) = (bigger REF).

Thus the "no LB until late" strategy.

 

[pajeg]

(Liberty Bells early) = (bigger REF).

Thus the "no LB until late" strategy.

it's just plain stupid

in marathon by 1560 with 3 elders in my food colonie, i already have 20 ff, only got the last 2 exploration and 3 political ones to get, and most of the military ones

this colony produce 60 food per turn, 50 papers, 70 hammers (more political points)

as for the ref, it is just 27 soldiers 12 dragons 12 artilleries and 21 mow actually, you think that 10-20 more units per categorie is too dangerous to avoid this kind of bonus?

the ref grow bigger when you build x bells, you will build much more bells to declare independance, why care?

 

[HermannLombard]

as for the ref, it is just 27 soldiers 12 dragons 12 artilleries and 21 mow actually, you think that 10-20 more units per categorie is too dangerous to avoid this kind of bonus?

Last time I only had 28/5/5/4, but I must say it seemed apparent that with adequate preparation a large REF is only a problem if you run out of time. [Of course the key to that is "with adequate preparation!"]