Is there a complete list of what changes (handicaps, bonus units, etc.) for each difficulty level in VP? My understanding is that there is no difference in AI behavior between levels so the differences all come down to these bonuses. Is that correct?
Difficulty Levels?
- Thread starter adac
- Start date
Moi Magnus
Emperor
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2015
- Messages
- 1,868
Almost.
When making a policy/tech/production choice, the AI takes the 3 best choices and choose at random between them, for the difficulty 1-2-3.
At difficulty 4-5-6 it takes the 2 best choices and choose at random between them.
At difficulty 7-8 it takes always the best choice.
You can change it in the file DifficultyMod.xml (in the (2) Community Balance Overhaul), they have for name "TechNumOptionConsidered" or something like that.
Full infos about difficulty there: http://civ-5-cbp.wikia.com/wiki/AI_and_Difficulty
But in short:
- No bonuses techs. And very few starting bonuses.
- No bonuses to wonder construction.
- Regularly (new era, great person born, ...) the AI will recieve bonus yields. The bonus are scaling with era (in a quadratic way), so the AI will have far more bonuses in end game than in early game.
- The AI still has more units, more XP to its units, and cheaper units. Even though the AI is far better than in unmodded, a experienced player is far better at warfare than the AI.
Ah right, I do remember seeing that mentioned in the past (the decision making).
So looking at that wiki article (which I assume is up to date), is it accurate to say there is no level where you are exactly equal to the AI? I know when you factor in periodic yield bonuses, it would be tough to define equality anyway.
What is considered the difficulty where you are "even" with the AI? I know any competent player should curb-stomp the AI at that setting (which means it's about where I should play)
So looking at that wiki article (which I assume is up to date), is it accurate to say there is no level where you are exactly equal to the AI? I know when you factor in periodic yield bonuses, it would be tough to define equality anyway.
What is considered the difficulty where you are "even" with the AI? I know any competent player should curb-stomp the AI at that setting (which means it's about where I should play)
ElliotS
Warmonger
Debatably Settler or Chief. Chieftain has 100% for the AI's production cost, but they get some bonus yields from the game-long handicap. Settler has a 110% cost for buildings, pop growth and units, but gets some bonus yields so they cancel out.
tu_79
Deity
This is a difficult question. If you are asking in which difficulty level AI gets the same bonuses as the human player, then there is none. AI always gets handicaps yields. Costs are more even in chieftain, I think. AI scripts can't be competitve if they played with the same rules and lower computational power.
But the real question is when AI is even with the human player. Humans use memory and holistic methods to make decisions not available for AI scripts, while AI scripts are quite proficient at managing raw numbers. In other words, humans can plan for long term while AI is better at making short term economic decisions. In the end, AI needs extra bonuses to stay competitive with skilled humans. So the real answer is that AI is even to the human player when the human player wins half of the games. But that isn't completely true, as you are learning from every game, and when you win half the matches, you probably are ready for next level. Also, AI is continuosly being improved by our developer stuff, and sometimes, when you think you are ready for next level, you are forced to stay in the same level.
Start playing warlord, for example, and see how difficult is for you to reach victory screen. Then decide if you can move up, stay or go down one difficulty level.
Cheers; I tend to play Warlord to Prince in VP, depending on how I have been doing on the latest version. Lately I've been playing Warlord and (sometimes) even Chieftain again as the AI performance has improved and I haven't 
. But I still enjoy the mod, I just have no ambitions to work up to deity or anything (as I refuse to micro or start wars unprovoked,which is sub-optimal for winning VP at anything but the easiest settings). So basically what you recommended (find my level of competence)
I was just curious what the actual handicaps were, but the wiki article covers that pretty well. Thanks to all of you.
. But I still enjoy the mod, I just have no ambitions to work up to deity or anything (as I refuse to micro or start wars unprovoked,which is sub-optimal for winning VP at anything but the easiest settings). So basically what you recommended (find my level of competence)I was just curious what the actual handicaps were, but the wiki article covers that pretty well. Thanks to all of you.
ElliotS
Warmonger
It sounds like you know your level of competence. If Warlord is challenging yet fun to you, play Warlord. If it's too easy, place prince.
I will say that I can win a peaceful game where I never declare a war and set all workers to automated as soon as they start getting annoying in medieval/renaissance consistently on Immortal.
So even if you don't want to micro or warmonger, you can still improve quite a bit.
tu_79
Deity
Immortal requires active diplomacy (declarations, friendships, alliances, support), in my opinion, so it's much more involved.
vyyt
Deity
Also, you can see (and edit) difficulties.xml. The handicaps/bonuses are all written there in quite a readable format. I am on my cell now, but I think you will find the file in (2) Community Balance Patch/Balance/
Thanks, I'll definitely check that file if I need to tweak something for my tastes/ability. Between that and "Really Advanced Setup" I should be able to get a setup that works for me.
I would definitely agree with that (in my limited experience at higher levels). Even on Prince, I find that my lack of diplomatic scheming bites me in the later eras when the entire world gangs up on me.
