Game modes impact on difficulty

[Monsterzuma]

In a lot of discussion in this sub-forum, I notice that people neglect to mention on what exact game settings they play.

This seems unfortunate, because I'm pretty sure that many game settings have a huge impact on how difficult this game is.

I haven't tried playing on different game speeds in Civ 6, but I remember that in Civ 4, slower game speeds made military conquests extremely easy and as a result made the whole game a cinch to beat.

I notice some players playing on Pangaea maps, which obviously makes them discover much more city states, thus accelerating the progress of their games. This is to an extent a "sauce for the goose" situation, with all civs benefiting equally, but: we know the AI is stupid sometimes so might not use its envoys effectively and: this does reduce victory times.

What can you guys think of in terms of what impact game settings have on difficulty and/or victory times?

I personally always play on standard settings with two alterations:
- standard map size instead of small
- disaster intensity on 1 instead of 2, because on 2 or higher disasters actually seem to help players overly much by providing ridiculous tile yields (I could start a whole nother topic on this)

 

[Noble Zarkon]

I mostly play on Continents maps and obviously that makes a huge difference in terms of meeting Civs / City States and being able to win the game.

 

[Monsterzuma]

What I like about having separate continents on the map is that it makes the discovery of Cartography relevant and gives civs like the Maori and Norway their intended bonuses.

Cartography is a highly relevant tech to beeline in Continents games. Doing this alone will typically boost your era to a Golden Age simply from all the new civs you meet and the circumnavigation bonus. Finding new city states is also a big deal.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

I almost always play on Deity/Pangea/Large/Low Sea Level/One less Civ. It's the setting I enjoy the most. I feel like small/standard maps are no "world" at all, they're much too small. My scouting is very good so if I play on small/standard it only takes me like.. 50 turns to meet everyone. Makes the games very boring, I like being surprised.

However when I try to get comparable benchmarks I simply play on Deity/Pangea all standard and with a middle-of-the-road Civ.

Yes, Pangea is much faster then Continents. More era score, more land, more trading partners. More AI/CS results in faster victories. More space results in faster science and diplo victories, tho only to a certain point. 20 civs doesn't give much advantage over 12 civs.

 

[Pualee]

I play most of the map types, but change strategy based on which it is. I play standard and online speed. I play prince (hot seat with kids) and immortal by my self... I've only had the game about 2 months. I hope to be on deity soon. I don't restart based on a 'bad' starting position. I think the game actually knows things I don't (like the seemingly bad start has great strategic resources I haven't revealed yet).

I agree 100% the settings change the game. I'll pick a different civ based on the settings.

Starting bonus - standard, legendary, etc. has a huge impact to the value of a 'start bias' for some civs. Dry or wet... mansa musa or kongo? Pangea or islands...

The number of civs, number of city states... everything plays into the starting decisions. More civs makes the game easier (because they war each other and stall out).

An easier question might be, "which settings don't affect difficulty" of course, if it is easier or harder largely depends on how well your civ fits the map.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

More civs makes the game easier (because they war each other and stall out).

well, unless you are going for Domination, Culture or Religious victories, those are actually made significantly harder the more Civs there are. Only science and diplomatic are much faster with more Civs (and mostly because you get more people to trade with / alliance with).

 

[Pualee]

well, unless you are going for Domination, Culture or Religious victories, those are actually made significantly harder the more Civs there are. Only science and diplomatic are much faster with more Civs (and mostly because you get more people to trade with / alliance with).

Ok, you got me... but I change win condition based on map size too...

My kids think like me. I have a 14 year old that wanted to see the cinematic for religious victory. He stared a tiny map (duel?) and did it in a hour or so. Same kid wanted to see "score victory" and started a standard map and stalled for a while. He eventually got bored waiting after 350 turns.