Has the game gotten harder or am I off my game?

[Knowname]

I started in Civ 5 than got Civ 6 vanilla and decided to go back to 5 until 6 filled out, well I recently finally pulled the trigger for GS and the rest and well, 3 games of just pushing play game and I FAILED HARD what gives? I seem to recall the default settings was Chieftain (EASY) yes, I had some bottom tier civs (2 with America and 1 with Cyrus) but still Chieftain was SO easy before I could do it blindfolded! My first I got rather far, into modern age it was doable I guess but not fun I mean I finally got to war and ALL my suzerains went to my opponent IMMEDIATELY like what gives? and before that I went to war again and the most important suzerain I had went immediately (I had 8 envoys) to my opponent meaning the army I was going to levy is now attacking me. So yeah all of a sudden this game is not fun, did it get harder or something? I can see cheap tactics by the AI in higher levels but CHIEFTAIN?? The AI is supposed to be as dumb as a log!!

The rest is me fuming so skip if you like. My next game was America again and I was like cool! I can start this game off right! Well I got immediately cornered in by Chandragupta who took over all my city states and it was obvious I was next. My third game my neighbor was Mapuchi (sp?) and also cornered in WTH did I just get horrible luck? Why is the AI not dumb as a log?? if I had a little more time with Cyrus I maybe coulda pulled it out but I was still having trouble with barbs and Mapuchi forward settled me so I knew it was over (that game was REALLY short like 20 maybe 30 turns). -Now I'm no expert my top lvl of play is just Emperor (I just don't like to feel like I'm low man on the totem pole so I really don't do higher difficulties well) but Chieftain??

 

[oSiyeza]

I started in Civ 5 than got Civ 6 vanilla and decided to go back to 5 until 6 filled out, well I recently finally pulled the trigger for GS and the rest and well, 3 games of just pushing play game and I FAILED HARD what gives? I seem to recall the default settings was Chieftain (EASY) yes, I had some bottom tier civs (2 with America and 1 with Cyrus) but still Chieftain was SO easy before I could do it blindfolded! My first I got rather far, into modern age it was doable I guess but not fun I mean I finally got to war and ALL my suzerains went to my opponent IMMEDIATELY like what gives? and before that I went to war again and the most important suzerain I had went immediately (I had 8 envoys) to my opponent meaning the army I was going to levy is now attacking me. So yeah all of a sudden this game is not fun, did it get harder or something? I can see cheap tactics by the AI in higher levels but CHIEFTAIN?? The AI is supposed to be as dumb as a log!!

The rest is me fuming so skip if you like. My next game was America again and I was like cool! I can start this game off right! Well I got immediately cornered in by Chandragupta who took over all my city states and it was obvious I was next. My third game my neighbor was Mapuchi (sp?) and also cornered in WTH did I just get horrible luck? Why is the AI not dumb as a log?? if I had a little more time with Cyrus I maybe coulda pulled it out but I was still having trouble with barbs and Mapuchi forward settled me so I knew it was over (that game was REALLY short like 20 maybe 30 turns). -Now I'm no expert my top lvl of play is just Emperor (I just don't like to feel like I'm low man on the totem pole so I really don't do higher difficulties well) but Chieftain??

This is why confirmation bias and trends make missconceptions sometimes very hard to tell appart from reality.

In this forum, the overwhelmingly expressed claim is that the game is so easy, the AI so incompetent, that there is no real challenge even on deity. I think this feeling reflects only the actual experience of a couple of players that have pretty much crafted their gameplay to an almost optimal algorithm in every variable and decission.

I think the AI is certainly not proactive, so it hardly starts actions against a player, and that makes the game often disapointing to a lot of us. This has not changed and it is one of my biggest complains with the game.

However, I also think that the AI certainly has improved and that now reacts quite competently to player actions in many ways. So I would say the game can feel harder if you took a long break, cause i think it is actually harder, and on top of it you may be still learning the new mechanics, so you can fall easily back if you aproach them incorrectly.

I play on king and with Real strategy mod that improves the AI, so my experience is not the same as yours, but before GS i pretty much could pull out any attack succesfully. I have failed on several invasion attepts since i came back from a break post rise and fall. So you are right, I think the game is harder in some ways cause the AI defends better.

Also, take into account that the game AI is the same on all difficulties, the difficulty only changes the bonus modifiers that are applied to the player or the AIs. So the enemies dont get any dumber or smarter on lower or higher levels.

Still, on chieftain, you probably will find that once you get the handle of the game again, you will beat the AI.

But most importantly, dont feel that you are playing somewhat wrong cause you find the game hard while forums are filled with comments saying that you should not. Play the way you have more fun. And dont be afraid to lower the difficulty if you feel overwhelmed.

 

[Bitterman]

The game has become definetely harder with the last patch I think.

I play with Real Strategy and Smoother Difficulty, but my experience is similar to what oSiyeza said. Things that I noted for sure (don't know if it's because the mod though):

-AI now is more prone to get archers/xbows on walled cities, making so much harder to take them (they barely made ranged units before and didn't know how to use them).
-AI will often settle close to you first AND will insta buy the closest tile with a lux/strategic resource between its new city and your borders. This happened to me three times now, never seen it before.
-When at war, AI will try to get suzerainity with the closest city-state to you and if possible, will levy troops against you. This is also pretty much new.
-AI seems to build more units and earlier and it's way more agressive. They attack more often and they are not as bad as before at it.
-AI it's now very capable of rebuilding its army after losing it (they would never rebuild it a few patches before).
-They do know how to use boats now. They will conquer your cities with them if you neglect your navy early (I don't remember them doing it before).
-They still struggle to use planes, but they build them, sometimes.
-Also, way more difficult to fund a religion depending on the setup; many of them seem to invest harder in early HS rush than before.

Those are not impressions, but facts. I've played this game for like 800 hours and know how the AI was before. For someone experienced is still easy, but not as easy as before. For somone with not so much experience it can be really difficult, depending on the situation.

 

[acluewithout]

The game is still too easy, but yes it is harder.

I just had a game where I was being pretty lazy with diplomacy. I got declared on early, handed Red Beard his ass, and then ended up with an Emergency once the Medieval rolled around. I then had a cycle of emergency, capture something, trigger another emergency.

(If I’d played more carefully, I probably wouldn’t have had a problem diplomatically. I was just sort of in a bad mood generally.)

Anyway. I held most of my continent. But the AI did throw a lot of naval units at me. My Coastal Cities we’re getting smashed, so I ended up having to pivot and get out my own Navy and Catapults to hold everyone back. I also had an adventure trying to take a City on a foreign continent, and just couldn’t really push back the waves of AI units. The AI also used Suzerain to get more units, which really slowed me down. I even ended up fighting Warrior Monks at one point - nuts!

It’s still a bit of a mess though. In terms of sea / invasion force, the AI only used Naval Melee, which were good for crashing Coastal Cities, but with no Naval Ranged was limited threat (AI built some Privateers later which were more of a pain). I basically dominated the Sea with a few Frigates. The AI also had recon units running round my territory, which while annoying could just be dealt with using one light cav unit and a couple of ranged units in cities.

On defence, the AI still built too many catapults, although there were xbows which made life hard and it was also pumping out light Cav. I suspect the AI lacked Niter which meant no Muskets. I might have done better with AC units actually. Walls are also more of a pain (which is a good thing overall).

Basically, I’m finding I can’t be as lazy with war as I used to be, at least on the offensive. I actually have to have units in numbers, maybe a general, and consider tech levels and army composition more carefully. On defence though, the AI still lacks threat (unless we’re talking unwalled Coastal Cities which I instead find can be very vulnerable).

 

[PhilBowles]

I started in Civ 5 than got Civ 6 vanilla and decided to go back to 5 until 6 filled out, well I recently finally pulled the trigger for GS and the rest and well, 3 games of just pushing play game and I FAILED HARD what gives? I seem to recall the default settings was Chieftain (EASY) yes, I had some bottom tier civs (2 with America and 1 with Cyrus) but still Chieftain was SO easy before I could do it blindfolded! My first I got rather far, into modern age it was doable I guess but not fun I mean I finally got to war and ALL my suzerains went to my opponent IMMEDIATELY like what gives? and before that I went to war again and the most important suzerain I had went immediately (I had 8 envoys) to my opponent meaning the army I was going to levy is now attacking me. So yeah all of a sudden this game is not fun, did it get harder or something? I can see cheap tactics by the AI in higher levels but CHIEFTAIN?? The AI is supposed to be as dumb as a log!!

The rest is me fuming so skip if you like. My next game was America again and I was like cool! I can start this game off right! Well I got immediately cornered in by Chandragupta who took over all my city states and it was obvious I was next. My third game my neighbor was Mapuchi (sp?) and also cornered in WTH did I just get horrible luck? Why is the AI not dumb as a log?? if I had a little more time with Cyrus I maybe coulda pulled it out but I was still having trouble with barbs and Mapuchi forward settled me so I knew it was over (that game was REALLY short like 20 maybe 30 turns). -Now I'm no expert my top lvl of play is just Emperor (I just don't like to feel like I'm low man on the totem pole so I really don't do higher difficulties well) but Chieftain??

The AI has got better since the last couple of patches, but it isn't good and its behaviour has never varied by difficulty level (other than war declarations) in any Civ game - if it's now getting more envoys, it's doing so on Chieftain just as well as it is on Deity. My experience is that the AI rarely cares for city states especially, and I've never seen it in Civ VI actively attempt to become a suzerain of a CS it's at war with (it would occasionally do this in Civ V, or at least appear to, so it's possible with the quality of coding Civ AI has). My best guess is that you're falling behind the AI in envoy production somehow, such as by having lower-level governments or being up against an AI that has Apadana.

It certainly is the case that the AI favours the Apadana much more than it used to, so is much more likely to have envoys by chance than it used to - it still won't use them effectively, but if it has enough more than you do that won't stop it becoming suzerain of your cities.

Starts where civs prevent you expanding are indeed unlucky, but the trick is to learn to be aggressive against them when that happens and put resources into capturing or destroying the cities blocking your expansion.

 

[Abaxial]

I'm finding that, when at war, the AI is very fond of flipping any CS that you are suzerain of, and it can be quite hard to flip it back, sometimes. Clearly the AI likes to hoard envoys for such occasions.

 

[Archon_Wing]

It is harder though it's hard to get proper feedback due to the effect RNG has and then you have comments that play like one game every patch and then copypasta last year's rant or something.

But it is true that if you're struggling on Emperor or less there's probably some severe leaks in your gameplay and it would just take a few adjustments to fix. Granted, not all advice is good or clear. I see too many posts telling players to get more X, but if they could they wouldn't even have this issue in the first place. And there's also cases where people repeat things said since Vanilla and are not valid in the current state of the game (if they were even valid in the first place!) So you just have to filter.

Also no this game isn't easy. It may be easier than its predecessors but that doesn't make it easy.

 

[Verrucosus]

It's been a while for me, but I'm pretty sure that "Prince" was the level I got when just pushing "play game".

 

[Victoria]

It is definitely harder for me too.
Barbarians will steal your workers and settlers now given the opportunity which is great and the barbs seemed nerfed before the June patch but are now back to their grumpy old selves.
The AI will bang walls up faster now but often some civs will not build walls until they have to and a speedy attack can do well even after T109 but you now have to think about it.
The AI is not so aggressive super early as it used to be and it is easier to use diplomacy with it to get a peaceful solution.
The CS envoy holding the civs do is very much to your favour if you play peacefully but at war you have to watch your back a bit. As well stressed.
I also notice more chariots, better unit placement and some OK defensive play but the AI can still be well baited and often it is still possible to choose the terrain you want for the main unit battle. And that is a big clue if you are struggling, do not try to take cities before you have removed the bulk of the AI’s units and gold reserves, wear out their units first.
Catapults as said are a bit annoying at times and my personal bugbear of the AI not shooting with all its cities is still there... I mean we are forced to shoot with all our cities for goodness sake.
The game has been changed to make warring harder and peaceful play easier. Combining the 2 can make for a more interesting game in my view anyway. Making friends and allies with those not next to you and using formal /casus/emergencies to keep grievances down, taking minimal cities and using loyalty rules and pillaging to take other cities really helps.

 

[OmegaDestroyer]

I do not find it much harder but I play on King or Emperor.

After playing Warhammer 40K: Gladius, it's ridiculous how limp Civ 6's AI is. In Gladius, the AI plays to wipe you off the map.

 

[RohirrimElf]

Civ 6 is getting harder, which is great. But i would still not call it a challenge. I could still pretty much do what i want on emperor/immortal. Once i’ve created a good starting point. Like beginning of third era usually. The first 2 era’s are tricky on most games and are crucial to ether run up the score board fast or face stagnation and become a prey. Whenever the mostly passive AI decides my civ game needs to be terminated.

There are ways to find a challenge on this game by roleplaying, restricting yourself or found an early religion (giving up 20 ish turns on production on early game with prophet is still brutal).

Lately i have the most fun on emperor. I could play comfortably and win on immortal but i am a bit to predictable with my playstyle. I like to play balanced and never underestimate the AI. Playing it safe and slow without savescumming. Basing my strategy on what i find on the map and using world wonders or civ specific advantages.

 

[Jkchart]

It is getting more difficult, but generally that is an early game issue. Late game you can still pretty easily outpace the AI, but that's because human players are inherently smarter than the AI, and because if you win those early game conflicts, you are ahead.

I played a game as Cyrus recently where i had to fight off Chandragupta's army of War Elephants. The only reason I could fight with a smaller army was choke points because he brought close to a dozen of those, complete with infantry backup and catapults. The AI is definitely scarier early game, but that is something that can be overcome.

 

[Disgustipated]

I feel like the last patch is a little more difficult. I actually dropped down a difficulty level after taking a hiatus from the game and being rusty. As mentioned in the post above me, it was an early game issue. I wasn't building enough defensive units to protect myself.

 

[Knowname]

It's been a while for me, but I'm pretty sure that "Prince" was the level I got when just pushing "play game".

This is true, my bad. More of a level playing field rather than stocking the shelves in my advantage ^.^ (I'm tired, out of words)

This is why confirmation bias and trends make missconceptions sometimes very hard to tell appart from reality.

Also true lol I watch youtube walkthroughs (lets plays whatever the kids are calling it nowadays) :/ and they make it look SO easy! Lol confirmation bias though, it HAS apparently gotten harder and good to know I wasn't wrong to mulligan. The first one was more of a rage-quit cuz it kept taking my CS and the computer I started on chugged at this expansion where 2gb of RAM was good enough before (or maybe it's my gtx 1050 anyway TIME TO UPGRADE) but quite the change from early 2018.

One note though, I did play one game in 2018 where the AI came at me with full naval formation (ie battleships, destroyers, even carriers with bombers!) I had the technical advantage though, I just nuked their ass.

My current game I am Monte and Korea is all up in my face, I have a heroic age and Korea is in a dark age though (previously I was in a dark age ofc... though I went 10 era score overboard to get into the heroic age :/ and Korea was in a golden age I think so... I wonder if they have tech)... Thanks to this thread, I've changed my mind on invading Korea just yet, I'll stock up on reinforcements first thanks!

 

[CivLuvah]

As someone who plays mostly peacefully, I do find that the AI is very competitive when it comes to victories other than domination.

In my last game as Mongolia I was tied with Dido because all the other civs knew I was about to win a diplomacy victory and tried to knock me out, but I spent all my favor on myself and ended up tied.

 

[Horizons]

I watched a guy play Civ2 on Youtube on Deity, and when I tried playing at Prince (nostalgia lol) it felt like a completely different game to what I'd just seen. It's difficult to watch some Civ6 Youtubers because they talk way too fast and make all sorts of assumptions (sign of the times I guess).

 

[BarbarianHunter]

I've sworn off deity @ standard speed. With the cav nerf I can't make it through bottlenecks (2/3 movement tiles, encampment ZOC's, multiple crossbow defenders plus walls, etc...) in a timely manner. The game has morphed into a clickfest if you want to war. I mean I think I'd still win, but I don't think I'd have much fun at it. Emperor level or lower building festivals I think.

 

[acluewithout]

I've sworn off deity @ standard speed. With the cav nerf I can't make it through bottlenecks (2/3 movement tiles, encampment ZOC's, multiple crossbow defenders plus walls, etc...) in a timely manner. The game has morphed into a clickfest if you want to war. I mean I think I'd still win, but I don't think I'd have much fun at it. Emperor level or lower building festivals I think.

I wish I could set ranged units and cities range attacks to “auto attack”. If there’s a full scale war, I find having to select each target for a ranged attack Super tedious.

 

[BarbarianHunter]

I wish I could set ranged units and cities range attacks to “auto attack”. If there’s a full scale war, I find having to select each target for a ranged attack Super tedious.

That would make life easier. If the attack was automatic at the AI's discretion but the movement was player directed, I don't think the unit could get itself into too much trouble. Maybe a tier fire solution (set & forget)...Ranged 1st/Melee 2nd/Cav 3rd/City 4th/etc...

It's just too much for me without heavy hitting, fast moving, ram enabled cav.

 

[DWilson]

The game is a lot more fun and challenging when you understand the systems less, and play more intuitively, I think.

Unfortunately, the more you play, the harder this is without a break in between, as you can abuse the systems the more you know them.