Higher Difficulty levels... Wow

[Datheus]

So I tried playing Diety tonight... Wow... I'm lost. Does the AI have accelerated production or something? I see a Russian settler guarded by a warrior and a spearman come down my way before I even have a worker and two warriors built. By the time I have 3 cities that can barely support themselves, all the other nations have SEVEN+ . What's the deal? Does the AI get some sort of bonus I don't, or do I just suck?

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

The ai gets all kinds of bonus' above regent level. Diety being outrageous. You could look through the editor to get a feel for it.

 

[Datheus]

Ah, ok, I thought something was weird... I felt kinda belittled I've had the game for a year and I've never played above cheiftain level

 

[DaveMcW]

If you don't play at least Regent you're missing half the game! Chieftain and Warlord cheat outrageously *against* the ai.

 

[MummyMan]

Since the AI gets major benefits, don't worry about having a high science rate, in fact, make it 10%. This way you'll be getting a lot of cash, which you have to focus on as the game goes on. With this money you should try to buy and sell techs and maps and such. To do this it would be wise to maybe be an economic and or expansionist civ. As for cities, just try and get as much land as possible, if there are any natural borders like water, use it to your advantage and block off a chokepoint, this way you can have a longer time to colonize the land you blocked off. I usually play on Emperor and try to start some early wars to get more territory. To do this it would help to have a good UU like the Immortal. But all of this depends on your strategy. BTW, I'm not exactly clear on the whole no science all money thing, so if someone could maybe point out some of MY faults, i'd appreciate it.

 

[DaveMcW]

No science (or 10%) works fine as long as you are constantly beating up your neighbors and getting the latest techs in a peace treaty. Once you have two productive cores around your palace and FP you can jump into a tech lead at 100% science.

 

[WickedWombat]

I've finally made it to emperor and it is :die:

I try to expand as much as possible and it almosts seems pointless.

I can't expand enough, no matter what I do the other civs always seem to produce settlers and fast units quicker.

...might have to go back to monarch

 

[Orcin]

Wicked Wombat... I find that Emperor is playable for me if I get a good start with grassland/plains, fresh water, and a food bonus or two. I always get clobbered with a bad start, but with a good start I can keep up with their expansion - at least enough to get a good core and a few luxury/resource fringe sites.

I think I am really a Monarch player that can win on Emperor with help

 

[Sullla]

You might want to try reading about some of the succession games that the Realms Beyond Emperor (RBE) crew have been playing over in the succession games forum. We've already completed three Deity games and have a fourth one underway on Beyond-Deity settings. Might want to check it out if you're curious.

 

[tcjsavannah]

I just tried my first two Monarch games after moving up from Regent, and boy my backside hurts. Each time, i think I've got a pretty good core, here comes wave after wave of AI units heading to my empire. First the Mongol hordes, then Rome's legions.

I'm thinking about backing down the # of rival civs from 8 to about five or six to try and help me get used to the strategy...

 

[JonathanValjean]

Datheus, I can empathize with you. After I won a Warlord game fairly easily, I got overly confident and tried Monarch. I quickly realized that leap-frogging the Regent level was a huge mistake. I summarily received a nice, old-fashioned beating!

 

[ADLOTS]

i just had about 5-6 deity games... the first two i did really well, had a decent start, my neighbours were really friendly and traded with me... then i got into a war, thinking i could wiin... and what do you know? the AI starts producing massive quantities of forces...

on the next few games i had a horrible start and got my ass kicked. I dropped behind in tech a few turns after i met the AI and by the time i had 2 citties they had 4.

I usually play on monarch and that jump was a nice shock...


I find that if im at war with the AI it keeps their tech progress at the same level as mine, but then they start taking citties... and it gets kinda hard.

 

[Bamspeedy]

The AI on deity starts off with a free setter, 2 extra workers and 12 military units (8 defensive, 4 offensive). Plus they have a 40% reduction in production costs and food required to grow. And it costs you about 40% more to research stuff. This is why many people play with 0 or 10% science, because of the awful research penalties against you it doesn't really pay to apply max research, when the AI will beat you to the tech anyways (at least early in the game).

You use the saved up cash to buy techs after all the other civs already have that tech (the price drops as more civs know that tech). With science at 10% you try and get a tech that hopefully after 40 turns, no other civ will have it and you can trade it (it helps to know what techs the AI avoids).

Granaries help alot! Whether or not your capital builds a granary before it's first settler is debatable and depends on your starting terrain and how much room you have to expand. With a granary and producing 5 extra food (this usually requires at least 2 bonus resources - irrigate the bonus resources) your capital can produce settlers every 4 turns if you have enough happiness of course (bump the luxury rate up a little if needed, and then lower it when you get some luxuries hooked up).

 

[Karstedt]

What techs do the AI avoid? I usually get the printing press first...

 

[DaveMcW]

They avoid "empty" techs that don't enable anything new. There's a lot of other factors that determine what order they pick the "good" techs, as well as a small random factor.

 

[Bismarck]

Originally posted by Orcin
Wicked Wombat... I find that Emperor is playable for me if I get a good start with grassland/plains, fresh water, and a food bonus or two. I always get clobbered with a bad start, but with a good start I can keep up with their expansion - at least enough to get a good core and a few luxury/resource fringe sites.

I think I am really a Monarch player that can win on Emperor with help

Same with me - I can manage Monarch quite comfortably, but on Emperor, I need to restart at least 3-4 times before I get a start that I can hope to win from. It's all about terrain, plus early proximity of AI's - if they're too close, or too far, you can't win.

 

[Ultraviper]

H...H...How?

I still can't win on the easiest difficulty with military; I always have to win some wimpy way like cultural or diplomatic. I think the AI gets bonuses even on this difficulty level. Heres how combat usually goes for me:

I have a city, size 12, guarded by 2 pikemen. Enemy comes with 2 swordsmen and takes it over.

The same enemy has a city size 3 nearby with just a wimpy spearman gurading. I attack it with 8 swordsmen, they all die.

 

[Igmod]

Ultra: His veteran Swordsman attacking your fortified regular spearman fortified in a size 12 city on grass has a 43.3% of winning. So that sounds like bad luck for you but not unreasonable. Your regular swordsman attacking his regular(you said wimpy) fortified spearman in a city on a hill across a river only has a 14.6% chance of winning. Losing 8 of them to one spearman sounds fishy but not impossible.

Of course, change any of these variables such as making your attackers/defenders veterans (barracks) or building cities on hills and the odds swing to your favor.

I am curious why you have size 12 cities being defended by 2 spearmen. Sounds like you could use some judicious pop rushing to speed your development along.

Personally, I find any way BUT conquest/domination the most difficult way to win.

 

[PersianImmortal]

Ultrawiper, two words for you.. War Academy.

At lower levels military wins are the easiest cuz of the huge production bonus you get for creating units. Because of corruption you still can't expand enough or have productive cities but militarily u can whoop AI behind.

 

[RX2000]

I always play on Regent, everything is fair there. You arent penalized, and neither is the computer, I like it that way. I like an even playing field.