How to make the game more challenging

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Chieftain
Joined
Dec 24, 2007
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21
Location
Latvia (N-Europe)
I`m far from being good at Civ, yet still I find the game boring most of the time. I like building and working tiles and so on, but it is way too peaceful for me to enjoy the game. I could just build a stack and attack someone, but then again - it is way too easy. I usually play on the prince difficulty level, and I usually restart the game or quit it shortly before the medieval age. It`s just that nothing happens for the most part of my game. It`s like I had no opponents at all. Quite often I`ve seen in topics that everyone else usually struggles to win, because the AI attacks them constantly or puts pressure on them. None of that appears in my games ever. I just sit on my part of the continent and work tiles. Is that normal? (I`m playing the vanilla version)
 
Play againsy aggressive leaders like Monty etc mod the game to put more civ in smalller maps.

Pick raging barbs.

That should help.
 
Stop playing cheiftain level and play nobel...

He said he plays Prince.

WHat he dosn't realize is AI turtles up on most games. THe reports of battles is when you have a condensed the map with of warlikecivs. THe rest of AI attack reports come when the AI has been sittin most the game so has stashed troops to go on attack. They then throw em all at you and thats that. Beat em or lose an reload with the notion you know their coming. Thats the game all the rest is preesing the turn button. Hey thats what hes sayin to. I doubt its a lie thats exactly how my game turns out. Ive heard others form this opion as much as the ones who say there games are action packed AI vs AI extravaganzas
 
Go to Custom Game. Choose a Small Map, Aggressive AI & put 18 civs in there. That'll force an early expansion for you, and once the AI borders are grinding and religions are up and running, you'll be in for a treat. Also I think getting BTS is advisable since I've personally experienced a heightened level of warmongering once I got it.
 
Raising your difficulty level seems the obvious solution. Monarch and Emperor really give the AI a big boost. Raging Barbs, aggressive AI and adding a couple of extra opponents to your world also tend to spice things up a little.
 
Raising your difficulty level seems the obvious solution. Monarch and Emperor really give the AI a big boost. Raging Barbs, aggressive AI and adding a couple of extra opponents to your world also tend to spice things up a little.

uh, yeah, what he said. Like, why hasn't it occurred to him to just move up a difficulty level or two?
 
This may sound painfully obvious, but try and "finish" a game too!
Every AI has strengths and weaknesses in each era. Even on Prince, sometimes when you think you have a game totally in hand, someone does give you a run, be it economically or via war.

And if you happen to luck out and peacefully build between an AGG opponent and FIN opponent (maybe with a CRE opponent on your other border to really put the sqeeuze on), you eventually have to make choices for your end game.

What you do early dictates what you "can" do later!

*** Or, as mentioned, simply bump it up to Deity (and then work your way down to your new comfort level)!
 
-Buy the Beyond the Sword (BTS) expansion pack. The AI is better at war in this expansion pack and builds more units.

-Use the aggressive AI setting. The AI builds more units and goes to war sooner with this setting. Note that this works in the expansion pack BTS. In the original game, the aggressive AI setting just makes the AI slightly more annoyed with you.

-Play at a higher difficulty level. With the bonuses the AI gets at higher difficulty levels, it is more challenging to beat.

-Pick more aggressive opponents for your game. A civilization controlled by Montezuma behaves very different from a civilization controlled by Ghandi.
 
One thing I haven't seen mentioned is.. turn up the number of opponents. A more cramped map makes war mongering not only more likely but more essential. I've seen maps that wouldn't allow me to get more then three cities without fighting for them!
 
Ok, your suggestions sound nice. assume everyone does either of these things mentioned above and I`m one of the few that has never tried that out, right? Also, higher difficulty levels don`t make my game much more challenging. Yes, I`m behind in research and soldiers and everything else on higher levels, but it`s still all about pressing the end turn button and managing tiles. Is BTS a must?
 
Ok, your suggestions sound nice. assume everyone does either of these things mentioned above and I`m one of the few that has never tried that out, right? Also, higher difficulty levels don`t make my game much more challenging. Yes, I`m behind in research and soldiers and everything else on higher levels, but it`s still all about pressing the end turn button and managing tiles. Is BTS a must?

I'm not sure if you were responding to my post or to someone else's post...

Not everyone wants an aggressive AI, so not everyone is changing settings to get a more aggressive AI. Some players find it annoying when they are getting attacked and just want to build an empire. So they'll complain about attacks on the forum. Other players don't want a builder game and want to be challenged militarily by the AI and so they'll complain about a passive AI.

The aggressive AI setting is a bit of a no-brainer for players who want to be challenged militarily. Of course, it is useful for those who want a more aggressive AI opponent and not useful for those who want a peaceful game. However, the setting caused the AI to be more annoyed to the human player in vanilla civ4 and Warlords. It didn't necessarily make the AI more aggressive. Of course, a more annoyed AI is more likely to become aggressive, but it's not the same as an AI which invests more in military and will attack weaker civilizations. That's what happens when you activate the aggressive AI setting in Beyond the Sword.

In Beyond the Sword, the AI is also slightly better at waging war. It's still nowhere near the capabilities of a competent human player, but that's also impossible to program.

About the difficulty level: If you play vanilla civ4 without the aggressive AI setting, then a higher difficulty level might not make the game more challenging militarily as the AI might still not attack you very often. However, the AI is programmed to have a bigger chance to attack weaker civilizations (weaker in military strength, not weaker in score). At higher difficulty levels, the AI is more likely to have equally or more advanced military units and can produce units faster. So at a higher difficulty level, you're more likely to be attacked as you are relatively weaker and the attacks are also more dangerous.

In Beyond the Sword with the aggressive AI setting, a more advanced strong neighbour can be dangerous. It will attack you if you can't keep up in the military buildup (except when you can become friends with them, diplomatic relations: friendly). It will build up a strong army with artillery and attack units in a big stack and then attack you. If you don't expect the attack, then it will probably capture some cities before you can counter the attack. Depending on your skill and the difficulty level of the game, you might still turn the tide, but it's not necessarily easy.
 
Also consider a late-start game. This won't necessarily throw you into war sooner, but starting in the Industrial Age has it's own challenges.
 
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