I want to be weak. Will my oponents be strong?

[crewcamden]

OK, so I want to play a 'Custom Game'. I want to play at one of the bottom three levels (i.e. Settler, Chieftain, Warlord) because I'm crap and I'm still trying to work out some strategy.

All my oponents though will be at a minimum of Noble, possibly better. Does this mean I'm putting myself at a disadvantage by playing as, say, a Chieftain? That is to say: Will they be playing like Nobles (which is good in my books) or will they be playing relatively poorly?

Conversely, should I be making myself a Monarch and leaving them at Noble to make things easier for me?

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[johncross21]

I think playing as noble is a handicap for the AI. As settler you get starting bonus and other advantages which nobles don't.

Go kill em

 

[mice]

Conversely, should I be making myself a Monarch and leaving them at Noble to make things easier for me?



Cheers.

No. This will not make things easier. Starting at settler level gives you all sorts of bonuses. production bonuses, research bonuses, friendier AI civs on first meeting, and many others.

At Noble level these bonuses almost all disappear and you have an even footing with the AI

At Prince and Monarch up the bonuses go to the AI. They tech faster, build faster, and also there are hidden relations bonuses between the Ais.


The noble level of the AI means that they have noble level restrictions on Happiness and Health. If you play settler, you have potentially much better levels of Happiness and Health than they do.

Stay at the low levels for a while and enjoy!

 

[Bhruic]

I think you are getting confused by the Custom game screen. When it says that the AI are playing at "Noble", that doesn't mean the difficulty level for that game is Noble. Whatever difficulty level you choose for yourself will be the difficulty for the game. The difficulty level option just allows you to vary the difficulty levels if you are playing MP (it uses the same screen) - it has no impact on the AI.

Bh

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

It's hard to choose a "fair" level, because, compared to a Noble level human player (I think, although I am fairly suspicious of what I've read in these forums):

- The AI gets maintenance cost reductions from chieftien onwards
- The AI gets health and hapiness bonuses starting at noble
- The AI gets civic upkeep PENALTIES until monarch

I feel Prince is the fairest level, although if you want to make sure you don't get bonuses that the AI doesn't, play on Monarch, to be sure. I personally refuse to play anything below Noble, unless I'm shooting for a BC-era diplomatic victory or something (like, I still can't figure out how people do it).

 

[Solver]

Yes, in the Custom Game screen, just ignore the difficulty for the AI players. Set a difficulty for yourself, and that's it.

 

[cabert]

The AI plays exactly the same at all levels.
They don't know more about the game at noble level than at settler level.
It's just about handicaps and bonuses.

If you play settler, chieftain or warlord, you pay less maintenance than they do, have a production bonus, pay less for the research...
The AIs "playing" at noble level will have a handicap.