modifying difficulty level

[bob the builder]

my goal is to change these numbers to make the hardest possible difficulty without any player/AI advantages/disadvantages. to make it as realistic as possible.
some people say that the AI is smarter the higher level you pick, does any one know wich numbers set the AI smartness?

Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\XML\GameInfo\CIV4HandicapInfo.xml:

<Type>HANDICAP_DEITY</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_HANDICAP_DEITY</Description>
<Help>TXT_KEY_HANDICAP_DEITY_HELP</Help>
<iFreeWinsVsBarbs>0</iFreeWinsVsBarbs>
<iAnimalAttackProb>100</iAnimalAttackProb>
<iStartingLocPercent>90</iStartingLocPercent>
<iGold>0</iGold>
<iFreeUnits>1</iFreeUnits>
<iUnitCostPercent>100</iUnitCostPercent>
<iResearchPercent>130</iResearchPercent>
<iDistanceMaintenancePercent>10</iDistanceMaintenancePercent>
<iNumCitiesMaintenancePercent>100</iNumCitiesMaintenancePercent>
<iMaxNumCitiesMaintenance>8</iMaxNumCitiesMaintenance>
<iCivicUpkeepPercent>100</iCivicUpkeepPercent>
<iInflationPercent>100</iInflationPercent>
<iHealthBonus>1</iHealthBonus>
<iHappyBonus>3</iHappyBonus>
<iAttitudeChange>-1</iAttitudeChange>
<iNoTechTradeModifier>20</iNoTechTradeModifier>
<iTechTradeKnownModifier>0</iTechTradeKnownModifier>
<iUnownedTilesPerGameAnimal>20</iUnownedTilesPerGameAnimal>
<iUnownedTilesPerBarbarianUnit>25</iUnownedTilesPerBarbarianUnit>
<iUnownedWaterTilesPerBarbarianUnit>1000</iUnownedWaterTilesPerBarbarianUnit>
<iUnownedTilesPerBarbarianCity>80</iUnownedTilesPerBarbarianCity>
<iBarbarianCreationTurnsElapsed>10</iBarbarianCreationTurnsElapsed>
<iBarbarianCityCreationTurnsElapsed>15</iBarbarianCityCreationTurnsElapsed>
<iBarbarianCityCreationProb>8</iBarbarianCityCreationProb>
<iAnimalBonus>0</iAnimalBonus>
<iBarbarianBonus>0</iBarbarianBonus>
<iAIAnimalBonus>-70</iAIAnimalBonus>
<iAIBarbarianBonus>-40</iAIBarbarianBonus>
<iStartingDefenseUnits>0</iStartingDefenseUnits>
<iStartingWorkerUnits>0</iStartingWorkerUnits>
<iStartingExploreUnits>0</iStartingExploreUnits>
<iAIStartingUnitMultiplier>1</iAIStartingUnitMultiplier>
<iAIStartingDefenseUnits>4</iAIStartingDefenseUnits>
<iAIStartingWorkerUnits>2</iAIStartingWorkerUnits>
<iAIStartingExploreUnits>1</iAIStartingExploreUnits>
<iBarbarianDefenders>4</iBarbarianDefenders>
<iAIDeclareWarProb>100</iAIDeclareWarProb>
<iAIWorkRateModifier>100</iAIWorkRateModifier>
<iAIGrowthPercent>60</iAIGrowthPercent>
<iAITrainPercent>60</iAITrainPercent>
<iAIWorldTrainPercent>100</iAIWorldTrainPercent>
<iAIConstructPercent>60</iAIConstructPercent>
<iAIWorldConstructPercent>100</iAIWorldConstructPercent>
<iAICreatePercent>60</iAICreatePercent>
<iAIWorldCreatePercent>100</iAIWorldCreatePercent>
<iAICivicUpkeepPercent>60</iAICivicUpkeepPercent>
<iAIUnitCostPercent>60</iAIUnitCostPercent>
<iAIUnitSupplyPercent>10</iAIUnitSupplyPercent>
<iAIUnitUpgradePercent>5</iAIUnitUpgradePercent>
<iAIInflationPercent>20</iAIInflationPercent>
<iAIWarWearinessPercent>20</iAIWarWearinessPercent>
<iAIPerEraModifier>-5</iAIPerEraModifier>
<Goodies>
<GoodyType>GOODY_LOW_GOLD</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_LOW_GOLD</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_LOW_GOLD</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_LOW_GOLD</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_LOW_GOLD</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_MAP</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_WARRIOR</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_SCOUT</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_EXPERIENCE</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_HEALING</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_TECH</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_TECH</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_WEAK</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_WEAK</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_STRONG</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_STRONG</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_STRONG</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_STRONG</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_STRONG</GoodyType>
<GoodyType>GOODY_BARBARIANS_STRONG</GoodyType>
</Goodies>
<FreeTechs/>
<AIFreeTechs>
<FreeTech>
<TechType>TECH_THE_WHEEL</TechType>
<bFreeTech>1</bFreeTech>
</FreeTech>
<FreeTech>
<TechType>TECH_AGRICULTURE</TechType>
<bFreeTech>1</bFreeTech>
</FreeTech>
<FreeTech>
<TechType>TECH_HUNTING</TechType>
<bFreeTech>1</bFreeTech>
</FreeTech>
<FreeTech>
<TechType>TECH_ARCHERY</TechType>
<bFreeTech>1</bFreeTech>
</FreeTech>
</AIFreeTechs>
</HandicapInfo>
</HandicapInfos>

 

[roidesfoux]

The only thing I've heard about that is "the AI is equally stupid on all difficulty levels".

That's a shame, because I'd love to have what you're trying.

-RdF

 

[Adam7Eight]

True. The AI really isn't smarter on harder difficulties. They're just given a lot of free units and more bonuses.

 

[TBox]

I had a similar idea, and I did a test: No matter what you set <iHealthBonus> and <iHappyBonus> to, the AI still gets +3 and +5, as if it were still on Noble. This may be why Custom Game says the AI difficulty level is Noble. It also cannot be changed from the Custom Game screen. It would suck if you had to hack the Noble difficulty directly to change the default bonuses for the AI.

I suspect the other "bonuses" -- Free wins, free units, max num cities maintenance, etc. etc, are equally player-only, but am too lazy to test.

Which is a shame, I'd really like to play a game without health/happy bonuses, just to watch both myself and the AI struggle for luxuries and food and whatnot.

 

[bob the builder]

so if you want the most realistic game you should play on noble cus its the mostly balanced?

 

[Adam7Eight]

so if you want the most realistic game you should play on noble cus its the mostly balanced?

Yes.

(10 char.)

 

[TBox]

so if you want the most realistic game you should play on noble cus its the mostly balanced?

And no. Even on Noble, the AI gets bonuses to fighting Barbarians and animals, unit supply and upgrade costs, war weariness, and overall inflation.

Edit:
Alright, tested it. If you alter the values for the Noble difficulty level, the AI's values are changed, too... but *not* Barbarians. Barbarian cities get 6 health/happiness just for breathing, and I'm not sure where to change that.

I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised, but the AI is incredibly incompetent with handling health/happy bonuses of 0/0. In my test game, Tokugawa and Mansa Musa (What do *they* have in common?) had the balls to expand despite the intimidation factor, and have 4 cities each. Unfortunately, all their cities are size 1 with an Unhappy icon except for their capitals. Alexander and Cyrus are both staying with just one city... Cyrus is trying to build the pyramids in Persepolis with just 1 pop... I've managed to corner every religion so far (I probably shouldn't have, to give the AI a fighting chance, but the plan was Great Profits...), and Hinduism has spread to Julius and Qin Shi Huang... after which they overcame their fear and started to expand, to a second city from their original one. If they had all stayed at one city, I could accept the AI just being broke/stupid at these settings... but I can't figure what compelled Mansa Musa and Tokugawa to expand. It wasn't luxury resources.

Unfortunately for controlled research, I also played with the barbarian settings. I turned BarbCityCreationProb to 100, and it did what I expected, although a lot *slower* than I expected: The map is just full of barbarian cities, but it took a hundred turns or so for it to start to happen, despite the low "BarbarianCityCreationTurnsElapsed".

With no happiness or health bonuses for either myself *or* the AI, the game has been rather slow. I'm the tech leader, it's around 700AD, and we're just getting around to metal casting. But I just pulled Monarchy, so I expect it to speed up from here.

 

[bob the builder]

And no. Even on Noble, the AI gets bonuses to fighting Barbarians and animals, unit supply and upgrade costs, war weariness, and overall inflation.

Edit:
Alright, tested it. If you alter the values for the Noble difficulty level, the AI's values are changed, too... but *not* Barbarians. Barbarian cities get 6 health/happiness just for breathing, and I'm not sure where to change that.

I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised, but the AI is incredibly incompetent with handling health/happy bonuses of 0/0. In my test game, Tokugawa and Mansa Musa (What do *they* have in common?) had the balls to expand despite the intimidation factor, and have 4 cities each. Unfortunately, all their cities are size 1 with an Unhappy icon except for their capitals. Alexander and Cyrus are both staying with just one city... Cyrus is trying to build the pyramids in Persepolis with just 1 pop... I've managed to corner every religion so far (I probably shouldn't have, to give the AI a fighting chance, but the plan was Great Profits...), and Hinduism has spread to Julius and Qin Shi Huang... after which they overcame their fear and started to expand, to a second city from their original one. If they had all stayed at one city, I could accept the AI just being broke/stupid at these settings... but I can't figure what compelled Mansa Musa and Tokugawa to expand. It wasn't luxury resources.

Unfortunately for controlled research, I also played with the barbarian settings. I turned BarbCityCreationProb to 100, and it did what I expected, although a lot *slower* than I expected: The map is just full of barbarian cities, but it took a hundred turns or so for it to start to happen, despite the low "BarbarianCityCreationTurnsElapsed".

With no happiness or health bonuses for either myself *or* the AI, the game has been rather slow. I'm the tech leader, it's around 700AD, and we're just getting around to metal casting. But I just pulled Monarchy, so I expect it to speed up from here.

i will put mine on 0 health and 2 happiness then as its freaking impossible to expand in the early part of the game when you cant biuld any happiness buildings and all your cities are pissed off (except the palace one).

but are you sure that the health/happiness affects the AI to? as its player difficulty and the easier you got the higher bonus you get it would be strange if AI gets the same

 

[TBox]

i will put mine on 0 health and 2 happiness then as its freaking impossible to expand in the early part of the game when you cant biuld any happiness buildings and all your cities are pissed off (except the palace one).

but are you sure that the health/happiness affects the AI to? as its player difficulty and the easier you got the higher bonus you get it would be strange if AI gets the same

If and only if the difficulty level you modified was the Noble difficulty. It may even need to be the fourth one in the list, I don't know, although given everything else in the game, I suspect it just looks for the one tagged NOBLE.

I tested with WorldBuilder and some spies... the AI *is* getting reamed by the health/happy bonuses listed in the NOBLE difficulty.

If the player chooses a difficulty other than Noble, the player will be affected by the health/happy bonuses in *that* difficulty, but the AI will still be affected by the health/happy bonuses listed in Noble.

Sorry that I keep repeating, don't want any confusion.

And it's not impossible to expand with a +0 happy bonus... all you need is one luxury resource and a good transport network. Although I'm thinking if I play a second game like this, I'm gonna pump up the # of AIs to something stupid for the map size, to increase the likelihood that some will start near luxury resources and start expanding earlier. I don't feel like learning Python just yet, so I'll wait for the SDK to come out and see what I can do, then maybe program an AI that knows to beeline for religions, Monarchy, and/or Drama... and favor missionaries of the state religion, which means Organized Religion if necessary.

 

[bob the builder]

If and only if the difficulty level you modified was the Noble difficulty. It may even need to be the fourth one in the list, I don't know, although given everything else in the game, I suspect it just looks for the one tagged NOBLE.

I tested with WorldBuilder and some spies... the AI *is* getting reamed by the health/happy bonuses listed in the NOBLE difficulty.

If the player chooses a difficulty other than Noble, the player will be affected by the health/happy bonuses in *that* difficulty, but the AI will still be affected by the health/happy bonuses listed in Noble.

Sorry that I keep repeating, don't want any confusion.

And it's not impossible to expand with a +0 happy bonus... all you need is one luxury resource and a good transport network. Although I'm thinking if I play a second game like this, I'm gonna pump up the # of AIs to something stupid for the map size, to increase the likelihood that some will start near luxury resources and start expanding earlier. I don't feel like learning Python just yet, so I'll wait for the SDK to come out and see what I can do, then maybe program an AI that knows to beeline for religions, Monarchy, and/or Drama... and favor missionaries of the state religion, which means Organized Religion if necessary.

ok, will keep mine on 0/2 as i am playing a gamespeed thats 1 turn=1 year so it takes some days to get the wheel. and the luxury resources i got is the gems in sebyria.