Noble much, MUCH harder than Warlord?

[Lemon Merchant]

Warlord -> Noble was really tough for me. I had to unlearn a lot of bad habits.

Lemon's Tip O' The Day:

I have a little advice for those who are interested in moving up a bit more slowly. Back when I was struggling, I downloaded a mod called Wiseman Difficulty Level. It can be found here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=266943

It's a little less daunting than Noble, but a little more difficult at the same time. The fellow who made it was trying for a bit more balance between the levels, and to make the jump easier. I played a few games and I thought it was quite good, but I was already catching on with Noble, and I was better than I thought. I would recommend it to someone having trouble making the leap though, because it is enjoyable.

 

[gnome]

The biggest thing that made a difference for me on Noble was moving from the "Simcity" model to city specializing. But I actually don't want to try to beat it on its highest levels necessarily--it seems to me it requires too much thinking about the game mechanics... I'd rather be trying to think like a general or emperor. At the right level I can hold this frame of mind, and have it be neither a cakewalk nor a slaughter. If I find it gets too easy I jump up a level.

Civ 4 is the first time the "balanced" level has been optimal for me for a very long time. Previous versions i was generally at Monarch-style.