Optimal game difficulty

I'm playing a marathon game on Warlord difficulty and huge map, I'm at 600 AD and I find the game a bit easy, only met 3 civilizations, but already seems like I'm the best on the map anyway. I thought given VP's AI overhaul, Warlord would be more challenging (also using the mod AnC-Flavors - for a better AI from meRlinX_AT). I'm a bit reluctant to start over, but no point playing on if victory is kind of ensured already.
What I want to avoid is the same stupid AI who doesn't uses its opportunities but has unreasonable bonuses and unfair advantages.
What do you think, is it worth to go up to King level?

 

Don't be fooled by the apparent easiness of early game. Bonuses to AI are given in rising amounts.

 

If you've not completed a game of VP but are fairly familiar with the Civ games (especially un-modded Civ 5) then I think Prince is a good starting point. However, playing at slower speeds (epic/marathon) makes the game a bit easier since it increases the power of wise strategic decision making and tactical combat. It gives you more time to realize and recover from mistakes, so if you plan to continue playing on Marathon you might be able to get away with playing on a higher difficulty that you would otherwise enjoy at Standard speed. My general rule is: If you are comfortable playing at a certain difficulty level in unmodded Civ 5, then lower your difficulty by one level for first starting off with VP. If you are used to playing at Marathon speed in vanilla Civ 5 then that rule should stay intact. Also note: The AI's bonuses are no longer front-loaded at the start of the game. Even at higher difficulties they get slight bonus yields at the start which increase as the game goes on, so the AI essentially gets more difficult as time passes in the game. Just because you feel the AI is too weak at the start does not mean that they will remain that way.

 

Good post by Mad Madigan. I'd also recommend that you don't mix the VP mod with other mods that alter the AI's behaviour, as they might negatively influence each other and cause a worse performance by the AI.

 

This.

If you haven’t finished the game in full, you have some fun surprises ahead of you. The bonuses will continue to increase with time.

 

Don't use that mod. It's not designed for the changes we've made for VP since it was published.

G