"Prince level please!!!!!" - does it matter?

[MasterMishi]

Every open MP game the same thing - a player selects chieften level then probably Rome and ready up and then ignore/ do not understand the resultant frustrated barrage of "PRINCE LEVEL " from the other players.

Does it really matter?
I guess if they quit and the AI takes over it is nice to have them play on prince level as it is a level playing field with the human. But are there any other reasons?

On prince players recieve a +33 bonus against barbs - does this scale with difficulty?
Does happiness at start of game/ effect of luxuries/ buildings scale with level?

In civ 3 some MP games were on emporer level as this was a greater challenge as happiness was harder to come by than the default regent level - one actually had to build a temple!

Any thoughts?

 

[Tabarnak]

A chieftain player receive chieftain bonuses. I never played this level but if he start with a worker, production and happiness bonus, do you really think it is fair?

That said, nothing is more unbalanced than different level settings when playing multiplayer. I played some multiplayer games on Emperor but everyone did before start. Had no problem at this level. Only happiness is lower, but everyone had to deal with this too. AI receive same penalty. He act like a (zombie)subtitute, not like a real AI when playing emperor in sp mode.

 

[comablack]

Its an attempt to even the game at the start, which is great but impossible unless you are playing on true mirror maps.

 

[swordspider]

Every open MP game the same thing - a player selects chieften level then probably Rome and ready up and then ignore/ do not understand the resultant frustrated barrage of "PRINCE LEVEL " from the other players.

Does it really matter?
I guess if they quit and the AI takes over it is nice to have them play on prince level as it is a level playing field with the human. But are there any other reasons?

On prince players recieve a +33 bonus against barbs - does this scale with difficulty?
Does happiness at start of game/ effect of luxuries/ buildings scale with level?

In civ 3 some MP games were on emporer level as this was a greater challenge as happiness was harder to come by than the default regent level - one actually had to build a temple!

Any thoughts?

Prince is just the 'online standard'. It is chosen because it negates 90% of the positive bonuses of lower levels without giving any negative bonuses such as the higher levels do. This effectively makes it the "Neutral Point" in the difficulty settings in CiV.

In my opinion, everyone should be on the same level to even the play field. I don't think that level necessarily needs to be Prince, but they should be the same. The differences on the levels when playing with human players is really not that great, so a Warlord playing with a Prince would not be much of a difference.

The concept that higher levels make the AI better is valid *but* in a true multiplayer game, it shouldn't matter. When a human player intentionally quits the AI is so far behind at that point compared to where they would have been in the start, that I just don't see much effect. Plus, I'd argue multiplayers are naturally more militaristic in nature (you have to be to survive), so I think any level AI taking over for a human is in great peril.

Either way, the reason Price is picked is because it is the neutral point and really no other reason.

 

[Smote]

...without giving any negative bonuses such as the higher levels do

This is a common misconception you will find very frequently. In fact, there is no player-side difference between deity and prince, but there is between prince and warlord and there is between warlord and chieftain, and chieftain and settler.

See here for information:

http://tactical.mine.nu/files/civ5.html

This is from post: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=408095

You will notice there are NO happiness differences between deity and prince. The only effect is that barbarians will move towards you from a longer distance away [you will get swarmed a bit more], and that you will receive a lesser combat bonus against barbarians. AI city states will also produce more units.

The very significant differences are only if an AI civilization is actually in the game.



There is very little difference between deity and prince, but there is a massive difference between prince and the lower difficulties.