Pros and Cons

[apparition]

I've been playing on Chieftain for a while now and I can win without problem - except that bain of my preindustrial world the Japanese make it difficult when ever possible.

Anyway, considering that I have a lot of fun on the level I've been playing. What are the pros and cons of moving up a difficulty level.

It might help to say that I'm a builder type player.

 

[LordKestrel]

A few months ago, I was playing on Chieftain. I didn't play often, but learned enough to win every game. When I moved up to Warlord, it was like I was playing a whole new game. I won the first game, and then had my butt handed to me for the next few. I learned some new tricks, and strategies, and started to win on Warlord. About 1 1/2 months ago, I moved to Regent, and have been having a great time. It's just about time to move on to Monarch now, but I'll probably stay on Regent for a little longer. It's a challenge at first to move up, but once you do, it makes the game more enjoyable.

The biggest learning curve is definitely Chieftain to Warlord. Once you get the hang of it, you'll wonder how you ever played on Chieftain

 

[farting bob]

try short games if you have PTW first on warlord. play capture the priness or elimation games and you get used to the level up alot quciker than palyign a big game. you realise you cant sit on your ass waitign to buidl everythign then gogn to war to late to make a difference. you have to go for it early in these games to win, so you learn faster. thts that i did goign from warlord to regent when i got PTW and it was much esier thanthe step up to warlord.

 

[rabies]

Playing at a higher difficulty level both challenges you, and forces you to learn the game better. I highly recommend you move up if you can with with ease. I also highly recommend never, ever reloading if something goes wrong. This adds fun and excitement to the game. It maybe painful to ..oh..say lose 25 military units when a city culture flips under you (happened to me in a GOTM game), but scrambling to recover from such situations makes you a better player overall.

I think you'll probably find warlord pretty easy to. It is not until you get to regent that the game starts to pose a bit of a challenge. The higher difficulties FORCE you to interact with the other civs and trade and negotiate. Only on chieftan and warlord can you research everything yourself and pretty much ignore the AI.

 

[andvruss]

I find the unhappiness level of cities, AI improvement as levels go up, and military diffentialitys are the main factors moving up. On chieftain, You can almost never lose a battle, while on higher levels you almost always o and need backup troops.

 

[Mano3]

When the game gets too easy, it's time to move up. I'm just about ready to leave Regent and go for Monarch.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

I only recently moved up to warlord after many a game of chieftain. It's very much worth it - the computer civs are more challenging, they fight among themselves (I don't recall any time I played chieftain that the AI declared war on each other without my...assistance) and it's much more of a challenge.

I also highly recommend never, ever reloading if something goes wrong. This adds fun and excitement to the game.

I second this. I've never reloaded even after a disasterous military campaign. The satisfaction of clawing your way back to victory is too great to give up in exchange for reloading the save and changing your plans.

 

[sabo]

Every time I've moved up a couple of difficulty levels I've had to change my playing style, Now I seem to get all the techs in the Modern age before I go back and pick up the ones I skipped in the middle and industrial age, I never used to do that (never had too)

 

[apparition]

Thanks for the insight. I think I'll move up after my current game. I'being challenged by needing war to get coal and rubber as the CIVs who have it, haven't discovered it yet. :-D

 

[Gengis Khan]

Originally posted by apparition
Thanks for the insight. I think I'll move up after my current game. I'being challenged by needing war to get coal and rubber as the CIVs who have it, haven't discovered it yet. :-D

All the more reason to move up. Whats REALLY fun is going to war for a key resourse, when the AI has it, knows about it, & has tons of troops from it!! Makes for a bloody battle for sure.

 

[TheNiceOne]

Originally posted by andvruss
I find the unhappiness level of cities, AI improvement as levels go up, and military diffentialitys are the main factors moving up. On chieftain, You can almost never lose a battle, while on higher levels you almost always o and need backup troops.

This is a not-so-common misconception, but its just as wrong as the most common:
There are no difference in battle resolution between civs in the different difficulty levels. You have exactly the same chance of winning with your knight vs the AI pikeman on chieftan as on deity.

Only the chances vs barbarians differs, on deity, a barbarian is just as hard to defeat as a normal unit of the same type.

 

[Amon]

i had the same thing about a month ago but i made the step to warlord and then to regent ... now i have no problem winning any regent game and i am considering moving up to monarch +)
progress is the key of life ...

 

[Frollo]

A few days ago I started my first Regent game, and yesterday I finished it with a military win!
I'm planning to start a new game tomorrow, opting for a 20K victory with 5CC or maybe 7CC.

Reading all those great CFC articles just gave me the confidence to move up a level, and after 2 or 3 successful games I'll probably go up to Monarch!

 

[Amon]

moving from chief to warlord is quite hard ... diplomacy is the hardest part ... i thought regent was quite impossible with good diplomacy coz all the other civs where such *sses they neve co-oparated with me ;P

thats why all my games in regent have been military victory... i never get along with people =)

 

[TheNiceOne]

Amon, diplomacy is quite manageable on the harder levels as well. If you can hang on and build the UN, there's not difficult to get a diplomatic victory on Emperor or Deity. It may be harder to make the other civs gracious, but polite is all you need.

 

[Eastern Knight]

havn't experieced this part yet, hope to experience it soon, still on chieftain level, after .... 2 months? i never won a game on Warlord