toughest level jump

[satchel]

Here's a poll question meant to stimulate discussion: as you developed your Civ III skills and moved up in play level, which jump was the toughest for you? Discuss what you found difficult about the change, and why you think that happened. Also note what level you are currently playing.

 

[Gothmog]

I started out playing Monarch (I was a big civ2 fanatic as well) so I cannot comment on the first two. Emperor to Diety is the largest jump mostly due to the AI starting with two settlers. They expand so quickly you really need to sharpen your early game skills.

Edit: Oh yeah, and the fact that your second citizen starts out unhappy.

 

[satchel]

Answering my own question, I currently play on Monarch, but I found the jump from Warlord to Regent was much harder than the jump from Regent to Monarch. I guess I was relying on those production and science bonuses more than I thought I was! I was destroyed by how much faster the AI could expand, build and army, and gang up on me. It took me a while to get used to playing at Regent.

The jump from Regent to Monarch was much easier. I think there are several reasons: I learned a lot about the game from reading discussions here, so I was less afraid of falling behind in technology because I knew I could catch up later. That freed me up to build enough military to keep the AI off my tail in the early game. That had the side benefit of helping to control the extra unhappiness. I had also refined my own territory grabbing skills and so was better prepared to keep up with the AI.

I imagine the jump from Monarch to Emperor, should I ever feel the need, will kick my sorry @$$.

 

[sabo]

going from Monarch to Emperor I barley noticed, the only thing different it seems was you start out with one less happy civ per city. But like gothmog said in diety the ai starts with 2 settlers so if your early game skills aren't so good you are toast

 

[GenMarshall]

Monarch to Deity is extreamly difficult. You have to think like the AI civ, and act like an AI civ.

 

[Mazarin]

if you think and act like an AI civ, you'll lose pretty quickly -you have to be much better than the AI if you want to make up for its production advantages.

for me, the jumps between chieftain and monarch were pretty easy -I didn't have many problems...just noticed that the AI was no longer that inferior...the jump to emperor was much harder -as this was the level I realized I might need ancient wars -something I had never done before. I also had to get used to more efficient research/tech trading to keep up in science. The jump from emperor to deity is what I'm currently working at...I only won games on 80%-water maps where I started wars at 2000BC and won by domination or by UN/AC-after grabbing enough land to be leading in tech...I hope this forum will help me finding other approaches to that level. Can anyone recommend me some threads. Thanks

 

[Mathias]

Having been introduced to Civ2 a few months before I bought Civ3, I pretty much skipped Cheiftain and Warlord. I started my first game at Cheiftain just to get familiar with the differences. It was so easy that I quit before the end of the ancient era, and started again at Warlord. I only played a handful of games at Warlord before moving on to Regent. I played at Regent for about 6 months, and learned a lot from this site, before recently moving on to Monarch. I found the move so easy, that I took a shot at Emperor... whoops, I'm not quite ready. Anyway, I will comment on each jump in level, assuming a player with no previous Civ experience who doesn't immediately find this site for help.

Cheiftain to Warlord
This is a tough jump because if the players is comfortable with the AI's speed on Cheiftain, he may be caught off guard by the fact that the AI is nearly 67% faster on Warlord. After reading some strategy guides and getting advice from other players, this should be fairly easy to deal with.

Warlord to Regent
The player has learned a lot from forums, and wonders why he ever had any difficulty on Cheiftain. Warlord to Regent is a very narrow gap, quite possible the easiest jump. If you ever want to beat Deity, I recommend that you move to Regent as soon as possible.

Regent to Monarch
As I said above, this was a surprisingly easy jump. Being the peaceful builder type, I was far more efficient than the AI and this offset the slight production advantage given to the AI.

Monarch to Emperor
This is the first big hurdle for me. Being the peaceful builder type, my military was woefully inadequate. This move may be much easier for a warmonger. I am currently developing an early military strategy, and expect to be at least comfortable playing at Emperor by the end of January. I voted this to be the toughest.

Emperor to Deity
Yes, this is very difficult, but by the time I can consistently win on Emperor, I will probably be a full-blown warmonger throughout the ancient era and into the middle ages. While the difference between these two levels is more than twice that between Monarch and Emperor, I expect aggressive strongarm tactics and other more developed strategies will make this a little less difficult than the previous, at least for me.

 

[PersianImmortal]

Chieftan to Warlord wasn't even entirely noticeable.. except on Huge Maps.

Warlord to Regent seems drastic but isn't as the game progresses.. It is indeed a little surprising on Large/Huge maps when u learn to live catching up and not making wonders but u still can win.. cuz the AI is sooo stooopid.

Still waiting to go beyong Regent.. first have to win the Huge Map on Regent.. to me going from a tiney to small to standard map in itself means a level jump.

 

[Silverflame]

Originally posted by PersianImmortal
Chieftan to Warlord wasn't even entirely noticeable.. except on Huge Maps.

I have to agree here. You still get a huge advantage over the AI. I actually found warlord to regent hardest, but maybe thats because Im still in the process of that jump since I rarely get time to play civ3 anymore

 

[handyandy]

i find the most difficult level jump is from the level you win all the time on to the next one up if you try to play the same stratiges as from the easyer leval

 

[The Last Conformist]

I've never played Chieftain and get clobbered on Deity, so I can't really discuss those.

I started my first game on Monarch, tried to play as if it was Civ II and got clobbered. I then switched to Warlord and relearnt the changed aspects of the game. Going up to Regent felt like no real difference. Switching to Monarch initially hurt, as the AI was suddenly very powerful in the Ancient Age, but I adapted quickly.

Currently, I'm switching to Emperor, which feels incomparably harder than Regent>Monarch did. I can, as yet, only do well on Emperor if I get a quite snazzy starting position.

 

[morkaphi]

My experience was very similar to TLC's. I started on Monarch, got kicked hard, went to Warlord, found it not challenging at all after learning more about the game. Then I again switched back to Monarch but found myself comfortable there. However, my jump to Emperor is very hard, though I did manage to win all the three games I played at Emperor (warmongering ).

Guess I will wimp out Deity.

 

[Mojotronica]

Regent to Monarch is a tough shift f/ isolationist to interventionist strategies. As a Regent, your edge as a human player and production advantage means that you can almost always maintain a tech lead, if you can expand to a competitive size in the early game. At Monarch, you must start trading for technology or you will fall behind.

But Monarch to Emporer is harder, because you at Emporer you are at a strong DISadvantage as a player. You must play much better than your rivals, and you are forced to balance aggression and diplomacy to keep up w/ their technology.