IdioticUlt1mara: if you want a challenge, upgrade to latest SVN and try out deity/nightmare. Nightmare has been boosted a lot in difficulty *after* V37.
For example, in my current game (playing Smoke Jaguar of Maya, Agressive/Industrious/Hunter-Gatherer on a Large, PerfectWorld2f, snail speed map), I started very close to Mali and managed to pick up a lot of starting cash (800 or so) from goody huts and wonders of nature. Apparently Mali didn't prioritize military techs as I was able to rush him very early in game (my spiked clubmen vs his stone throwers as main city defense units was an easy win) and the starting cash held out long enough to enable me to build enough anti-crime and pay my bills until my income was large enough to support both cities. So I had a decent area with good quality real estate for myself. I had copper and elephants but no stone (which hurts financially) and no horse. However I was the last to reach Writing (I was the last Minor Civ in my score list), was almost last in score by that time (the ones below me were civs that spawned from former barbarian cities), and the number two in the score list was already researching Classical Lifestyle, which was at that time at least 31 (!) techs away from me. I managed to buy a dozen or so techs before I hit the "We fear you are becoming too advanced" tech trading debuff. With my neighbours having larger armies and more advanced units, and research getting slower, I'll be having a rough time ahead. Especially since every additional military unit I own costs about 6 gold/turn so I have to keep my army small and micromanage my finances. I have no world wonders except for two early cave wonders, and was not able to grab any religion, and most of the Ancient Era religions are already taken by other civs. So I can't use the strategy of stacking religious building research bonuses.
I did get incredibly lucky when Denmark sent a large army of superior units to my capital, but just before it arrived, a tornado (50% damage/turn) showed up in just the right tile and destroyed his entire invasion army in two turns while he was still knocking down my city defenses. Who needs religion when God is on your side, right?
