What are some of the big differences between King and Emperor?

[Leathaface]

I am doing OK ATM on King difficulty. I made the jump from Prince to King a couple of months ago. I can get wonders if I have a great production city.

How is Emperor harder/different from King though?

 

[Silverman6083]

I'm certainly no expert, but for me I felt no difference whatsoever between King & Emperor, I'm sure you'll be fine. You just need to be a tad more cautious with your neighbors in my experience.

 

[CraigMak]

It all feels the same for me up until Immortal. Emperor is as big a push over as Prince IMO. Immortal and Diety are where the AI starts to engage cheat mode and gets some noticeable advantages.

 

[danaphanous]

It all feels the same for me up until Immortal. Emperor is as big a push over as Prince IMO. Immortal and Diety are where the AI starts to engage cheat mode and gets some noticeable advantages.

Agree. Both levels I get most of the wonders and am top in most categories. Immortal however feels like a steeper gradient from emperor and is usually what I enjoy playing on.

As far as practical differences: the AI will tech a bit better, but if you are leading by a large margin anyway on King you won't feel it. They may also DOW you and each other more and be a little more aggressive at settling. I think this is because they get some new happiness and gold bonuses from King. I've also seen them be a little quicker and more aggressive about religions, but honestly it's been ages since I played King. There are AI benefit charts posted online and here somewhere that will help you see the practical benefits they get.

 

[joncnunn]

The difference between King and Emperor is very small ... unless you're relying upon always building the Great Library or a large number of early wonders in the same game.

Emperor to Immortal is big; bigger than all previous steps (solely due to the AIs free worker); but Immortal to Deity is even bigger (solely due to the AI's free settler)

 

[kaspergm]

Agree with others, jump from King to Emperor is not huge. Expect some longer times to catch up with AI in technology, and expect some earlier DoW's if you have an agressive neighbor. Most notable will be ancient and classical era, where certain key wonders are very hard to get (Great Library and Petra seem to go very fast most of the time, although in my last game I build GL on turn 90-something on Emperor after I had build Stonehenge because apparantly no AI had bothered going for it ... very strange).

 

[Halcyan2]

Bear in mind that on Emperor, the AI starts with Animal Husbandry and gets a free Scout.

Animal Husbandry means they can immediately see Horses and access to pastures.

The free scout is much more significant since it has a major impact on the availability of ancient ruins in the game (and on the meeting of city states). So if you are playing King, you will likely find significantly more ancient ruins than on Emperor.

 

[EriktheRead]

For me, the transition is huge, but that may have more to do with my mindset toward civ than anything else. On king, i was able to go wide, build most of the wonders, keep up in science, and not have to worry about a military. When I moved to emperor, a lot of the wonders became hard to get (library, leaning tower) and some became nearly impossible to get (chicken itzka, alhambra). Keeping up with science was something I had to start thinking about, instead of it happening naturally. In addition, the ai rushes earlier with more units than on king. This was a harsh learning curve the first couple of emperor games.

I have since learned to deal with most of this, but it still can be a challenge to keep up with an isolated opponent.

 

[HeraldtheGreat]

Call me insane, but Emperor actually felt easier than King for me.

 

[Walter E Kurtz]

Call me insane, but Emperor actually felt easier than King for me.

Perhaps a bit more income from trade. One of the upsides of higher difficulties is the amount of gold the AI has available.

 

[Magean]

When I moved to emperor, I didn't notice much difference. Well, AIs tend to do somewhat better in science, but you can still get whatever you want provided you know what you're doing and have clear goals in mind.

Also, since BNW toned down AI aggression quite a lot, higher difficulties have become much easier. You don't always have to withstand an early rush. In G&K, I struggled with King. With B&N, I quicly moved to Emperor, then Immortal.

 

[Halcyan2]

Call me insane, but Emperor actually felt easier than King for me.

In some respects, higher difficulty levels CAN be easier:

1. Others have already noted that the AI has a lot more gold on higher levels, which you can trade for and/or exploit.

2. The AI also does better teching, which can help you by decreasing the amount of science required for techs discovered by other civs, giving you science bonuses from trade routes, and increasing the amount generated from Research Agreements.

3. If you aren't planning to bother with religion, then higher levels mean that the AI will spread his religion to you (and improve the religion) faster.

4. AI cities will be better developed, which makes them better if you conquer them. (Most relevant with civs that have an extremely strong UU which can compensate for the higher difficulty level).

Also, while higher difficulty games may be "harder" in terms of direct competitive with other civs, for Game of the Month and Hall of Fame games, they are actually "easier" in terms of finish time (due to the above factors).

 

[Ryika]

In some respects, higher difficulty levels CAN be easier:

1. Others have already noted that the AI has a lot more gold on higher levels, which you can trade for and/or exploit.

2. The AI also does better teching, which can help you by decreasing the amount of science required for techs discovered by other civs, giving you science bonuses from trade routes, and increasing the amount generated from Research Agreements.

3. If you aren't planning to bother with religion, then higher levels mean that the AI will spread his religion to you (and improve the religion) faster.

4. AI cities will be better developed, which makes them better if you conquer them. (Most relevant with civs that have an extremely strong UU which can compensate for the higher difficulty level).

Also, while higher difficulty games may be "harder" in terms of direct competitive with other civs, for Game of the Month and Hall of Fame games, they are actually "easier" in terms of finish time (due to the above factors).

Their workers will be on the field much earlier, too, which means that you don't have to build/buy them early on which is extremely useful. Barbs will be less of a problem because the AI will clear their camps faster.

However, between King and Emporer the only difference I could really see was the huge difference in income. On King, the AI RARELY had the 2 gpt to buy a horse, on Emporer, I can most of the time sell my first luxury for the ful 7 gpt. So yeah, if you know the basics, then Emporer is probably easier (and less reliant on your starting location), because the extra-gold will help you develop your Civ much faster. From what I can tell, switching to Emporer is the first time you'll be able to really benefit from early-game trading.

 

[Calouste]

In some respects, higher difficulty levels CAN be easier:

1. Others have already noted that the AI has a lot more gold on higher levels, which you can trade for and/or exploit.

2. The AI also does better teching, which can help you by decreasing the amount of science required for techs discovered by other civs, giving you science bonuses from trade routes, and increasing the amount generated from Research Agreements.

3. If you aren't planning to bother with religion, then higher levels mean that the AI will spread his religion to you (and improve the religion) faster.

4. AI cities will be better developed, which makes them better if you conquer them. (Most relevant with civs that have an extremely strong UU which can compensate for the higher difficulty level).

Also, while higher difficulty games may be "harder" in terms of direct competitive with other civs, for Game of the Month and Hall of Fame games, they are actually "easier" in terms of finish time (due to the above factors).

In addition to that, trade route gold. Trade routes to the AI will generate more gold because their cities are bigger (and early on, because they improve their resources quicker), and the AI is more likely to have trade routes to run to you.

 

[SoupJuice]

I was going to say I find less ruins on King but that must be due to the extra AI Scouts running around snatching them up.

 

[reddishrecue]

Emperor is more difficult than king. Immortal is a lot more difficult than emperor. As for the Deity difficulty, only the best players in the world can beat it.

 

[sun8119]

As for the Deity difficulty, only the best players in the world can beat it.

That is what Civ says but it is certainly not true

I am not among the best players in the world but I can beat deity

 

[Memoryjar]

Emperor was my shortest step in difficult level. Immortal is more challenging to improve your game-play.