What Difficulty?

[jbevermore]

I play on Emp, want to move up to immortal. Dunno if I'll make a serious shot at Deity, I expect it'll be like Mass Effect where the highest difficult is just punishing enough to make the only viable shot at winning pulling cheesy stunts that take the fun out of it.

 

[bryanw1995]

Immortal, with a little emperor and deity thrown in for spice.

 

[qyll]

emperor, although i can win most of the time, i just don't really feel like moving up to immortal.

 

[bcaiko]

I am also at King right now, but I struggle a little at times (see my "Tired of Askia Nuking Me" thread). I play on Prince every now and again to relax, as it's become really easy for me. Funny that King truly is that much more of a challenge to wrap things up.

 

[Lose]

Prince/King/Emperor is to much a of steamroll (ai's never tech right but with immortal they gain huge tech bonuses etc.) .. Immortal is just right without being annoying like diety haha.

 

[Randall Turner]

Prince/King/Emperor is to much a of steamroll (ai's never tech right but with immortal they gain huge tech bonuses etc.) .. Immortal is just right without being annoying like diety haha.

I think that's the standard veteran player view. Enough of a challenge, not so much that you have to take an optimal beeline, enough wiggle room to play a "game" rather than a tightly-synchronized perfectly timed dev path with early economic shenannigans that I wouldn't want some sneaky bastard doing to me.

Still, you know, a bad enough starting position can put anyone in a tight spot. I don't consider rolling 2-3 starting setups and choosing one a terrible cheat.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Whoa, this poll is pretty telling...

 

[Aestis25]

I regularly win on Immortal without any RA blocking whatsoever (which to me feels a little exploitative), but with trading Open Borders & excess luxuries for Gold (which I'm fine with but others may consider a little exploitative).

I've won on Deity before but don't play it much. When I feel like I can win on Deity playing a wide variety of styles (without relying on RA blocking or a super-specific UU rush, for instance), I will.

 

[bronzeager]

Just came back to King after retreating to Prince for awhile. Like others have said, it depends on my mood nd the amount of attention I want to give the game. Sometimes it's just fun to mess around on Prince knowing you don't have to worry about losing.

 

[TPQ]

Emperor. I do occasionally loose, but only when I have a poor starting location and some AI rolls high numbers for expansion and aggression and becomes an unstoppable runaway.

I might try Immortal, but I've found that since the game was released, patches have made it a bit more difficult, so if that trend continues, I may end up finding Emperor is my limit. Have to see how the game develops.

 

[Dreamshifter]

King for me, though I played on Prince until recently. Tough enough that winning isn't guaranteed with my *far* from optimal strategies, but not so many AI advantages that it annoys me. Doubt I'll be moving up past this, since any further up is more work than fun, for me.

 

[MadDjinn]

Whoa, this poll is pretty telling...

I'm actually surprised it's breaking similar to what I'd expect. high peak around Emperor, the slowly less interest in the higher levels.

 

[Sparthage]

After 100 responses to the poll, here are the leaders:

1) Emperor- 32%
2) King- 25%
3) Prince- 19%
4) Immortal- 15%
5) Deity- 7%
6) Warlord- 1%
7) Chieftan- 1%
8) Settler- 0%

 

[KevinMiles90000]

Settler for me. I throw a temper tantrum every time I lose so I can't handle playing any other difficulty.