Why does Marathon = (-2) Difficulty?

[turtlefang]

@vexing - I went to Marathon BECAUSE I played most of my games at domination on standard speed at huge or standard map size and wanted something different. I found I preferred Marathon.

As far as rushing goes and knocking out your neighbors on Marathon, especially at the higher setting, it really depends on how close you end up to them. On a huge map, you usually don't - and the production bonus they get will usually allow them to stop a rush attack. You usually have too far to walk after too long a production cycle.

And Civ bonuses work differently on Marathon than standard. Germany's stronger on Marathon than standard as is Romes. Don't know if I would agree about Songhai but then I don't play him much. But some Civ bonus don't work as well - Spain's for one, Aztec's don't scale as well on Marathon as standard (although they are a favorite of mine), Persia's on a relative basis, Egypt's.

But the biggest issue is understanding your nearest neighbors. If you don't understand whether they will go to war or not, you can't counter on the fly when an army starts to invade. You have to prepare a head of time.

 

[vexing]

Another example : RAs.

a big RA difference you didn't mention is the per era penalty of 100 gold remains the same on all speeds.
on quick a classical with ancient era partner RA is 133 + 100 gold
on marathon the same is 600 + 100, making era manipulation a lot less important

this also relates to the only real advantage the quick speeds have, selling open borders and meeting city states give relatively more gold on quicker speeds.

 

[Tabarnak]

a big RA difference you didn't mention is the per era penalty of 100 gold remains the same on all speeds.
on quick a classical with ancient era partner RA is 133 + 100 gold
on marathon the same is 600 + 100, making era manipulation a lot less important

this also relates to the only real advantage the quick speeds have, selling open borders and meeting city states give relatively more gold on quicker speeds.

Good points about the penalty and open borders.

 

[Smokeybear]

Another example : RAs.

Standard speed, you want an RA turn 100. The AI is broke and you have to wait 8 turns until the occasion.

Marathon speed, you want an RA turn 200. The AI is broke and you have to wait 16 turns until the occasion.

It's only an example, but you will have higher chances to get the gold before the check point if we compare both speed.

Here, 8 turns is like 24 for marathon, but you will likely are be able to get the gold before the 24 turn mark. Marathon wins again.

I never played marathon and i will never play it because like the Pilgrim said it's just too boring at this point. I do play some epic speed games and i easily noticed that i can get better finish times at this speed than standard or quick speed. But you know what, it's pretty obvious anyway. Easy to figure that it's easier when the turns are longer.

RAs, barbs, cs quests and warmongering make marathon an easier level to play(and to yawn).

I've never played standard, and I never will play it, because I'm not into fastest win times and seeing how short I can make a game. That, to me, ruins the gaming experience. Again, to each their own, as the pilgrim also said. Rush games where even the most complex game objects and technologies are completed in the blink of an eye, bore me to tears. If I'm going to experience the vast sweep of civilizations through 6,000 years, I like to take a bit longer to smell the cordite along the way.

 

[Tabarnak]

I've never played standard, and I never will play it, because I'm not into fastest win times and seeing how short I can make a game. That, to me, ruins the gaming experience. Again, to each their own, as the pilgrim also said. Rush games where even the most complex game objects and technologies are completed in the blink of an eye, bore me to tears. If I'm going to experience the vast sweep of civilizations through 6,000 years, I like to take a bit longer to smell the cordite along the way.

Well i don't play marathon because i'm too much used to mp games where quick speed is the standard setting. But the question is not which setting is the most enjoyable, but more if marathon makes deity easier than other speeds like quick and standard.

Marathon is more well suited for huge maps. I don't see myself playing quick speed on huge maps. And i don't see how a duel map can be enjoyable at marathon.

 

[bhavv]

I'm currently playing on Emperor and tried out some marathon games.

The way that I see it, I personally ejoy the loger time each game takes, and getting to do more stuff with my units before they go obsolete.

While the AI struggles a bit with military and warfare, I dont believe that this is due to the speed stagnation, but rather because the AI is purely daft in this game. However on higher difficulties, the AI's bonuses to build and tech rates would give it a larger bonus over the player character (one thing I like to do on epic + marathon is build the Pyramids and combine it with Citizenship for 50% faster worker construction - this is a massive boost on Marathon, and more so than in previous Civ games due to being unable to stack workers).

I also get a lot more time to hunt barbarians and plan everything a lot better rather than having to rush everything I do.

I play peacefully as a builder in my games, and I find playing as any of Sejong, Pachacuti, Ramesses or Nebuchadnessar on Marathon speed very enjoyable.

 

[Rpger29]

I find that if you leave the AI alone for long enough on Marathon, they do better. They really get trounced if you warmonger really early.

If I plan to warmonger early, I play epic or standard.

 

[Dishonor]

The main difference for me is, how fast AI can rebuild army. (how many units can AI produce per turn)

If AI can produce 5 units per turns on standard speed and you have weak army and can kill only 3. You lost by math. But If you play on marathon, AI will produce only 2 units, you can kill 3. So you win.

 

[TyBoy]

The cost of making tactical movements to improve your position is basically affected by the turn multiplier with regards to the chance the AI will build/buy another unit at the town you're approaching or get a new military tech to upgrade a unit with. Since the AI doesn't really use tactics it represents a pretty big advantage for the player, whether you're trying to fend off an attack with an inferior force or make forward progress through the enemy territory. At any difficulty level past the lowest ones the human player uses healing, positioning and promotions to accomplish what the AI does with production modifiers. Healing, positioning and promotions are sped up at the slower game speed, production isn't.