What level do you play?

Jaguar · February 27, 2002, 18:58

I started out chieftan, moved to Warlord next game, moved up to monarch. (I played civ2 at diety so I figured I could skip a level) but now I'm gonna move down to regent, and have that be my playing level. On Monarch, the AI was being ridiculous.

Jaybe · February 27, 2002, 19:17

Regent. I don't want to have an advantage over the AI, and visa versa ...

(not yet, anyway).

With civ2, I never played beyond King (Monarch) level.

Harovan · February 27, 2002, 19:26

Most of my games I play at Monarch level. Started with Regent (after 1/2 game on Chieftain as "Tutorial") moved up to Deity, and found my ideal balance between fun and challenge somewhere at Monarch.

Method · February 27, 2002, 19:57

currently i play warlord. if i follow the pattern i took with SMAC i'll stall at warlord (specialist) for a while then gradually make my way up to emperor (thinker) over the course of about a year at which point i'll purchase the next best game that comes out (SMAC->Civ III)

Jack_www · February 27, 2002, 20:36

Right now I am playing on the Monarch level. My goal is to work my way up to Deity level. The First few times I played on Monarch I had lots of problems, but now I am doing pretty good. In current game I am the nation with the highest histograph score. I only played Deity once, and did not play that long. When I played at that level I quickly got surronded by the other AI civs and was really small, I started to get over runned by the Computer players, and so I quit since it was too hard for me at that time, that was a long time ago. I might try deity once more soon though.

Skanky Burns · February 27, 2002, 21:04

I play Monarch. The AI gets a little bonus to be a challenge, but not enough to make the entire game a struggle for me to stay alive. It is IMO the most fun level.

ixnay · February 27, 2002, 21:44

After having won easily on regent, I moved up to monarch, where I got my ass whooped several times. My current game is actually going pretty well, though. After this I plan to move to emperor, get beaten a few times, and eventually make it to Deity (something I never got around to doing on civ2).

Worthingtons · February 27, 2002, 21:58

I'm planning to play my next game at Monarch. I make changes in the Editor which usually benefit the AI but I'm absolutly kicking ass on Regent So I'm going to Move up Monarch.

People have said however, that the change is considerable between the two levels though.

Aeson · February 27, 2002, 23:57

I've played most of my games at Deity, but with 1.17f as it is, I may just move down to Emperor or even Monarch. The tech rate is just too fast now, and I like being able to actually use units that I build, instead of them being obsolete by the time they are produced.

Jac de Molay · February 28, 2002, 09:56

Having just acquired the game, I am relegated to chieftain status...

Dave

Spec · February 28, 2002, 10:33

I always play Monarch or higher, Regent is to easy. As soon as you get the hang of it you're sure to squash anyone. But the level I play most is Monarch, at that level there's a good balance between fun and challenge. But in Deity, I always struggle to keep my place at first and then work my way up afterwards. I only managed to win twice in about 8 games and both times with a SpaceRace win (2042 and 2047

). Thanks to those fine leaders.

Spec.

Zouave · February 28, 2002, 10:47

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
I play Monarch. The AI gets a little bonus to be a challenge, but not enough to make the entire game a struggle for me to stay alive. It is IMO the most fun level.

My thoughts exactly.

Velociryx · February 28, 2002, 11:31

I play almost exclusively at Monarch. Have played all from Regent on up...have beaten the game on those levels, but really didn't enjoy it.

From a gameplay perspective, I find that Emperor and above play out to linearly....you gotta beat the AI to a pulp, and you gotta do it early. That stopped being fun for me very quickly, but Monarch opens up a few other possibilities, so that's where I settled.

-=Vel=-

fezick31 · February 28, 2002, 11:39

Warlord for me, as I don't get to plat very often. Dang school

philler · February 28, 2002, 12:00

whatever the current tournament game is!

I've been playing only those since early december.
don't even have time to finish some of them

Jaguar · February 28, 2002, 12:45

It's nearly symmetrical.

Harovan · February 28, 2002, 12:58

Yea, reminds of good ole Gauss. Which is, by the way, normal and means, that the difficulty levels are somewhat balanced.

tishco · February 28, 2002, 13:51

i like playing on warlord as i dont play much cos of time. i also didnt really play civ2 much and the stratagy is different.

i love playing on tiny map with 16 civs, they arent peaceful and boring like usausl but like civ 1 [sigh] "the romans have been destoyed by the celts" only now it just says [i think] "the raomans have been destroyed."

Arrian · February 28, 2002, 15:15

Monarch. Like Skanky Burns & Spectator said, it's a good balance between fun and challenge. Regent is enjoyable too, but at least with 1.16, I found it a bit too easy. The truth is I'd probably be having more fun on Regent with 1.17, but having already gone up to Monarch (and having beat it a bunch) with 1.16, I'm unwilling to back down.

-Arrian

("That's just pride, f****ing with you." - Marcellus Wallace, Pulp Fiction)

Edit 3/1/02 - Ok, I think I'm getting used to 1.17... there will be no regressing to regent.

Thrawn05 · February 28, 2002, 22:59

Where's option for "I've edited the game so that the AI will win as soon as it's their turn"

Jawa Jocky · February 28, 2002, 23:11

Monarch. I'd rather have it a little too hard than have it a little too easy. I don't like Emperor or Deity because the ai cheats so it takes several starts to get a civ worthy of challenging the ai.

Blaupanzer · March 1, 2002, 11:59

Worked my way up from Warlord to Monarch. As others have noted, I find this level to be a challenge without being gut-wrenching. Have tried Emp and Deity, but considered myself lucky just to survive. I play on large, 8-civ and huge, 12-civ maps and find Monarch to have the right balance of play (fun but not simple). Despite the advice given by others regarding Deity, the initial unit advantage and production advantages given the AI seem impossible to overcome. This is even more true now that Soren and crew have eliminated picking up quick cities using the follow-the-settler tactic. (The cities are now destroyed.) Having adapted to the rules of THIS game, which is not Civ II, I now find I enjoy the challenge at Monarch.

Do wish the maps would follow the selection of the user, though. (Too many archipelago maps end up being a big continent surrounded by a few one- or two-civ small continents.)

August Borms · March 1, 2002, 12:54

Regent or Monarch, usually

dennis_caver · March 1, 2002, 16:28

For playability and realism

I like Emperor the best. It seems more realistic. Most humans
were barbarians in the early years.

The Diety level seems to be very frustrating. Not only does the AI
have a big cheat advantage but if you get behind early in the
game, they will not negoitate in Diplomacy and start demanding.
And Vel is right, you have only one path to victory.

If you think humans were civilized in the first 4 milleniums then
monarch or regent level is a better choice.

Cavin forever,

Dennis

laurentius · March 1, 2002, 18:12

I'm having one hell of a game @ emperor-level

geoffbland · March 1, 2002, 18:52

Working through the levels one game at a time.;

Cheiftain - Romans - Domination
Warloard - English - Culture
Price - Egypt - Space Race
King - Babylonians - Diplomacy

Just playing my first emporer game - and it's HARD!

Emporer - Indians - going to have military victory I think, 1545AD & just about to discover Advanced Armour. But this game has been really nip and tuck - I've been kept on my toes all the way through this game. Only me and the Romans left as viable powers each on their own continent - I've got a feeling the Caesar is stockpiling nukes though or will build the United Nations & try and win by diplomacy.

nato · March 1, 2002, 21:22

I have played all of my games on Monarch. Never really felt a need to leave it. I used to play Civ2 on Deity only, but I have not done this or reached that level on Civ3.

Pretty bell curve!

BTW FireDragon, I like your avatar.

Provost Harrison · March 1, 2002, 21:25

I'm a monarch player myself. Makes for a nice challenging game, but you aren't sweating buckets just trying to stay alive or compete against an uphill gradient.

Tom201 · March 1, 2002, 22:01

I started on Regent level, than played about 8 games on Monarch. Then on Emperor and stayed there. Tryed Diety a couple of times with diffrent tactics (miltary, culture) but lost everytime.
Right now I droped back to Emperor with some Special rules to make it more challenging bzw. interesting. (if I play everything allowed I give it a 90% chance that I win when the start is not too bad, but I prefer a more like 40% to 60% in favor of the AI).
Changed Rules are:
- play on large (2. biggest) map with 16 civs
- only possible victory is military
- I dont declare any war bevor modern times.
- Selfbuild citys max 5 (most games it is 3 - 4)
- If the AI demands I dont give anything (therefor the AI decided if there is a war or not).
- No citys are captured bevor middle ages (if there is a war in ancient times, all captured getting razed).
- total of citys never over 10 bevor modern times.
- max. 1 ally (and no draging in of others with mpp)

Therefor the usuall AI civ is about 1.5 - 2 as big as me at the middle of the game. The main goal during ancient, middle ages and industrial is for me to keep the world balanced as possible.
The last game was very interesting with 6 Civs still surviving at modern times. 4 about 3 - 4 times as big as me and one about 2.5 times.

Was some great wars going on by than with 2 of the bigger civs atacking me (but had wars with the other 2 at the same time).
Had one of the biggest military buildup at nearly 400 units with 10 citys

Now Im waiting for MP cose the fights vs. the AI getting boring, cose I lost for example in that war described above only about 8 Modern Armors... (Crazy how easy it is with a massive Radar Artillery buildup of 120 units

)

Tom

Worthingtons · March 2, 2002, 05:50

I've been doing a considerable amount of editing recently,and reccommend people who are stuck between the fun-challenge thing to create thier own difficulty levels.

There are several ways you can do this, Give the AI civs more traits, empower thier UU ect, or step the difficulty level high but give yourself a couple of advantages.