Difficulty levels explained?

[Helium Pond]

Can anyone spell out EXACTLY the differences between each difficulty level? This is as much as I know:

Citizen:
Drones: after 6th citizen.
Cost of one SE change: free.
Protoyping: free.
Changing production: free.
Extra drones after building base: 16
Eco-damage multiplier: no eco-damage.
AI nutrients/minerals per line: 13
AI: other disadvantages?
No population loss for building Colony Pod.
Tutorial pop-ups automatically turned on.

Specialist:
Drones: after 5th citizen.
Cost of one SE change: ?
Protoyping: ?
Changing production: ?
Extra drones after building base: 14
Eco-damage multiplier: 1*
AI nutrients/minerals per line: 12
AI: other disadvantages?
No population loss for building Colony Pod.

Talent:
Drones: after 4th citizen.
Cost of one SE change: ?
Protoyping: ?
Changing production: ?
Extra drones after building base: 12
Eco-damage multiplier: 2*
AI nutrients/minerals per line: 11
AI: other disadvantages?

Librarian:
Drones: after 3rd citizen.
Cost of one SE change: ?
Protoyping: costs +50%.
Changing production: penalty after 10 minerals.
Extra drones after building base: 10
Eco-damage multiplier: 3*
AI nutrients/minerals per line: 10
AI: no AI advantages or disadvantages.

Thinker:
Drones: after 2nd citizen.
Cost of one SE change: ?
Protoyping: costs +50%.
Changing production: penalty after 10 minerals.
Extra drones after building base: 8
Eco-damage multiplier: 4*
AI nutrients/minerals per line: 8
AI: other benefits?

Transcend:
Drones: after 1st citizen.
Cost of one SE change: 40 credits.
Protoyping: costs +50%.
Changing production: penalty after 10 minerals.
Extra drones after building base: 6
Eco-damage multiplier: 5*
AI nutrients/minerals per line: 7
AI: other benefits?

note: The numbers for AI nutrients/minerals per line, and for base limits before extra drones, assume a standard planet and an efficiency rating of zero. Different planet sizes and faction bonuses, as well as other factors, can change these figures.
*note two: The eco-damage formula is heinous, so I just included this number, indicating how much the base eco-damage is multiplied by at each difficulty level.

Can anyone help fill in these stats, and point out any categories I've missed?

[This message has been edited by Helium Pond (edited May 02, 2000).]

[joer]

I think the advantages for the AI in the higher levels are as follows:

Talent: +0% growth, industry
Librarian: +10% growth, industry
Thinker: +20% growth, industry
Transcend: +30% growth, industry

No idea about energy/tech speedup, though I'd imagine that infiltration gets more expensive for the human and less expensive for the AI in higher levels.

AI seems to be more aggressive on higher levels, diplomacy works less well.

Also, base limit without extra drones (beaurocracy limit) decreases and pollution increases in the higher levels. The exact formulas are given in the datalink advanced concepts...I'll look them up for you next time.
-joer

[This message has been edited by joer (edited April 29, 2000).]

[Enigma]

On citizen and specialist you do not lost any population when you build a colony pod

[Helium Pond]

Thanks for the tips, I'll modify the list.

However, I've always heard that Librarian was the level at which the player and the AI played with no differences. joer, you're saying that Talent is the level playing field? Are you sure?
[This message has been edited by Helium Pond (edited April 30, 2000).]

[joer]

Gah, okie, didn't check very well the last time. Here are hopefully more correct values on AI bonuses for growth and industry.
For each 'bar' for which the human player has a base (without SE) cost of 10, the AI has the following base cost:

Talent: 11
Librarian: 10
Thinker: 8
Transcend: 5

-joer

[Master Marcus]

At Transcend the AI tech points needed for the same level of research are half than the human player. I don't remember for the other diff levels, maybe someone can tell us the rates differences.

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The art of mastering:"la Maîtrise des caprices du subconscient avant tout".

[Bblue]

Some info on tech/industry/growth modifiers with reguard to difficulty level can be found in post titled "Growth/Industy/Tech vs. World Size/Difficulty" which I just bumped

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"Power does not corrupt; it merely attracts the corruptable"

[Helium Pond]

Thanks! I have some questions about all that, which I posted in that thread. Hopefully, we can figure out an economical way to include that data in this list.

[Xuenay]

There IS eco-damage on Citizen. I dont know the multiplier, though.

And on Citizen, the game will inform you whenever you have a Colony Pod in a position the game considers a 'good spot to found a city'.

[Helium Pond]

Xuenay: is there actually eco-damage that affects the game, or just eco-damage that gets reported per base? In the formula given by the GameSpot guide, there's an extremely complex series of equations, ending with a multiplier that is based on difficulty level, with a range of 0-5. My assumption is that, while individual bases can report eco-damage, on Citizen level all that damage is ultimately multiplied by zero. But this is pure speculation on my part, I'd be glad of any hard facts.

As for the suggestion about city building, I assume that's due to the fact that Citizen level automatically turns on the in-game tutorials, which I will make note of. Thanks.

[Czar Andy]

Actually, there is ecodamage at Citizen level. I just played a game where the sea was rising so much that all my beautiful forests got destroyed .

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~ Andy

[Helium Pond]

Okay, that means that the eco-damage formula I'm working with must be incorrect. Or perhaps it's using difficulty as a scale of 1-6, rather than 0-5, as I'd assumed. I'm using a formula from the GameSpot game guide. Has anyone run across other formulas out there?

[Sikander]

I think that there are two (and maybe more) pollution categories. One obviously is the mineral production of each base. Another is the total amount of production of your empire (or is it the whole planet?) minus your Centauri reserves etc. Finally there are negative effects do to attrocities, which often include the rising sea levels mentioned above. What I am unsure about is whether the second (overall production) and the third (attrocity) are linked or not.

[Helium Pond]

Okay, here's the exact text from the GameSpot Guide:

Ecological damage is determined by the following complex formula:
1. For each base, total the number of mines, solar collectors,
farms, soil enrichers, roads, mag tubes, condensers, and bore
holes. Items in squares that are actually being worked count
double.
2. Add an extra +8 for each borehole and +4 for each condenser.
3. Subtract 1 for each forest.
4. Halve each base that has a tree farm, and eliminate it if it
also has a hybrid forest.
5. Divide this value by 8 and reduce by up to 16 plus the number
of previous damages.
6. Take the number of minerals produced this turn.
7. If result from step 5 was reduced by less than 16, reduce the
result from step 6 by the remaining amount.
8. Divide minerals by 1 plus the number of Centauri preserve,
Temple of Planet, and Nanoreplicator.
9. Sum the values of steps 5 and 8 and add +5 for each major
atrocity.
10. If Alpha Prime is at perihelion, double your value.

Ecology percentage = (ValueFromStep10) * Difficulty *
Technologies * (3-Planet) * Life/300

Does the Official guide give a formula?

[RedFred]

That looks like the same formula that comes out of advanced concepts in the datalinks, Helium Pond.

It almost seems like a deliberate design feature to make this eco damage formula complex enough so that it is not easy to follow.

[Helium Pond]

Maybe I should just modify my list to reflect a 1-6 multiplier instead of 0-5. I was assuming that difficulty was a 0-5 scale, based on a definition elsewhere in the guide.

[Chowlett]

According to my Prima guide, the difficulties are

DIFF = 2 (citizen), 3 (Specialist - Librarian), 5 (Transcend)

Very odd.

[Kinjiru]

Nothing odd about that Chowlett. You simply making the mistake of trusting a Prima guide. The only guides of their's that are at all helpful and accurate are the ones where they simply ripped off a FAQ somone put together and posted on the net...

[Chowlett]

"That comment was posted by Kinjy the cynic".

Still, not having had experience of other Prima guides, I can't comment. Shouldn't complain, though, I did get it free.