Best game settings?

[Picc]

My first game I played was very underwhelming. I literally never went to war. No one declared on me and only on each other I think twice? I was so far ahead of everyone I flew through the ages barely got to experience them. Look at my achievements those were all from one game. (maybe its not that impressive i dunno lol) My cities were insane imo nothing took longer than 5 turns to build excluding wonders which took like 10-15. I literally got EVERY SINGLE WONDER (besides 1?) the AI got none after the first age. No technologies took longer than 5 turns max. The game was just far too easy and too quick.

So was this because it was the "tutorial level"? I hope it was. It just demoralised me from playing another game because that was far too quick and easy.

Just looking for a longer tougher better game. Thanks.

[Silky Rough]

Off

[Oddible]

Uhm. Increase the skill level for one (I played my first game on Nation for instance, last two games have been on Civilization). Add expert and advanced opponents for second. Ideal ones that have traits to support your playstyle, trusting huggers or vindictive warmongers. It a variety of them. The opponent selector is one of the worst possible of the game sadly. They apparently said it is in the radar to fix.

[The Doctor]

I toned down the elevation changes in my settings and find combat and the whole game in general gets significantly better. There are just too many bottlenecks on maps on the Default setting for my taste.

Best change at set-up I've made so far.

[CoUsT]

Tutorial level was like that for me too. Try harder difficulty levels, always max out the number of AI and try custom random maps. It will give you a lot of challenge because you don't know what type of terrain you will get and there will be a lot of AIs, some of them declaring war on you or each other and you will have to either get rekt or reload save and play out last turn again differently.

[VDmitry]

I recommend you Civilization difficulty. Humankind level is not that interesting, as AI could advance to last era by turn 150 and pollute the planet before you reach it yourself.

[Tynendir]

Slowly increase the game difficulty if you find your last playthrough too easy.
Play on Slow or Endless if you feel like the pacing is too fast.
Tweak the number continents, play with new world on and add a variety of opponents.

[Picc]

Thank you everyone! I will play a new game soon and fiddle with some of these settings and hopefully have a much more enjoyable experience!

[yeknod]

My presets:
- Tone down the altitude a notch. Makes space more wide open for combat.
- Slow speed. It feels more like real life. Big changes take time. Simple as that.
- Huge map. You won't explore it all, until the techs in the last era give you sky eyes.
- Ten players. Long game is guaranteed. Harder to win strictly by deeds and wonders.
- Two continents + New World. Motivation is there to be the Sea King.
- 50% land. This provides enough time to explore and stake out before crowding hits.

I have played these settings over and over and it never plays the same twice. I found on the smaller maps with fewer players success in the early game was the end of the game. No one catches you. Then the fun is over. With larger maps and more players there are bound to be successful empires beyond your reach. So the game plays competitively right to the last era.

History has shown the ability to establish colonies and trade across seas is the difference between local heros and world champions. Examples: Germany and China [until very recently]. So, I always put the New World in there. By the time you get to Medieval you better be on the high seas. This makes managing the tech tree and empire selections much more strategic.

Enjoy!

[3Ddeath]

Go hard! otherwise its a boredom simulator, its basically like playing chess by yourself with only one set of pieces on the board