best difficulty to play on? (domination and science victory only)

[Noog]

4 is a bit too easy. I won before I ever even had to war anyone. I know difficulty gets insane at higher levels, what's the right balance?

[terry]

Just keep kicking it up a notch until you find the one you like. Or try immortal and if its too rough start over on 1 lower. You will know fairly quick on higher difficulties if its for you or not. The bonuses the AI gets on higher settings show really quick so you wont waste much time figuring it out.

[paugus]

Deity isn't really all that "insane." Try one of the higher difficulties, be willing to lose, and learn what works and what doesn't. There isn't a "best" difficulty, it's personal preference.

[Lady Crimson (RIP)]

It's a matter of preference and the conditions of the map.. I play on immortal but on a ludicrously size map with 25 or so civs.

I also got a mod that allowed 12 religions to be founded.

Since it's a true start map the difficulty ranges based upon who you decide to be.. if I go germany I am sandwhiched in Europe and should expect a lot of war in order to expand. For example Poland declared war on me and invaded full force on turn 15. So you gotta be ready for that in those games.

[Stricklin]

At higher levels all you really need are two things: an early rush to build enough military units to defend yourself, and a plan in the end game to destroy whatever civ is in the lead.

[Starwars]

I would also try kicking it up one by one until you find a good balance. It's not a a very hard game to be honest once you learn to play it a bit. I consider myself pretty bad at these types of games but I do really well most of the time.
The problem I have with the game at the moment is that there is a point in most of my games where it's very noticeable that... yep, I'm gonna win this one. The early game can be fun and challenging but there is always a point in the game where it feels like you're set on the path to victory.

As long as you get your spies to build up th enemies spaceports at least.

I mostly play on Immortal or Emperor. Immortal and Deity feels a bit too "AI-cheaty" for my taste even though your human advantage can overtake that. But yeah, it just feels off to me.
But yeah, Emperor or Immortal depending on what I feel like.

[MinionsofLolth]

For me personally, the game is WAY too easy on Prince or King (4 or 5). I played on emperor for a while but found it too easy, so I've started playing on immortal... wow. I find immortal to be pretty tough. The AI just gets some pretty big advantages and I'm pretty sure better production is one of them. At the very least, I'm playing a game on Immortal now and ONE barbarian encampment spawned out 2 slinger units and 5 warrior units in less than 10 turns. I find the AI to be crazy aggressive on immortal and they build wonders like clockwork. I am currently in a conundrum over whether to play immortal or emperor because immortal is challening to the point where I start to actually lose. That's not enjoyable, but the challenge is worth it I'd say. My final advice to you: play on emperor and see how it feels. If you like it and find yourself winning with ease more often than not, kick it up to immortal. Its better than just having easy wins on king or prince.

[MOSLEY]

Just nudge the difficulty level up a notch each time until it feels right. You’ll end up on deity eventually.

[Noog]

引用自 MinionsofLolth：

For me personally, the game is WAY too easy on Prince or King (4 or 5). I played on emperor for a while but found it too easy, so I've started playing on immortal... wow. I find immortal to be pretty tough. The AI just gets some pretty big advantages and I'm pretty sure better production is one of them. At the very least, I'm playing a game on Immortal now and ONE barbarian encampment spawned out 2 slinger units and 5 warrior units in less than 10 turns. I find the AI to be crazy aggressive on immortal and they build wonders like clockwork. I am currently in a conundrum over whether to play immortal or emperor because immortal is challening to the point where I start to actually lose. That's not enjoyable, but the challenge is worth it I'd say. My final advice to you: play on emperor and see how it feels. If you like it and find yourself winning with ease more often than not, kick it up to immortal. Its better than just having easy wins on king or prince.

I'm playing a game on emporer and it's been exciting right off the bat. I had to try new things right in the classical era just to survive because my neighbor civ wanted to kill me as soon as he met me lol. I had to reload a few times, but I managed to turn his ambush around, steal his settler that I denied settling for like 15 turns, and ended up taking his rich city and banishing him. so far the most exciting battle I've ever had in a civ game.

[ubik]

Playing on higher difficulty basically narrows the scope of what you can do, because the bonuses the AI gets increases with each level. You have to be more efficient to offset those AI bonuses.