🎚️ Difficulty & Advantages

9 difficulties7 prosperity levels8 AI handicap steps

A named difficulty is a preset bundle of six dials: your Prosperity (stockpile, base yields, discontent), AI Development, AI Aggression, Tribal Level, AI Handicap, and Calamities. All six can also be set individually in advanced setup. AI nations always run at Prosperity Thriving (the Strong baseline) no matter which difficulty you pick — what changes for them is their head start and handicap.

Setting	The New easy	The Able easy	The Just default (SP)	The Good default (MP)	The Strong	The Noble	The Glorious	The Magnificent	The Great
Your start — Prosperity
Prosperity	Affluent	Affluent	Abundant	Abundant	Thriving	Comfortable	Sufficient	Modest	Fragile
Starting stockpile	400 400 8 400 400 400 400	400 400 8 400 400 400 400	300 300 8 200 200 200 200	300 300 8 200 200 200 200	300 300 8 100 100 100 100	200 200 8 100 100 100 100	200 200 8 50 50 50 50	100 100 8 50 50 50 50	100 100 8
Extra starting units	Worker, Scout, Militia	Worker, Scout, Militia	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Base player yields	20 /Turn 20 /Turn 12 /Turn 10 /Turn 3 /City 16 /City	20 /Turn 20 /Turn 12 /Turn 10 /Turn 3 /City 16 /City	12 /Turn 10 /Turn 5 /City 12 /City	12 /Turn 10 /Turn 5 /City 12 /City	11 /Turn 9 /Turn 6 /City 10 /City	10 /Turn 8 /Turn 7 /City 8 /City	9 /Turn 7 /Turn 9 /City 6 /City	8 /Turn 6 /Turn 10 /City 4 /City	7 /Turn 5 /Turn 12 /City 2 /City
Family rebellions	—	—	—	—	—	—	Furious Family cities: +5% Rebel chance	Furious Family cities: +5% Rebel chance Angry Family cities: +5% Rebel chance	Furious Family cities: +5% Rebel chance Angry Family cities: +5% Rebel chance Upset Family cities: +5% Rebel chance
The world
Empty city sites nearby	4 (100% of nearby sites)	4 (100% of nearby sites)	3 (75% of nearby sites)	3 (75% of nearby sites)	2 (50% of nearby sites)	2 (50% of nearby sites)	1 (25% of nearby sites)	1 (25% of nearby sites)	1 (25% of nearby sites)
Distant raids on your cities	—	—	—	—	1% chance · up to 2 extra units	1% chance · up to 2 extra units	3% chance · up to 4 extra units	3% chance · up to 4 extra units	4% chance · up to 5 extra units
Calamities	Very Rare	Very Rare	Very Rare	Rare	Rare	Rare	Default	Default	Default
AI nations
AI handicap	High Penalty	Moderate Penalty	Small Penalty	—	—	—	Small Advantage	Small Advantage	Moderate Advantage
AI development	—	—	—	Fledgling ~2 Cities at start 2 Techs researched Capital starts at 2 Citizens No Wonders for 5 turns No Religions for 4 turns	Fledgling ~2 Cities at start 2 Techs researched Capital starts at 2 Citizens No Wonders for 5 turns No Religions for 4 turns	Established ~3 Cities at start 3 Techs researched Capital starts at 3 Citizens No Wonders for 10 turns No Religions for 8 turns	Established ~3 Cities at start 3 Techs researched Capital starts at 3 Citizens No Wonders for 10 turns No Religions for 8 turns	Advanced ~4 Cities at start 4 Techs researched Capital starts at 4 Citizens No Wonders for 15 turns No Religions for 12 turns	Advanced ~4 Cities at start 4 Techs researched Capital starts at 4 Citizens No Wonders for 15 turns No Religions for 12 turns
AI aggression	Passive -100% AI war desire No AI wars vs humans before turn 50 AI fights at least 2 turns before peace AI skips Wonders for 20 turns AI skips Religions for 20 turns AI never uses Forced March AI never expands to new sites	Passive -100% AI war desire No AI wars vs humans before turn 50 AI fights at least 2 turns before peace AI skips Wonders for 20 turns AI skips Religions for 20 turns AI never uses Forced March AI never expands to new sites	Peaceful -50% AI war desire No AI wars vs humans before turn 40 AI fights at least 4 turns before peace AI skips Wonders for 16 turns AI skips Religions for 16 turns AI never uses Forced March	Peaceful -50% AI war desire No AI wars vs humans before turn 40 AI fights at least 4 turns before peace AI skips Wonders for 16 turns AI skips Religions for 16 turns AI never uses Forced March	Normal No AI wars vs humans before turn 30 AI fights at least 6 turns before peace AI skips Wonders for 12 turns AI skips Religions for 12 turns	Normal No AI wars vs humans before turn 30 AI fights at least 6 turns before peace AI skips Wonders for 12 turns AI skips Religions for 12 turns	Aggressive +25% AI war desire No AI wars vs humans before turn 20 AI fights at least 8 turns before peace AI skips Wonders for 8 turns AI skips Religions for 8 turns	Aggressive +25% AI war desire No AI wars vs humans before turn 20 AI fights at least 8 turns before peace AI skips Wonders for 8 turns AI skips Religions for 8 turns	Competitive +50% AI war desire No AI wars vs humans before turn 10 AI fights at least 10 turns before peace AI skips Wonders for 4 turns AI skips Religions for 4 turns
Tribes
Tribal level	Passive 4 Tribal sites near each player -100% Tribal war desire -80% Tribal site development +80% time between Tribal units	Weak 4 Tribal sites near each player -50% Tribal war desire -40% Tribal site development +40% time between Tribal units +1 defender at Tribal sites Raids from turn 35 3% Raid chance/site/turn Sites can convert to Tribes after turn 60 (3%/turn) Distant raids from turn 65	Weak 4 Tribal sites near each player -50% Tribal war desire -40% Tribal site development +40% time between Tribal units +1 defender at Tribal sites Raids from turn 35 3% Raid chance/site/turn Sites can convert to Tribes after turn 60 (3%/turn) Distant raids from turn 65	Weak 4 Tribal sites near each player -50% Tribal war desire -40% Tribal site development +40% time between Tribal units +1 defender at Tribal sites Raids from turn 35 3% Raid chance/site/turn Sites can convert to Tribes after turn 60 (3%/turn) Distant raids from turn 65	Normal 4 Tribal sites near each player -20% Tribal site development +20% time between Tribal units +2 defenders at Tribal sites Raids from turn 30 6% Raid chance/site/turn Sites can convert to Tribes after turn 50 (4%/turn) Distant raids from turn 60	Normal 4 Tribal sites near each player -20% Tribal site development +20% time between Tribal units +2 defenders at Tribal sites Raids from turn 30 6% Raid chance/site/turn Sites can convert to Tribes after turn 50 (4%/turn) Distant raids from turn 60	Strong 4 Tribal sites near each player +10% Tribal war desire -10% Tribal site development +10% time between Tribal units +3 defenders at Tribal sites Raids from turn 25 8% Raid chance/site/turn Sites can convert to Tribes after turn 40 (5%/turn) Distant raids from turn 55	Strong 4 Tribal sites near each player +10% Tribal war desire -10% Tribal site development +10% time between Tribal units +3 defenders at Tribal sites Raids from turn 25 8% Raid chance/site/turn Sites can convert to Tribes after turn 40 (5%/turn) Distant raids from turn 55	Raging 3 Tribal sites near each player +20% Tribal war desire +4 defenders at Tribal sites Raids from turn 20 10% Raid chance/site/turn Sites can convert to Tribes after turn 30 (6%/turn) Distant raids from turn 50

AI Handicap ladder

The AI Handicap (advantage) is the per-AI-player thumb on the scale: penalties weaken AI nations on easy difficulties, advantages strengthen them on hard ones. Custom games can pick any step — including High Advantage and Very High Advantage, which no preset uses.

High Penalty

used by The New

+25% Unit Consumption
3 /City
-25%
-25%
-25%
-25%
-25%
-25% Strength Modifier
-25% Unit Strength

Moderate Penalty

used by The Able

+10% Unit Consumption
2 /City
-10%
-10%
-10%
-10%
-10%
-10% Strength Modifier
-10% Unit Strength

Small Penalty

used by The Just

+5% Unit Consumption
1 /City
-5%
-5%
-5%
-5%
-5%
-5% Strength Modifier
-5% Unit Strength

None

used by The Good, The Strong, The Noble

—

Small Advantage

used by The Glorious, The Magnificent

10 /Turn
10 /Turn
1 /Turn
1 /City
+10%
-5%
-5% Improvement Cost
-5% Project Goods Costs
-5% Specialist Cost
-5% Project Cost

Moderate Advantage

used by The Great

-5% Unit Consumption
25 /Turn
25 /Turn
2.5 /Turn
2 /City
+20%
-10%
-10% Improvement Cost
-10% Project Goods Costs
+10 XP for New Units
-10% Specialist Cost
-10% Project Cost
+10 XP for new Units

High Advantage

no preset — custom setup only

-10% Unit Consumption
50 /Turn
50 /Turn
5 /Turn
3 /City
+50%
-25%
-20% Improvement Cost
-20% Project Goods Costs
+20 XP for New Units
-20% Specialist Cost
-20% Project Cost
+20 XP for new Units

Very High Advantage

no preset — custom setup only

-20% Unit Consumption
100 /Turn
100 /Turn
10 /Turn
4 /City
+100%
-50%
-50% Improvement Cost
-50% Project Goods Costs
+50 XP for New Units
-50% Specialist Cost
-50% Project Cost
+50 XP for new Units

In the game's words

The New

Suitable for a first experience. You begin with a healthy stockpile of resources and will only end up at war if you want to. AI Nations are significantly weakened.

The Able

Suitable for an easy experience. You begin with a healthy stockpile of resources and will only end up at war if you want to. AI Nations are somewhat weakened.

The Just

A good choice for learning the game mechanics. You start in a better position than AI Nations, who will rarely attack and whose Units are slightly weakened.

The Good

AI Nations start with some development, according to the game's premise that you are a new nation in a world of established nations. AI Nations at this difficulty are inclined to be peaceful but may eventually declare war.

The Strong

This is the baseline difficulty of the game and the first difficulty level at which AI Nations are not restricted in warfare. They will declare war more freely and will use March. Tribal raids also become more common, and Cities near the map edges are no longer safe from distant tribal raids. Your baseline economy is the same as that of AI nations.

The Noble

Harder difficulties begin here. AI Nations begin the game with more Cities and with a slightly stronger economy.

The Glorious

AI Nations are more aggressive than on lower difficulties and can attack earlier. They also gain a small advantage to Research and economy. Tribal Units get an additional Fatigue point, making raiders considerably more dangerous than at lower difficulties.

The Magnificent

A very challenging difficulty in which your economy is weaker than that of AI Nations, who begin the game with multiple Cities and researched Technologies. Avoiding early war is critical, as AI Nations start with enough power to easily crush you.

The Great

The highest difficulty. AI Nations get a moderate economy bonus in addition to being well established at the game's start. They will not wait long before demanding tribute or attacking you outright. You will face many tribal raids and an increased chance of domestic rebels.