Frequently Asked Questions of Level 9 MOD: Difficulty X

How difficult is Level 9?

Even maltz can pass it, and he is not a great player. I make sure the MOD is still winnable - not just throwing overpowering AIs at players and watch them scream in agony (although that is easy to do, and could be quite entertaining for a while).

Why call the Level 9 MOD Difficulty X, not Difficulty IX?

By convenience. The game has a set of built-in icons for Difficulty. After 5, 6, 7, 8, it is X, not 9. And X sounds cooler than IX.

The AI has too many units... like 20 on Turn 40!

Some scenarios are just impossible, like you and Monty stuck on a tiny continent with nobody else. But mostly there is some way out. Try harder!

The AI is so poor they can't even pay for one resource!

This is one of the core concepts of the MOD - the human player has to modify some arguably overpowered strategies in the vanilla (unmodded) game.

The Level 9 AI does not grow as fast as Level 8.

The is another core concept of the MOD. It is not so much about making the AI develop a lot faster, but about making the human players' development a lot less explosive due to exploitable game flaws. The Level 9 AI's development rate is roughly on-par with Level 8 AI counterparts in early-mid game, and faster than Level 8 AI in mid-late game.

Will the Level 9 AI go bankrupt?

It depends on map. If they are born in a region with no river and few luxurious resources, they will ICS (Infinite-city-spawn) themselves into bankruptcy and suffers from significant technology hits. One good example is the official Mesopotamia map. This is quite rare, though, as normally there are lots of money sources on the map. Testing shows that the AIs will become reasonably wealthy after mid game on regular maps.

The Level 9 AI does not spawn cities as crazily as Level 8.

It is under consideration to reasonably bring back some of AI's unhappiness bonus without angering the human players too much. However, AI has more cities = AI becomes rich = Human becomes rich. So infinitely-spawning AIs might not really make the game harder - quite possibly to the opposite direction.

Why would I attempt Level 9 if I cannot win on Level 8?

Level 8 is quite a breeze if you know a few of the most powerful strategies - some even call them exploits or cheats. The MOD attempts to avoid most of them and force the human player to take a fresh, more down-to-earth approach to this potentially wonderfully deep game.

Why do you make this MOD, maltz?

I noticed that a lot of veteran players are attempting Deity games with blindfolds on and their hands tied to their back (analogies for no Research Agreement, no Diplomatic Deals, etc.), trying extreme challenges (1 vs. 7. 1 vs. 10, one-city-challenge 1 vs. 7), or are trying to win the game just one turn earlier than the others, which is 95% decided by random factors. They deserve the next difficulty level.

What's my reward for passing Level 9?

I have not figured out any way to grant you a high score in-game (and since it is so flawed nobody really cares about it). However, the site hosts Official Level 9 Challenges periodically. You will be entered into the Level 9 Hall of Fame by submitting your completed challenge to me at dcl.maltz@gmail.com or simply post on this blog!

This MOD is too easy!

You are GOOD! Welcome suggestions to improve the MOD. Please directly reply on this blog or email me at dcl.maltz@gmail.com.

I need tips to pass Level 9!

The goal is to give you a fresh game to devise new strategies, which is supposedly the spirit of the strategy game! I am going to write an official story for each of the Level 9 challenges. However, it only represents my way of playing the game. There are certainly more efficient and creative approaches possible. I will also gladly host any player-submitted stories of Level 9 challenges on this site.