[krpeters]

Regarding playing against "Difficult" vs. "Impossible" AIs...

...what size maps are you all playing on? I think this may be the relevant variable. I don't have the patience for a long game, so I play on 50 province maps against 5 AIs. That means by year 3 the indies are all gone and all the AIs are pounding on me... which means I usually play against "Difficult", because I get crushed by anything tougher unless I'm playing an uber-bless strategy.

If you're playing on a 200 province map against the same 5 AIs, by year 3 you probably have 100 provinces and the AIs are cowering in terror before you, so I can see how you might need to crank the difficulty up to "Impossible" for a challenging game.

Is this what is actually happening? Or is this just a story I tell myself so I don't feel so pathetic?