Would you say that a game can potentially be easier for the human player when all his alien opponents are equally intelligent? As I try to upgrade my skills and difficulty, I've found that having one or two alien empires of normal intelligence and the rest of sub-normal always results in a difficult duel between myself and (one of) the normal(s) at the end. Would having an all normal game be easier for me in the long run (though possibly harder at the beginning)?
I tried varying the level of AI intelligence in earlier versions of the game with unhappy results. I was playing with the AI on Normal settings and tried varying the AI intelligence to produce a game with the same difficulty level as if the AIs were all Normal.
I think the AI's superior micro-management allowed the brighter Civs to dominate and manipulate the duller Civs, effectively giving them an extra weapon or two to use against the human player. The same settings with all AIs at equal intelligence routinely guaranteed me a victory. Of course, at the time I wasn't taking advantage of a lot of the trade and diplomacy options anyway, so I probably suffered more than necessary.
absolutely! I feel the most important part of maso victories is keeping the AI's a) at war, and b) equally matched. IMHO if an AI is at war with an equal he is not likely to go to war with you even if he is "cool". conversly, I have had AI's at war with three other losers and declare war on me from neutral.