Difficulty Levels

Civilization 4's difficulty runs from Settler, the easiest and the tutorial level, through Noble, the default, where the AI plays under the same rules as you, up to Deity. Above Noble the AI gets discounts and free units while your cities start with less health and happiness; below it the AI is slowed down.

Civilization 4's difficulty levels run from Settler, the easiest, through Noble, the default, up to Deity, which the Civilization IV manual (p. 166) calls "a nearly impossible level". Noble is the fair game: there the AI civilizations "play under the same conditions as the human players", while below Noble they build, grow and research more slowly and above it they get discounts, extra starting units and techs (p. 167). Difficulty is chosen at setup and cannot be changed once a game has begun. The manual names Settler, Chieftain, Warlord, Noble, Monarch, Immortal and Deity; reviewers also name Prince and Emperor, as below.

3D map of hills, snow-capped mountains and pine forest. A label reads Athens, Axeman at top left; bare-chested warriors stand on a slope at right beside a yellow border, and Djenne's label sits at bottom right. — Gameplay on 2K's Civilization IV page: Athens, building an Axeman, on a hill with horsemen nearby, and a group of warriors on a mountain at a yellow border, near the city of Djenne. Firaxis Games and 2K

Quick facts

Easiest	Settler (the Tutorial's level; the game gives play tips)
Default	Noble: the AI plays under the same rules as you
Hardest	Deity
Named in the manual	Settler, Chieftain, Warlord, Noble, Monarch, Immortal, Deity
Also named by IGN	Prince, Emperor
City health and happiness at start	3 and 6 on Chieftain; 1 and 3 on Deity
AI's extra start	A Worker from Monarch, 2 Workers on Immortal, a Settler on Deity, plus techs
Settlers or Workers from huts	Only on Warlord or lower
Change mid-game	Not possible

Source: Civilization IV manual, pp. 14 and 166-167; IGN's reviews of Oct 21, 2005 and Jul 26, 2007.

The levels

The base game's manual describes difficulty as a ladder from Settler "up through Noble (the default difficulty level) eventually to Deity", and its examples name seven levels: Settler, Chieftain, Warlord, Noble, Monarch, Immortal and Deity (Civilization IV manual, pp. 166-167). Reviewers name two more levels that the manual's text does not. IGN's reviewers name both: the 2005 review speaks of playing "a Chieftain or an Emperor", and the Beyond the Sword review says "Those of us who usually play on Prince have had to step down to Noble", which puts Prince above Noble. The manuals give no full table of each level's numbers, and none says where Emperor sits on the ladder.

Level	What the manual says about it
Settler	Easiest; used by the Tutorial; the game gives play tips
Chieftain	Cities start with 3 health and 6 happiness
Warlord	Highest level at which a tribal village can give a Settler or Worker
Noble	Default; the AI plays under the same conditions as you
Monarch	The AI starts with a free Worker
Immortal	The AI starts with 2 free Workers
Deity	The AI starts with a free Settler; cities start with 1 health and 3 happiness

Source: Civilization IV manual, pp. 14 and 166-167.

What changes as difficulty rises

Every step up makes your own empire harder to run, not only the AI stronger. The Civilization IV manual (pp. 166-167) lists the effects:

Barbarians: on the lower levels your units get "substantial advantages" in combat against barbarians and animals; the bonus shrinks until it disappears, and barbarians appear sooner, more often and in greater numbers.
Free units: you can support more units before paying gold for them on easier levels.
Research: techs cost less on the lower levels and more on the higher ones.
Costs: city maintenance, civic upkeep and inflation all rise with difficulty, which leaves "a much more strained budget" (see Economy).
Health and happiness: every city starts with a base amount that falls as difficulty rises, from 3 health and 6 happiness on Chieftain to 1 health and 3 happiness on Deity, so cities reach their limits sooner (see Cities).
Tribal villages: huts give better results on easier levels, and only on Warlord or lower can one give a Settler or a Worker.

The manual's setup chapter puts the same idea simply: at easier levels "you build cities and units faster and the AI civilizations builds them slower", and at higher levels the reverse (p. 14).

AI bonuses above Noble

Above Noble the AI civilizations get discounts on training units, constructing buildings and wonders, growing cities and researching technologies, per the Civilization IV manual (p. 167). They also start with extra units: the manual names the "notable jumps" as a free Worker on Monarch, 2 free Workers on Immortal and a free Settler on Deity, and adds that the AI starts with extra technologies on the higher levels. IGN's 2005 review described the higher levels as giving "discounts for research and production to your rivals" while lowering the "freebies" a player gets in unit support, health and happiness.

Not everyone liked the handicaps. The team behind the Realism Invictus mod says in its FAQ on ModDB that the unmodded AI "was cheating... massively so" on any level above Noble; that is the mod makers' view, not Firaxis's.

Beyond the Sword's smarter AI

Beyond the Sword promised an AI that wins more by play than by bonuses. Steam's Beyond the Sword page says the "greatly-enhanced AI now relies more on smart play and less on handicap bonuses", with "a more consistent challenge" over the whole game. IGN's reviewers agreed in July 2007: their Beyond the Sword review reported dropping from Prince to Noble, an AI "much better at waging war", and "truly terrifying stacks" appearing on their borders. So a player who beat a level in the base game may find the same level harder in Beyond the Sword.

Which difficulty to choose

The manual's advice for a first game is Settler. It says the game "gives you useful play tips at 'Settler' difficulty" and that "You should consider playing at this difficulty for your first several games" (Civilization IV manual, p. 14). After that, Noble is the level where the AI has no bonuses at all, which makes it the natural test of whether you are playing as well as the computer. GameSpot's 2005 review found that difficulty scales "extremely well", from "a very gentle introduction for beginners" to "a suitably tough challenge for experts". The first steps of a game at any level are on the Beginner's Guide.

Setting difficulty

Difficulty is picked during setup, after the map, size, climate and sea level, and before the game speed (Civilization IV manual, pp. 12-15). On the Custom Game screen you set your own level in a drop-down, and a level can only be chosen for human players, so in multiplayer each person can play at a different level (pp. 166 and 170). There is no way to change it once the game has begun. Since patch 1.61 the single-player Custom Game screen "remembers difficulty level last played", by Firaxis's patch notes. The other setup choices are on Game Setup.

Difficulty elsewhere in the game

Difficulty reaches beyond the ordinary game. In Beyond the Sword's Advanced Start, the gold you get to buy a starting empire "depends upon game difficulty", though it can be changed on the Custom Game menu, per the Beyond the Sword manual (p. 19). In Warlords' Age of the Vikings scenario, the gold needed to win "depends on the game difficulty selected", per the Warlords manual. Colonization, the standalone 2008 game, has its own scale, from Pilgrim (easiest) to Revolutionary (hardest), per the Colonization manual (pp. 7-8).

Frequently asked questions

What are the difficulty levels in Civ 4? Civilization 4's manual names Settler, Chieftain, Warlord, Noble, Monarch, Immortal and Deity, from easiest to hardest, and IGN's reviews also name Prince and Emperor (Civilization IV manual, IGN).

What is special about Noble difficulty in Civ 4? Noble is Civilization 4's default level and the one where the AI plays "under the same conditions as the human players", with no bonuses or penalties, per the manual (p. 167).

What bonuses does the AI get on Deity in Civ 4? On Deity, Civilization 4's AI gets discounts on units, buildings, growth and research, starts with extra technologies and gets a free Settler on top of the Workers it gets from Monarch and Immortal, while your cities start with only 1 health and 3 happiness, per the manual (p. 167).

Which difficulty should a beginner play in Civ 4? Civilization 4's manual recommends Settler, where the game gives play tips, "for your first several games" (p. 14). Noble is the next landmark, since the AI there has no advantages.

Can you change difficulty during a Civ 4 game? No: Civilization 4 has "no way to change the difficulty once a game has begun", per the manual (p. 166).

Is Beyond the Sword harder than the original Civ 4? Steam's page says Beyond the Sword's AI "relies more on smart play and less on handicap bonuses", and IGN's reviewers stepped down from Prince to Noble after playing it (IGN, Jul 26, 2007).