on incredible it is at 200%

the AI doesn't get anybetter after them but you get penalties instedad

On gifted the AI basically gets a 5% bonus. Just barely but enough to offset some of the inherent sloppiness of the AI when doing tactics.

I've always considered "gifted" to be the real head to head and not tough even though the AI is getting a slight bonus because there's so many things we humans do that an I wouldn't do that allow us to make better decisions tactically that save us a few resources here or there.

So we are back to the question...

Game difficulty levels "Masochistic", "Obscene", and "Suicidal" all set the AI "Incredible" so how are they different?

Yeah. Start a game on Gigantic at Suicidal, and it should become apparent quite fast that they have more influence than you. I haven't checked all the stats exactly, but you get the idea.

Bump.

But if game difficulty levels "Masochistic", "Obscene", and "Suicidal" all set the AI "Incredible", then the AI runs at 200% for each. So how are they different?

Perhaps on "Masochistic" the AI does not get a boost to all the stats whereas on "Suicidal" everything is boosted?

Also, the progression in difficulty levels is not uniform. After easily defeating the AI on Tough in the campaign I wanted to play my first Metaverse game at a harder level. I thought on Crippling the AI got a 125% bonus (i.e., runs at 225%) and thus then figured at Painful it got a bonus between 50-75%. I was disappointed that at Painful the AI only gets a 5% bonus (i.e., it runs at 105%), on Crippling the AI gets a 25% bonus (i.e., runs at 125%), and on Masochistic gets a 100% bonus (i.e., runs at 200%)! As a result my game on Painful was far to easy; I'm currently playing my second on Masochistic. It would be better to have levels where the AI gets a bonus of 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, and 150% (i.e., runs at 125%, 150%, 175%, 200%, and 250%). There is too small a difference between Tough and Painful and too large a difference between Crippling and Masochistic!

If in v1.2, game difficulty levels "Masochistic", "Obscene", and "Suicidal" all set the AI "Incredible", then the AI runs at 200% for each. So how are they different?

What you don't understand here is the meaning of "each." At Masochistic the AI gets 200% to production, research, and economy, with full strategy ability.

At Obscene and Suicidal, they also get to bonuses to Influence, and Diplomacy, and Morale, and Loyalty, and Courage, and Luck, ship Range, and--well, you get the idea. I don't have an exact list, but that's the difference. Obviously the bonuses are higher at Suicidal.

On most video and computer games they don't tell you the exact bonus's the AI gets but it's obvious the AI gets harder to beat,

Erm, isn't this not one of those games though?   

The AI gets harder to beat with each level, that's the differnce. On most video and computer games they don't tell you the exact bonus's the AI gets but it's obvious the AI gets harder to beat, your just the player you don't need to know how the games done just sit down, shut up and play the game.

What's it to you? There is no need to be so aggressive; there also isn't a need to stifle discussion just because you don't consider it important.

You might not give a damn but some of us are interested in this sort of stuff. Besides the curiousity factor, there are also things like modding considerations.

Damn forum screwing with my posts.  

For got sakes, just play on Suicidal. I started out on a medium level when I first got the game and moved up untill I lost. Turns out, it is hard to lose unless you get a horible starting position. The AI has improved a bit with 1.2 but stull, Suicidal is more than managable. With a game like this, the AI needs all the help it can get. And besides the harder the better.

In a v1.2 game, at the end of the second year (playing as Thalan Empire on Masochistic against 9 majors and 2 minors, gigantic map, everything abundant, very fast research) and I have 75 planets of ~300 in the galaxy. I have taken out the Terran Alliance (except for Mars) and the best (10+ PQ) planets of the Drath Legion. I made peace with the Terrans and Drath because all their remaining worlds are revolting. Why invade them when they will soon join my empire on their own! I have redirected my warships to the Korx Consortium and I'm building 15 troop transports to overrun them but I need to be quick as the Torians have just declared war on them. The Drengin's have just declared war on the Iconian Refuge and one of the minors, so I'm preparing to capture the minor's planet and its 2 resources before them. My relations with the AI varies from Cool to Warm, so it seems the AI will let me pick them off one by one until it is too late. I guess I'll have to try Obscene and Suicidal in my future games for more of a challenge.

I just posted my 2nd Metaverse game, in which I scored 99500! It was on a v1.2 gigantic map, 9 major and 2 minor incredible AI opponents (Masochistic), everything abundant, and very fast research. I completed the game with 2.6T people on Dec. 15, 2227, so it counted as only 2 yrs.

In October I played out this game out another year and posted with a new score of 155500! So growing my population and economy (and to a lesser extend my military and completing the tech tree) mattered more to my final score than finishing quickly.