No tech trading, very slow tech speed, gigantic map with lots of habitable planets (although this last bit probably doesn't matter that much and may be harder at other settings.)

I play no tech trading, slow tech (not very slow), gigantic, scattered stars or loose clusters, and abundant all. This results in a galaxy of about 500 planets. Dense clusters give about 250 planets and I think results in a game that's a little easier, certainly shorter. I usually play with 5 to 9 opponents dependent on mood. More opponents is more difficult and takes longer.

I do think overall no tech trading makes it more difficult, though that's not the reason I select it. I select it because I tend to research concetrated areas to gain an advantage in one area at the expense of overall tech development. I'm unwilling to give away the tech that I do research because of this. Also I think it as likely that the AI will take advantage over me in trades as vice versa.

In v1.2 this was a pretty tough setting but winnable barring unusual starting circumstances. A ctrl-N or two eliminates the ridiculus start of being surrounded by opponents, otherwise I pretty much take what I get.

I'm currently in my first suicidal v1.31 game. It's more difficult because of the changes as well the fact that what I did in v1.2 isn't necessarily the best thing to do in v1.31. I think once I get used to the changes and make minor strategy changes to compensate, the overall difficulty of v1.31 will be a bit higher than v1.2 but not dramatically so.

As far as strategies, there's many; high pop, strong economy, strong technology, strong military and combinations of the above. The only one that's now essentially impossible is high pop (assuming you mean greater than 25B per planet). With the morale building and farm changes, I think everyone pretty much agrees that anything above 20-22B per planet is impossible. Otherwise it's business as usual with a few tweaks and just a bit harder.

Yeah, I think Frogboy said the AI is optimized for the medium galaxy. You deserve a medal for playing Gigantic though. I would never have the patience to see the game through to the end.

No tech trading can harm the AI as well, some of them don't research certain techs on their own (or only at a late point). The hardest setting regarding technology is the slowest research speed coupled with tech trading on - but without using it from your side.

These are all good suggestions for a hard game. Also turn on blind exploration and disble minor races.

I think that economy, morale, and population growth are the best racial abilities to pick, and not using them makes the game harder, too.

There's loads of strategies for this level, but don't most (all?) of them rely on attacking the AI early before it's fully ready?

If by this you mean do I attack the AI that's just declared war on me, then the answer is yes. Like Kblore mentioned I like to have medium hulls, reasonable miniaturization and speed, and, a decent weapon, but I take what I can get.

abundant abundancies

Love the phrase. Sort of like redundant redundancies.

I meant attacking before the AI has completed its initial military buildup. Sounds like neither of you are doing that so I was completely wrong assuming that's what most successful strategies at this level use!

I do this.

I attack to my timetable not the AI's. If the AI's not ready for war, tough, not my problem, its Brad's.  

I usually try to take the strongest AI out by war at the end of yr 2225 - start of yr 2226. Success makes me the galactic superpower, usually by 2227 if not earlier.

I attack to my timetable not the AI's. If the AI's not ready for war, tough, not my problem, its Brad's. I usually try to take the strongest AI out by war at the end of yr 2225 - start of yr 2226. Success makes me the galactic superpower, usually by 2227 if not earlier.

I like the attitude. I guess I'll have to give this a try. You must spend all initial tech development towards war ignoring developmental type techs. What techs do you feel are necessary before you start the first war? Also, how many opponents do you play against, or do you think it matters much?

I've been playing CGII for a couple of weeks now, and reading the forums for about as long, and I've got a question about what the most difficult settings are.

Suicidal difficulty and Gigantic map are pretty well documented. One thing I don't understand, though, is why "abundant everything" is also used. Strategy games (for me anyway) are about making trade-offs and difficult decisions. And, being able to find a way to recover from an earlier decision that turned out to be not-so-good.

It's been noted that anomalies can help fund the initial colonization phase, and I understand that. But, if the game is on a difficulty setting like Suicidal, I would expect someone wants a difficult game. So, wouldn't having a setting like Occasional make for a more challenging game? During colony rush the question becomes "What's more important: another colony ship; or a market place?"

Habitable Planet abundance is similar, but more significant. With, say, Occasional Habitable Planets, during the colony rush the question is "Do I want to colonize this Class 8, or should I look elsewhere for something better?" After the colony rush, the question is "where should I build which structure?" Later the question becomes "should I build this military star base for that class 9 near the border where the battle ships need to be, or on that class 12 farther into my territory that generates the majority of my income, or on my research planet over there in the back waters of this sector?"

At least that's the way things seem to me. I've only been playing for a couple of weeks (and I've lost a lot of sleep to this game, so my brain may not be in top working condition) so I probably don't understand some of the nuances of the game (especially scoring--I don't understand that at all). Does the "abundant everything" setting increase the (Metaverse) score somehow?

As I've looked over this post, it seems kind of trollish. It's not intended to be, but I don't have the time to rework it.

Basically, my question boils down to "Why isn't 'Suicidal' and 'abundant everything' a contradiction in terms?" (Or, perhaps, 'a contradiction in difficulty settings' is a better way to phrase it.)

Eric

And yes, I think it might be because it's the path to the highest metaverse scores

I can confirm that gigantic abundant everything gives u the highest metaverse score.

I just finished a game on gigantic pushing 400 habitable planets. Man, that was a handfull. And, I still have too more levels of planet abundancy I can move up to. Hehe, my computer was chugging toward the end. It's really going to hate me when I eventually try a game with everything maxed out.

I haven't experienced a big difference in scores between Suicidal and Masochistic. I think it makes more of a difference when comparing lower difficulties, but the higher ones seem to run fairly close. Personally, I find the latest version of the game quite a bit harder out of the gate so I'm playing at a lower difficulty now.

It does look rather cool.

I play with very fast research which speeds up the game. I think this makes the game harder because the AI gets aggressive earlier in the game

In my experience, the AI gets aggressive once the colony rush is over. On suicidal, they can turn out new ships so quickly from newly settled colonies that the slower colony ship speeds doesn't have much effect on how long the rush takes.

The difference in effectiveness of weapons which are (for argument's sake) 5 steps different down the tech tree is much less apparent when you're already some way down it than when you're still near the start, as well.

It's all a question of time. For the way I play (and I suspect most people), there's a certain minimum that needs to get researched before you can fight effectively. Even though that minimum's pretty low, now that economy and morale has been nerfed *and* the econ techs made more expensive, reaching that minimum takes quite a few turns longer. Enough extra time, I'm finding, for the AI to be ready for you. This may well be because I keep getting started next to the Drengin!

Allowing the AI to invade with the express intention of reinvading with nearby prepared transports the next turn just to steal tech is probably still workable. I think I'd rather drop down a few levels than resort to it though!