What, exactly, are the differences in difficulty settings right now? I had no trouble settling new colonies on Normal, but on Hard & Serious I'm scraping by for Dust. I'm wondering if that's just due to the galaxy generated, or if it's because some of the bonuses/costs are modified based on difficulty setting.

Hi,

Human players have no penalties in higher difficulties; I'm guessing you must be building more things in order to defend from the AI, hence the dust problem? AIs do get variable bonuses in resources in higher difficulties.

jhell wrote:

Hi,

Human players have no penalties in higher difficulties; I'm guessing you must be building more things in order to defend from the AI, hence the dust problem? AIs do get variable bonuses in resources in higher difficulties.

Nope, I'm following the same build orders I normally do on Normal, yet struggling to keep afloat compared to easier difficulties, even before I'm attacked by anything. But I double-checked my maintenance costs and production in easier difficulties and you're right, they appear to be the same. Perhaps the Random Galaxies are just that swingy?

MikeLemmer wrote:

What, exactly, are the differences in difficulty settings right now? I had no trouble settling new colonies on Normal, but on Hard & Serious I'm scraping by for Dust. I'm wondering if that's just due to the galaxy generated, or if it's because some of the bonuses/costs are modified based on difficulty setting.

Maybe that's because you're having happiness issues? IIRC in higher difficulties happiness drops a bit.

vahouth wrote:

MikeLemmer wrote:

What, exactly, are the differences in difficulty settings right now? I had no trouble settling new colonies on Normal, but on Hard & Serious I'm scraping by for Dust. I'm wondering if that's just due to the galaxy generated, or if it's because some of the bonuses/costs are modified based on difficulty setting.

Maybe that's because you're having happiness issues? IIRC in higher difficulties happiness drops a bit.

Nope, no happiness issues or noticeable happiness penalties. Every colony was content.

MikeLemmer wrote:

jhell wrote:

Hi,

Human players have no penalties in higher difficulties; I'm guessing you must be building more things in order to defend from the AI, hence the dust problem? AIs do get variable bonuses in resources in higher difficulties.

Perhaps the Random Galaxies are just that swingy?

From my few games I've noticed that the galaxies are very variable. I don't believe there are any normalization controls on the randomness.

werewolf_nr wrote:

MikeLemmer wrote:

jhell wrote:

Hi,

Human players have no penalties in higher difficulties; I'm guessing you must be building more things in order to defend from the AI, hence the dust problem? AIs do get variable bonuses in resources in higher difficulties.

Perhaps the Random Galaxies are just that swingy?

From my few games I've noticed that the galaxies are very variable. I don't believe there are any normalization controls on the randomness.

Damn, that's going to make testing out the game balance tricky.

Your  output can change because of several things:

1. The planet types you colonize. Keep in mind that every planet has different  output
2. The population in your empire. Different population types provide different bonuses
3. The combination of 1 and 2; some population have bonuses specific to a planet type
4. Your current government type and/or your current laws
5. Temporary random events
6. Your main questline being different
7. Your heroes being different and/or having different abilities
8. Curiosities yielding less  and more other things
9. ...and many other variables that are too numerous to keep a track of