Does anyone know exactly how much bonus yields the AI gets in higher difficulties ?

I find it to be quite annoying honestly. I can play most difficulties easily, however, when I start reaching the later ones (Civilization and Humankind difficulties) I feel like the game becomes ridiculous. It forces you to either have a whole continent for yourself and develop without having anyone attacking you, or, it forces you to vassalize other civ's early in the game in order to keep up with them. Also I find hilarious how the AI is able to have so much military units even if they are rapidly falling behind. I get that the bonus yields are increased when they are losing but it is ridiculous just how much the AI "Cheats".

I get that some people like this sort of challenge and for them can be fun, but that might not be the case for everyone. I don't know just how much these "bonus yields" affect them but I find it to be quite overpowered.

Some might say, "well just play easier modes" like empire. Yes, you may have I point but in those difficulties the AI just becomes a literal bot with a bit of bonus yields with you can easily defeat.

If someone can help me out, maybe I am missing some type of mechanic or I just don't understand, but I really think that this AI bonus yields matter is could be reworked.

I suggest "smarter" AI rather than huge bonuses. Either that or just give us more tools when creating a match to set the difficulty.

Out of curiosity have you tried playing with any of the AI that belongs to the community and do they feel different from the standard set of AI you can pick?

I'm asking because in my first game I picked random AI and I think I might have gotten some community AI in my game, because they behave much more like a "challenging" player would imo (again this could just be standard AI- I don't know the game well enough to see the difference). 

Here's what the AI has achieved in my game so far: 

1) It has pretty consistently been number 2 throughout the entire game (until recently)

2) It vassalised its two main competitors on their own continent. 

3) It disrupts trade-routes.

Meanwhile there is another AI that has elected to stay Nubian all game (for some reason) - I have never seen an AI use the diplomatic system so much in a game. Like they constantly try to make deals- use congress to get their will done etc.

So my take- so far- is that I've been quite impressed by the AI in most areas.

Disclaimer: I am playing on Nation difficulty only in my first game- so that obviously had an effect from the sounds of it? Can I expect the AI to only get resource buffs when picking a higher difficulty - or should I stick to picking more "advanced" AI personas?

Hi,

I usual play on Civilization difficulty, but rapidly switch to empire since I get so frustrated. But yes, the AI is very active in game trough war and trough the diplomatic system, specially if you turn up the difficulty, but what I just don't like is how much boost they get.

In nation difficulty you can smoothly be in the top 3 all game, but when you go to Civilization and humankind difficulty you mostly likely will stay in the bottom of the leaderboard all game. You can come back in the late game but the change of winning get slimmer and slimmer the latter the game gets given that the AI gets all the achievements. Not to mention that you have to survive the all game agains diplomacy and the massive AI armies.

While for the AI personas, yes, playing the harder ones is always more of a challenge, specially if you turn up the game difficulty. That's why I'm not sure how much the bonus yields affect the game because of the unique traits the AI also has. So while I can't that question you have I guess I can only tell you to try things out and see what works best.

My impression is that on higher difficulties some of the better AI opponents will develop science rapidly, build multiple cities rapidly, build large armies, and be aggressive, looking to attack and vassalize their neighbors.  Also, upon moving to a new era, they will immediately upgrade as many of their units as they can afford.  (This is my impression, at least).

For a long time, I played very pacifistic.  And I did find it impossible to win on the higher difficulties.  

Recently, I've faired better by:

1.  Attacking independent people more often, and earlier, to farm military unit XP, and military stars in each era.

2. Choosing civs that provide unit type or combat legacy traits (such as +2 CS on Cavalry or Ranged units or Naval units)

3. Choosing wonders that provide CS bonus to unit types

4. Conquering opponents and territories that control natural or man-made wonders that aid military success.

5. Being more aggressive toward AI opponents

Another option, if you don't enjoy warfare, is to set the difficulty to Peaceful Mode.