We should have a night where we get a bunch of these podunk website people to play this game with us. Come on guis, it supports like 16 people I think!
Hey a year later, Lauren finally played this game. Is this not one of the best PC games of all time!?
I would like to make the game more challenging but I can think of only a few ways to do that.
A: Remove nukes.
B: Remove missle shield so everyone can be nuked at any time and is basically just a test of endurance.
C: Any map where you have to cross water to get to the opponents automatically equals you getting your ass kicked. However land only maps seem to mean you dominate the CPU.
D: There is some innate rule in the game where if your nation is advanced enough (I think when you have developed nukes, or possibly just when you fully upgrade your military/civics/commerce/science?) that the AI will try to kill your ass even in diplomacy - unless they are your ally. Wish I could find a way to turn this off, so at the least we could have large battles without all the AI just targeting the players.
E: Setting time limit allows computer to build up resources, but too long = pretty much indestructable. too short = way to easy to overpower. Hard to find that sweet spot.
Perhaps the map with the water in the middle, but land around it, would be a good balance in regards to difficulty as the CPU navy can still shoot your ass, but you aren't dependent on swimming past them to get to their side.
First thing to do in every game is build military barracks, make a few units to max out resource gain, level up science to max since it cost pennies. Points skyrocket.