What is the difference between Masochistic and Obscene or Suicidal?

from GalCiv2 Forums
I cannot find the differences spelled out anywhere. On all three, the races are set to "Incredible" AI, so are all three difficulty levels equivalent, or are there real differences?
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The only clue I have is that in one of the developer journals Brad says that the computer doesn't cheat, but at levels above "Intelligent", "all bets are off"... does that mean that at Suicidal, since the computer is still playing at full AI and 200% revenue (since it is at "Incredible" level, same as Masochistic), maybe the computer DOES know the entire universe and has full espionage on you at the beginning, that fog of war is turned off for it?
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
well, I only notice this much...

At "Masochistic" or lower, only ONE AI need to be at set AI level. so for "Masochistic" only one AI need to be at "Incredible."

At "Suicidal," ALL AI need to be at set AI level. ALL AI in "Suicidal" need to be "Incredible."

At "Obscene," I don't know... perhaps something in between Masochistic and Suicidal?
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It's the level of bonus they get. It's in the manual. The AI gets something like 150% bonus at economy for suicidal, but at obscene everything get's multiplies (Brad said that "With a 200% multiplier, perhaps they have no real fog of war?", which means that everything gets multiplied at different levels

It's only multipliers, no omniscience which everyone keeps crying about (Because they can't play the game )
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It's the level of bonus they get. It's in the manual. The AI gets something like 150% bonus at economy for suicidal, but at obscene everything get's multiplies (Brad said that "With a 200% multiplier, perhaps they have no real fog of war?", which means that everything gets multiplied at different levels


Marcathonas, I think you have the game level and AI level confused.

As stated in the manual, AI gets economy multiplier at different INTELLIGENCE level.

Fool-------------10%, no higher level algorithms
Beginner------25%, no higher level algorithms
Sub-Normal--50%, no higher level algorithms
Normal---------75%, AI evaluates common human tactics
Bright-----------100%, AI evaluates most known human tactics
Intelligent------100%, All AI algorithms in place
Genius---------125%, All AI algorithms in place
Incredible------200%, All AI algorithms in place

However, the Game Difficulty level is different and goes like this,
Cake Walk
Easy
Simple
Beginner
Normal
Challenging
Tough
Painful
Crippling
Masochistic
Obscene
Suicidal

as in the manual, "These settings will override the individual settings for each opponent's Intelligence."
well... with different Intelligence setting, each AI gets different bonus and algorithms to work with.

To play a "Masochistic" game, atleast ONE AI need to be "Incredible."
To play a "Suicidal" game, ALL AI need to be "Incredible."
not sure about "Obscene" (which is between Masochistic and Suicidal)
I only notice this much for the last three GAME level.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It would be nice if someone from Stardock would respond, because certainly they would know! Instead, it doesn't seem to be documented anywhere that I have seen...
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
If they really want to make the game Masochistic, they really ought to switch out the musical background to continuous non-stop country music. That would be masochistic.