AI at the 125% bonus level. The extra 25% bonus is hardly noticeable and in my opinion makes for a "fair" game.

Not sure on this one. I'd like to see an in-between of the 25%+ and the 100%+. The 25% is a consistent win for me in 9 out of 10 cases (the tenth being stuck in a corner with 3 stars and everything greater than general life support out of range). But, suicidal... meh... i *can* win, but I haven't gotten good enough to do it consistently. I'd like a 50 or 60%+, to kinda train me up to that... but, who knows. By the time the AI for DA comes out i may need to start at normal again.

I'd like to see an in-between of the 25%+ and the 100%+.

AFAIK there were levels added in between these two in v1.31 although I'm not exactly sure what they're called or their exact bonus. The jump from 125% to 200% is a big one. As you say something in-between is helpful.

In my next game I want to try out an entirely different strategy, and I'm probably going to drop the difficulty to help me master it. I think that playing at pretty much any level where the AI isn't intentionally handicapped is as much a matter of choice as it is of ability. Certainly, the higher the AI's level the more concentration, tedium and time the game takes. I can't blame anyone for preferring a shorter, perhaps more carefree, game.

What I meant by "fair" was that at the 125% level the AI does a decent job without having an unreasonable bonus. I know the first time I played that level it was a bit of a shock compared to lower levels and I only won with great difficulty.

By the time the AI for DA comes out i may need to start at normal again.

I do believe you're right here. Pretty much everything will be different. Certainly there will be aspects of play that will be similar, but all strategies will need to adapt. Lowering difficulty is helpful but lowering it too much may just lead to bad habits that need to be unlearned as you then try to raise it back up. All this tinkering can be part of the fun, but that doesn't keep me from complaining about it though.

In Dark Avatar you can play around with the exact resources and aglorithms per player.  I.e. 110% economy for the AI for instance (which I think is the fairest level as the AI isn't as good at the human in avoiding tactical resource round-off waste).

In Dark Avatar you can play around with the exact resources and aglorithms per player. I.e. 110% economy for the AI for instance (which I think is the fairest level as the AI isn't as good at the human in avoiding tactical resource round-off waste).

Would it be possible to put a global "cheat level" into the game creation menus in the final version of DA? The only way to do this now is to create all custom races. There is no global value (that I saw) that can be set from the menus. I played a maso-level game last night and got my backside handed to me. The AIs played much smarter (good) but I couldn't compete with the economic bonuses they received (bad). Granted, better strategy would help (for you hardcore gamers out there), but what I really look for in a game is a reasonable chance to win but challenging enough to keep my interest. Games like CGII are my way to relieve stress, not create it. LOL.