Since someone asked I thought I would put some information here.
In addition to the below it is my belief also that requests are for less goods at lower difficulty levels. i.e if at hard the request is for 12 items as easy it may be 9 items.

This and the below is the main reason you don't see many requests or invasions in my contests. I always like both levels to have to do the same things but usually start with more money on easy. This is just a personal thing and I have done the odd military contest in the past.


The following is the description of difficulty levels that was in the readme for the C3 "patch" (but note that the starting favor is in the second column, not the first): * 4 new Difficulty levels have been introduced (in addition to the original.) Difficulty can be changed through the options menu at any time. (Difficulty level is not stored in a saved game. It is a global game setting, so you must change the difficulty manually any time you load a saved game where you want a different difficulty.)

The Difficulty levels change the following:

Starting cash, rescue loans, and tax income:
Very Easy - 300%
Easy - 200%
Normal - 150%
Hard - 100% (original setting)
Very Hard - 50%

Starting favor and mood(happiness) settings:
Very Easy 80 70
Easy 70 60
Normal 60 50
Hard 60 50
Very Hard 50 40

Wolves are not as strong at lower difficulty levels. Enemy invasion strengths have been scaled to difficulty level.

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Tax rates at different difficulty levels.

<TABLE cellPadding=2 border=1 x="font-size:x-small;font-family:Tahoma,Verdana,Arial"><TBODY><TR><TD align=right>VH</TD><TD align=right>H</TD><TD align=right>N</TD><TD align=right>E</TD><TD align=right>VE</TD><TD></TD><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>12</TD><TD align=right>16</TD><TD align=right>24</TD><TD align=right>32</TD><TD align=right>48</TD><TD align=right>200</TD><TD>Lx Palace</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>11</TD><TD align=right>15</TD><TD align=right>22</TD><TD align=right>30</TD><TD align=right>45</TD><TD align=right>190</TD><TD>Lg Palace</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>9</TD><TD align=right>12</TD><TD align=right>18</TD><TD align=right>24</TD><TD align=right>36</TD><TD align=right>112</TD><TD>Md Palace</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>9</TD><TD align=right>12</TD><TD align=right>18</TD><TD align=right>24</TD><TD align=right>36</TD><TD align=right>106</TD><TD>Sm Palace</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>8</TD><TD align=right>11</TD><TD align=right>16</TD><TD align=right>22</TD><TD align=right>33</TD><TD align=right>100</TD><TD>Lx Villa</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>8</TD><TD align=right>11</TD><TD align=right>16</TD><TD align=right>22</TD><TD align=right>33</TD><TD align=right>90</TD><TD>Lg Villa</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>7</TD><TD align=right>10</TD><TD align=right>15</TD><TD align=right>20</TD><TD align=right>30</TD><TD align=right>42</TD><TD>Md Villa</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>6</TD><TD align=right>9</TD><TD align=right>13</TD><TD align=right>18</TD><TD align=right>27</TD><TD align=right>40</TD><TD>Sm Villa</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>4</TD><TD align=right>6</TD><TD align=right>8</TD><TD align=right>12</TD><TD align=right>84</TD><TD>Gd Insulae</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>4</TD><TD align=right>6</TD><TD align=right>9</TD><TD align=right>84</TD><TD>Lg Insulae</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>4</TD><TD align=right>6</TD><TD align=right>9</TD><TD align=right>80</TD><TD>Md Insulae</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>4</TD><TD align=right>6</TD><TD align=right>9</TD><TD align=right>76</TD><TD>Sm Insulae</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>4</TD><TD align=right>6</TD><TD align=right>76</TD><TD>Lg Casa</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>4</TD><TD align=right>6</TD><TD align=right>68</TD><TD>Sm Casa</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>4</TD><TD align=right>6</TD><TD align=right>60</TD><TD>Lg Hovel</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>4</TD><TD align=right>6</TD><TD align=right>52</TD><TD>Sm Hovel</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>0</TD><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>44</TD><TD>Lg Shack</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>0</TD><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>36</TD><TD>Sm Shack</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>0</TD><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>28</TD><TD>Lg Tent</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>0</TD><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>1</TD><TD align=right>2</TD><TD align=right>3</TD><TD align=right>20</TD><TD>Sm Tent</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

The bold hard column is common knowledge. Example: A single Sm Villa, @ Normal, Tax rate 7%, fully occupied
Tax per month = 0.005 * 13 * 7 * 40 = 18.2 dn = 18 dn (rounded down)
Tax per year = 12 * 18 = 216 dn


Hope this helps. Tax is the main difference between levels in most contests.

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Grand Champion C3 2001 World Cup. Novice Champion C3 2001 World Cup.Winner 7 Gold Medals C3 2001 World Cup.