I've been playing Civ for a while now and I can't seem to get away from playing as the Incans. Every time I do I either have trouble with the early Barbarians, or end up missing my early religion (If I picked a Civ without Mysticism) It doesn't seem like any other Civ has nearly as much to offer as Huayna.

Financial is the best single trait, and Aggresive makes my top 3. Their UU is great for gaining an early advantage over a nearby Civ or Barbarian nation. Mysticism guarentees I'll get Hinduism.

Are there any other leaders that can compete on Emporer and above with standard starting conditions? (medium sized world, 7 Civs) I had a good run with GW once, but that was when I started on an island...

Why don't you try playing a random civ? It makes the game more varied IMO, and you get to really understand the strengths and weaknesses of each civ.

I think I could play any Civ and do well on Noble or Prince, but after that, only the strong Civs seem viable. At the very least it seems you need Mysticsm to get an early religion and Financial or Organized to keep up in the tech race. This doesn't leave many options.

The only leaders that meet that criteria are Huayna and Asoka.
Mansa Musa and GW both have good traits but arn't guarenteed an early religion.
Julius and Tokugawa might be able to get by their UU in some games, but it still seems like a really long shot.

You don't need an early religion, go for Confucianism or Taoism instead. Every civ has their strength, and everyone of them has a chance of being successful at any level. They wouldn't be in the game if they didn't. You just have to learn how to play them. It sounds to me like you're stuck in a certain playing style, not just a civ. Going random would probably help you get unstuck, and let you learn some new tactics at the same time.

In my experience, going for an early religion is usually a mistake. I'd much rather start with mining (for quick chop rush with bronze working) then with mysticism. On emperor, try playing a civ that starts with mining, don't go for a religion, and see how much better you can do this way.

Edit : typo.

Learn to play without religion as it'll help you on higher settings. And if you want a consistent strategy that works with any civ try the REX (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=156299).

If you pick a civ with mining, research bronze working, chop-rush a settler while researching the wheel, plop your 2nd city near or on copper, and chop-rush a few axemen in that city, you wont have any problems with barbarians. Its fast enough that you get a few axemen before the barbs really start to be a pain on emperor (and even immortal most of the time). Creative can also help a lot with the barbs at times, as does starting with hunting (quick archers).

About the early religion, it seems like you really need to get rid of the addiction :D. You sure can keep up in the tech race without it. If you really want a religion, you could always do the oracle->code of laws thing (if you're organized its great) or you could make your 1st/2nd great person a great scientist, and burn him on philosophy (need mathematics and code of laws for this). If one of your neighbour founds one while you're waiting to get confu/tao, making him your 1st victim is yet another option. Also, burning your 1st great prophet to get civil service is as good for science early on as making him build a shrine: early bureaucracy is awesome.

Quechuas are great but you can rush anybody on emperor/immortal by chop-rushing 10-15 axemen. Just ditch the wonders if you dont have much forests.

The short answer is try a harder difficulty level

Financial/aggresive are probably the best early level traits in that they are the easiest to use to full effect if you're playing with passive opponents. At later levels though spiritual is probably the most powerful, followed by philosophical - both of those once mastered can be game winners, whereas financial just means each time you're pillaged you'll be set back that much more and aggresive becomes irelevant once rock/paper/scissors units are available - ie within 40 turns or so.

One of the great things about this game is the way each level almost needs its own strategy, and something like cottaging while awesome to begin with sucks balls by deity. Ditto chopping gets much weaker (need that health and un-pillagable production more) and religion is just terrible - you'll be disliked by too many civs to survive if you have a religion. Watch a diety game and more often than not budhism, hinduism and judaism are the dominant religions, as soon as a civ discovers one of the later ones and switches to it they get dogpiled and crippled pretty soon after. Ditto with rushing strategies, you'll be at zero percent science before you've conquered your first enemy

I don't really see why you wouldn't want to found a starting religion. You get to support an additional popultaion point, +7 culture per turn, and theres not much of a drawback as long as you start on floodplains. You can use the time getting mining and bronze working to grow and then sacrifice pop once you aquire pottery. If you found an early religion you are also more likely for people next to you to adopt it.

As for traits, I wouldn't necessarily pick aggresive, but in the beginning it is extremely helpful. Since the combat system is setup on key points, and the first key point is at 1.1, the extra 10% from aggresive is immensly helpful in the early going against the barbarians. A 1:1 battle gives you a 50% chance to win, a 1.1 on 1 battle gives you a 65% chance to win. Now you are winning 2 out of 3 instead of 1 out of 2.

Financial is certainly the best single trait, although organized can be better in the early running. I don't see why you would even worry about cottage pillaging, I don't buld them until I have an extra military unit to fight off the barbarians. All of my cottages are built on flatland, so if the computer decides to sneak attack and pillage a border he will lose all of his units doing it.

I have tried higher difficulty levels, although Immortal is already at the point where it seems too hard to be fun. I can't see how you could possibly win a standard 7 player Diety game without messing with the settings considerably.

I don't really see why you wouldn't want to found a starting religion. You get to support an additional popultaion point, +7 culture per turn, and theres not much of a drawback as long as you start on floodplains. You can use the time getting mining and bronze working to grow and then sacrifice pop once you aquire pottery. If you found an early religion you are also more likely for people next to you to adopt it.

It's helpful, but not necessary. I used to be obsessed with getting an early religion too, but I find now I'm better off going for Writing first then Code of Laws to get Confucianism. And you don't get to support an extra population point, you just get 1 Happiness which makes a larger city a bit more productive. But in the early game your cities are going to be small enough that this isn't really an issue.

As for traits, I wouldn't necessarily pick aggresive, but in the beginning it is extremely helpful. Since the combat system is setup on key points, and the first key point is at 1.1, the extra 10% from aggresive is immensly helpful in the early going against the barbarians. A 1:1 battle gives you a 50% chance to win, a 1.1 on 1 battle gives you a 65% chance to win. Now you are winning 2 out of 3 instead of 1 out of 2.

Plan your defenses properly and you don't need that extra combat bonus. In fact you're better off using Archers on Hills, and they don't even get Combat 1. Just having them fortified on a Hill increases their relative strength by 75%, which is way more than the 10% you get with Combat 1. Even more if the Hill is forested. Then add another 50% when they get a couple of ranks of Guerilla. And yes, the Barbs will attack them if they're anywhere close to the path they follow, you don't have to go hunting them down.

I don't see why you would even worry about cottage pillaging, I don't buld them until I have an extra military unit to fight off the barbarians.

You should have at least one Cottage in your capital long before the Barbs even start coming around. It sounds to me like you're not planning very well and relying on the civ's traits to make up for your shortcomings. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do well with any of the other traits. There's a reason why they're in the game, it's not slanted to just a couple of them. It would be very poor game design if that were true, and this game has not been poorly designed.

I don't really see why you wouldn't want to found a starting religion.

It is not that you don't want to found religion. You just have more important things to do and you can't afford risking losing religion race.


I have tried higher difficulty levels, although Immortal is already at the point where it seems too hard to be fun.

You see, that's the point - you need to reevaluate your religion strategy. Immortal is not hard if you choose right strategy.


I can't see how you could possibly win a standard 7 player Diety game without messing with the settings considerably.
Standard Deity is difficult, but far from impossible. I know of several situations when you can win:
- archipelago (this one I can win somewhat consistently (depends on Civ))
- isolated island start (cultural win. The key here is to have early luxury gold/silver/gem/fur - 2 kinds is enough with an optimal Civ, probably 3 kinds are needed with other Civs. These are all estimates. If you're lucky there might be a lot of wars between AI. Or you may get lucky, and Mansa Musa or Catherine are not playing.
- pangaea (if you're playing rushing civ (like romans), you may have a chance
to conquer and then consolidate. I wouldn't call it a reliable strategy, but maybe I'm not a very good rusher). Alternate strategy is to get to catapults and then conquer your neighbour. This isn't very reliable other.
- continents (that's the toughest, I think. Either you can try to play like on Pangaea, but because of your wars, even if they're successful, the other continent(s) seem to get so far ahead, so there isn't enough time to conquer them before they get spaceship. I've never managed it, but I wasn't so far to say it's impossible. Alternatively you can play for cultural victory, but here the difficulty is to get enough room - you need really lucky starting location to pull it out).

I suggest you buy some early religion nicorette or something :p

early religion VS chop-rushing settlers/axemen a lot of turns sooner? Land is key on higher levels...

I've heard many tell tales of success with the Incans, but I can't get past the fact that Catherine is... great. Well, I suppose that's why she was called the Great. :p

Financial, Creative: early land grab and an economic power-house past mid-game. Not only that, but you get the overpowered Cossacks. Strength 17 and +50% against cavalry! There is nothing that can challenge them on the field (note: field, not city) before the advent of tanks! As soon as they are researched, they should be able to take out cities unsupported - and make a mess out of the enemy's lands and supply lines in no time! Well, I always did love Cavalry, with its lovely Move, 3 in CivIII.

I usually play on Noble/Prince, so facts may vary on higher levels.

I guess I will have to try the Incans for once. Perhaps it is the allure of really good (and experienced!) early units and the fact that they never have to build useless warriors that people fall in love with (err, the allure - not the warriors)... Well, that and the quite powerful Financial trait, but I'm sure the Incancs would be popular even without it. I'm surprised they were given everything. Look at Monty - what did he get for his troubles? An UU that is actually worse than the original if you do have access to Iron... No wonder he went psycho!

However, I would like to point out that there are definite downsides to Financial. If you are constantly at war and you are not clearly winning, there is a chance that the enemy will completely wreck your economy. Rebuilding those towns takes a lot of time even with Emancipation, which makes the threat of invasion extremely dreadful! On lower levels of difficulty, Financial is a definite game winner. It needs a powerful, cunning opponent to keep a Financial civ constantly rebuilding its economy.

I find that if you get Stonehenge, not only does it help expand your borders, but it gets you a Prophet that can be used to found one of the later religions. Even up to Emperor, I've found it extraordinarily easy to get this Wonder no matter which leader I'm playing. Then research Alphabet and trade around for all the Theology pre-reqs and then when the Prophet's tech says Theology, use him and found Christianity. I've had great success with this strategy.

Also, the higher you go up in level, the more valuable Expansive and Organized become. Try playing as Caesar and leave your warmongering until the Praetorian stage. You'll still be able to attack a lot of people, but you'll hold it off until a bit later in the game. It will make for an easier transition from your current strategy.

On Emporer and higher games, there is a big downside to founding an early religion... it really ticks off your neighbors, and for relatively mild benefits in the early game.

Even once religion spreads into my lands, I don't usually adopt it until I'm too strong to be trifled with anyway, and I have a lot of early development to do before I'll reach that point.

I do end up founding Confucianism most games on the way to Great Prophet- slingshotting to Civil Service, but again, I rarely adopt it, opting instead to adopt the religion of whichever of my neighbors I intend to attack last.

It is not that you don't want to found religion. You just have more important things to do and you can't afford risking losing religion race.

I don't really see how you could, if you started with a nation with Mysticism. I don't plan to play Deity on this Civ, although I was able to beat it on Civ II.


Standard Deity is difficult, but far from impossible. I know of several situations when you can win:
- archipelago (this one I can win somewhat consistently (depends on Civ))
- isolated island start (cultural win. The key here is to have early luxury gold/silver/gem/fur - 2 kinds is enough with an optimal Civ, probably 3 kinds are needed with other Civs. These are all estimates. If you're lucky there might be a lot of wars between AI. Or you may get lucky, and Mansa Musa or Catherine are not playing.
- pangaea (if you're playing rushing civ (like romans), you may have a chance
to conquer and then consolidate. I wouldn't call it a reliable strategy, but maybe I'm not a very good rusher). Alternate strategy is to get to catapults and then conquer your neighbour. This isn't very reliable other.
- continents (that's the toughest, I think. Either you can try to play like on Pangaea, but because of your wars, even if they're successful, the other continent(s) seem to get so far ahead, so there isn't enough time to conquer them before they get spaceship. I've never managed it, but I wasn't so far to say it's impossible. Alternatively you can play for cultural victory, but here the difficulty is to get enough room - you need really lucky starting location to pull it out).

I've been playing almost exclusively on continents, I still think Archipelgo would be hard, I think you would find yourself ridiculously far behind in tech and with no way to catch up. On pretty much every Deity game this would happen though...

It's helpful, but not necessary. I used to be obsessed with getting an early religion too, but I find now I'm better off going for Writing first then Code of Laws to get Confucianism. And you don't get to support an extra population point, you just get 1 Happiness which makes a larger city a bit more productive. But in the early game your cities are going to be small enough that this isn't really an issue.

Again, the cap seems to be at 3 pop for most cities, 4 pop at your capital without religion or luxury resources. If you started next to gold/gems/silver/ivory I could see getting by without a starting religion. Otherwise your cities would be too small to even pay for their own costs.


Plan your defenses properly and you don't need that extra combat bonus. In fact you're better off using Archers on Hills, and they don't even get Combat 1. Just having them fortified on a Hill increases their relative strength by 75%, which is way more than the 10% you get with Combat 1. Even more if the Hill is forested. Then add another 50% when they get a couple of ranks of Guerilla. And yes, the Barbs will attack them if they're anywhere close to the path they follow, you don't have to go hunting them down.


Certainly I do this, as far as I can tell, a Barb can't resist a confrontation against a single unit stationed on a wooded hill. But that 10% is for the initial warriors you send out exploring, who often get caught by animals on flatland. Also the addtional 10% has occasionally tipped them over the 1.0 in battles after applying all the other bonuses.


You should have at least one Cottage in your capital long before the Barbs even start coming around. It sounds to me like you're not planning very well and relying on the civ's traits to make up for your shortcomings. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do well with any of the other traits. There's a reason why they're in the game, it's not slanted to just a couple of them. It would be very poor game design if that were true, and this game has not been poorly designed.

My priorities for workers are as follows:
Chopping, hooking up special resources, mining and building roads between cities, then making cottages and occasionally farming. Also, since Pottery is generally researched after Mining, Bronze Working, The Wheel and Agriculture, it is unlikely that the Barbarians have not appeared in the world before that time.

Again, the cap seems to be at 3 pop for most cities, 4 pop at your capital without religion or luxury resources. If you started next to gold/gems/silver/ivory I could see getting by without a starting religion. Otherwise your cities would be too small to even pay for their own costs.
You can develop Monarchy fairly quickly (I guess it comes right after Priesthood), switch to Hereditary Rule and create some extra happiness with military presence.

Another way is to chop down the Pyramids, of course. :)

I am in the phase of experimenting in Emperor/Immortal/Deity now, and my experience tells me that this whole thing about the "indifference" of the Aggressive trait is untrue. It matters really much to have Axemen with +10% to start with, and then use the Barracks' two easy promotions (hoping for just one barbarian) to get vs. Archery and City Raider 1 - it's way fewer units lost in any early battle (REX) to get cities before catapults. Aggressive loses it's power only much later. So, if you want to be warmongering (and AGGRESSIVE) in ancient times, it really makes things much easier.

As for the early religion, I too think now much less about it than I used to, but still if I am able I get it. Getting a religion doesn't necessarily mean that you need to convert to it in order to get something out of it - for example, Meditation has those wonderful monasteries, not only Buddism. Those who claim that founding a religion gets everyone else to hate you forget that sometimes (to be more exact, quite a few times) you will be able to spread your religion to your NEIGHBOURS, with exactly the opposite effect than the one they describe (and also you will know whether you should do this, according to whether they have found a religion or not). Yet, I do agree that going for Code of Laws seems more consistent strategy in Emperor+ levels.

Overall, I also like a bit the Incas in many cases. The only disadvantage they have is that you need to have a "close" AI opponent to utilise their UU - otherwise it gets very quickly obsolete. But I can live with many other civs also, and many other different traits too.

Again, the cap seems to be at 3 pop for most cities, 4 pop at your capital without religion or luxury resources. If you started next to gold/gems/silver/ivory I could see getting by without a starting religion. Otherwise your cities would be too small to even pay for their own costs.

Unhappiness isn't an issue until you have 1 citizen refusing to work, which generally happens later than pop 3. If it does happen, and you have Slavery, just pop rush something to get rid of it. And as mentioned, Hereditary Rule is more than good enough to take care of any early unhappiness.

But that 10% is for the initial warriors you send out exploring, who often get caught by animals on flatland. Also the addtional 10% has occasionally tipped them over the 1.0 in battles after applying all the other bonuses.

Animals are usually no match for a Warrior, you get bonuses against them. I've even beaten Bears on flat ground with them. And if you do lose the odd one so what. Besides, Scouts are much better for exploring with their 2 moves, Warriors aren't really that good at it. Plus Scouts get 100% against animals and they don't pop angry Warriors from villages.

My priorities for workers are as follows:
Chopping, hooking up special resources, mining and building roads between cities, then making cottages and occasionally farming. Also, since Pottery is generally researched after Mining, Bronze Working, The Wheel and Agriculture, it is unlikely that the Barbarians have not appeared in the world before that time.

Swith your priorities to Cottages more and you won't have to rely on the Financial trait as much.

Those who claim that founding a religion gets everyone else to hate you forget that sometimes (to be more exact, quite a few times) you will be able to spread your religion to your NEIGHBOURS, with exactly the opposite effect than the one they describe (and also you will know whether you should do this, according to whether they have found a religion or not).

I don't forget this, I've just been realizing more and more than it's less helpful than I'd originally thought, for a multitude of reasons:

1. My neighbors are going to be my first conquests; how much time and how many resources do I want to put into trying to get them converted to me, when I'm going to take them out anyway?

2. Getting a religion from a neighbor is a totally passive mechanism; it requires absolutely no time or resources on my part.

3. Researching an early religion myself takes away a religion that one of my immediate neighbors could have founded. I would much rather have them found the religion, spend a Great Prophet to build the shrine, and then take it from them myself, while I use my own Great Prophet to slingshot to Civil Service.

4. Having no state religion vastly improves my relations with everyone in the early game, which allows me to more easily trade into tech parity in the important part of the game, which is while my Civ is still a flegling overshadowed by the AI's faster production and research. I can trade with everyone early and get the leg up I need in order not to need to trade with everyone later in the game when my Civ is cruising toward world domination.

I feel largely the same about wonders. They can be great boons under exactly the right circumstances, but they have a huge cost in terms of time and resources that could have been producing military.

It's been a hard transition for me, because I've always been primarily a builder, but it's really really hard to conjure up resounding wins in Civ IV at higher levels using peaceful strategies. Everything you build you need to be considering whether or not you're actually building it 'cheaper' (in terms of both time and resources) than the cost would be to take it militarily.

I'm joining the majority here.

I find founding a religion can be helpful. Indeed, if I start with the Incas or somebody with Mysticism, I do usually go for one of them, but its tricky since you can fall behind if you fail.

Conversely, other advantages are also strong. Starting with the other techs also have great impacts.

Remember, you will usually get a religion even if you don't found one; open borders with neighbors and you will get them. Yes, that shrine is worth a lot of GP's, but returns on other investments are also very great.

I also recommend playing random CIV's, it really forces you to learn other strategies. (For the same reason I try to play all of the maps equally).


Best wishes,

Breunor

I'm joining the majority here.

I find founding a religion can be helpful. Indeed, if I start with the Incas or somebody with Mysticism, I do usually go for one of them, but its tricky since you can fall behind if you fail.

Conversely, other advantages are also strong. Starting with the other techs also have great impacts.

Remember, you will usually get a religion even if you don't found one; open borders with neighbors and you will get them. Yes, that shrine is worth a lot of GP's, but returns on other investments are also very great.

I also recommend playing random CIV's, it really forces you to learn other strategies. (For the same reason I try to play all of the maps equally).


Best wishes,

Breunor

You bring up a good point here, which is that going for early religion is a gamble. You never know who else is on the map, and if Gandhi and Isabella are out there, on settings higher than Noble or Prince, you aren't getting the first two religions.

At which point, if you end up going for Monotheism and missing it, you just researched masonry needlessly and wrecked your ability to use your great prophet to slingshot to civil service.

In the course of trying to assure that you get an early religion in this example, you've set yourself way, way back compared to the bronze working/wheel/agriculture/pottery route, which absolutely guarantees results without gambling on what the other Civs are doing.

I would gladly wager that an early religion push results in more losses than another more assured opening. When it works, it can definitely be helpful, but what you're risking by even trying for it is really decisive.

I still don't see why people think going for an early religion is a gamble. Going for Polytheism on Emporer if you start with Mysticism is a go at least 80% of the time, it's possible in some cases even if you don't start with Mysticism.

I don't think its 80%, but whatever - it depends on how many AIs there are, and if they are randomly chosen or not. And it's not a gamble if you restart after failing to get it. It is a gamble if you are committed to the game - even at 20% failure, do you really want to cripple yourself that way? I've had games where I was beat to each of the three early religions in turn, by 1-3 turns each time.

I still don't see why people think going for an early religion is a gamble. Going for Polytheism on Emporer if you start with Mysticism is a go at least 80% of the time, it's possible in some cases even if you don't start with Mysticism.

When I go for Confucianism, on Noble at least, I get it 100% of the time. Plus I get to build the Courthouse as well, thereby reducing my maintenance costs.
Two birds with one stone.

Huayna Capac can't do the super boom like Frederick. Here's what you do...

Research Bronze Working ASAP, and get your capital to create a worker. The worker should be trained around the same time Bronze Working is researched, so get to chopping any nearby forests to plop a settler. Once that's done, chop more forests for another worker. Use the new worker to chop a new settler from the new city, and then another worker. Keep leapfrogging like this until you have at least eight cities, and make sure they're a decent distance away from each other (four tiles if you're on the largest map setting).

While you're doing this, you should set your research priority on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry (if you so desire, but this can be skipped), then Pottery. This will allow your cities to grow quickly, and the cottage spam will keep your treasury healthy. Your tech rate will be lightning-fast, and your area of control will be huge.

Here's the key to the strategy --- Specialise your primary cities. Here's a nice breakdown...

Capital
-------

Your capital should be a massive GP farm (irrigation on all tiles possible, and mines on hills for added production early on; switching to windmills once Machinery is researched). Go for the wonders which increase the odds of creating a Great Prophet, such as The Oracle (a VERY good choice for this strategy --- use it to slingshot to Confucianism for the religion and courthouses), Chichen Itza, and the Spiral Minaret. You should build the National Epic and Scotland Yard in this city.

Industrial City
-------------

This is usually your second city. It should be placed in an area with plentiful hills, preferably by a river. Only have enough farms so you can work every tile, allowing you to build workshops and possibly watermills (mines go without saying, really). Go for wonders which increase the odds of a Great Engineer, such as the Hanging Gardens, the Hagia Sophia, and the Pentagon. The Ironworks is a must for this city.

Commerce City
--------------

This city should be situated on an area full of flood plains, with resources that present high gold yields (gold, gems, ivory, etc.). Irrigate only enough tiles so that all the tiles in the "Fat Cross" can be worked. This will allow you to build cottages all over (cottages + flood plains = $$$). Go for wonders which increase the odds of a Great Merchant, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. Wall Street is also a must for this city, and the Forbidden Palace will top it off.

Culture City
-----------

This city should be placed in a relatively flat area, preferably near a river with plentiful food resources. Irrigate all tiles possible, and mine every hill tile. Make sure you get all possible cultural improvements, and go for the wonders which increase the odds of generating a Great Artist, such as the Sistine Chapel and Notre Dame. The Globe Theatre and the Hermitage are a must for this culture bomb city.

Science City
------------

This city should be place in an area rich with rivers and food resources. Have an even mix of irrigation (just enough to work all tiles), cottages, and mines. Get every science improvement possible, and go for the Great Library. You should build Oxford University and the Red Cross in this city.

Military City
-----------

This should be placed in an area much like that of your Industrial city, but much closer to (or, preferably, on) your frontier. Irrigate only enough tiles so that every tile can be worked, and build mines and workshops/lumbermills in the other tiles. The Heroic Epic and West Point are necessary for this city. World wonders are optional.


Your other two cities can be used however you see fit. These six are your primary cities, and if you use them correctly, they will make a huge impact on the outcome of the game.

Try out Frederick. You'll be surprised at how easy games can be with him. :D

I don't really see how you could, if you started with a nation with Mysticism.
That's pretty easy :) Your tech cost is N*1.3. Because of upkeep your research is at 80%. Chances are that your total commerce output will 9 or 10. At 10, you'll have 8 beakers per turn and it will take you 13 turns to get meditation. AI without Mysticism needs 50+80=130. It also get 10 in the capital + let's say 1 in his second city (you can't get less than that). In 12 turns AI will accumulate 10*12 + 1*10 (assuming he spent 2 extra turns to find spot for the second city) = 130 beakers so he will get Meditation ahead of you. So if one AI will go for Mysticism and another for Polytheism, you've no chance.


I've been playing almost exclusively on continents, I still think Archipelgo would be hard, I think you would find yourself ridiculously far behind in tech and with no way to catch up. On pretty much every Deity game this would happen though...
Archipelago plays a bit differently. You fall back behind in tech and there's no way to catch up, but AI is so bad at conducting war, and on Archipelago it is (can you believe it?) dramatically worse at conducting war than on other maps, so you can conquer it while being behind in tech all the time.

On Emporer the only way for you to miss out on a religion is if another AI with Mysticism researches Polytheism first. There are 18 civs total, 5 of those start with Mysticism although you are taking one of those. If it is based sole on leaders, there are 26 leaders, 6 with Mysticism, although two of those are for the same country and you are taking one of them. So for simplicity, lets just say you pick Asoka and randomization is based on leaders and we've chosen a game with seven Civs.

Now we have 6 opponents each with a 4 in 24 (1 in 6) chance of starting with Mysticism. So while it's extremely likely you will have one opponent with Mysticism, it is extremely unlikely you will have two. The first opponent AI always seems to go for Meditation first...

I don't see the point in having a specialised culture city unless you're going for a cultural victory. Nor is there much point in a specialised industrial city without anything to build. If it's going to be military, it's just another military city. Is it dedicated to wonders?
All cities benefit from grassland, floodplains and river tiles. Industrial cities will need about 10 hills in the city radius, but will still prefer grassland and floodplain in order to support the miners.
Thus all your cities should aim to claim grassland, floodplain and rivers, and those that have a good number of hills should go light on cottages and use food tiles to support extra miners.
Capitals make good GP farms because they tend to have some sort of production, which enables you to bag a few wonders if you choose, and because they tend to have some resources nearby they can often support a few specialists, and start early in the game.
There is no need to specialise GP production to each city. A city that is a commercial centre should not be building wonders (except for wall street) because it should have little production, since all its tiles are commerce tiles.

I don't see the point in having a specialised culture city unless you're going for a cultural victory. Nor is there much point in a specialised industrial city without anything to build. If it's going to be military, it's just another military city. Is it dedicated to wonders?
All cities benefit from grassland, floodplains and river tiles. Industrial cities will need about 10 hills in the city radius, but will still prefer grassland and floodplain in order to support the miners.
Thus all your cities should aim to claim grassland, floodplain and rivers, and those that have a good number of hills should go light on cottages and use food tiles to support extra miners.
Capitals make good GP farms because they tend to have some sort of production, which enables you to bag a few wonders if you choose, and because they tend to have some resources nearby they can often support a few specialists, and start early in the game.
There is no need to specialise GP production to each city. A city that is a commercial centre should not be building wonders (except for wall street) because it should have little production, since all its tiles are commerce tiles.

Yes, I usually have my Industrial city specialising in wonders for Great Engineer production. When it's not building wonders, it's usually an extra military city. With its extremely high productivity, it can create most military units in three turns or less (in the Industrial Age, I can pump countless Panzers, because they take two turns).

The Culture city is for churning out Great Artists, which are extremely helpful in military campaigns. It's a very useful city. Depending on my mood (or the current state of the game), I'll make military units from this city when I'm not building wonders or improvements, or I'll have it working on Culture.

I have very nice results when I churn Great Merchants from my commerce city. It doesn't make quite as much gold as it would if it were concentrating only on Wealth, but that's a small sacrifice for increased GP production. When I'm not building wonders or improvements here, I always make it work on Wealth.

I like that all of my core cities are able to churn out GP's, rather than just one or two of them. Along with that, they're also very productive, weather it be in shields, commerce, or science. Knowing that I'll get a Great Prophet, a Great Engineer, a Great Scientist, and a Great Artist every twenty turns or so is one of the reasons I mostly play with this strategy.

My Emperor play still needs some work but I have a pretty good handle on Monarch through the early and mid-game (late game's always been my weakness because I get bored and don't finish a lot of games).

I go for an early religion only if I'm a 'religion' type civ and if I plan to dedicate to it. Once I get the religion I get to Monotheism and spread it as far as possible.

Most of the time, though, I've found it considerably more productive to not go for an early religion. I chop workers/settlers & maybe Stonehenge, build 3-5 cities, then like to take out a neighbor and 'acquire' their religion.