Welcome to the TSG19 Game in Progress thread. This thread is used to discuss the game once you've started playing. There are no reading or posting restrictions as such (apart from normal decency), although we encourage players to use the spoiler tags for screenshots. Here you can post questions related to the game and share your achievements/anger/frustration/victories while you play. Please remember that we are running a family friendly site, so express anger or frustration with this in mind. :)

Please use this thread to discuss your goals for the game and your opening moves through about the first 80 to 100 turns. How did your planning change to make adjustments for the many changes in the recent patch?
- What early wars were there and how did you survive them?
- What Social Policies did you choose and why?
- What tech path did you follow?
- Did you try to build any wonders?
- How did you handle diplomacy with your neighbors?

Once you've completed the game, head over to the TSG19 After Action Report thread.

Played until turn 103. Settled 2 more cities after representation with NC first. Aggressively took 2 pearls form 2 rush buyed work boats that i immediately sold. I killed some barbs with stolen workers that gave me 2 allies very fast(culture and maritime with 2 different luxuries). Pissed London when i stole a worker to another cs. But i can only keep 1 luxury and sell others thanks to early allies. Best thing i've done so far.

Everything was ok until i lost Hagia Sophia at turn 99 with 2 turns left to build :mad:. Fortunately, my cities are all riversided so i will build some gardens later. I wanted to pick a ge to burn the Sistine later. This will slow my progression for sure.

I'm now at war with Elizabeth but some hills and mountains make things very easy. 2 swords, 3 landsneckts and 2 archers are holding her. Astro in 2 turns from the gs(PT), signed 2 RAs with Hiawatha(turn 96) and Askia(turn 100).

What i don't really know now is am i going for Rationalism and get techs faster for better culture buildings/wonder later or going Piety and gather a bit more culture now? I will pop Opera houses from Legalism in 25 turns approx. I think i will go Piety(after Legalism).

This map is well suited for players that are still not too much comfortable at Deity yet(like me).

Interested to see where you placed your cities?

In testing, if I founded a city to the northwest, Elizabeth was all over me. In replays, if I left that city spot vacant, she would leave me alone for quite a long time. :lol:

Update turn 160 :

I bribed Persia to join the war against Liz. For a miserable 60 gold and 5 gpt, he gladly accepted :)

My strategy here is to hard build culture and keep money to sign RAs. If i have spare gold i rush buy culture. Legalism got me 3 Opera Houses. Missed Sistine by 10 turns(the one i wanted to burn with a HS ge). Notre Dame turn 108, The Louvre turn 158 in a far away land :eek:...

Oh well. The goal here is to finish a culture game, but ALSO to survive against stellar techers. I at least follow them for techs. I keep a minimum of units against Liz and i can see some of their units dying in Persia's land. I'm at 50%, 1st is at 55%, average is 50%. Good news.

Culture is slow but i can survie pretty well so far. If nukes appears around turn 220, i will be in trouble, unless i can still bribe some civs.

i got left alone till about turn 160. i had built the HS, rushed sistine and built the kremlin. two cities.
opera houses and hermitage up, monastry too. then england ruined it all in about 5 turns. must build army sooner.

reloaded from an earlier save. the war with england, or any war, never came. england won by science in about 267 turns.

im going to try again.

reloaded from an earlier save. the war with england, or any war, never came. england won by science in about 267 turns.

im going to try again.

England is a strong opponent. I'm now at turn 180 and got Artillery. She's fighting me and Darius. Hiawatha is the tech leader(but not by far). 3 civs are disputing the score leader which is nice for me(no runaway yet, lot of wars). I will aggressively bribe people to prevent early wins.

I made a DoF with Hiawatha and Darius. They are not neighbors. I try to play ''more'' with the AI than any other games before. I guess it's something we need to do at Deity. Going alone is not a good idea.

Funny thing, Darius became Afraid :lol:

Unfortunately, i tried to pick money or luxuries from him but no success.

brutal first try ... tried for GL and didn't get it, fell behind on tech and expansion super-fast (not too surprising) ... settled my second city on the west coast and my third N on the bananas, both to try to block off large spaces, but couldn't hold them (in particular against England). Found myself overextended, with friendly Persia just marching settlers by the half dozen (it seemed like) right through between my cities, and hostile England bearing down on Munich in the north. After Munich fell I fought a holding action in hopes of retaking it and eventually pushing England back, but threw in the towel when England arrived with cannon/rifles and turned Stockholm (also with rifles, flanking my army) against me (and my german pikes and crossbows).

working on my second try now, is going somewhat better (managed to get GL and HG, IW, all relatively early), keeping my cities tighter (didn't stretch for the west coast, or as far north), focusing my cash more on CS (food and culture) rather than a quantity of outclassed units and have been making good headway against England ... fortunately the AI has no clue how to use longbows, otherwise I'd be dead already :D Darius has been less aggressive about expansion, perhaps because I let him have the nice west coast spot. I'm hoping that if I can sufficiently neutralize Elizabeth and pull up to par in tech, I can later push Persia back. <fingers crossed>

Darius got huge and friendly with me. So I just got a nextturner as I watched him field infantry in 1000 AD and fighters not long after. I got beaten to Stonehenge, I got Hagia Sophia and Notre Dame combo, Porcelain Tower was taken. I settled west at the mountain side getting some wine, then a third city down at the pearls.

I tried to compete holding on to 4 cultural citystates and culture buildings, but without any cultural wonder it was mostly for show. I build a settler and fled out into the ocean when Darius suddenly didn't like me anymore. Founded 4. city at some marble/oil/good spot east of England. I was gonna sit there and watch after I lost my land. That didn't happen, England took my refuge instead.

Fighting England and Iroqui in 1880, beating Iroqui with artillery and infantry. Darius is nuking people. I got tired of watching Darius play Civ V, so I stopped there.

Darius. science. 248.



next time its going to be all out war from the get go.

Darius. science. 248.


:eek:

Turn 223 :

Always at war with Liz. Artillery and infantry on both sides. Just trying to survive since turn 50. I relay on RAs to keep it up in techs. Broadcast towers and Sydney are the next calls.

I made little bad decisions and faced with a little army when suddenly England declares war to Persia! Phew.

http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa413/Tabarnak2/Screenshot-06_09_20112_37_43AM.jpg

But i'm far away from the ultimate goal :

http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa413/Tabarnak2/Screenshot-06_09_20112_41_58AM.jpg

I'm not going well, but no Manhattan or Apollo yet. Lot of wars. Everyone else is friendly with me.

about turn 50 now, got Gl with a "all out going" for it, then settled 2nd city and milked ais for gold to buy CS, not sure yet were to settle a 3rd city, my capital is really strong think I can get some more wonders. But ais dont like me too much - guess england will attack at some point - I be better rdy for it.

Settled on spice. (I still think, this is a good idea) I have tried to use the german UA, and picked honor first. Planned to finish Honor tree last anyway, but I expected a very good start from it.
BO is scout-warriror-granary-monument.
Killed 4 barbarian encampment, but did not get even one brute. In desperation, tried to kill a barb camp with 1 warr. Indicated 5 damage -6 injury chance happened to be a 2-8 and my warrior killed next turn. Rage quitted :)

Honestly I do not see anyone win this first try. The starting position is excellent, lots of space and lux, but Cultural win requires 25 policy what is more than 250 turn whatever you do, and Deity ai tends to win before 250. What I can imagine is a conquest win leaving 1 capitol and destroying everything else, then win by culture :)

I gave up on turn 301, with several AI's close to scientific victory and the UN also built. I guess in my game the AI's were focusing on quarreling with themselves, as I don't think I hindered their progress one bit. At that time I was still lacking 8 SP's and making only 320 culture/turn, so I would've lost in 10-30 turns anyway.

This was one of the first times I tried deity, and I was surprised I made it so far. I wasn't at war a single turn! I didn't expand too aggressively towards Elizabeth, only founded 2 cities, first to West and second to South, both on coast. Also I had to be careful with city states to avoid pissing her off.

My downfall in this game was science. The only wonder I got was Hagia Sophia, which I used then to get an engineer. The engineer was useless though, as all the wonders were built before I had the techs to rush them. I guess 3 cities is just not enough on deity. This lack of wonders then meant they weren't also creating enough culture, at some point it took me 20 turns to get a SP and when I finished still 13 turns.

After long time I play civ5 and took this delty game. Build three cities first, make three neibour city state alied. Fight with England and Tyre, but very succesfully. Make defensive pacts with others. Then I foundate fourth city and make other city states allied. All was fine, but around 1000AD I noticed Persian infrantry. 1200 AD they were all around with antitank guns too. My longswordsmans and crossbowmans had no chance. In five turn I was dead. :)
I simply was not able to have better science. Looking forward to others - I hope someone win.

normally dont play on this level. however trying this one now.

built one additional city to the west. surprised that all the AIs are mostly friendly, except for Liz. got allied with southern CS with the help of barb clearing tasks.

I fell behind turn by turn, Liz attacked from time to time but I was able to defend. Once my army was almost taken out completely by the 3range crossbows. I made the choice to build culture and cash buildings over army and at turn 180 she was invading me with an army that I couldnt cope with. Reloaded an autosave from turn 130 and will change tactics to see how far I get.

Whats you average amount of turns to get a new SP? In my typical game as well as in earlier TSGs this is around 10 in early, then up to 18/19 in mid, and 10 in late game. Since some guys here mention 250 turn wins by AI, this probably is not enough. How do these numbers look for you guys?

So after a couple test runs on deity that were pretty fail I decided to start this game hoping it may go better and so far so good. I am up to turn 96 I decided to say screw the wonders because they seem to always beat you anyway I learned from those quick test games and went for rapid expansion for 4 cities and grabbing enough units to hopefully survive. I have kind of a box with one at the 10 gold wonder to the NW of the starting city and 2 on the other corners grabbing the iron and other luxuries. Needless to say Elizabeth didn't like this to much and declared on me probably around 85 and she has been sending waves non stop. I had great luck with goody huts starting out and managed to get a promotion on an archer that went SE of the starting position late and happened to find one hiding by a CS. With 1 xbow, 1 archer, 3 swordsman, and 2 horseman I have been holding her off quite effectively she almost got my NW city just a bit ago but the horses arrived just in time to save the day.

I doubt I will win due to how fast they are teching up and will probably get a space race win or something else like others mentioned here but I think I will hold my own and hopefully puppet 2 city states that joined her. They are the ones NE and SE of where you start.

You absolutely need these aspects :

1-NC early
2-HS(or Liberty finisher)--->free ge for Sistine
3-A wonder on each cities(can be national ones, just figured that in this game)
4-tons of RAs to stay at par with military techs
5-Provoking wars between AIs
6-Burn a ge(may be HS or Liberty finisher) for Sydney
7-taking right policies in the right order

or,

Bully everyone and sit down to victory...

What i made so far (now at turn 251) :

1-Built NC early
2-Missed HS by 2 turns before turn 100, missed Sistine
3-Wonder in 2nd city pretty late, no one in 3rd city yet
4-RAs everywhere, major reason why i'm still alive
5-So so...not understanding mechanics very well yet
6-Sydney? When i reached the tech i realized that it was already built :lol:
7-Still a big noob in this category. Cultural victories are the less of my problems in mp :mischief:

Liz is bullying me...Darius helped me at the right time. A dozen of jet fighters are sitting each turn in his closest city. My 2nd city stayed at 1hp left for like 15 turns. Fortunately, i can keep land units outside. I just can't keep units too close now. Darius built Apollo around turn 245 and Ghandi the Manhattan project around turn 248. For myself i reached all culture techs. I'm aiming for Atomic bombs(i will see soon if i have uranium).

Can i win this game? Hell no! I just can't win before turn 350, culture is way too slow. One AI will certainly win by Diplo or science way before i can start Utopia. I will make a last update later.

Lets modify the rules and make it reload enabled to see if this is possible at all :)

Lets modify the rules and make it reload enabled to see if this is possible at all :)
Once you have completed your first play through, you may replay all you want, just please do not submit.

You are welcome to post here, or in the after action thread, what you achieved in your second, or subsequent, play-throughs. Please do explain where you replayed, and why, as it would be interesting to see what you thought were mistakes and how you corrected them. :)

This one is really tough due to threefold reasons. First Germany, 2nd Cultural Victory and third Deity !! Doing all 3 for the first time (I have defeated AI at immortal).

I went for tradition instead of liberty as obviously I won't be building a lot of settlers/workers. Next I went for Peity. DWonders: couldn't get any !! not even one. Even though I am signing RAs all the time still I am behind in Tech by Darius by at least 14%. I think I needed to get Patronage/Rationalism instead of Peity. But it just seems odd to not get Peity on a cultural VC.

Everyone is friendly besides LIz, with whom I am at war since the start. Have managed to keep LIz from destroying me by a Citadel, and making Darius attack Liz every time they sign a peace treaty. My army is weak as I cannot afford to build units and sacrifice gold there. I am turn 244..

Good news: I still have my 3 good cities. Everybody is fighting each other, so no clear runaways. I am keeping Darius busy in wars (with not just LIz because if I do he will clear Liz in a jiffy) so that it doesn't go for scientific. Diplomatic is out of the question as most CS are dead.
I am aiming for Panzer and then try to destroy as much as I can.

Something weird happened at turn 241. I was allied to stockholm (which I liberated from Liz). Now I am at war with Liz, which means it is also at war with Stockholm. Now suddenly Stockholm is allied to Liz and declares war on me. How could it ally with LIZ when they were at war ? Some bug ?

Something weird happened at turn 241. I was allied to stockholm (which I liberated from Liz). Now I am at war with Liz, which means it is also at war with Stockholm. Now suddenly Stockholm is allied to Liz and declares war on me. How could it ally with LIZ when they were at war ? Some bug ?

Something similar happened to me.

I allied a cultural cs who went at war with Liz like it should be. Some turns later the Americans overbet me and stole my ally. Then some turns later the same cs declared war to me and was suddenly allied to Liz! I guess Liz bet even more than Americans and re-stole it. :crazyeye:

Welcome to Deity.

As of T78:

Settled in place and built monument right away, then adopted tradition.

Next policy was honor, which I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion about. (unless I've missed it...) Germany wants to bust barbs camps to get additional troops so why not earn culture for killing barbs in the process?

Took Aristocracy to try to build stonehenge but missed it by 6 turns. The paltry gold I got for my progress was definitely not worth the lost time. Not going to waste time pursuing any other wonders without a GE.

My warriors hunting barbs freed a Tyre worker and I took the oppurtunity to gift them into being my ally. Getting gold from them and soon iron. Given me 2 archers so far.

Settled Hamburg at the base of the mountain on T63 which I fear may have been too late. Hoping to make Hamburg a science city with observatory and NC while Berlin focuses on production. Thinking to make 3rd city down by the pearls.

T73 England declares war on me for no reason. Most of my army is out hunting barbs so I may be in trouble. Only 2 archers and a swordsman to defend both cities. At least the English are slowed by forest and hills! Englands allied with Stockholm, Geneva and Kuala Lumpur which is now fighting with my ally Tyre. If I survive the English attack, I think I'll build a buffer city North of Berlin.

Oh well, back to it!


T83 - England takes Hamburg. And starts attack on Berlin. Somehow I manage to hold them off.
T95 - Ottomans declare war on England and Lizzy starts to pull out. Hamburg is defended only by a chariot.
T103 - England holding off against my attack on Hamburg. English Swordsmen beginning to arrive to reinforce the city. Persia starting to dominate the map and Persian settlers appearing near my future pearls. I'm doomed. Should have expanded earlier and kept more defenses near home.

Something similar happened to me.

I allied a cultural cs who went at war with Liz like it should be. Some turns later the Americans overbet me and stole my ally. Then some turns later the same cs declared war to me and was suddenly allied to Liz! I guess Liz bet even more than Americans and re-stole it. :crazyeye:

Welcome to Deity.

That was the first thing I thought. That the CS allied to someone else and then Liz stole it. But in my case the CS didn't ally with anyone else.

Second try, I am actively hunt the barbs with honor 1.
Second pol is Liberty / 3. Repr. I will got with 4 city +puppets as I need science.

After I have iron working I planning to settle the last settler on it (or near) and kill Eliz before longbows.

Tommynt wrote:
about turn 50 now, got Gl with a "all out going" for it

Lucky you!! In my game GLib was built turn 30 by a faraway land.

Wenn did you finish your GLib? With writing available on turn 20-21 (depending on pop from ruin), 2 workers (1 bought, 1 stolen), size 3-4 city + chopped woods turn 37-38 maybe in reach.... all going for it.

I even don't try anymore on deity as typically you loose out 4 out of 5 times (probably 9 o/o 10)

edit: Out of interest to other players: When was GLib built in your games??

Out of interest to other players: When was GLib built in your games??

In my game the GL is also built at turn 30.

I have tried building gl starting at 29, built in a far away land at 37.

In my 1st session I got to turn 51 during a break from moving. My 2nd session only got to turn 75, because I was too tired.

I delayed NC, because I shot to trapping first. I now have NC completed.

I traded ivory to Gandhi just before finished researching Iron Working and he gave me 4 iron with some cash for the deal. So now I have 4 swordsman and I've almost finished Civil Service.

Darius asked me to help him fight Liz before I'd met Gandhi, but I delayed that by 10 turns. Now I'm in that war against Liz and my swords are close to taking Stockholm since it's allied with her and would give me another 6 iron a gold mine and some more horses.

I went with the Honor tree to give me that extra culture as I was building up my army from taking out the barb camps. I've completed the left side of the tree now.

Starting warrior and scout both got mauled by barbarians on the same turn following bad dice rolls. Would normally just reload, but can't do that here. Not really willing to proceed like this on deity, so consider me down for the count. :-/

Failure turn 263 :

Suddenly, Liz throwed a dozen of jet fighters on Berlin and made an amphibious attack(she's England after all) without a single warning...

http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa413/Tabarnak2/Screenshot-08_09_20112_04_06PM.jpg

Hiawatha built 3 SS boosters and Darius was close to begin the Utopia project. :suicide:

Well my good start ended badly. I am not sure what turn it happened but my war with Liz dragged on I managed to puppet the CS closest to her but shortly after that a CS off to the west came in with a million troops and stole a city and I just gave up only having 5 units for defending so not really having any chance of recovering it and being woefully behind technologically. Also America was steamrolling the other half of the continent so there was zero chance of defeating her and her vastly superior technologically advanced army by me or anyone.

Failure turn 263 :

<snip>

Hiawatha built 3 SS boosters and Darius was close to begin the Utopia project. :suicide:
Too bad, you gave it a good try.

Was rooting for you. :cheers:

Too bad, you gave it a good try.

Was rooting for you. :cheers:


you did well to lure them into this monstrosity...

you did well to lure them into this monstrosity...
I heard the call and answered it. :mischief:

I heard the call and answered it. :mischief:

Where are the deity players then? More than 1 week has passed and no progress at all(i'm not a deity player!).

Where are the deity players then? More than 1 week has passed and no progress at all(i'm not a deity player!).
:dunno:

You did pretty well though. Think anyone will beat it?
Lizzy sure makes it tough. :mischief:

:dunno:

You did pretty well though. Think anyone will beat it?
Lizzy sure makes it tough. :mischief:

It's not just Deity, it's a real challenge that only a few players can win on their first try. These players exactly know what to do 100 turns in advance. They need a bit of luck too.

1-Culture victory : probably the hardest type of win on a deity pangea like map
2-Iron is scarce
3-Oil can be missed
4-no uranium
5-Lot of spaces for AIs to settle and become really huge really fast

You can't sit down and try a peaceful victory here. You need to go all on the offensive and reduce the AI to a little city or 2 and wait until victory. Even trying to do this is a real challenge.

It's not just Deity, it's a real challenge that only a few players can win on their first try. These players exactly know what to do 100 turns in advance. They need a bit of luck too.
Yes, of course. It is what is most difficult with GoTM.
Wish I knew what I was going to do 25 turns in advance... ;)

You can't sit down and try a peaceful victory here. You need to go all on the offensive and reduce the AI to a little city or 2 and wait until victory. Even trying to do this is a real challenge.
The number of units the AI get at the start (the total of which I haven't figured out yet) and the speed with which they can produce news ones is pretty amazing. Yes, Deity is a real challenge. We may d one occasionally, but I do not think too often. :)

Try 2, Turn 99: Farmed 8 barb, hooked 6 iron on the lakeside north with 3rd city, beat up Elizabeth and took London. Took Stockholm too, I have like 15 iron now. I am 3rd in tech, but unfortunately Washington is getting to be a runaway civ, and I do not even know where is he yet.

Failed on HS by 4 turn, when already have education :(. Do not have any GP yet maybe I start focus on culture now, but maybe I would be better to do a suicide attack against washington to have a chance to win.

I took honor first the lib, but did not complete any of it.
My biggest city is an english puppet, but I am holding ok with happiness with the honor and piety policies.

Gave up somewhere mid 1700s. Went for early wonder (Stonehenge) and NC with Tradition/Aristocracy which might not have been the best strategy. Was way behind in all stats for the entire game, although made it into 7th place in score towards the end!

Was friendly with just about everyone and managed to avoid wars, but gave up when Liz declared - she has rocket artillery and I'm still struggling with cavalry!

Struggled to generate enough of anything (cash, culture, production) to give any sort of edge.

Might try again with a more aggressive strategy to get puppets and city-states, can't see many other ways of even having a chance to win this one.

I'm up to turn 114 now. I've captured and annexed Stockholm. I've captured and puppeted Coventry. I took out quite a few of Liz's troops, mostly cats and archers. Here's how my lands look now.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=301420&stc=1&d=1315587611
I'm 15 turns from finishing the Honor tree. Once Coventry finishes that temple it might shave a turn or two off. My plans are to take all of Piety, Liberty, freedom and Commerce for the other 4 trees.

I'm trying to build my forces back up after losing a few to Liz, but had to divert to build markets before my economy crashes. Once I've built back up I'll push to take London and hopefully get her to give me at least a white peace and hopefully some of her stuff instead of the demands of everything but my capital that she's been asking for.

I'm trying to build my forces back up after losing a few to Liz, but had to divert to build markets before my economy crashes. Once I've built back up I'll push to take London and hopefully get her to give me at least a white peace and hopefully some of her stuff instead of the demands of everything but my capital that she's been asking for.
Keep up the good work, and good luck! :cheers:

Try my first Deity game.

1) Settled in place,
2) Go first Honor and hunt some barbs. Go for liberty tree.
3) Done Stonehenge in turn 45 with 2 chopped forests and 1 mined hill (2 worked need, 1 from liberty and 1 buyed)
4) Settled Hamburg on pearls (done NC in Berlin, bought library in Hamburg), settled 2 more citys (away from Liz), she is always Neutral or Guarded.
5) Allied Bucharest and Kuala Lumpur (Liz didn´t like this)
6) Take de GE (liberty) and build PT, with GS bulb fast Sistine Chapel tecnology and build very fast Sistine Chapel
7) Use legalism to Opera Houses and build Hermitage in Berlin
8) Use a New GE to The Louvre
9) Liz delcares war in turn 187 with Infantry and come very fast for Berlin. I tried to hold with muskets but i didn´t do

Liz have a DoF with Washington and both starts to kill everyone.
I tried to do RA´s (done 5-6 but i had low cash every time)

I will try a second time.

Sorry about my english.

I will try a second time.

Sorry about my english.
Nice try and good luck the second time around.

Your english is way better than my Portuguese! :goodjob:

Keep up the good work, and good luck! :cheers:

Thanks. I've beaten deity before, but that was several patches back before all the happiness and policy tree changes. So far, I'm liking all the changes over the last several patches. However, I'll probably stick to Emperor after this, except for GOTM games that is. I'll play these no matter what level they're set at.:D

I think I am going to try a campaign of destruction and then backdoor a :c5culture: win in the 20XXs once everyone is basically wiped out. Easier said than done but it might be the only way to win this one by :c5culture:.

First Deity attempt and it sure is different. Going to get my butt kicked. Am on turn 132 and not doing well, but still alive. Completed 8 SPs. Settled Hamburg (t56) to the west by the pearls and wine and later Munich (t81) up north maybe 7 N of Berlin (settled in place). I was avoiding going up there because of England's hostility, but decided to do so after she declared on t71. Got under such pressure I could not build another settler. Did not like the looks of the possible city spot south owing to deserts, maybe a mistake.

Did not take Aristocracy early to go for early Wonder, but maybe that was a mistake. One of the ruins gave me mining so I could chop. If I had built a worker third instead of a granary and taken Aristo, maybe I could have chopped and production-focused my way to get GL, which otherwise went on t37. The only Wonder I got was Hagia Sofia on t122, but then someone else got Sistine Chapel so I planted my GE for a Manufactory near Berlin. There was nothing else to take but a National Epic.

Took Tradition first (as always), then Honor, then focused on Liberty until a CS requested a GG and I took Warrior code. The Tradition SP that gives better city defense would have been useful and would the one in Honor that accelerates promotions.

Knocked off quite a few barbs and I think three came over to me from camps. Allied with KL (they helped a LOT against England) and Bucharest. Wish I had gotten Stockholm. Had trouble keeping the alliances and could not afford others. Only afforded signing one RA (Darius), still pending.

Made all kinds of mistakes, like settling Hamburg a few turns before completing the NC in Berlin (had taken a break and forgot to wait). So I had to buy a Library in Hamburg. Though I am usually good about protecting units in tactical fights, I lost several. I tried twice to take Stockholm and could not (Cat, Archer, several Swords, several Landsnechts). Was getting iron from KL and when I lost the alliance had to scramble to develop the 4 iron in my territory, which required buying several hexes. Just not an efficient plan at all.

My early choices:



Research: Pottery (9), Mining (ruins, 14), Writing (21), Calendar (31), AH (35), Phil (45), Trap (50), Archery (53), BW (61), IW (69), Sail (71), Wheel (78), C.S. (83) ...

Berlin: Monument (8), Scout (12), Granary (22), Library (32), Worker (42), Warrior (47), Archer (59), N.C. (64), Settler (76), Water Mill (86), Landnecht (89), Temple ( ...

Social Policies: Tradition (13), Honor (18), Liberty (23), Citizenship (37), Collective Rule (52), Warrior Code (73), Representation (91), Republic (108)

Hamburg: buy Library (60), Monument (72), Water Mill (103), Granary (119),

Munich: Monument (108)

Hang in there and good luck. :beer:

Well, I gave it a shot.

My whole gambit was based on staying with one city and not angering anybody. Nevertheless, Elizabeth wanted me dead.

I went straight after iron swords and then longswords. Half the players were finishing rennaisance wonders before I even got the longswords. I beat Liz pretty bad for a while, but when her cannons showed up I said forget it...


Sad part is, even with one city, I only had seven social policies finished in 150 turns. I went with honor and got a lot of culture from killing barbs, but no world wonders whatsoever. Great Library went on turn 35... what an absolute joke :crazyeye:

I went for Stonehenge and missed it by four turns. Most of the mideivel and ren wonders were gone before I ever had the tech.

I am no match for Diety. :blush:

I am no match for Diety. :blush:
You're not alone. :)

This one is really tough due to threefold reasons. First Germany, 2nd Cultural Victory and third Deity !! Doing all 3 for the first time (I have defeated AI at immortal).

I went for tradition instead of liberty as obviously I won't be building a lot of settlers/workers. Next I went for Peity. DWonders: couldn't get any !! not even one. Even though I am signing RAs all the time still I am behind in Tech by Darius by at least 14%. I think I needed to get Patronage/Rationalism instead of Peity. But it just seems odd to not get Peity on a cultural VC.

Everyone is friendly besides LIz, with whom I am at war since the start. Have managed to keep LIz from destroying me by a Citadel, and making Darius attack Liz every time they sign a peace treaty. My army is weak as I cannot afford to build units and sacrifice gold there. I am turn 244..

Good news: I still have my 3 good cities. Everybody is fighting each other, so no clear runaways. I am keeping Darius busy in wars (with not just LIz because if I do he will clear Liz in a jiffy) so that it doesn't go for scientific. Diplomatic is out of the question as most CS are dead.
I am aiming for Panzer and then try to destroy as much as I can.

Something weird happened at turn 241. I was allied to stockholm (which I liberated from Liz). Now I am at war with Liz, which means it is also at war with Stockholm. Now suddenly Stockholm is allied to Liz and declares war on me. How could it ally with LIZ when they were at war ? Some bug ?


Okies so that was what happened till turn 244. America had most cities, Persia leader in Science, India leader in Policies (completed 4 trees), Askia leading in Military and England had all the CS with whom Persia and Me are fighting.

Rest of the world: Askia declares on America. I didn't care as both were almost same size (the largest two) and didn't seem anyone would be able to destroy the other. BIG Mistake. Askia just rampaged America and was now in control of half the map. Good thing Askia was not leading in science so would have some time before ti goes for scientific victory.

Wars going on: Askia + India v/s pers.. Pers+Me v/s Liz. America/ Ottomans/Iroquos didn't count much.
Everyone is friendly with me besides England.

My side: Fighting with Liz. Got Panzers and now it was time for Liz to pay for all the aggression. Captured 5 of her cities (including capital) and signed of peace by extorting 15k gold + 300gpt. Persia was inching close to scientific. Had no option but to go after Pers.
Used up Liz gold to make all CS allies and rushed 10 panzers. Askia and India were already at war with Pers so hitting fast with Panzers worked. Askia was taking pers cities on west and me on east. We both reached till Delhi at almost same time. I liberated all the CS as happiness was already low.

Now it was India's turn as I couldn't let go off Delhi with 10+ wonders inside it. More importantly Eiffel tower / taj Mahal / ND would solve all my happiness issues. I reached Stealth Bombers by rushing 2 GS. Signed Peace with Pers and extorted 7k Gold. Rushed 6 Stealth Bombers and attacked Delhi (which I couldn't without ranged bombings as it was at 160 def. points). Captured Delhi and signed peace with Gandhi (couldn't afford to capture more of his insanely high pop cities) by extorting another 6k Gold.

Now the toughest part of taking on Askia began. Askia had 1/2 of the map, and all the puppets were in front. So I couldn't hurt his production right away. Anyways Askia was already at war with Pers (which still had good military). Also bribed Iroquois (small but not bad) to declare war on Askia. I had like 15 MA + Panzers and 8 Stealth Bombers. Captured 4 of Askia cities and then it struck me with Nuclear missilies :((..
All my stealth bombers died. I had gold to create another 5 bombers. Did that and it hit me again with Nuclear missile. I tried playing the same turn again and relocate my bombers, but it was intelligent enough to bomb that specific city.

I might give it one more try but seems a lost cause with Askia being so huge. I can easily win scientifc / diplomatic (even domination) but cultural is a very long shot. It is turn 317 and I have still not completed 4 trees. Finally I am happy with my game as this was the first Deity attempt and I could win it if not for Cultural VC.

If I play again:
1) Get Liz before she gets longbows but without iron it seems difficult. I was able to hold her first time all because of a Citadel.
2) To win a cultural victory it will take at least 325+ turns. In that much time if any AI civ is left at a good position it will win by scientific. So, basically has to play very aggressive keeping everyone else happy (to trade).

2) To win a cultural victory it will take at least 325+ turns. In that much time if any AI civ is left at a good position it will win by scientific. So, basically has to play very aggressive keeping everyone else happy (to trade).
You are doing very well to get this far.

From the Game Announcement page:

In this game, the designated VC is Culture. You may win by any VC you wish (emphasis added), as all VC's are enabled, but the results will be posted with fastest finish by Culture victory and then all other VC listed below by fastest time. Good Luck!

At Deity, I say the heck with the designated VC, win in whatever way you can. :thumbsup:

Good Luck. :cheers:

Damn I wish I had known that, this is my 2nd GOTM only. Will post a victory snapshot soon :)

doing quite OK here:
as posted in my 1. progress post - I did gl start boosted by aristrocracy.
Went for more wonders after - got henge hagia oracle missed gardens (built them for only 1 t before some1 else finished) and chitzen.
GE rushed PT and later Louvre and now Sydney Opera.

Built 2 more Cities (d now like to have 4-5) - 1 kinda close to england - incoming war was obvious so I built Landsknechts there - After swords and LS become avaiable (After Astro I went lower path before Lovre) I upgraded 3 LS and started attacking England and took 3 Cities.
Was in war with Persia nearly all game but it didnt attack really a lot - so no defense was needed.

What kinda helped was that I m having 4-5 CS about all game - was really lucky with some early barbs missions (had to hard buy only 2 of em) and afterwards again lucky with their demands (stuff like oracle, GE, GA, roads and so on)

well but now it seems deity is kicking in:

now its turn 160 about - RA brought me into modern era and I used 2 scientists and Rationalsim finsiher to get the techs for opera house and Radio tower - right the next turn 4 ais DOWd me (all with running RAs) - looks like my military actions which have been mostly offensive untill now will now switch into a struggle to survive (got like 12 sp to come with one each 6-10 turns thats approx 100t to survive - I m pretty positive I can do that (as I m ahead in tech atm) but really have to watch not to loose my Veteran units

about turn 50 now, got Gl with a "all out going" for it, then settled 2nd city and milked ais for gold to buy CS, not sure yet were to settle a 3rd city, my capital is really strong think I can get some more wonders. But ais dont like me too much - guess england will attack at some point - I be better rdy for it.

Interesting. Did you settle in place? What was your initial build order? What turn did the GL come in? Thanks.

With no experience of either Bismarck or Deity, I looked over all the Deity threads I could muster and played a couple of test games before jumping in here. On that basis, I went for a rapid 3-city start with barb-hunting (Honour starter then Liberty) before NC and HS. At turn 82 my plan has not yet failed BUT I have had disastrous luck with the “Furor”. In my test game, I managed to build a 5-brute army for free fairly quickly, but in the game proper I have destroyed FIVE barb camps without a single recruit. This is immensely frustrating as I really need a fighting force to deter the monstrous armies of England and Persia. Still, I have completed NC and started HS. I have a puny 6-unit archer / warrior army but have DOF with both Persia and USA. I also bribed England to DOW on Persia and the two giants are now locked in battle. Civil Service is due in 5 turns, then I need to research IW before Education (hoping for some iron!!). Settled in place, city 2 to E on river plains next to mountain (wine, horses etc) and city 3 on marsh to N (2 ivory, spices horse etc). If I can survive to Ren era I may have a remote chance of victory, but culture is by far the least preferred option on an already difficult set-up. If I managed to get 2xGE from HS and Liberty, the initial plan was to use one for ND and the other either for PT (using the GS to bulb Acoustics) or hold back for Sistine Chapel. Given that the map looks like Continents (although I haven’t yet fully explored beyond Persia), I may need to prioritise Astronomy above Acoustics and forget any remote thoughts of a culture win. There are 2 very nice city sites to the S (ivory/sheep) and SW (pearls) and a tight 5-city core might just keep me competitive. The mere fact that I am not yet contemplating imminent defeat is a victory in itself!

turn 240 now - after I was away like 5 sp from win I got Dowed from all world (it was obvious so I did milk a bit before).

Well last session been like 20 turns costing me all free day (2-3 hours).

Got like 8 German Panzers and 2 elite mechs (+my starting scout now being a überxbowman killing even tanks) and well they cut through ais units like machettes cut butter. Hit and run hit and run every turn.

I m at +500 gold +600 science and + 800 cult (8 settles artists + all cult wonders and still this seems slim) per turn but sp take now each 10t.

Really looks like they made winning via cult really harder now - even when I didnt go piety tree- sp aquistion d have been way faster pre patch.

Well dont think I can loose this now - even when now India spitting now tanks aswell - they use em so dumb ...

What a REALLY hate that I have to watch every turn my ais fighting - espacially this shooting -1 each turn against some ship - takes way too long ...

Will end this in another session (like my 10th or more then in proly around turn 280)

edit: maybe i ll just use my 7000 spare cash for some more tanks and kill india aswell so I can have peace and turns end faster

About 10 turns after my prior post England attacked my northern city with 6 longbows, 1 archer, 1 pike, 1 knight. I killed 4, immediately replaced by longbows, so the city fell and I gave up. Now trying a second time with a goal to survive to t200. Playing more aggressively taking barbs, took Coventry and Stockholm, hanging in there around t180. This is a tough one, but enjoyable to learn a lot.

I'm trying something different: saw the cultural VC and decided to try for OCC with Hanging Gardens. Went for that all out, beelining math, two workers chopping four forests, and production maxed, and got it...from memory around turn 57? Not sure about that.

Purposefully kept units around home, and since getting to civil service I've pumped about 5-6 landsknechts, but have yet to use them for anything but a quest. It's turn 113 and I've only finished the tradition tree, with my next policy to choose when I start the next session. No wars yet. Everyone's friendly except Elizabeth, who is neutral and has cities in a line from London southwest to the pearls on the coast west of Berlin (settled in place). Have three RAs in place. Way behind in most everything...but alive.

My 'strategy' is probably deeply flawed, but shrug, it's a bit of a lark, I tend to just give it a whirl and see what happens. So far...still alive. Hopefully I can start some puppeting soon.

Onan try my "strat" with 2 more cities.
Do a NC start (GL 1. if u fell confident) followed by few Liberty SP pushed setltlers and then wonders onl in cap, rest cities focus on military whiledoing Monument/Library in between /mainly Landsknechts and maybe a few horses for hit n run.

Getting a few puppets seems like a "must" for me. Otherwise keeping up in gold with ais will be real hard.

Trading a lot helps ...

If I ever replay it I might, tommy.

I think turn 57 was right for Hanging Gardens. Capital is now size 15 with +30 food / +25 with production maxed. :)

England just asked me to go to war with Persia. Declined. Hopefully they'll do that and that's when I can make my move. Going to be tough though, as England is allied with the five closest CS to me....

Things went really well there for a while: just about everyone declared on England, asking me to help. Persia took 2-3 cities plus KL and Tyre. Now just about everyone has made peace though, and England is coming to visit, with infantry.

It's turn 192. Piety is complete, Freedom is opened. With OCC I really want the specialist bonus. Still managing most RAs as they come available. Probably not trading enough. It's going to be defensive mode, possibly from here on out. If I can make it to artillery I should survive. Never puppeted anything...my troops advanced, now they fall back. Got a 2nd general and will carefully consider where my defensive citadel will be most effective....

So I got to play some today, status at turn 100. I'm last in all demographics except Land and Soldiers where I'm 7th, but have been steadily gaining on the others all game. 11% behind tech leader at 24%(TL at 35%).
I settled Berlin on the spices, for it to be quick to connect, managed to get an early(t16) trade of it in due to popping Calendar in a ruin, bought a worker for the cash, and some turns later, and additional warrior after loosing one. Went NC first, got that on turn 47, probably a record for me. Got Haga Sophia turn 86 and used to pop Angkor wat turn 90 in my second city. I now how a settler going for the pearls on the coast, and another one finishing in three turns due to go soulth along the river. I think a four city setup is going to help me keep the cash for keeping the army I will need to wade off the Deity AI. So far no signs of aggression towards me, but lots of inter-AI wars going on and off, just the way I want it. Hoping to close peity just in time to get opera houses with legalism in four cities, hard part is going to be to get wonders in the two last cities, but the AI does seem rather late with all wonders so far(GL at 76, no oracle yet). Not sure if its better to open freedom or rationalism first though, but thats a problem for another day.

Build order was: Scout, Warrior, Granery, Library, Monument, NC(47), Archer, Scout, Temple, Haga Sophia(86).

Social policies: Tradition at t25, then aristocracy just before starting NC and by the time my third policy popped in I was in classical and opened peity. Got two policies left in Peity, going to be a small lag here from planting two new cities)

Tech: Pottery(10), Calendar(ruins 14), Writing(22), Philosophy(37), Mining, Archery,
Horseback Riding, Trapping, Theology(65) then went to backfill some and head off to Education, next stop Archaeology through currency.

I have a good feeling, but I've only won two deity games earlier, and both before the recent patches.

Edit: I thought I might add some about the Special ability. I've cleared five camps and gotten one brute and one spearman. My standing forces are two warriors, one brute, two landknechts and a archer. Also a normal scout running about looking for camps/fillings gaps. Warriors and brute will be upgraded to swords soon enough though and I'll probably invest in a cat or two aswell.

Okies so that was what happened till turn 244. America had most cities, Persia leader in Science, India leader in Policies (completed 4 trees), Askia leading in Military and England had all the CS with whom Persia and Me are fighting.

Rest of the world: Askia declares on America. I didn't care as both were almost same size (the largest two) and didn't seem anyone would be able to destroy the other. BIG Mistake. Askia just rampaged America and was now in control of half the map. Good thing Askia was not leading in science so would have some time before ti goes for scientific victory.

Wars going on: Askia + India v/s pers.. Pers+Me v/s Liz. America/ Ottomans/Iroquos didn't count much.
Everyone is friendly with me besides England.

My side: Fighting with Liz. Got Panzers and now it was time for Liz to pay for all the aggression. Captured 5 of her cities (including capital) and signed peace by extorting 15k gold + 300gpt. Persia was inching close to scientific. Had no option but to go after Pers.
Used up Liz gold to make all CS allies and rushed 10 panzers. Askia and India were already at war with Pers so hitting fast with Panzers worked. Askia was taking pers cities on west and me on east. We both reached till Delhi at almost same time. I liberated all the CS as happiness was already low.

Now it was India's turn as I couldn't let go off Delhi with 10+ wonders inside it. More importantly Eiffel tower / taj Mahal / ND would solve all my happiness issues. I reached Stealth Bombers by rushing 2 GS. Signed Peace with Pers and extorted 7k Gold. Rushed 6 Stealth Bombers and attacked Delhi (which I couldn't without ranged bombings as it was at 160 def. points). Captured Delhi and signed peace with Gandhi (couldn't afford to capture more of his insanely high pop cities) by extorting another 6k Gold.

Now the toughest part of taking on Askia began. Askia had 1/2 of the map, and all the puppets were in front. So I couldn't hurt his production right away. Anyways Askia was already at war with Pers (which still had good military). Also bribed Iroquois (small but not bad) to declare war on Askia. I had like 15 MA + Panzers and 8 Stealth Bombers. Captured 4 of Askia cities and then it struck me with Nuclear missilies :((..
All my stealth bombers died. I had gold to create another 5 bombers. Did that and it hit me again with Nuclear missile. I tried playing the same turn again and relocate my bombers, but it was intelligent enough to bomb that specific city.

I might give it one more try but seems a lost cause with Askia being so huge. I can easily win scientifc / diplomatic (even domination) but cultural is a very long shot. It is turn 317 and I have still not completed 4 trees. Finally I am happy with my game as this was the first Deity attempt and I could win it if not for Cultural VC.

If I play again:
1) Get Liz before she gets longbows but without iron it seems difficult. I was able to hold her first time all because of a Citadel.
2) To win a cultural victory it will take at least 325+ turns. In that much time if any AI civ is left at a good position it will win by scientific. So, basically has to play very aggressive keeping everyone else happy (to trade).

Seeing that Cultural is impossible, I went back and replayed from where I declared on India. I already had most of the CS allies (thanks to gold from England and Persia). I now only had to shoot for Globalization and build UN while keeping a check that no AI (especially Askia) wins scientific.
I made Askia declare war on everyone else so that it doesn't go creating spaceship parts.

Persia came really close to scientific (with just one spaceship part remaining), and I had no option left but to destroy it completely.

I had 2 GS and signed RAs with everyone as I was still friendly with them besides Persia and England. Hit Globalization in turn 320s and starting building UN. Askia helped me out there and built it before me. UN vote happens in 330s and I WIN !!!

This is my first Deity win and that also with Germany !! Panzers with that 6 movement are just awesome.

I won't be submitting as did a few re-loads. Btw how to take a screen-shot ?

Of to GOTM 20 and try Harun for the first time now :)

Btw how to take a screen-shot ?
In game, you press the "Print Screen" key on your keyboard. The game stores them in:
D:\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\ScreenShots (or wherever your My Documents folder is, maybe on C:\ )

The screenshot is a TGA file and so you need to use a program like IrFanView (free) to reformat it into .jpg format in order to post it. IrFanView will also let you change the size to make it a bit small for those who do not have wide screen monitors. :)

Played my second session today, finished at turn 211 for the night. I got outrun by the AI, bigtime. I used my GE for the Sistine to early(was three turns from popping a fifth population) resulting in me having to hard build the last portion of it, and thus the AI beat me to it by four turns at 141. Managed to pop four opera houses at turn 140 though. Elizabeth DOWed me at 152, and still at war with her, she wont accept peace without me giving her three of my cities, which isn't happning since her troops are not able to penetrate the marshes to the north. I sent Darius to deal with her instead, which went a little to well, so I had to send Washington after Darius.
Not really going my way this game, just closed Freedom, so next is to fill out Tradition, then I'm not quite sure where to go, I don't think I will be abe to finish in time, even if I manage to snatch Christo and Sidney which I doubt as the AI's tech lead is now 26%.
I did manage to get the Louvre though, got four artists settled and working, freedom finisher added 50:culture:/turn with them. Got wonders in three cities and probably won't be able to get one in the fourth due to it beeing to low pop, but hope is high.

This is a very fun game thusfar, lots of exciting things happening and I've had a few moments when I wanted to rip my hair out. I'll play it to the end tomorrow I think, or over the weekend anyway. I think the key here is to play a science game so you don't fall behind like I've done, and just be quick to pop in any culture buildings as you get them, I've taken a way to culture oriented approach to win I think, someone is bound to win domination or science or diplo before me, Darius is close to all three.

My legalism trick fell in on the same turn my two extra cities finished their temples, so I was very happy with that synergy. :D

Continuing comments on second attempt. it went much better this time in the sense that I help off England and took several of her cities, plus Stockholm. There are opponents with over 21,000 gold (!!). No wars with anyone else, and got some Wonders including Sistine Chapel and Hermitage, but still well behind on culture. Only 14 SP's completed (all Tradition, all Liberty, first Honor and Peity). It's clear that someone else will win this within 30-40 turns so I am going to buzz off and mess with #20. This was a humbling scenario, but fun.

Turn 100:- Finally convert a barb spearman from a camp at the EIGHTH attempt.
Turn 101:- HS completed, GE available for Porcelain Tower but still 2 turns to Education
Turn 103:- Use GE to complete PT in Berlin. 3RA are set up to mature around turn 125-30
Turn 104:- Persia builds PT…………!!??? I get a few coins compensation for the loss of my GE. I rage-quit in total frustration (old Civ reflexes die hard).
I should have played on a bit more, but now looking at the Forum postings I am fairly sure my days were numbered in any case. Culture win not even on my radar!
Things I would do again:-
3 city NC start certainly at Immortal and above (where GL for me is a longshot)
The basic plan (fairly standard Liberty+HS Great Engineer fest), which would have worked better had I not been deflected from my task by defensive worries due to lack of barb conversions. Trying to squeeze in IW (3 turns after NC completion) lost me the PT.
Things I would change:-
My third city, although in a nice spot, was too close to England for a defensive start. I should have settled it either W for the pearls or S for Ivory-Sheep.
Things I have learned:-
Look harder at pre-requisites for developing luxuries: you need BW for jungle!
Deity AI do not hang about. Longbows, Man Cav and the like were all abroad by turn 100
German UA (like that of Ottoman) is very hit-or-miss. I was lucky in TSG18 and got a free Ottoman navy, here I was not lucky and just got angry.
I still need to master the Emperor-Immortal transition before attempting Deity again, especially in aspects of defensive warfare by the look of this map!

I'm going slowly here so my game is still in progress. I must've stopped my last session at around turn 235. Darius built the Apollo Program some turns back. Washington completed the Manhattan Project on turn 229, so hopefully he'll nuke Darius!

I was able to hold the English infantry with my few troops and a citadel just NW of Berlin (settled in place). I got Persia to re-enter the war for 73 gold, and then with rifles and cannon I finally pushed on England. I've taken Elizabeth's three nearest cities (west and NW), and Stockholm. Moving on Coventry where I saved, with artillery, and vengefully hopeful I can push all the way to take London. Puppets so far (4) have my happiness at 0, though, so I may need to burn something down....

I think I have two more policies to complete Freedom, which is only the third tree I'll have done. Darius is the tech leader and is around 20% ahead of me. I don't expect the game will last much longer, but who knows, with nukes in play soon, Darius may have trouble completing his spaceship, and perhaps the Berlin Empire can continue their artistic crusade?

I have to say, this is the first SP game which has held my interest in a very long time. My next post will probably be in the after-action thread. I'm also pretty satisfied I've come this far with only one city. :)

I came back to keep working on my second attempt after finishing #20. Something odd happened that may be worth sharing. I decided I had no chance to win so concentrated on fighting England. I ended up taking eight cities, including London, then accepted peace and started focusing on culture again. By that time Darius was miles ahead and had about 200K gold. I joined him and the Songhai in a war against America, though I never fired a shot. Darius was building everything and I saw him get the Apollo Program and at one pint the Stasis Module, but for whatever odd reason he never completed the science victory. We went through 8-10 UN votes, but nobody could win (I could not even hold a single ally - immediately outbid) as so many CSs has been taken over. So we got up to about turn 385 and I need four more SPs, and nobody registers a win yet. I never expected to get beyond turn 280 or so. After the England war I was never attacked by anyone, though Darius could probably blow me away.