GOTM 15: First Spoiler

Settled one N to let the gems pay for my mighty Quetua rush.

Plan was to find an AI, steal a worker and maybe do some pillaging, wait for more Quetuas and then charged.

I guess you all know it did not work. Hatty is to far of, she would not even move a worker were I could steal it...

So, peacemongler it is. 2nd city west of the gold, 3rd of GP farm workning sheep and fish SE, 4th production city one E of the copper and 5th a fishing village on the penisula SW. Also grabbed a barbarian city by the wine and 2 more up the coast southern coast (actually the last one came in 600AD).

Tech went almost straight for alpha and was able to trade as a my brave workboat found 3 AI to the west. Also made it possible to build GLib in Cuzco. Last tech was a light bubbled philo. Plan is to run pacifism as soon as the NE is finished in the GP farm to let the GP make me keep up in the tech.

I did not have any barbarian problems at all. 3 quatuas on a hill in the north, one on my side of the wine river and one south, backed with a extra sight promoted chariot took care of everything.

Hatty overloves me and is a solid 2nd so I say I have a shot if not a good one at diplo if I can keep up in tech.

the whole game went like a disaster for me including my many errors . Despite that i survived until 1500AD so far

Settled one N, Mining, then fishing, wheel, pottery, started writing. Then I wanted to poprush and realized I have not researched BW. Switch. Bronze discovered just under mine, which my idle worker had build already. A damn many lost hammers.

Played contender and all my units went exploring. Worker went all south, archer west and quecha north. Met Hatty quite early, but took a lot of time to find her borders. My exploring quecha killed lion, but then lost to another lion and panther. My promoted archer lost to lion at 95% odds. My very bad day with the RNG.

Finally got 2 quechas to Hatty and declared. Killed 2 archers with a settler, did it again a little later. Captured total 3 workers, two killed on way home, one survived. My promoted quechas however got killed by a combined army of Hatty and barb archers

Signed peace and never wared again. Barbs burned my second city, so had to resettle. Turned out for culture, settled 6 cities, spread hindu from Hatty. had to close borders, because she was sending hindu misionaires like crazy. Still hindu spread on its own to 5 my cities.

First ever deity game, first time playing Capac, not enough RL time for test games, so I dove right in with the challenger start (from now on, I play 'em like Sid made 'em ).

All the pre-game discussion about the Quechua rush made me see if I could make that work. Settled 1N on the hill, thinking the extra hammer would really help. I would love being on that hill later, for other reasons.

In the beginning …

Barbarossa!

Back in Egypt …

Q rush the barbs …

LEX “strategy” (late expansion)

dV

Okay, this is my first GOTM and I try it as challenger. Thought that an unexpected victory as contender wouldn´t be as glorious as it was without any bonifications. Well actually it´s my second game, but the first ( WOTM 05) wasn´t worth to mention or even submit it.

Well, out of the experience that I didn´t very well with a Quechua Rush I decided to start expanding peacefully what turned out to be the right decission. Settled one North like most of you. While inventing Fishing I built a barracks, followed by a fishing boat and than 2 quechuas to let city grow to size 3.
The initial quechua got killed by some hungry bears and lions only 6 or 7 turns after the beginning.

After Fishing I went for mining, BW, Wheel, Pottery, Writing and then Alphabet... which is my normal standard developing path. Without exploring my neighbourhood I got contact to Hatty through one of her exploring archers.

After the Quechuas I build a worker and than a settler supported by the chopping worker. Leaving the capitol undefended I explored the next possible city positions and settled 1S and 1E of the second copper in the north. Thought the rice would be enough food for that city. Actually it was stupid not to take the sheep also within the fatcross because I didn´t use those sheep later. With some built Quechuas I took a barb city 2 East of the pigs in the west.

Then I started some more workers in the capitol, built libraries and granaries in my three cities. When getting the alphabet I had to realize that Hatty isn´t willing to trade any of her stuff because of "We just don´t want to start trading away this technology yet". Damn it! ( Todo para el culo!)

So I went for Metall Casting hoping that I will find other civs to be able to trade with and also started to build some more settlers.

So in the year 5 AD I had 7 cities ( got one more from the barbs at the wine - and settled three more - one at the stone in the west , one at the corn in the north next to hatty´s borders and one in the middle without any recources)

Compared to the statistics of Erkon I was absolutley behind! More or less equal in the number of cities an food surplus I only had a half of the production and research output. science went at 40% and -1gpt. So I am wondering how you (Erkon) can manage it to have such a pretty good commerce???

.... to be continued...

Furthermore I build two workboats to explore and met almost everybody or almost everybody met me.
When I got Metall Casting damn Hatty still didn´t want to trade with me although she was friendly with +7 in relations. No negative points!!! I really don´t get it!

Tokugawa was already annoyed when I met but with good old Cyrus I was finally able to trade and got AH, masonry, Sailing and Hunting for Metal casting! In points far behind of course I don´t think I can win. Actually I never thought that. Oh, and I got Iron Working from a goody hut. Don´t know why Hatty didn´t take it early though it´s already almost 500 AD.

Now Tokugawa finally declared war on me because of my undefended cities I guess. But strange is he didn´t land anything until now so I hope I can build some more units to avoid an invasion. Hatty is expanding like the devil and of course already has macemen.

Built only one more city ini the south next to the deer. May it give me a health boost!!!

So until now I survived and I am really looking forward to get home to continue playing. Have to stop writing now because got some translation work from my boss...

So, Erkon, I would really apreciate if you could explain somehow more exactly how you manage your cities to have twice as research as I have. Thank you man

jesusin, challenger. Goal: cultural victory.

I was thinking about writing some criticism against the map creators for wasting Quechuas (such a valuable resource) for the second time… but then I have read Adonias spoiler. You know how to play a Quechua rush, man. Good luck! I wish you can win this game, you are up to a good start.

When my official game is over and submitted, I will try again, challenger save again, but this time I will play a peaceful start, worker first, workboat asap… much in the line of Erkon’s game, up until 1AD.


I moved the Quechua SE, saw the sheep and fish. I pondered my settler movement for a long time. I decided to leave both for a future city when I run out of space and it was inside my capital borders, the main reason was my commitment to try a Quechua rush. I think it was a mistake (had I known the distance to Hatty), in the long run 2 food resources are the minimum for a good capital.

Being inexperienced with Quechua rushes, I decided that they were an all out thing, yes, but not an all-out thing from 40000BC. If you work the 2-1-0 tile instead of the 1-2-0 tile your first Quechua will come latter, but you will be much better by turn 35.

In the same spirit, I decided to build workboat asap. I would discover BW in the same turn, but having researched also fishing. My fpt, hpt and bpt would be better by turn 37, as well as having a better total accumulated food, total accumulated hammers and total accumulated beakers. The price to pay for all that was renouncing to build 2 Quechuas and building a Boat instead. I don’t know if it was a good decision, since I never rushed anyone.

So Fishing-Mining-BW, a Quechua and a half-Boat-Quechuas. Emphasizing food till pop2, then production till boat out. Met Hat Scout very soon.
Around 3000BC I realized I was not going to get an early free worker, so built one myself, followed by a settler. My Quechuas went on exploring the continent, instead of fogbusting around my capital and around the gold. When barbs appeared, I reacted in panic, stopping settler production often, bringing back units, revolting to slavery at the wrong time, rushing at inappropriate moments… It is very sad to have to whip soon in a single-food-resource capital.

When my settler was finally out, 2000BC, a barb city was settled near the wines, making impossible to settle in my tile of choice. What a disaster! So I had to settle in the place that would have Gems+Gold+Wheat+Pigs in the fat cross, renouncing to use the Clams forever. I wanted my second city near the gold, so as to sustain a good research rate. I wonder what would have happened if I had settled 20 tiles N, blocking Hatty on its way S of Hatty. It looked like too risky a plan. At the same time, the gems were mined and Oracle was built somewhere else while no religion was discovered that turn, bad news, someone knows Alphabet already, the spaceships will be launched soon this game.

My following settler tried to block Hatty, but it was too late, so settled with sheep, rice and copper around. It was my GPfarm.

After BW-Wheel-Pottery-Writing I always go for alphabet, but being alone with Hatty I decided to follow a friends advice and go for CoL first. Maybe this was not the game to try new things.

At 1000BC I had 3 cities, 7pop, 3workers, 6Que, 11 excess food, 18hpt, 16bpt, -1gpt and was researching CoL. I timed a GS to be born after CoL so that I could trade for Maths and lightbulb Philosophy founding a religion. Taoism was founded 1 turn before my GS was born. It was to be expected, after such a slow start. The anticipation of the religion founding made me rush to build my fourth city in a resourceless region N. It was my third legendary city. That was a doubtful decision. Not a single hammer, not food resource for re-growth after whipping… My GPfarm city generated more culture than this city for a veeeeery long time.

Having CoL I decided to go for CS before Alphabet. It took some 50 turns.
New city W had sheep+horses+wheat, barb wines city razed, only to be rebuilt by Hatty, Barb city taken W, clams+pigs; barb city razed yet farther W, near lakes and sugar, too soon the settle so far.

At 1AD I had 6 cities, 27pop, 7workers, 8units, 24 excess food, 31hpt, 59bpt, -7gpt, 1GP (used on Philo for trading) and was researching CS. 1 single religion. Friend of Hatty, don’t know anyone else.

Hat gave me Alpha+IW+Sail+Poly for CS.

My inexperience in Epic speed had to make me pay the price: when I saw that revolting to Hereditary Rule cost 1 turn and HerRul+Pacifism 2 turns, I decide to change only one, make a pause for dinner and then decide if I wasn’t to use the other or not. Of course I wanted, but I couldn’t change civics again until 5 turns later!

Another stupid mistake was cottaging instead of farming the first worked tile of the no-resources city. Not going worker first and ill-settling of the second city were my serious blunders, they really dragged my game. I don’t think I will win this game. It is a very good learning experience though.

I was the first time my capital was not whipped once and again. Since I wasn't, I decided Caste System was a better civic. Very convinient for that first border expansion.

The final idiocy came when I founded 2 more cities just before 500AD. I was thinking about a very late overlapping ninth city. What for? I don’t know, my 3er legendary city will never be able to build a cathedral. A second religion spread to one of those new cities.



There are some comments in this thread that are spoilerish in my opinion, like “I am alive by xxxxAD” (so I know the game is not over yet) or “xxx launched in xxxxAD” so I know when to expect an AI win. Had I read all that a couple of days ago, I would have taken different decisions in my game. Really, I shouldn’t know when to expect an AI launch, planning is everything in a cultural game. Please, please, please, don't mention anything post 500AD.

Lehm said:

... and settled 1S and 1E of the second copper in the north. Thought the rice would be enough food for that city. Actually it was stupid not to take the sheep also within the fatcross because I didn´t use those sheep later.

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I spend a lot of effort into micromanaging my capital for the first 50 turns. Focus on food until fishing, then focus on production to get workboat out as soon as possible. If you spend some time calculating, you can gain a turn here and another turn there, and they all add up (exponentially). We have a similar start, but the second city placement differs. Rice is the least yielding resource and the sheep would have enabled you to work more mines. I think that explains some of the production difference (the copper city can generate at least up to 20 raw hammers / turn).

Lehm said:

So in the year 5 AD I had 7 cities ( got one more from the barbs at the wine - and settled three more - one at the stone in the west , one at the corn in the north next to hatty´s borders and one in the middle without any recources)

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I think 7 cities are 2 too many at 5 AD (due to city maintenance). I regret building my sixth city but I was tired and accidently built two settlers instead of one settler and one worker. I think I would have gained by disbanded the settler actually. You should at least have two resources in the fat cross, and preferably a hill or two as well at this stage of the game.

Lehm said:

Compared to the statistics of Erkon I was absolutley behind! More or less equal in the number of cities an food surplus I only had a half of the production and research output. science went at 40% and -1gpt. So I am wondering how you (Erkon) can manage it to have such a pretty good commerce???

Click to expand...

My capital and copper city contributed most of the hammers, and my two western cities (clam/gold/pigs & wine/flood plain) generated most of the commerce. I settled my first three cities in 2230 BC /1750 BC / 775 BC so they had some time to mature.

Well, well, I'm still alive! Adventure start, settled in place with the first settler and got the gems with the second. My quechuas were kicking barbs while my archers were paranoid and protected my cities (A good thing they did a few times) I built Stonehenge in Tiwanaku, and a work boat and archer in Cuzco. I also researched polytheism and founded Hinudism.

Hatty I found in the north and I planned to attack her with upgraded axes, but the fact that she was so far ahead of me scared me. I decided to play ultra-defensive. Not only was I far behind the Hatty (and all other civs) but maintenance costs were forcing me to constantly have a pretty low research rate.

I researched Priesthood to get the oracle... Should've known better, I didn't get it. I went for monarchy to get the extra commerce from the wine that I got with my third city that I founded just north of the wine. Macchu Picchu also became the front battle against the barbarian hordes. I provided nice training for my axes.

Fourth city got the gold/rice/pigs west of the gems. I'm building more units than I probably should because I don't want to tempt anyone to attack me. Hatty is Confucian, and I'm Hindu. Hmm... I may convert in the future if it keeps her happy and us at peace.

I used a GP to make the Kashi Vishwanath and get some extra income. Fifth city north of the copper mainly to create cultural buffer to Hatty who is expanding fast.

I'm aiming to get catapults so that I can weaken stacks that Hatty or someone else may be sending against me. Fifth city gets the sheep and horses on the peninsula west of the stone. Vilcas (6th) founded northwest of the gold to get the clams.

I have no techs to trade. Everyone already has all I have. I traded some resources, but, really, my diplomacy skills are pretty low. Any helpful guides around?

Around 500AD I've just gotten Feudalism and I changed my civics accordingly. My two main production cities also churn out longbowmen that are going to replace all my archers...

I found a barbarian city that I'm planning to take, but so far, it's knocked out two of my cats and a few promoted axes... AAGH!

Contender

Well, it was my first ever Deity game, and my poor decisions didn't help either.

Settled in place and started to pump on Quechas. Didn't have much experience as Inca, but I thought about an early Quecha rush. Like Jastrow, I didn't find Egypt for some reason until about 1000BC. Ended up taking Alexandria off Hatty, and then sued for peace. Then all of a sudden I was pumping out swords, and was coming up against Maces and Longbows.

So I figured I'm miles behind, better get my economy pumping. By the time, 500AD came by, I'm bankrupt, terrible army, and it was only a matter of time...

jesusin said:

There are some comments in this thread that are spoilerish in my opinion, like “I am alive by xxxxAD” (so I know the game is not over yet) or “xxx launched in xxxxAD” so I know when to expect an AI win. Had I read all that a couple of days ago, I would have taken different decisions in my game. Really, I shouldn’t know when to expect an AI launch, planning is everything in a cultural game. Please, please, please, don't mention anything post 500AD.

Click to expand...

I've cleaned those up now.

In future, I'd appreciate it if people would use the "report post" button to bring spoilerish posts to our attention. We don't read every thread in as much detail as we'd like, end certainly not every day!

Was so happy to finally get a Deity game, and then it lasted for only 25 minutes. Well my own fault, I thought the Quecha is the UU for the Warrior, but turned out it's just an overdressed worker unit.

Going challenger, of course, and my starting Quecha becomes lion food in 3670 defending on a forest hill which is about 96% chance to win. Doesnt matter, I have another one that will do better. No, tastes the same, the lion says, this time however he killed one beast before he got chewed up, so I wont complain. Meanwhile I'm catching fishes and found Hindu in 3100 BC, wow, things are looking up !

Except for the RNG thing. My next Quecha dies against a Barb archer despite 86 %, so I fortify the last one in Cuzco and of course he dies immediately despite 40% Culture and 25% City defense and 25% fortify and whatever - against an unpromoted barb warrior. Cant help it but I'm .
Normally I'd be but this is so unreal - and I will actually not "have to" spend my weekend with CIV4. But I guess I'd better stay clear of the vicious squirrels and racoons in Central Park if I dont want to end up like my Quechas.

Well so I scored my first GOTM loss, anybody managed to die faster than 2440 ??

I was so convinced that I was going to be fried alive at Deity level. So it has come as a pleasant surprise to find that I am still alive in the AD years, though you don't have to look very high up the score charts to find the tiny humble Incan empire. In fact we seem to be alive only because we are good friends of the large and prosperous Egyptian empire to our north, who would consider it beneath their dignity to crush such a tiny nation as ours - and in fact have thrown us a tech or two, like table scraps to a scrawny mutt.

We settled in place and started churning out some Quechuas. The aim was to explore, and fog-bust, while we built a few cities. We had no dreams of knocking out any nearby neighbours, an unambitious strategy that has worked so far, mainly due to there being a fair bit of land for us to spread into, plus the very generous positioning of the resources. At least we didn't get ourselves into too much trouble by over-extending.

Unfortunately, we found out at an early stage that 9 out of 10 cats prefer Quechua. Only lost one, but he was fortified on a hill. It made me very wary. Even more so when the barbarians started appearing so soon - we met our first ones at 3160BC.

The research went along the lines of Mining, Fishing, Animal Husb to get the cities up and running, then BronzeWorking for axes. Wheel and Pottery followed for our economy, before a switch to Meditation and Priesthood to pacify our grumbling populace.

We grew our empire by placing Tiwanaku by the rice and horses, then Machu Picchu by the gems and gold to the west.

We had met Hattie very early on, but it took until 1500BC or so before we worked out where she was.

Around this time we discovered a barbarian city - Hittite - to the north-west. We placed some forces near it to keep an eye. We weren't ready to attack it right away, as it had 4 or 5 promoted archers inside.

As the years spun round towards 0, we had met Gandhi and Tokugawa, but didn't really know where they were from.

We founded Ollantaytambo by the bronze to the north, and then managed to take Hittite in 500BC after a mass battle involving Quechua and Axes, and some poor luck followed by a few better strikes.

Shortly afterwards, we learned IronWorking, and discovered that this, too, had been neatly placed within Cusco's borders and already mined! Happy times.

There was another barbarian city - Scythian - around the bay further to the west. While we were looking at I realised Hattie was arriving in numbers. I wondered for a moment whether she was after me, despite being pleased with me so far, but then realised the truth - that she was after Scythian.
I watched her attacks go in, and then cheekily nipped in with chariots to steal it from under her nose! I had to raze it, however, as a barb swordsman was ready to retake it. Never mind. I got some much-needed gold from taking it.

The clock turned round and I realised we had survived to our first checkpoint! 10AD. Time to get the beers out!

In the early AD years, I met Roosevelt, and the annoyed Peter. I spread a little further by founding Corihuayrachina on the site of old Scythian. We learned Code of Laws in 440AD and could at last start getting some courthouses in place to sort out the economy.

We were, naturally, stone dead in last place of the scores. Hattie loved us, even more since we had adopted Hinduism, and we could continue our quiet existence under her wing, as it were. It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.

I’m playing Contender class in my first Deity-level game. If there was Stone or Marble near the starting location I planned to try for a Cultural victory, but since there wasn’t I decided to just take whatever the game gave me and do the best I could.

First Moves



War or Peace?



A Bitter Struggle



On to Victory?

Not sure if I'll be able to win this or even finish, its been some time since I've played and am quite a bit rusty. And is it me or is this game even more doggish then at release? My computer hasn't changed but Civ a damn sight more sluggish.

Anyway, I can't stand the mindlessness that are barbarians, so I decided to lead this game with an unassailable defense force. By this I meant to pop out Qs like there are no other units and dominate the land as only they can (well until axes show up). I wiped countless barbarian archers off the face of the earth and lost countless Qs to barbarian warriors!? Overall I was still the winner in this as I promoted my Qs with woodsman and the +50% defense and the 2 movement over what was a sea of forests and jungle gave me the clear edge in most battles.

I contemplated rushing Hatty, but the distance and her willingness to give me open borders, where I discovered her defense stacks of 4 archer per city made me see that petty strategy would only fail.


Anyway back to the beginning, I moved my settler north once I espied the rice, that being the only readily usable resource for my worker and it being a good food resource convinced me a short walk wasn't a bad idea. Oh, that and putting the gems in more defensible position. The sheep were a bonus, the horses I wasted being on top of them, the copper I was able to hook up with my third level culture espansion and finally the iron was a nice boost to what is already a nice production capital.
Because of the massive defensive force I got a late start on all else and while I settled my second city near the gold I had to forcibly settle my third city in the barbarian controled vineyards. I also got the stone and some more copper with no major conflict, although I did have to wipe out a few other barbarian cities to make room.

I was never really hard pressed by Hatty's expansion for unknown reasons I suppose she felt a lot of barbarian pressure, but since I had my area staked out I had only a few direct attacks. But then there wasn't much attractive land between us so neither of us rushed to claim it. And I was just as happy to keep the jungles as a training camp for my units.

I'm hopelessly behind at 0 AD, and have no clear idea how to win this one other than possibly diplomatic.

Sigh.

The RNG gods did not like me in this one--I kept losing my quechas to barbs. I moved one north in order to get the gems, and then kept losing them.

I'm clearly not used to the pacing on deity, or the increased barbarian activity. I aborted an attempted quecha rush (the 8 or so I built had dwindled to three), then began working on an axe rush. Along the way, I lost one of the three cities I had built to barbarians.

After building 8 axes between my capitol and a second city north of the rice, and buffing them up on two barb cities along the way, I declared war against Hatty. And her 50% defense. I did well--initially. By 0 BC the war stalled, she refused to declare peace, and the Egyptian hordes are moving southward. Truly I live in the end times.

Replay report:

So, i lost challenger in like 25 turns, to a run of bad luck with barbs
So now I am trying challenger.

My first decision was to lay off the quecha rush, instead, I built a few and termed them "elite guard" My goal was to get CS + Machinery BEFORE Hatty, upgrade my army while I got some catapults, and attack. And hope I can do a good job. I plan on razing any cities without wonders or a world capital for religion.

How does it look in 500 AD?

1) I've got CS+Mach+Cons. She does not
2) I have a SOD of 15 units, and 7 cats. Upgrading my elite squadders is done, and now I'm upgrading other troops.

I have 6 cities, maintaining 60% research rate. Here's my stats:

112 beakers per turn
5 cities
22 units of army (5 macemen)
Pathetic in every stat.

So, looking at this...I have no religion. I am behind in tech but have managed to trade here and there.

I have an army. I'll attack Hatty with Cats, use the macemen to cover the cats, and suicide em against cities. My remaining army will stay behind and cover for the impending horse archers ill be swarmed with

EDIT:
Nevermind. Hatty upgraded when I declared. I'm toast.

OK. Let me see now.

I came (to see if I can survive),
I read (the pregame discussion),
I played (the night the game posted at 2 AM )
I move (1 tile N to settle)
I chose (to try a quecha rush-I am not a monger)
I wondered (to find an apponant for the longest time - took a left turn along the coast )
I met (Hatty with 5 cities already)
I took ( the Hattie's capital)
I loss ( the capital)
I quit (after loosing most of my units)

I should have waited until next day and played my typical game.
I wish I could have seen my own face as the units literally start poring into the captured capital . I can not even submit a retire because I nver saved. If I could just stop laughing at what happen, I will try to get some experiance on tech trading at high levels by playing again.

Settle 1 N, to grab gems
No much problem with barbs, thanks to a good (but expensive) fogbusting.
For some reason (fogbusting units) i was running on deficit before the 2nd city were founded, and this increased while building troops, and after taking a barb city S of gold.
Then with my 3 cities, where Hatty spreaded Hindu (she founded Hindu, Confu, Tao and Christ. in this order, buiding H and T shrines).

I sent a good stack of axes (ahh, good ol' axes rush), Q, Chariots and spears and managed to conquer 2 pretty good cities with courthouses, then she offered peace+150g.
But i was running on deficit @0%, and my target was the Hindu Shrine.
My stack was almost in position to attack her capital, when she built Chicken Pizza...
My techs: Fish, Poly (failed for 3 turns), mining, BW, writ, Alpha (not completed) no other AI met, but a long list of wonders built IFAWL in absolutely indecent dates.
She has cats, HA, no less than 10 techs i can see, not to mention the ones i can't.
no hope after CI without cats, i tried a desperate attack, loosing 4 units against 1 of hers.

And i quitted in disgust in 20 AD.

If only the gems were on the hill 1N of settler, everything would be easier, and this would be a deity game.
This way is just a "see, you're not ready for deity, improve your skills".
If i got a start like this in a HOF game, i regenerate the map.

BLubmuz said:

If only the gems were on the hill 1N of settler, everything would be easier, and this would be a deity game.
This way is just a "see, you're not ready for deity, improve your skills".
If i got a start like this in a HOF game, i regenerate the map.

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I think the area we start is is pretty nice for this difficulty level. It's much better than what I've experienced generating random starts at Emperor. Is it an awesome, powerhouse location? No. But there are ample health, happiness, and strategic resources in the vicinity of where we start. Even if they are placed in such a way that it's hard to get more than two or three for any single city.

Having all three of the happiness resources that require only Mining to use, all within a short distance of the start, seems like it must have been a gift to us from ainwood. It is also awfully lucky how the three health resources that are doubled by Granaries are available, even if one isn't exactly close-by.

On the other hand, the huge expanse of resource-barren jungle north and west of our start is not very pleasant at all. But this is Diety level after all.

Okay! On my 2nd replay...

Settle on the plains hill, mine the grassy hill, produce quechas at expense of growth.

I managed to Quecha Rush Hatty out of existence quickly (I got lucky on odds). I kept 2 cities, and thusly had 4 at around 3000 or so BC.

Moved my capital to the city with the gold to the west.
Got the Colossus!
Slowly filling in the land. Toko has settled on the west end, but he's slow now.

I have 6 cities in 500 AD, and a decent economy, though I am last. The game's completely unwinnable unless I somehow get to the other continents before the launch.

Sadly, Hatty did not found a religion before she died.