Let's start with this premise: I am not very good at this game. I mostly play on Prince or King. I struggle with happiness, I fail to bother with much micromanagement, and I haven't really figured out how to properly wage war.
But Deity? That's easy.
Step 1: Map set-up: Small (though other sizes are probably fine), Archipelago (other island maps are probably fine), Standard speed, normal settings.
Step 2: Pick Venice.
Step 3: Don't get in any wars. Do the obvious thing and pump out as many trade routes as you can. Buy city-states when you get merchants, but mostly so you can route a couple of grain ships to the mother city, and to pick up strategic resources. Buy all the buildings, work on wonders or international projects.
Step 4: Buy the allegiance of all of the city-states, and win the game.
I had previously used this strategy on Emperor, with the same result. If anything, it just worked faster on Deity, due to the accelerated science. I finished on turn 287.
As glad as I am to have a Deity win under my belt, this is a problem, I think. I know I cooked the set-up a little, but it's well within the normal range (not like when I beat Civ 1 on Deity as a kid by rerolling Earth maps until I had the Americas to myself).
Some thoughts on the problem:
1. The AI is not willing enough to declare war on watery maps. Or maybe not willing enough to declare war on Venice (due to lack of expansion, and massive trade?). War would have made my path much harder, but also more interesting. By the end of the game, I had been denounced a dozen times or so, but it was too late, and still no one DoWed me, even as I slapped an embargo on the score leader.
2. Diplomatic victory is silly, and too easy. The AI doesn't seem to understand the threat, and certainly doesn't do much to counteract it. Admittedly, I had more than double the GPT of the highest AI, but once I started buying up allegiances, I got very little push-back. There is a chance I could have won on culture or science, but it would have taken a lot more work, and it would have been a real race.
3. It's kind of silly the way some things get easier on Deity level. I'm not sure I've ever finished Globalization before 1800 on Prince.
Unrelated observations:
Merchant of Venice, when used on a City-State that has conquered an AI city, will give you two cities for the price of one.
If your pantheon loses majority status, you can't build a Great Prophet to found a religion. Disappointing, as I had the faith necessary to found the final religion, but wasn't able to finished it off. Worse, even with 90 pressure from an AI religion (and 20 or so from 2 others), I never adopted any religion in Venice.
When you wipe out the second-to-last civilization, a note pops up declaring that cultural victory is imminent. Ironic, considering I learned this as the Huns without ever building anything but units.
But Deity? That's easy.
Step 1: Map set-up: Small (though other sizes are probably fine), Archipelago (other island maps are probably fine), Standard speed, normal settings.
Step 2: Pick Venice.
Step 3: Don't get in any wars. Do the obvious thing and pump out as many trade routes as you can. Buy city-states when you get merchants, but mostly so you can route a couple of grain ships to the mother city, and to pick up strategic resources. Buy all the buildings, work on wonders or international projects.
Step 4: Buy the allegiance of all of the city-states, and win the game.
I had previously used this strategy on Emperor, with the same result. If anything, it just worked faster on Deity, due to the accelerated science. I finished on turn 287.
As glad as I am to have a Deity win under my belt, this is a problem, I think. I know I cooked the set-up a little, but it's well within the normal range (not like when I beat Civ 1 on Deity as a kid by rerolling Earth maps until I had the Americas to myself).
Some thoughts on the problem:
1. The AI is not willing enough to declare war on watery maps. Or maybe not willing enough to declare war on Venice (due to lack of expansion, and massive trade?). War would have made my path much harder, but also more interesting. By the end of the game, I had been denounced a dozen times or so, but it was too late, and still no one DoWed me, even as I slapped an embargo on the score leader.
2. Diplomatic victory is silly, and too easy. The AI doesn't seem to understand the threat, and certainly doesn't do much to counteract it. Admittedly, I had more than double the GPT of the highest AI, but once I started buying up allegiances, I got very little push-back. There is a chance I could have won on culture or science, but it would have taken a lot more work, and it would have been a real race.
3. It's kind of silly the way some things get easier on Deity level. I'm not sure I've ever finished Globalization before 1800 on Prince.
Unrelated observations:
Merchant of Venice, when used on a City-State that has conquered an AI city, will give you two cities for the price of one.
If your pantheon loses majority status, you can't build a Great Prophet to found a religion. Disappointing, as I had the faith necessary to found the final religion, but wasn't able to finished it off. Worse, even with 90 pressure from an AI religion (and 20 or so from 2 others), I never adopted any religion in Venice.
When you wipe out the second-to-last civilization, a note pops up declaring that cultural victory is imminent. Ironic, considering I learned this as the Huns without ever building anything but units.
