"Interesting Deity Start" Series

About your game. I think you did some things good and some things not so good. I usually never build a warrior but it can still work if you like. The norm is to build mostly range units like archers and upgrade them with gold.

I'd just add that what F.A. says is true, but particularly true with Germany as you'll get a few brutes from clearing barb camps, making warrior building even less useful, if not downright redundant.
 
Ok that is alot of pictures. You can upload them from this site under manage attachments but you need to keep them under 500kb which you can do by things like a program called Infranview which can shrink them. At least that is how I do it. Alot of people post them from another website. You really only need to post 2 to 4 pics of your game but your free to put as many as you like. I like to post a pic with each post that I have or something like turn 100/200/300. This is all your choice.

About your game. I think you did some things good and some things not so good. I usually never build a warrior but it can still work if you like. The norm is to build mostly range units like archers and upgrade them with gold. You might be in trouble letting Shaka settle close to you. If he wants your Capital it is almost impossible to stop him in the early game. Im starting to find that early settlers makes the game easier. This makes sense because you get more land and start earlier on building the things you need/want. The norm is a 4 city Empire but other things like 2 or 3 or 5 and 6 cities work too. It depends on how you want to play it.

I like to settle on luxes and research that tech to keep happy in the early game. Playing nice early can work too so you can get a tech advantage later. Ofcourse early Warmongering works as well but is harder to learn what you can and can't do. As always I suggest you read strategy guides and watch alot of LPs to learn. That is your choice though so you know you have to decide.

I noticed you played the Germany game so you can read the other two posts on here to see what we did in our games to help you out if you did not already do this. Welcome to the site and be sure to check out the Deity Challenge Series as well. They have a pretty fun Mayan map up this week and 11 other games to get into when your ready.
Yeah, I agree on that last part, though it probably is good that I took all the pictures, as build order and tech order were quite easy to remember with that.
EDIT: Oh, also, I understand about attaching them, but since they're all in the steam cloud library and right clicking doesn't give me the save option, I'm a bit lost for what to do with that...

My reasoning for the warrior was that I was having a barbarian problem and archery wasn't researched yet. I'm guessing that tech gets higher priority that I gave it? Not that the warrior did much anyway...

Yeah, Shaka is a worry to me, and while I'd consider razing his city and founding my own, I'm probably not getting a religion even with that, though it would secure and observatory and two new luxuries, while admittedly Hamburg doesn't have any, and I just settled it to have a coastal city. Everyone talks about Composite Bow rushes, I'm assuming that Archers just don't cut it? The terrain isn't exactly appealing for assaults anyway...

Ah, thank you. I have watched quite a few LPs, though admittedly only the first eight episodes on average. I'm not really sure about the warring, though honestly with Shaka so close it's probably inevitable.

Thanks, I will after posting this. I'm admittedly not going to try the Maya game, since I read a bunch of the other posts and part of what I like in civ is discovering the new terrain, so I think I'll wait until next challenge, though some of the earlier ones might be a great idea to practice.


I'm not one to comment, as I got wiped off of this map. I do everything I can to settle next to a Natural Wonder like that, even building a 2 pop settler. It guarantees a religion and this game it was pretty good turf and a perfect distance from Capital. Playing on a small continent with Shaka means you will either be best friends with him or at war sooner rather than later. I know which I'd choose.

As for your earlier question regarding how to load these games, I kinda laughed. 2 months ago I was just a lurker because I could not figure out how to find the games on my Mac. I had been trying for a couple of months, so you're much quicker than I was. I posted in the tech-help thread, and someone held my hand and I finally figured it out. Since then, I've gone back and played almost all of the DCL challenges, and I think it's the best way to improve Deity play…..comparing your experience with that of other players. Welcome to this silly world.

Well, I only played 48 turns, so we have plenty of time for the same to happen to me. I agree, I should have put more priority on that location, possibly even sent my first settler there, as I don't believe Ethiopia is really that expansive so Hamburg's location might have been secure for a bit. I'm guessing friendship?

Oh, hah, that's actually pretty funny, thanks. Sounds like a grand old time, I'm sure this world will be very silly.
 
Well you seem to have a grasp on gameplay for sure. I like to tech archery very early sometimes I even go archery first if my gold is going to be high enough to withstand all the units Im going to build. I have seen people suggest that you build 2x archers more than what you intend. Something about making things easier for warmongering and CS's quests. Like I say... this is all on how you want to play it. I've seen many, many things work. Awhile back before some patches you used to be able to build a ton of warriors and use them for a Sword/LongSword rush if you had alot of Iron.

I have seen people make archer rushes work but you have to know what you are doing and do it very early. Comp/Xbows are easier (IMO). Actually I have made archer rush only work in MP lol! People do not like that and will quit on you pretty fast.

Even though Sword/LS still can work. Im pretty sure Range Units are the better unit and you only need a few spears/pikes for meat shields or you don't even need that if you want to just use 1 or 2 horseman to take down cities. So many choices really :)! I have a feeling you already know this anyway.

About the pictures I like to use Fraps to take my screenshots. It is free like Infranview and you can change the capture button for taking the pics in the game. It also is a great program to use to record your games if you ever want to try that and make an LP but that is alot of work and I mean alot of work for free that only a few will understand and appreciate.

So Im not sure how you get a pic out of the Steam Library. I hate Steam anyway and I think it is BS that it has to be connected to our game. I bought BNW from Gamestop and the guy asked me why didn't I just download it from Steam. First I asked him if he was a capitalist or if he worked for capitalist's because Im trying to buy a game from you with cash and your trying to tell me to take my money elsewhere lol. Second I told him that I like having a hard copy and he was like... "Well you have to connect to steam anyway to load and play it"... I told him: "I'm pretty sure that can be disabled and I can run it without steam" but he didn't believe it. Anyway I just wanted to tell that story since I have been dying to tell it one of these days lol!

See if you can somehow copy the file from steam to your pc and shrink it down to get it on here. If you can't figure that out, I guess you might want to try something like Fraps.

Oh and if you are going to rush Shaka... the sooner the better. I mean the sooner! You need to take him out before he gets impi crazy! However I would love to see someone take his capital before turn 60-65 in this game. Im pretty sure it is mission impossible with that choke point! Ofcourse saying that Im guessing Acken or Glory7 or another strong Deity player is going to prove it can be done just to prove it :)!
 
Why thank you! I see, I don't have a ton of gold but I'm sure if I get a caravan up and send it to Ethiopia I can support more of an army. Currently have one archer, and I'm thinking 3 more would be good, so should I take eight archers? As is, I think I'll rush composites after philosophy and rush Shaka with that, hopefully taking him out before he becomes a huge problem. I don't have bronze working yet, actually, so I don't think a sword rush is really viable. Am I holding that off to much?

I see, well...you still technically win. Yeah, most people sing the praises on ranged units a lot, though it always was odd to me why horses are so often used for city taking despite the penalty. I'm guessing for the move?

Hm, alright, well, I'll get Fraps and play around with that a bit before I go back into that game, I've heard good things about it though.

Yeah, I'm not great at civ and it's probably a bit to late for a sub-70 capital take, but I'll still try and take him out early. As is it's almost turn 50, and I'm probably going to march an army of eight composites there and get slaughtered by a massive army of Impis from nowhere, but you know what? I have a shot at taking him out just before the medieval era, which should hopefully shut him down big time.
 
Im looking forward to seeing a Comp Bow rush after Philo!! I do not think that is viable against Shaka. However it would be nice to see. Usually Comp Bow rush doesn't include Writing in my Experience. I usually go something like AH, Mining, Archery and Beeline Construction. Now one thing that happens alot in my games is I have to delay Construction with 1 turn to go and I'll research Writing while waiting to build some more archers and save the gold for the upgrades. I guess a good rule of thumb is to be trying to take out a close capital around turn 50-60.

Ofcourse it pays to let a Civ get stronger and build some Wonders first which means you might not start the war till after turn 80. Once again this is a style choice. I would like to get better at what Glory_7 does and others. They use a CS to bootcamp up the archers getting 3x points to get to the Range/Logistic combo faster. They talk about not taking a city too early but keep shooting it to make your units get to this Promo faster. They also use workers to build roads all over the place so the units and can move in and out with ease. Ofcourse some worker baiting helps too! I never try hard enough to build the roads but I need to start learning how to do that.

I think it was Cromagnus who suggest to practice the opening of the game over and over till you get it down pat instead of playing 300 turns till the bitter end. Sort of like practicing your chess game where you work on openings/middle games/end games.

I also tend to use the exploit for more gold. Get AH and BW to find if you have alot of horses and iron and sell it for 2gpt. If you don't know, that means you have to keep asking the civ to trade you 1 horse for 2 gpt every time over and over till your out of them.
 
Yeah, I actually went construction before philosophy. Doesn't matter anyway.

Spoiler :
Shaka basically wiped out my entire empire in ten turns. I lost around turn ninety. I'd replay, but I don't know if my knowledge of the map is 'unfair' or something. Anyway...I should have seen that coming, though even doing nothing but building composites and spearmen I was screwed, as he got Impis out, which simply swept through my units without taking more than 10 damage a hit. I don't think I killed a single one...


Now, what would I have done differently?

Spoiler :
Building walls sounds appropriate.

I would have super early expanded to Mt. Kailash, and rushed to composites to take out Shaka. I probably wouldn't have gone pottery due to the natural wonder, and I would have more actively attacked barbarians to build up an army. Even though I lost, it was fun recruiting barbarians, so there's that at least.

And, well...I played to turn 90, what else do you expect?


I had a few pictures, but fraps took 2.something mega byte photos, so yeah, that's a bit to large. Point is, I was Dan Quayle.

Anyway, that all sounds like some pretty complex strategy stuff which I wouldn't know how to do. Anyway, thank you all for the map, I uh...guess I'll try to do better next time.
 
Now, what would I have done differently?

Spoiler :

I think you should try to replay this map. It's a great way to learn if doing things differently would change the outcome……and then do it again, and again, and again. This map has a very serious test for Deity players new and experienced….namely Shaka. It's also a great opportunity to learn how to deal with him, and if you learn that, you can handle just about any early warmonger.

Shaka has to be at war, that's who he is. He's either going to be at war with you, or at war with who you want him to be at war with. In this map, there are only two civs he can war with….you and Ethiopia. You get to decide who gets his wrath. Now, I screwed up my game by not remembering that you can bribe him to DoW a CS, and also by sending him to war too early, but the above is still valid.

First thing I learned on Deity is to get right in the face of early Warmongers. If you wait for them……game over.

 
Although sometimes you need to have walls... most of the time you do not! The only time I get into building walls and castles is for when I want to build Neuschwanstein. However if I am under a large attack I will rush buy walls. I would much rather build another unit over a wall. Ofcourse I have seen some people swear by walls which is ok since they do help and do not cost anything but I like to use my turns for other things. In this game with Shaka so close and only Ethiopia to attack and that choke point, I would say it might be better to get him to keep attacking Ethiopia and a CS or two. What I did was try to block his troops so he didn't take out the CS and it was tough for him to get to Ethiopia till later.

Im pretty sure you could take him out but you have to plan on it being in the mid/late game. Trying to take out Shaka early is usually only viable when he is very close with flat land to attack. His Impis can move 3 hexes at a time which will gobble up all of your troops in a hurry in the early game!

After my defeat on the Mayan map Im about to post up another map here. Im pretty sure only a couple of us are playing but I know some people are lurking and reading and getting some tips/strategy out of it. Plus it makes it more real for me when I have to post my results and I get some feedback for learning. Since the DCL is about 2 weeks away I do not think any Civ (except for France) will conflict.
 
Mhm, I see. Well, my hope was to uses Composite Bowmen to take him out before he could get impis, but it might be a better idea to stay friendly with him until the industrial era or so, and then attack. If I want to go domination though, it might be better to take him out earlier, though I don't know how viable that is given the map.

Hm, sounds interesting, I'll be sure to have a look.
 
IDS #4 Greece, Deity, Fractal Map, Stand/Stand

Warning! This file has all DLC including map packs, I forgot to disable!

I only seen Deity Greece on an old DCL before the DCL. I think it was something like challenge #34 before they rebooted the DCL if that makes sense lol. Anyway this Civ is always giving everyone trouble in games so why not get to play them for a change. On that #34 challenge I played way after it was over and I resurrected it from the dead for a few days being the last poster I ended up winning a Diplo VC with them. That map was some sort of a mtn map and pretty tough to get from one side to the other. I had to sell half of my cities at the end to get peace to be able to buy out the last 2 CS's for the victory. Anyways... this map will be easier to warmonger compared to that map I believe. Once again a Fractal map since it is very tough to know if it is going to be Pangea or Conts without scouting. Im hoping for Pangea this time but I will not know since I will be posting from turn 0 only with a start that seems interesting to me. I do not expect alot of players so this is for the sickos like myself :)

If you want to look at the Civs who will be in this map it is in the spoiler.


Spoiler :
I cooked the books again. I used to always let the AI go random but I find it better to mix in half Warmongers/Peacful Civs. The following Civs will be found in this game: Morocco, Assyria, The Huns, India, Siam, Sweden, Portugal.


My thoughts:
Spoiler :

I made sure to put 7 different Civs in compared to the Germany game but trying to keep the mix in that I like. As usual a Fractal Map.

So once again I roll one map and love the start. You do get a river and two luxes but as you can see alot of jungle and no mtn that you can see so it is interesting and challenging enough to me for a post. For me Im thinking to exploit the settle on the Gems so I do not have to research BW to chop it out. Ofcourse you lose the river start but who needs a water mill anyway!

I am sorry for not disabling the map packs but even though I do not like steam they really do not cost alot of money to download. Im not sure but in most of my games I have always been able to transfer such material to other players. This is one reason Links LS sold out. Everyone was getting the xtra courses/map packs for free posting them and sending them to one another for free downloads.
 

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That is a fairly interesting map, I might try it, though normally I do prefer starts with more visibility and resources. There really aren't a lot of good tiles to start with but that doesn't mean it lacks potential.

I personally play the game on steam, though I did get vanilla and G&K via physical copy. I believe the map packs come with the complete works version of vanilla anyway. I've actually been rolling for some Assyria maps on Pangaea Plus before I realized the map packs are being excluded.
 
Your gonna find tougher starts on this thread. Especially when I roll a map I want it to be difficult. I chose this start because I think it is on the harder side and I like that.

Turns 0-7

Spoiler :
I had to post this!! Wot a Start!! I scout perfect with my warrior and meet Siam on turn 5. Im not sure which way he is gonna go but he ends up in a very nice spot for me where I can attack him and get his settler! So that is what happened and just had to post the picture :). I am up to turn 12 and this map is going to really test me. I found India, Assyria, and Sweden... it looks like a Full Honor, 2 city warmonger game for me.


Turns 8-100

Spoiler :
Things were going pretty good but Super Assyria ruined my perfect start. Ofcourse this cluster of Civs didn't help matters but I like this game because it can be easier with warmongering down the road. The big problem that I have is I took back Sparta 4 turns too early and am going to have to rush buy a library again which means I won't get the NC up for a few more turns. Im also forced to rebuild my monument... isn't war just Hell?? Before the attack Assyria had made peace with Sweden and would not take any bribes. Ofcourse I forgot to ask them to attack a CS instead :(. Now I put them back to war with each other. Im hoping to take out all of Assyrias cities down the road. They are going to pay for this mess. I am DOF with India and am planning on trying to take all other Civs out first and keep them as my ally.

No Iron in my borders and only 2 horses (Sold for 4gpt) so Im trying a bit of a Hoplite/Comp defense into a rush. Ofcourse Assyria had plenty of Swords and Siege Towers. He was pretty sneaky getting a Siege Tower over to Sparta to take it down!

I took Shark Divers advice and opened Tradition for the xtra cpt and border pops. Now Im into Honor with 2 SPs needed to finish. I never even tried for a Religion since I figured I was gonna warmonger this whole game and with the Civs so close I didn't want to invest into it.


Turns 101-170

Spoiler :
You all know how it goes... I basically just kept up the war. I took down Sukhotai and liberated it to kinda exploit the borders. Next I took down Nimrud but somehow lost two Xbows with Logistic promos! I need to work on not losing these troops that is going to hurt only having 4 instead of 6 now. I sold that to India for a little gpt and got open borders so my troops could hang out inside his house. Nineveh and Assur were much easier and fell within a few turns. Im about 8% behind in tech which isn't so bad at this point. I put Atilla to war with India and need Sweden to war with Portugal but I fear that isn't going to happen. I need a good break after this and not really sure if I can win from here but I will keep trying. At the very least it will help me get better at some tactics.

Full Honor and opened Tradition and onto Rationalism next. I still have no faith per turn but India has a pretty good Church. I could probably just go back to my old habits and ally up from here... tech up and RA up and blast off and use Order this time instead of messing about with Freedom but I kinda want to press on with war more this time.

I played 11 more turns after picture turn 159. I took down Halab and made another puppet. Next I got Dur-Shar in a peace deal and sold it to India for 66gpt. I'll be taking my break for awhile after this. It is a pretty fun map for me though! I'm having a major problem with production in the Capital so I might send a Production Caravan instead of Food.
 

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All I read was Siam, and I feel dread. Darn Siam...gr, they have the religious dedication to covering the map with their mustard stain borders...eh, I'll play it anyway, Greece's UUs might let me keep them back.
 
@ F.A.

Spoiler :

I want to get started on this game, but am finishing up DCL #2 and the IDS Arabia game first. I haven't read your spoilers yet, as I want to go in blind. My free time is dwindling over the next few weeks, but I'll try to get to this game.

 
I actually tried to play the Greece map above this morning, but unfortunately it turns out I don't have the right map packs (yet!), so for now I'll content myself with reading Fluphen's playlog, and it certainly sounds like it was an interesting experience.
 
@ AnonymousSpeed

Spoiler :
I messed up and forgot to disable the map packs. I will try not to do that again. Im not sure if you tried the 1st map which was Dido or #3 which is Arabia. Those should be good to go if you get time!


@ Shark Diver

Spoiler :
Take you time, no rush at all! This game is pretty good for me. I am sure others can clear out this map faster but I am having a good time trying. However I did just get in some Bluedream, Master Kush and White Widow so I am not sure how long it will take me to finish. I tried to put in some turns but after staring at the screen for 20 mins and not doing anything I had to close the game down :).
 
@ F.A.

Spoiler :

Dude, are you kidding me? I played 29 turns of that Greece map and there is literally no room for even a 2nd city. I got zero goodie huts, and I'm surrounded by 4 Siamese archers already, with barbs sniping at the other side of my capital. Not sure I even want to slog through this…..it's like it's not even the same game. T29 I get my first Social Policy?

Fractal can give you some pretty messed up maps, I guess. I'll save this for another time, as I just wanted a relaxing game…..this is anything but relaxing.



 
@ Shark Diver

Spoiler :
Hey... What do you want? This is supposed to be the IDS series right? Im up to about turn 205 in my game and it is a mess lol! I went Full Honor and I need to keep up with wars to make that work better but I've sold 3 cities to India and I don't want to war with them yet. I can't really start a war with Sweden either. I brought back Siam from the dead and I want his capital but Id like some RAs with him first. Im having a huge problem with growth and production in my capital.

I think this map is alot of fun but alot of work. This is one map I could play multiple times though because it has the ability to be very different each time. In hindsight I wish I would of just went with 1 city instead of expanding in my game.

I have had the flu for the last 5 days so I haven't played much of anything. I tried to play some turns today but had to give it up after 5 or so turns to get more rest. I'll finish one of these days though win or lose. I also noticed 5 downloads so far so 4 other people must have tried and said F this map too :) !


Edit: I played the #4 IDS up to turn 233 and being 8% behind in tech with 3-4 RA partners and PT should get me an SV victory. Ofcourse that is not for sure and since nobody else is playing this map Im just gonna save it but most likely am not going to finish. However I am sitting here bored and since everyone in the house is asleep Im gonna roll another map without the map packs this time!
 
IDS #5 Egypt, Deity, Fractal Map, Stand/Stand

After going to the movies and watching Exodus I decided to post up a map with Ramesses the Great (Egypt). I had higher hopes with this movie compared to Noah but I was let down once again. I also rolled a harder map the first time but since I forgot to disable map packs I rolled another and diabled them this time. I am going to work on some sort of a record keeping page for this thread in hopes of getting a few others to play out the maps. Im not sure exactly but I want to make it very detailed compared to just a win/loss record.

If you like to peek at the Civs in this game they are in the spoiler.

Spoiler :
Greece, Assyria, Venice, Persia, Babylon, Arabia, and Brazil. I put all the Civs in from Ramesses's time period but had to mix in others.


About the Start:

Spoiler :
Since I do not scout out my maps I pretty much look for starts that seem more difficult and have multiple choices. On this start you have the choice of a river/coast/mtn. You can settle in place. You could settle on the Gems or Wine. You can also try to walk your settler in hopes of a better location. I think the land is not very good even though Wine can be the best lux in the game at times.
 

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