How did you beat the AI on Deity?
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KingDerfliw
Chieftain
I beat the AI my first Deity game with the Mongols. It was actually my first game with the Mongols, but my strategy was to get as many cities as possible early via the Barb Huts (their bonus ability). Basically by doing so I had 7-8 cities when they only had 2-3, I then concentrated on defense and science. My numerous cities pushed my research rate very high and I was able to reach important Military techs first, and build advanced armies while still defending my borders and when the time was right, I attacked and achieved a domination victory by 1720AD.
I think the key to winning at Deity level is early expansion, and trying to take up as much good land as possible. Leave the crappy land for the AI, don't settle areas with little or no food in the early stages. Also, be sure to take advantage of any nearby islands, they tend to have good resources and can make very good science/gold cities, plus they are isolated so they require less defense. Also, make sure you exploit your civ's bonuses ASAP. Also research techs that are going to give you immediate bonuses (so pay attention to what resources are close to your cities and try to research those first).
Hope these tips help...
I think the key to winning at Deity level is early expansion, and trying to take up as much good land as possible. Leave the crappy land for the AI, don't settle areas with little or no food in the early stages. Also, be sure to take advantage of any nearby islands, they tend to have good resources and can make very good science/gold cities, plus they are isolated so they require less defense. Also, make sure you exploit your civ's bonuses ASAP. Also research techs that are going to give you immediate bonuses (so pay attention to what resources are close to your cities and try to research those first).
Hope these tips help...
Bearless
Chieftain
Yes, thats a very interesting method. My first (and only) Deity victory was just the other night. I won an Economic victory as the Aztecs I do believe. I basically just got cities in good positions on an island. Whenever I got the chance I used a great person to convert another city. I was basically on the defence the whole game once the great wall expired (which is v important in my opinion)..
Slobberface
Chieftain
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- Aug 5, 2008
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MOTHER RUSSIA
-defensive units come with loyalty after the ancient age
-half price spy units in the modern age
...i smoked the AI to tell you the truth
-defensive units come with loyalty after the ancient age
-half price spy units in the modern age
...i smoked the AI to tell you the truth
I lost 3 times on normal 'single player' Diety before I tried Deity in the Beta Centuri scenario. I was the greeks and dominated the game (I had 3X leads in all victory condition categories before I closed out a cultural victory). My strategy, which seemed to make the difference, was not destroying any barbarian villages. With one infantry in each city, I was able to defend against weak barbarian mauraders. The barbarian cities on my borders acted as a buffer against other civs...I didn't meet the 1st opposing civ until like 1,500 AD and hence had no reason to build military units beyond one per city to that point. By 1,500 AD, my cities were all cranking production, cuture and gold. I had about 4 cities that would build at least 4 infantry units per turn, so I became unstoppable. I dominated more than any game I played previously, even on King difficulty. Now I just have to figure out how to win a tech victory on Diety, since I can't use that same strategy.
Bearless
Chieftain
Why can't you use that same stratedgy but swap gold for science?
Shinseng
Chieftain
A Tech victory isn't available in the Beta scenario...
Bearless
Chieftain
Ah, of course!
I just smashed diety. This is not easy. Set up Duel, pangea, quick, barbarians on overload, maxed out the city states. I was Alexander. Built warriors. Kept building warriors. Sent them exploring and grabbing goody huts. Researched straight for horseback riding. Built horsemen. Once I found the opponent I kamakazied some warriors with the objective of stealing opposition workers. War is declared and round one sees 2 captured units, leaving him none. That seriously set back the AI. Killed some defending units with the sacrificial warriors. Gathered my remaining warriors and sent them to a staging point near the enemy. In come the horseman. 3 warriors and 4 horseman go up against spearmen, archers, and catapults. I took their capital on the 3rd round of the assault with what was left of my last unit. Capital conquered = Domination victory. I got the Alexander special in this game. The glory of it. Victory or death!
andrewgpisme
Chieftain
I usually do it as Egypt which involves: finding good spots by deserts, building trading posts and markets/libraries there, and settling Great Scientists and Explorers on those cities to shoot ahead in the Gold/Tech Race.
Expand fast and early and be prepared for the AI to constantly be at war with you. Defend yourself well and DO NOT fall behind in the tech race.
Expand fast and early and be prepared for the AI to constantly be at war with you. Defend yourself well and DO NOT fall behind in the tech race.
Jazzwind01
Chieftain
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2011
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- 3
Like Slobberface, I won one time using The Rodina (Mother Russia). Germany was pestering me non-stop from the beginning of the game. Once I established half a dozen cities and sat good defense - I started pumping out nothing but spies. NOTHING but spies. OMG I would wait until I had 2 "Rings", and then 20 - 30 single spies. In one turn I sent the first spy ring in - beaten. Second one, Wins. I then grabbed all four of his GP's, then tore down every building, then stole gold starting at 500 or so for the first spy, and steady - but slowly - declining amounts after. It was Spy-Rape City on the Civ that was pissing me off the most. Nothing was getting into my cities - and I made damn sure that when I decided to roll the Kaiser, he only had jack and to rush his units with - and Jack had LONG since left town. LOL
Jazzwind01
Chieftain
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Yeah. If you're on Diety and you see yourself way behind in that Tech Race? I managed once in about 20 Diety games to actually surpass from behind a huge deficit. The rest...well. Rome didnt last, either, so I dont feel so bad.
beating deity is pretty easy, but requires strategy and a complete lack of honor. the computer cheats on deity so you've got to cheat just as hard.
either go for
megacity - its been patched out but you can still do a half assed one and thats good enough to wreck the computer. usually i combine this with a rush for university and then complete oxford university 9/10 time you get flight. fighter vs archers or pikemen is overkill. if you dont know what megacity is look it up on yotuube and watch the videos.
horseback rush - hard to do with anyone but the aztecs. basically you use your gold to buy a warrior 1st turn then set your city to full science and rush horseback riding. as your researching use your warrior to get all the barbs and goody huts and keep buying horsemen. try and get one of your horsemen to veteran by killing barbs. make your horsemen into an army and take over as many capitals as possible. (note: any tech based civ will have archer armies by 2100 bc - so get that army built early) - after this youve got a pretty big advantage and its really up to you depending on which victory path you like. it seems like domination is the quickest but gold is the easiest.
either go for
megacity - its been patched out but you can still do a half assed one and thats good enough to wreck the computer. usually i combine this with a rush for university and then complete oxford university 9/10 time you get flight. fighter vs archers or pikemen is overkill. if you dont know what megacity is look it up on yotuube and watch the videos.
horseback rush - hard to do with anyone but the aztecs. basically you use your gold to buy a warrior 1st turn then set your city to full science and rush horseback riding. as your researching use your warrior to get all the barbs and goody huts and keep buying horsemen. try and get one of your horsemen to veteran by killing barbs. make your horsemen into an army and take over as many capitals as possible. (note: any tech based civ will have archer armies by 2100 bc - so get that army built early) - after this youve got a pretty big advantage and its really up to you depending on which victory path you like. it seems like domination is the quickest but gold is the easiest.
elthrasher
Revcaster
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2009
- Messages
- 712
The AI doesn't cheat that much. On deity it gets a 40% production handicap (meaning a warrior that costs you 10 hammers costs the AI 6) and that's it. No science or culture or military bonuses. It can also teleport units around in the fog of war, but I expect that has more to do with memory management or something so it doesn't have to path a unit all the way to you. Just keep the fog clear and the AI won't teleport. Simple as that.
Oxford University has a fixed pattern. You get the highest tech that you have a pre-requisite for. To get Flight, you need your highest tech to be Invention. Industrialization will get you Advanced Flight and Corporation will get you Networking. Those are the most popular ones. Now you can have Flight 10 out of 10 times instead of 9/10, but Advanced Flight is really better. Fighters aren't that great in this game if you are the only one who has bombers.
Horserushing works fine but isn't really necessary in a single-player game. There are lots of tricks to speed things up. Like if you meet a nearby AI before you are ready to attack, try declaring war right away. The AI will just produce warriors, not archers. This only works if the AI is close.
Also note that GotW deity is different. It doesn't get the production bonus but instead starts the game with Bronze Working, Iron Working, a barracks and a settled great leader. Good stuff to start with, but after that it's the same dumb AI. It won't do very much.
Oxford University has a fixed pattern. You get the highest tech that you have a pre-requisite for. To get Flight, you need your highest tech to be Invention. Industrialization will get you Advanced Flight and Corporation will get you Networking. Those are the most popular ones. Now you can have Flight 10 out of 10 times instead of 9/10, but Advanced Flight is really better. Fighters aren't that great in this game if you are the only one who has bombers.
Horserushing works fine but isn't really necessary in a single-player game. There are lots of tricks to speed things up. Like if you meet a nearby AI before you are ready to attack, try declaring war right away. The AI will just produce warriors, not archers. This only works if the AI is close.
Also note that GotW deity is different. It doesn't get the production bonus but instead starts the game with Bronze Working, Iron Working, a barracks and a settled great leader. Good stuff to start with, but after that it's the same dumb AI. It won't do very much.
About how to beat the AI at Deity level, I have some conclusions.
1) Never attack a barbarian village with wounded military, unless you have a wounded army.
The game seems to punish recklessness.
Well it also rewards it with great generals, but that is not likely when attacking a barbarian village.
2) Production is key to begin with. If you do not produce that first, second, third and probably fourth warrior quickly enough, the bloody mongolians will come and turn that barbarian village into a city of theirs, instead of you getting a caravan to explore with, before it pays for finishing your first or second library.
3) Collect 100 gold, and then plan to make more settlers.
4) Win the science race while dominating the seas. If you want to beat the AI, surpass it in military technology. That way you most probably just have to build a single army in just the right spot to defend against any civ messing with your plans of domination.
5) Finish it of by expanding your empire onto every island you have discovered. When you are about fed up with sending new settlers out, choose which way you want to win.
This general strategy will not achieve quick conquest victories, but hints about how provide the resources needed to achive other goals against the AI.
1) Never attack a barbarian village with wounded military, unless you have a wounded army.
The game seems to punish recklessness.
Well it also rewards it with great generals, but that is not likely when attacking a barbarian village.
2) Production is key to begin with. If you do not produce that first, second, third and probably fourth warrior quickly enough, the bloody mongolians will come and turn that barbarian village into a city of theirs, instead of you getting a caravan to explore with, before it pays for finishing your first or second library.
3) Collect 100 gold, and then plan to make more settlers.
4) Win the science race while dominating the seas. If you want to beat the AI, surpass it in military technology. That way you most probably just have to build a single army in just the right spot to defend against any civ messing with your plans of domination.
5) Finish it of by expanding your empire onto every island you have discovered. When you are about fed up with sending new settlers out, choose which way you want to win.
This general strategy will not achieve quick conquest victories, but hints about how provide the resources needed to achive other goals against the AI.
elthrasher
Revcaster
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2009
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- 712
FYI, it seems like if you have at least 1 attack, you have a 100% chance of winning when attacking barbarians up to 2000 BC (first 20 turns). After that, normal battle odds come into play and you can lose unless you have overrun. Long story short: when attacking barbs after 2000 BC, be prepared to retreat if things don't look good. The barbs won't heal so you can heal up and try again. I've lost some stupid fights against those late barbs. One time I was in a FFA game as the Germans. Hadn't got my 100 gold yet, but I had a warrior on a galley. I found a barb on a 2 tile island so I unloaded the warrior and attacked. I lost at 1.5-0.5 and had to sail all the way home to get another warrior to pop the barb. Bleah.
But yeah, build settlers until you're ready to turn your thoughts towards winning works well.
Terrapin
Prince
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2003
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- 505
Elf, you are a little off as far as ..."at least 1 attack..." You can lose if you have a penalty even if your net is still one. For instance, I have lost pre-2000bc when attacking from a hill across a river. I have also lost attacking with a veteran unit across a river. I have also lost attacking with a 2/3 strength, veteran warrior from a hill (1.34).
elthrasher
Revcaster
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2009
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- 712
Who's that?
I was skeptical at first when somebody told me of this. Since then I have kept careful watch. In the past year at least I never never lost when attacking barbs with at least 1 combat strength at 2000BC or earlier. I can't claim to be 100% certain that this is the rule, but I have at least one year of experience since I started paying attention to this. I believe it to be the case.
Try it with a double-wounded Arab warrior on a hill or something. That's a unit that has 1 attack but seems most likely to lose if the early fights aren't fixed.
Tomorrow's Dawn
Heroes Never Die
I beat it the first time with the Chinese, utilizing the Horseman Rush and expanding constantly. Wasn't too bad, but given the bonuses, they were a good first step up for learning the difficulty. I promptly beat it with the Russians, Arabs, Japanese & Americans after more or less either using Horsemen rushes or setting up a choke and teching quickly (Japanese). The map more or less plays a decisive factor as well. My American game was plagued with such problems but it only delayed my victory rather than hindering it completely.
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