Who's winning on Deity in G+K?

[Febreze]

Originally Posted by Sadato

I'm actually winning often. I only play OCC deity pangea all standard and I have achieved 3 science victories so far with Korea, Mayan and Egypt.

If someone is interested I could make a thread with some tips.

I'd like to go ahead and request this and spark further discussion on the OCC style, since this is more or less the way I play and I absolutely cannot approach the speeds which you do. The earliest I've gotten to I think robotics was about turn 223 with Korea. Although in the games I've played I've almost never been next to a mountain to settle, so that may be a factor.

[Grendeldef]

Yeah, in optimal circumstances annex/puppet for 500G is by far the cheapest way to get units and it's even better deal if one is lacking a tech or worse, several - city & buildings are just additional extra. In my case I connected a lux for 40 repu points, 250G to ally & 500G for marriage. With similar deals one can really make a surprise offense on another continent - no need to build or travel.
In general I think there're some tuning issues with G&K - I was also the 1st to start a religion even without teching pottery, never mind the shrines. Truly wonders of the worlds make these happen not that I have much use for a religion but since the opportunity presented itself I had to try.

G

[Hambil]

Religions (in game) are useful. For science you can get a lot of food bonuses. For conquest happiness and combat bonuses. For culture buildings, bonus culture on resources, etc.

[Cel.erity]

Originally Posted by Txurce

I've only played Emperor so far, but will play Immortal next. I was curious as to whether you could play as "creatively" on that level as you can on Emperor - meaning different victory conditions, going tall or wide, flexibility in AI diplomacy, taking advantage of the specific civ's traits, vs. sticking to a more or less rigidly defined path. (I don't consider going for archery and masonry early on too rigid, by the way.)

Yes, I've had success on Immortal with all sorts of strategies; if anything, it's less restrictive than Vanilla, but it does force you to play very well. I think Immortal now is what Deity should be, and Deity is just some unholy overly-restrictive artificial difficulty in G+K.

Re: Keshiks, I wasn't able to have any success with them when I tried. They come way too slow now, and you have to forsake too much to get them. Perhaps on a map with 4 or fewer civs you could work it, but otherwise you're going to quickly find it impossible to take cities, and you'll be way behind in tech even if you have 4 civs worth of land.

[Grendeldef]

I'm not denying the value of a religion but in my case it severely gimped my start in other ways as I settled my 2nd & 3rd cities next to faithgiving natural wonders. This slowed too much to be profitable but as I said, I had to test it. Giving that Ethiopia was next door neighbour I've also spent much faith to defend my cities. Purchasing GSs is nice I admit.

Only G&K game I've finished so far is the out-of-box-what's-this @emperor - sci vic at point after 200+. Easy enough but I was somewhat surprised the AIs opposition which seemed ok. Next game was immortal, I sort of knew what I was doing and it looked like a done deal after I got enough SBs so didn't bother to finish it but I've played easier deity vanilla games. After that I've testing things out @deity and the AI really isn't a pushover at least on continents maps - pangea most likely is easier due to RA opportunities.
First tries @deity felt almost like A2 inferno in D3 - I was in a very wrong place.

Overall the game is very much different than vanilla. Surviving is easy - conquering is not unless early UU supports it and early success is much more dependable on the map than before. The other thing is liberty tree change - it slows expansion a lot and makes things much harder than I would have though without trying. However, peaceful game with multiple victory conditions without being isolated is a possibility. My only warless deity game @vanilla was on my own island on continents map, cult vic ~T325 with full liberty opening - weird game & almost 100 turns longer than average.

[Tyxerxa]

I won on a science victory on deity with Austria, standard speed, large islands, standard size, while ignoring religion completely. I think however, that island maps are vastly easier to play, regardless of race, than the other map types. Means deity on islands = emperor on pangea. For my liberty finisher I chose a great merchant and I did not regret it.

Replay Download: http://www.2shared.com/file/q-F71YpT...D-1910_76.html

[jeespoks]

Originally Posted by Tyxerxa

I won on a science victory on deity with Austria, standard speed, large islands, standard size, while ignoring religion completely. I think however, that island maps are vastly easier to play, regardless of race, than the other map types. Means deity on islands = emperor on pangea. For my liberty finisher I chose a great merchant and I did not regret it.

Replay Download: http://www.2shared.com/file/q-F71YpT...D-1910_76.html

I won a science victory with the same settings on deity with Carthage on turn 255. Those free harbors really help in the early game. Took a bit longer than I though it would though. Island Maps are easier because you won't get rushed at the beginning and can focus on getting NC and cities up early.

I focused religion quite a bit and got 3 GS purchasing with faith. Used liberty finisher for GS which I settled.

[Monarken]

Beat my first diety level game yesterday after only a week of Civ 5 gaming. (Standard settings, duel size, pangaea and marathon). Played Ramkhamhaeng and won a domination victory vs Washington. It was constant war.

My tip for winning a diety level game is to build offensive cities close to the enemies border to force a declaration of war from the AI, then use saved up money for buying walls instantly in your frontier towns and produce walls and 2-3 archers and their upgrades in those cities (the cities will be under constant attack). Keep on the defense, never go attack the AI or accept peace offers (except in one case, read later in post) - this makes it so he has to produce new military units all the time. Keep containing the computer so he cannot expand outside of where you decide him to be. When your border is secure, expand yourself and take the rest of the map. Eventually you'll start outproducing the cheating computer and once you get artillery together with spies who gives vision allowing you to bombard their cities from a distance the game is over and you'll stand triumphant!

Some other tips is to get the religion buff Defender of the Faith which gives you 20% combat strength close to your cities with your religion! Together with walls, great generals for a massive 35% increase to combat strength (50%! as China) and a mass of archers behind the city it is virtually untakeable!

The only time you should accept peace during this strategy is when you have your borders secure, a mass of gold saved up (4000 at least) and the computer makes a great offer with alot of resources and gold + GPT.
After peace ensues - strike the iron hot! Buy alliances with all the city states - when the AI declares war again shortly afterwards your alliances blocks the AIs trade with them and the AI has to fight on multiple fronts. This is especially deadly playing as Ramkhamhaeng.

[The Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by Monarken

Beat my first diety level game yesterday after only a week of Civ 5 gaming. (Standard settings, duel size, pangaea and marathon). Played Ramkhamhaeng and won a domination victory vs Washington.

My tip for winning a diety level game is to build offensive cities close to the enemies border to force war, save up money for buying walls and produce walls and their upgrades in those cities. Keep on the defense, never attack or accept peace - so he has to produce new military units all the time - but keep containing the computer so he can't expand. Then expand and take the rest of the map. Eventually you'll start outproducing the cheating computer and once you get artillery together with spies to give vision to bombard their cities from a distance the game is over and you stand triumphant!

From what I understand, guys here are talking about standard size/speed maps which require a very different strategy from what duel marathon maps do. Any tips for these?
Welcome to CFC and Civ5, BTW!

[Monarken]

Originally Posted by The Pilgrim

From what I understand, guys here are talking about standard size/speed maps which require a very different strategy from what duel marathon maps do. Any tips for these?
Welcome to CFC and Civ5, BTW!

Thanks for the warm welcome, you make me glad! Well spotted that it was my first post ever on these forums .

Anyways, I have improved and updated my post above with more strategic goodness , hope it helps a little at least!

I'll begin a new game on Standard pace to see if my strategy works on that speed as well. I read someone wrote that playing on marathon speed is like playing the game on on 1-2 difficultly levels below what you chose! I'll not have someone say that against my strategy once I finish a game on standard pace though!

[MadDjinn]

Originally Posted by Monarken

Thanks for the warm welcome, you make me glad! Well spotted that it was my first post ever on these forums .

Anyways, I have improved and updated my post above with more strategic goodness , hope it helps a little at least!

I'll begin a new game on Standard pace to see if my strategy works on that speed as well. I read someone wrote that playing on marathon speed is like playing the game on on 1-2 difficultly levels below what you chose! I'll not have someone say that against my strategy once I finish a game on standard pace though!

Most discussions for strategies focus on standard speed and standard map size, as smaller maps or longer game speed aren't highly regarded due to being easier (though they can be just as fun).

[Gliese 581]

This is excellent news! I'm going to move up to deity my next game and I'm hoping it will be really tough since immortal hasn't been a problem for me so far.

[Monarken]

Originally Posted by MadDjinn

Most discussions for strategies focus on standard speed and standard map size, as smaller maps or longer game speed aren't highly regarded due to being easier (though they can be just as fun).

Interesting. I didn't know that.

Is there any other settings that should be enabled or disabled for a strategy to be seen as sound and valid? While it's true that I beat a Diety level game on marathon and duel size, out of respect to absolute Diety players I cannot claim to be a true one until I beat the game on accepted settings.

[Tyxerxa]

Standard speed, standard size, no additional settings except map type and fast combat / fast movement. Some map types could be considered biased, but I guess this is broadly accepted. MadDjinn chose a water map and therefore chose only civs that have a bonus on water.

[Grendeldef]

Few posts earlier I mentioned Austria's UA being OP in certain circumstances but playing against Austria is equally ridiculous. After getting 1st caravel out, Austria being famous for it's impressive navy throughout history, they married 5 times in 8 turns which changed the map quite a bit. It also put me out of culture & resources so my view may be biased a bit as all those 5 were my allies and my frenship with Austria is getting a rethinking atm. Few turns later a 6th mariage took place so I assume the next wave wipes the rest of CSs away and suddenly Austria is the runaway civ after being roughly equal with the rest.

I know that centuries of inbreeding produces stupid results but I want a family planning building, missionaries handing out contraceptives and a policy where only kid is allowed. If the Austrian monarch can't keep her legs crossed there has to be a limit for how many marriages can take place in a given time and there should be a cooling off period after engagement so the CS had to be ally for more than minute. These shotgun weddings are ¤#&¤.

G

[The Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by Monarken

I'll begin a new game on Standard pace to see if my strategy works on that speed as well. I read someone wrote that playing on marathon speed is like playing the game on on 1-2 difficultly levels below what you chose! I'll not have someone say that against my strategy once I finish a game on standard pace though!

I suspect it would work the same, as long as it's a duel map. You can tiki-taka to death one opponent, but not 7 of them. Good luck in your attempt. Keep us posted.

[merubhanot]

I'm quite certain that Keshiks are still phenomenal. They've been extremely overpowered for me in G+K as they were in Vanilla.

[stii]

Originally Posted by MadDjinn

Most discussions for strategies focus on standard speed and standard map size, as smaller maps or longer game speed aren't highly regarded due to being easier (though they can be just as fun).

On this topic what other map options do people feel makes the game easier/harder?

I always feel like water heavy/small island type maps makes it much easier as the AI just can't handle it. When I have twice the number of cities as the closest AI on Deity it just seem like the AI handles expanding to other islands very poorly.

In a similar way how far away the AIs are from you seems to vary a huge amount. I had a game where I had space for 12 cities without even being that close to anyone and have had other games where I couldn't fit five.

(obviously this is with me building cities very close together)

[Securion]

I think its fairly safe to say by now that if your playing a European/Western civ, your going to struggle. The only exception seems to be Austria, that some people say can be very good. But in general, the European/Western civs are weaker than the rest.
If you want an easy victory, then you should play one of the muslim civs; like Ottomans on a water map or Arabia on a land map. Strategies and tactics are obvious for both civs i think.

[jeespoks]

Originally Posted by Securion

I think its fairly safe to say by now that if your playing a European/Western civ, your going to struggle. The only exception seems to be Austria, that some people say can be very good. But in general, the European/Western civs are weaker than the rest.
If you want an easy victory, then you should play one of the muslim civs; like Ottomans on a water map or Arabia on a land map. Strategies and tactics are obvious for both civs i think.

I don't agree completely, even though I think Korea and Mongolia are still the best civs (depending on the victory type). England is pretty good choice if you play a map with water. Russia's ok too because of extra resources and production.