Adjusting difficulty towards immortal -- help and tips needed

[Irwadary]

Hi. Civ 6 is the first Civilization game I started playing. Afterwards I bought Civ 7, 5, 4 and 3 but mainly I have been a Civ 6 player. Until very recenlty I have played all the levels till Emperor and I thought it was a good opportunity to adjust the difficulty to something more challenging so I am startin my first games in Immortal withouth any victory and crushing defeats.

I want to know if you can provide with any tips, advise and personal experience of how to achieve a better outcome at this level of difficulty.

I have played four games in level 8 and in every game I ended up in the bottom of all my adversaries in everything: culture, science, tourism and military force. Religion is my weakness to the point I many times disable the religious victory.

I want to know, lets just for the sake simplicity to know how to achieve primacy in science over other civilizations in this level. I have tried my best to invest in settlers and cast the nest wide taking a into consideration that quality matters as well as quantity. But it has not being enough and as I have said I always stay at the bottom. Farther into the game other civs ahave 250 or 300 more science than I have.

Any tip, suggestion and experience is welcome.

I try to play the game in the most organical way I can. I do not like repetition because it takes out the fun part (at least that is what I think). But maybe this is one of the problems.

At the same time I know that one shoul aim for a victory from the beggining but I am not capable of achieving that because of multiple variables like the extra agressivnes of the AI and the constant harassment of barbarians.

 

[DeckerdJames]

I play on 8 but lately I have been trying Alexander games on a Huge Continents and Islands map. I looked at his abilities and took into account his character, so I want to conquer the world with him and a huge map is very hard to get going fast enough to do it. Maybe impossible. Previous to Alexander, I played Victoria of England (Age of Empire) over and over. I wanted to win the game, but I also wanted to accomplish her version of the Pax Britannica which in her introduction screen as the game loads states she wants a colony on each continent. I did eventually get good enough to do it and win on deity level and it was also a Huge Continents and Islands. Alexander is a lot harder.

My point is that you can find reasons in the game to play each civilization differently. Poundmaker looks like he would make a great trading civilization. He also gets unique improvements that give the ability to raise his city housing much higher in the early eras. So, he is good for making some early tall cities. Also, the Zimbabwe is natural. If you can make a rich civilization you could plan on using Reyna to buy districts.

As for keeping up, it is hard to do it, but you need several campus and theater square districts along with exploring the world to find cultural and scientific city states. The city states are the key to increasing the science and culture points generated by campuses and theater squares.

There is so much strategy to the early, mid, and late game. If the category is science, then there are things to look for in the early game that help you keep up. The numbers are small in the early game so a few extra points of science from something like turtles or a natural wonder can make a big difference even into classical. So, look at the geography for science in the ancient era. Don't forget the preserve district. Some starts are arid but it could be something like plains hills but with a lot of woods. If you look at the appeal, sometimes a preserve is a great early goal because it can be worth many monuments and make a city taller for governors like Reyna and Pingala. These two always like tall cities but in the early game can help in even smaller cities very much. Llang, too, can help a city grow tall and his level 4 ability is city parks. Great for culture in his city, but other cities with parks still get the amenities. That means they stay happier when taller and need to rely on luxuries less.

Build your economy. Production gets better and better as a city grows but gold can greatly accelerate how fast a new city can start doing useful things in a timely manner. Strategic resources, economic districts, luxuries, traders, an economic alliance, and so forth. Your success depends on money.

 

[Irwadary]

I play on 8 but lately I have been trying Alexander games on a Huge Continents and Islands map. I looked at his abilities and took into account his character, so I want to conquer the world with him and a huge map is very hard to get going fast enough to do it. Maybe impossible. Previous to Alexander, I played Victoria of England (Age of Empire) over and over. I wanted to win the game, but I also wanted to accomplish her version of the Pax Britannica which in her introduction screen as the game loads states she wants a colony on each continent. I did eventually get good enough to do it and win on deity level and it was also a Huge Continents and Islands. Alexander is a lot harder.

My point is that you can find reasons in the game to play each civilization differently. Poundmaker looks like he would make a great trading civilization. He also gets unique improvements that give the ability to raise his city housing much higher in the early eras. So, he is good for making some early tall cities. Also, the Zimbabwe is natural. If you can make a rich civilization you could plan on using Reyna to buy districts.

As for keeping up, it is hard to do it, but you need several campus and theater square districts along with exploring the world to find cultural and scientific city states. The city states are the key to increasing the science and culture points generated by campuses and theater squares.

There is so much strategy to the early, mid, and late game. If the category is science, then there are things to look for in the early game that help you keep up. The numbers are small in the early game so a few extra points of science from something like turtles or a natural wonder can make a big difference even into classical. So, look at the geography for science in the ancient era. Don't forget the preserve district. Some starts are arid but it could be something like plains hills but with a lot of woods. If you look at the appeal, sometimes a preserve is a great early goal because it can be worth many monuments and make a city taller for governors like Reyna and Pingala. These two always like tall cities but in the early game can help in even smaller cities very much. Llang, too, can help a city grow tall and his level 4 ability is city parks. Great for culture in his city, but other cities with parks still get the amenities. That means they stay happier when taller and need to rely on luxuries less.

Build your economy. Production gets better and better as a city grows but gold can greatly accelerate how fast a new city can start doing useful things in a timely manner. Strategic resources, economic districts, luxuries, traders, an economic alliance, and so forth. Your success depends on money.

Thanks for your answer. Since I posted this I’ve being trying but with no success in winning. But the good thing is that I’m not at the bottom of everything.

For too long I played in easier difficulties and now I realize how hard and challenging this game is.

 

[DeckerdJames]

Thanks for your answer. Since I posted this I’ve being trying but with no success in winning. But the good thing is that I’m not at the bottom of everything.

For too long I played in easier difficulties and now I realize how hard and challenging this game is.

It really is a very well-made game. I have not really tried 7. I purchased it but I am still stuck on my current Alexander obsession.

There is so much to know. You will start to win. There are patterns you can learn and there are some patterns that can be discovered.

For example, Couple Reyna or Moksha with purchasing an industrial zone and buildings in a newly settled city, after 5 turns when the governor is fully in. Then you can move the governor away because the city can build everything else much quicker.

I theorize that it can augment a "tall" city first strategy. You focus on getting your first city 3-4 districts for money and advancement but expand with 1 or 2 settlers, or whatever is necessary, for loyalty pressure and space, but you invest in your capital. Then you research to apprenticeship and get the right governor. You buy the industrial zone and workshop, and later the other industrial buildings in surrounding cities. You could also couple it with a centrally placed Magnus strategy. Magnus in the capital. Then you take vertical integration. You don't buy powerplants in the surrounding cities and you supply power through the capital. I think that should add more power demand on the capital and produce more production through Magnus's Industrialist ability.

Magnus also has the Black Market, meaning you could also produce a military academy and produce military units that use strategic resources for -80% of the cost. A close airport could deliver troops around the world in later eras. That is part of my Alexander strategy, but it is hard.

Magnus is also good for a tall city. Yes, he can be moved around, but supposing you found an area with many woods and rainforest tiles, taking Magnus and aiming for vertical integration with a tall capital fits with his abilities and you could leave him in the capital indefinitely.

Study each governor. Think in terms of what they are good for and don't discount their abilities at first glance. More advanced strategies involve their placement.

 

[DeckerdJames]

Here is another pattern that I have been working on. In the Government Plaza district, you have a choice for the foreign ministry. It gains +3 diplomatic favor. That is worth money. It also reduces the cost of levying the city state's troops by 1/2. They could be used for exploring the other landmasses on a huge map. It is a valid choice for Alexander in my strategy, and I think it can be very helpful.

Couple that with the governor Amani and puppeteer. With a decent supply of envoys or better, from something like the government Monarchy, you can take control of many city states after 5 turns, if they are not at war with you yet. It can be a part of a first strike strategy.

Some abilities can be useful for different reasons. Victor has Garrison Commander. That adds +4 loyalty to cities within 9 tiles. That helps when holding newly captured cities, but you might also consider that ability if you see you have a cramped game within surrounding civilization's loyalty pressure zones. He can help you expand in the early game. On the contrary, Amani with emissary, adds -2 for them (toward you, so it will start to slowly flip toward you). I have used him, and it is a situational ability, but -2 will cause the AI to stretch out with less aggressive forward settling. Though, I did witness a surprise attack on the city state that I had placed him in from a greater distance than is usual. They attacked the city state to remove the emissary. (It looked like)

You can get a quick level two governor, with the civic state workforce and immediately building the government plaza, and a level four by completing Political Philosophy and building your choice of the first government plaza buildings. You can rush the level two governor by building a monument earlier or first. Then the inspiration boosts are just a nice extra if you can manage them but ignoring them doesn't hurt as bad. (though a builder is also good, instead of the monument, if you want to develop the capital as a strategy) If you take Pingala with connoisseur (level 2), after building the government plaza, if you were trying for a taller city because of abundant food, then a huge boost of culture will greatly speed up your government's development. You may still grow to six population, between all your cities, and get a boost for Early Empire. Scout for 3 city states for the boost to political philosophy. Early growth and a focus on developing the government (civics tree) is a style I want to develop.

If you look at the civics tree inspiration boosts, you need 3-4 cities for the 3rd tier government, so the boosts before then only need 3-4 cities to manage. I believe it is for an early "tall" strategy, but I have not even become a novice at taking the inspirational choice from the list of dedications offered at the beginning of a new era.

 

[vorlon_mi]

How often do you declare war on a neighbor? One aspect of waging war that I didn't realize fully is pillaging. If you're attacking a city owned by the AI, move one of your units onto their Campus district and pillage it; you will get a chunk of Science, perhaps as much as a turn's worth of research. Similar results for their Theater Squares, where you will be rewarded with Culture. I avoid pillaging an Entertainment Complex, though. Part of the loyalty calculation in a conquered city includes how happy the people are / how many amenities they have. Pillaging the EC may make it harder for you to keep the city you just conquered.

I second @DeckerdJames 's advice about governors. In addition, I would encourage you to sell extra copies of your luxury resources to AI players. You only need one copy to achieve the amenities/happiness benefits. Getting gold or gold-per-turn from the AI players can allow you to buy buildings in your districts.

Overall, yes, the higher difficulty levels provide bonuses to the AI players. They put the human player behind, so that the human has to be aggressive to catch up. Be aggressive in settling, choosing city sites that match your civ's / leader's strengths. Peter/Russia can generate a lot of faith income, with the right terrain. Building the Grandmaster's Chapel in your Government Plaze allows one to buy land military units with faith; Peter can have a large army to go attack his neighbors. Yes, the Foreign Ministry makes levying uints cheaper; you may or may not have city states nearby. Building a faith economy, as well as your gold economy, is important to digging out of the hole.

A known weakness of the Civ6 AI players is their lack of skill in conquering cities. They will pick off individual units, but they don't make the best use of siege weapons to weaken your city if they attack, which gets to be rare as the game goes on. You can use your skill at warfighting to take their cities (with their districts) and their resources, to catch up.