Are there any difficult Deity maps at all?

[Unconquered Sun]

My question goes to people who

- have beaten Civ 6 Deity on all standard setting before
- play with no mods that affect AI/difficulty (evaluating the work of Firaxis here)

also

- excluding isolated starts on very poor islands


So, under these terms, are there any difficult Deity maps at all? Any you've tried a couple of times but still failed to win?

 

[chazzycat]

why exclude the poor/isolated starts if you're looking for more of a challenge? Seems like you kind of answered your own question...

 

[Victoria]

Yup, when the map forced Japan to send all warriors my way straight at the start and the just said bring it on. I tried 3 times, just nothing I could do.

Yes I get the idea, what you are really saying is you always win your deity domination game. I hear you. i played 3 Deity domination games, won all 3 , moved on. Its why I play peaceful. Much more challenging. Even the passive agressive playstyle was too easy, take the attacking civs army and they throw cities at you.

A question though, if you start a deity game on the coast with no rivers or hills in sight... What do you do?

I have been trying to win a deity game with just amphiteaters but the AI too strong. Currently trying to win a CV with just science on deity, may go the same way but its great trying and failing. Maybe I just like being a loser.

 

[Captain Potato]

Have you tried playing using your toes? Using your hands for keyboard and mouse gives too much advantage since the AI doesn't have the benefit of said limbs.

 

[Unconquered Sun]

Yup, when the map forced Japan to send all warriors my way straight at the start and the just said bring it on. I tried 3 times, just nothing I could do.

Do you remember whether you settled flatland or hill?

 

[Unconquered Sun]

why exclude the poor/isolated starts if you're looking for more of a challenge? Seems like you kind of answered your own question...

Actually excluding only starts that are isolated AND very poor (AND not Russia).

 

[Arent11]

Simply set yourself a houserule/limit on how many cities you "may" control. Winning the game with a limited amount of cities is much more challenging.

 

[Victoria]

Do you remember whether you settled flatland or hill?

I moved 2 tiles to a hill for my second attempt if I remember correctly. There was 5 warriors although 1 was lurking uselessy the other 4 just smashed in.

I never tried just running away with my settler to be fair.

 

[Victoria]

If you are not happy with a faceroll just stop doing it.

 

[MyOtherName]

Telling someone looking for a strategy game to play a sandbox game instead is... irritating 'advice'.

 

[Victoria]

Hmm, is this a strategy game?... a sandbox game?... I think its a bit of both. I certainly play in a more sandbox style.

What I do see is people I know playing this game restarting 20 times for a good map on deity then beating the AI and saying to it was too easy.

I have no idea just who you are criticizing for their opinion but they are allowed to have it

 

[greygamer]

What I do see is people I know playing this game restarting 20 times for a good map on deity then beating the AI and saying to it was too easy.

qft

 

[joncnunn]

Actually excluding only starts that are isolated AND very poor (AND not Russia).

Indeed, playing as Russia (with starting biases enabled) is the main way that wasn't covered in your original post on how to make the game more difficult.

In addition though even if you have a wonderful area with plenty of room to found useful cities; if there's no AIs nearby, on deity it will make the game more difficult than starting near some of them since they'll have more time to use their advantages before you can start bopping them.

 

[ashvin.l]

Maybe a bit off topic. I have been looking at the videos of Civ6 deity play. Almost all of them involve beating the heck out of your neighbors to make room for yourself. The AI is severely overpowered in all aspects, except in the area of combat. Consequently, the only way to win is to beat the AI in one aspect where it sucks (i.e., combat). To me, this is akin to be exploiting a loop-hole.

The vanilla version of Civ6 was horrendous and no matter what style you choose you would win (in any difficulty). You just have to click next turn. On the other hand, I am finding the patched AI quite challenging (if you choose to not beat them up). In some cases, I will consistently be behind 3 eras compared to the top Civ. It would seem like winning is almost impossible without beating them up.

Are there any videos on youtube (post patch) where people win without beating up your neighbor? That would be interesting watch.

 

[Nigel_Tufnel2]

I almost always "up the difficulty" by leaving my neighbors alone. I also build units as if the AI were formidable. It's a bit of an AI abuse to keep a skeleton crew just because you can after t50, IMO. In Civ5 I often kept just 4 Archers in my first several Deity games, because I was trying to milk out every advantage I could while learning to win what seemed like a pretty steep challenge.

[edit - I should add that I usually play one very large maps and/or reduce the # of civs, so space isn't a problem. If I'm cramped - war time!]

 

[Victoria]

Are there any videos on youtube (post patch) where people win without beating up your neighbor? That would be interesting watch.

I tend not to look as most youtube video's are just poor or repetitious.

You can do it fairly easily on Deity as long as you follow a few rules.

1. You need more than 5 cities, the more the better. the AI is quite land grabbing at Deity because each civ has 3 settlers. So build that settle and look for the best place to forward settle to give yourself more room. You really need to get cities out first and this will leave you quite behind in other areas but do not panic.

2. You now need to build your cities up just like you would at any other level get things right, prioritize, use chopping and lockdown methods to help out. make use of those City States.

3. Focus. More than any other level you need to keep focused, do not stray from your goals, always ask yourself do I really need that?... by about turn 150-200 you should be catching / overtaking nicely.

4. Diplomacy is quite important, learn to use it to your advantage.... keep your friends close and your enemies closer and all that

5. You do need an army, they will attack you, turtle, beat them off, loot their lands and take their stuff in a peace deal.

The AI has huge advantages at Deity... to win remember your advantages are....you can build more cities faster, while they seem limited. You can build better more efficiently

Winning without ever starting a war nor taking a city is harder than domination IMO.

 

[joncnunn]

Maybe a bit off topic. I have been looking at the videos of Civ6 deity play. Almost all of them involve beating the heck out of your neighbors to make room for yourself. The AI is severely overpowered in all aspects, except in the area of combat. Consequently, the only way to win is to beat the AI in one aspect where it sucks (i.e., combat). To me, this is akin to be exploiting a loop-hole.

The vanilla version of Civ6 was horrendous and no matter what style you choose you would win (in any difficulty). You just have to click next turn. On the other hand, I am finding the patched AI quite challenging (if you choose to not beat them up). In some cases, I will consistently be behind 3 eras compared to the top Civ. It would seem like winning is almost impossible without beating them up.

Are there any videos on youtube (post patch) where people win without beating up your neighbor? That would be interesting watch.

The other half of this though is that on deity where the AI starts with 3 settlers, if this isn't an isolated start, the AI is bound to forward settle you, perhaps right next to your capital. If the AI has chosen an acceptable spot to found the city or you capture the settler before it founds it isn't a real problem as long as you use the war approach to take it but if you stay peaceful even then, this is really denying yourself needed territory.

 

[greygamer]

The other half of this though is that on deity where the AI starts with 3 settlers, if this isn't an isolated start, the AI is bound to forward settle you, perhaps right next to your capital. If the AI has chosen an acceptable spot to found the city or you capture the settler before it founds it isn't a real problem as long as you use the war approach to take it but if you stay peaceful even then, this is really denying yourself needed territory.

Probably why there is no warmonger penalty until the classic era. As the AI will probably reach that era quicker than human players the AI end up hating each other sooner

 

[Victoria]

Probably why there is no warmonger penalty until the classic era. As the AI will probably reach that era quicker than human players the AI end up hating each other sooner

The AI is always fighting itself, much like a forum.
It is a shame civs do not feel lonely or I would be friends with them all.
Quite often I manage to forward settle them which I feel is weird considering its deity and all. Sacrificing the best 2nd city choice for a forward settle seems to give more room.

 

[greygamer]

The AI is always fighting itself, much like a forum.
It is a shame civs do not feel lonely or I would be friends with them all.
Quite often I manage to forward settle them which I feel is weird considering its deity and all. Sacrificing the best 2nd city choice for a forward settle seems to give more room.

The other part is the agendas which AI doesn't consider when ...doing stuff. I've seen this on continents map where when I get to the other continents they are serial denouncing each other.
The AI needs to have some degree of pull down the leader imo rather than letting each one getting picked off by the human player