I'm normally very lazy and play easy levels (Chieftan mainly, Warlord if i want a CHALLENGE
) and I decided one day to play at Diety, and after a few quick games (where I got my butt royally kicked by Cavalry against my Phalanxes) I decided a new strategy which worked:
I played on a small map with 3 civs (I know, this is sounding lame already). I built 4 cities as quickly as possible. Once my population grew to 2 in the city, I turned 1 worker into an entertainer to keep the other guy happy and productive. I then built nothing but military units, including 2 explorers, to find my enemies. Once I found them, I let my military units attack them with reckless abandon. I lost many battles, but I won enough that they were forced to put all their efforts into rebuilding their military and sending forces after me. I strategically fortified a few phalanxes atop Mountains near their cities and watched as their forces stupidly attacked my phalanx 1 at a time, losing each round. If the enemy discovered a useful technology, I stole it by attacking a weakly defended city and destroying it, getting a tech in the process.
Around 800 AD I had about 10 cities and finally finished the Hanging Gardens in one of my cities; I was able to put all my citizens to productive use on my land, and improved cities w/ settlers.
Around 1700 AD I had depleted their forces using hit-and-run tactics with my horsemen and decided it was time to finish them off. I had just discovered Chivalry (yes, I know...Chivalry at 1700 sounds pretty bad, but this was my first real Diety game) and devoted all my cities to producing Knights; their weakened cities were no match for my hoardes and I took city after city until I was the last man standing.
That took over 100 years as the game ended in 1826, and I had a finishing score of around 1000. I'm the King of the World
