Deity advice

[noontide]

I've tried Deity many times, never once succeed. This latest attempt is promising, but within 15-20 turns Joan II would declare war on me, he has axemen and catapult and I don't have enough unit/tech to defend. Is this savageable if I go to an earlier save? Thanks.

 

[Olafeson]

Gonna take a look.

Sorry can not help you, never played on marathon speed therefor i lack the expierence.

Also of course it is savageable if you reload an earlier save, then maybe take over joao religion gift him a city, get him to pleased and beg some gold.

But do you really want to do that? You lost the game as you stated, that was a learning expierence and will improve your future games. Just move onto the next.

Also i recommend playing the next Nobles Club game which comes out on deity. Since there will be more player participating.

 

[krikav]

Same here, been a looong time since I played marathon.
It was the speed I did start playing with though, but I changed to normal after seeing that was the norm on the forums.
I have not regretted going to normal.

It looks like you have conqured shaka and justantin, but you are still only at 5 cities and you are boxed in. This isn't good.
If it's salvagable I don't know, You have good land and you have a ton of forests to chop so that speaks in the positions favour. Chops are insanely overpowered on marathon and really every forest should be chopped down asap.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I see some really bad things in your game which makes me question if you really should play on this difficulty.

Here for example is your city Ulundi:

As I see it, Ulundi with 17 health and 9 unhealth are in no dire need for a Aqueduct. I would rather want to run another rep-powered scientist (You build the pyramids after all) instead of working that 4H plains hill.
Walls is also a big nono.

If you have a desire to master this game and get good feedback and learn from people here on the forum, I would recommend that you play a game on lower difficulty, normal speed and without huts and events. Post this game in a thread and and play short turnsets and ask many questions.

 

[rah]

Working 4 unimproved tiles is also not exactly optimal.

 

[Fippy]

Yup i think you are missing some basics.
Open borders with only 1 AI resulted in no Juda spread, and also no diplo bonus with Joao and others.
He cannot attack you at pleased
Normally you open borders with most AIs, cept those who are hated.
Gives +2 over time, and getting pleased is very valuable.

Builder mentality stops many peoples from improving further,
as mentioned you cannot afford building health stuff or walls much on deity. If health matters, you might grow your cities too inefficient.
Or monuments with terraces
Every hammer investment should be thought over, those buildings do nothing for research or city development.

There are some more details, your units are not attacking that very good barb city.
Playing with fear often results from bad diplo habits as well, 3 AIs could be your friends while Ottos are busy fighting Mansa.

I believe more can be learned from poor starts, where every tile or hammer is considered & valued.
You might not win, but can adopt good habits.
I would not play with HC and gold mines for learning.

 

[krikav]

And no events!!

 

[6K Man]

I’m no Deity player, but I can see a few obvious fixes:

- don’t work unimproved tiles (i.e. Ulundi forests)
- crack the whip; use Slavery to whip away citizens working unimproved tiles.
- why did you build Monument/Stonehenge if you are the Inca and have the Terrace?
- Grassland cottages aren’t worth it without them being on a river/in a capital
- use Slavery to whip defenders, workers, etc.

As krikav and Fippy noted, Walls and Aqueducts are almost never a good idea. I suppose Shaka might have built the Walls (and the Barracks), but neither are needed in Ulundi.

Chopping forest around Ulundi would make defending the city easier.

 

[krikav]

I suppose Shaka might have built the Walls

Now, I don't know the exact mechanics, and I haven't found any relevant thread just now.
But as far as I know, walls and castles are always razed when capturing a city.
Similarly, all buildings generating culture is razed except for wonders who have their culture generation stripped away from them.
The only exception that I can think of right now is the Inka terraces, which fly under the radar since they are a granary...
Just another small reason why Inca is so good.

 

[elmurcis]

Just another small reason why Inca is so good.

And you can have fastest SH finish date possible
But overall - its not about Deity but gameplay overall here. Been there, done that - get up, accumulate knowledge, can throttle down little bit and enjoy game as you want afterwards. Works brilliant with this place

 

[noontide]

Yup i think you are missing some basics.
Open borders with only 1 AI resulted in no Juda spread, and also no diplo bonus with Joao and others.
He cannot attack you at pleased
Normally you open borders with most AIs, cept those who are hated.
Gives +2 over time, and getting pleased is very valuable.

Builder mentality stops many peoples from improving further,
as mentioned you cannot afford building health stuff or walls much on deity. If health matters, you might grow your cities too inefficient.
Or monuments with terraces
Every hammer investment should be thought over, those buildings do nothing for research or city development.

There are some more details, your units are not attacking that very good barb city.
Playing with fear often results from bad diplo habits as well, 3 AIs could be your friends while Ottos are busy fighting Mansa.

I believe more can be learned from poor starts, where every tile or hammer is considered & valued.
You might not win, but can adopt good habits.
I would not play with HC and gold mines for learning.

Thanks guys these are very good advices. The problem is, on Deity the corruption penalty is so high I cannot afford having more than 4 cities before getting Code of Law, and with science lagging I don't have many sensible things to build early on. I usually play Emperor level, can win Immortal sometimes. Is there a good tutorial or youtube video on Deity basics? Thanks.

 

[noontide]

This is an earlier save, right after I wiped out the two civs nearest to me. In my several tries I always hunkered down from here and started to build to deal with the negative cash flow. Should I keep pumping out warriors and attacking?

 

[krikav]

If your goal is to get better at this game and win more consistantly on higher levels then you should simply start a new game on normal speed without huts and avents and post the game in a shadowgame thread here. Playing slowly and carefully.
To maximize learning opportunities.

Read these two threads for the basic idea:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/shadow-game-for-an-old-dude.636725/
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/jacobs-shadow-game.637273/

If you want to get better at this game, there is a rather clear cut way that have been worked out by countless of advancing players before you.
And that path is not playing inca on marathon with events, starting with goldmines.
You might have other goals and ideas in mind (perhaps you want to beat deity just once as an achievement of sorts?), but if so you should clarify them both to yourself and to the people you hope will aid you.

 

[noontide]

If your goal is to get better at this game and win more consistantly on higher levels then you should simply start a new game on normal speed without huts and avents and post the game in a shadowgame thread here. Playing slowly and carefully.
To maximize learning opportunities.

Read these two threads for the basic idea:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/shadow-game-for-an-old-dude.636725/
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/jacobs-shadow-game.637273/

If you want to get better at this game, there is a rather clear cut way that have been worked out by countless of advancing players before you.
And that path is not playing inca on marathon with events, starting with goldmines.
You might have other goals and ideas in mind (perhaps you want to beat deity just once as an achievement of sorts?), but if so you should clarify them both to yourself and to the people you hope will aid you.

well yeah, I mean of course my goal is to get better consistently but where do I start? Will watch people's youtube game on Deity help?

 

[krikav]

I would leave deity aside for the time being. The game doesn't really change much between nobles and deity, so just focus on perfecting your play.
Start by reading through the two links I provided.

Then start a new game with no huts/no events normal speed, any leader but capac, take the first map you are given by the generator.
Go with emperor difficulty since that is the level you say you are comfortable with.
Upload the 4000BC save and a starting screenshot.
Provide as detailed as you can, your thougths and ideas about what you see in the opening and how you plan on acting.
Then wait for feedback!

 

[sampsa]

The problem is, on Deity the corruption penalty is so high I cannot afford having more than 4 cities before getting Code of Law

This is not true at all. Actually courthouses are rather weak buildings and help your expansion very little. Simply generating more will help you.

well yeah, I mean of course my goal is to get better consistently but where do I start? Will watch people's youtube game on Deity help?

Watching Lain is going to do good for you. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBiPHqnZ3mwIqtraltox6jg

 

[krikav]

More about city upkeep:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/the-curious-cat-city-upkeep-explained.138473/

 

[Kaitzilla]

More about city upkeep:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/the-curious-cat-city-upkeep-explained.138473/

Haha, a 9 city empire with 0 distance costs.
Very nice indeed.

Not sure if it is up to date for BTS 3.19