Deity help please (save attached)

[LegionSteve]

So I can win OK on immortal, but not Deity. Right from the start it all goes pear shaped as I seem to get attacked by the nearest AI (because I am weak - duh) which sends an army of 5-6 units while I have only been able to build 2-3 things (one of which is normally a worker - is that a bad idea in Civ 5?). Even if I build units as fast as I can I get overrun as more AI units appear faster than I can kill them.

I play standard size continents maps, high sea level and one extra AI, everything else as default. All random Civs. Here we got Siam What would you recommend for starting tech and build? On immortal I normally go for worker and animal husbandry. Any help very much appreciated

 

[LegionSteve]

We found some horsies! We also got some money and 1 free population from ruins. There are some more ruins to check out next turn. What should I research next? With all these horses I'm tempted to keep going towards HBR and try to "horse-rush" my neighbours when I eventually find them.

 

[stii]

If you are oging high sea level with an esxtra civ you probably need to do a building something like scout worker archer, with the ability to buy a second archer if needed.

 

[lissenber]

I`m not a fan of horse rushes so i usually build 2 warriors. That and my initial warrior fortified in rough terrain is defensive enough. Another choice can be teching archery and then stationing it in your city. Place what warriors you have on the rough terrain surrounding your town and bombard the enemy units that are on open terrain.

 

[Druin]

Archers are many many many times better at early Deity AI defense than warriors. You can reasonably repel 2 AI's at once with just 3 archers but will often lose to 1 AI with up to 4 warriors.

So I would suggest teching to whatever will give you your first lux resource (calendar / trapping) then going archery then AH.

I also always build a scout first because knowledge of terrain is really important and it actually speeds up your worker production by stealing one from a CS

Your first worker should hook up a lux resource ASAP then immediately sell that to whichever AI is most likely to DOW you and has 450g. Use the gold to buy a settler so your capital never stops growing then save your remaining gold to buy at least one archer. If you are lucky, the civ you soled your lux resource to will be the one that DOW's you, which allows you to sell it again for +1 archer.

Of all the things I have tried, this basic strategy has been the most effective at living though the beginning phase of Deity games.

 

[Paeanblack]

In Deity, you'll be technologically inferior to the AI for most of the game.

If you chase the south branch of the tech tree, you can achieve rough military tech parity with the AI three times: Warriors (the very beginning), Longswords, and Artillery

If you chase the middle of the tree, you'll be at parity with Warriors and possibly superior with Horsemen, but will have a rougher time after that if the Horsemen don't do enough damage.

If you chase the north of the tree or spread your teching evenly, you'll have a very rough time surviving.


A couple tips...don't be afraid of war. Being at peace with a Deity AI just means they are stockpiling units that will all come at once. If you go to war early, you'll be killing off their units a steady slow pace, which is MUCH easier.

Don't build a worker...the AIs start with them. Just wait in range of a hill or forest with a resource and run a warrior in when the worker moves there. There is a good chance you'll survive the counterattack and keep the worker, especially if you move another warrior into the AI territory at the same time to spread out the damage. The AI is not good at concentrating its fire.

Don't be afraid of burning a GG on a Citadel. You get more GGs in Deity, and you can afford it. A well-placed Citadel with a promoted unit backed up by a medic can hold off an army. Also, don't be afraid to pull back from the citadel when things get really bad. Defending the city behind it is more important. Take advantage of the 3 damage the Citadel will do to enemy units on or next to a Citadel. If you have a really bad meat grinder that multiple AIs are funneling through, drop another Citadel adjacent to the first. Stacked Citadel damage will completely obliterate multiple armies.

Take cities when you have a moment of tech parity. This requires preparing in advance, picking your targets, and being realistic about how much you can grab and what you can defend.

 

[Rittmeyer]

Archers are many many many times better at early Deity AI defense than warriors. You can reasonably repel 2 AI's at once with just 3 archers but will often lose to 1 AI with up to 4 warriors.

So I would suggest teching to whatever will give you your first lux resource (calendar / trapping) then going archery then AH.

I also always build a scout first because knowledge of terrain is really important and it actually speeds up your worker production by stealing one from a CS

Your first worker should hook up a lux resource ASAP then immediately sell that to whichever AI is most likely to DOW you and has 450g. Use the gold to buy a settler so your capital never stops growing then save your remaining gold to buy at least one archer. If you are lucky, the civ you soled your lux resource to will be the one that DOW's you, which allows you to sell it again for +1 archer.

Of all the things I have tried, this basic strategy has been the most effective at living though the beginning phase of Deity games.

Nice to find this short guide of yours here, I`ll try something like this on my next Deity attempt.

 

[Druin]

Nice to find this short guide of yours here, I`ll try something like this on my next Deity attempt.

My pleasure, I am working on finishing some Deity games ... no time anymore thanks to work + girl When I do, I am going to try and make a more complete guide for "people who don't find deity to be a cakewalk"

 

[Rittmeyer]

That`d be really nice. I`ll make sure to make myself present on that thread when it comes out.

 

[LegionSteve]

OK thanks everyone for the comments. I am going to go back to the first save and try building a scout first. I am still going for AH first because we need it for Trapping to hook up the furs. The scout is only going to take 7 turns to build. Should I make a worker next, in case we fail to steal one?

 

[Martin Alvito]

If you chase the south branch of the tech tree, you can achieve rough military tech parity with the AI three times: Warriors (the very beginning), Longswords, and Artillery

Yes and no. It depends on how aggressively you chase the bottom. If you beeline Iron out of the gate, you can usually find a victim that has nothing but Spears when you hit them with Swords. Ditto if you GS Steel right after you get the infrastructure techs; you can usually find someone that doesn't have Swords yet. And we all know about Rifle slingshots by now.

Don't be afraid of burning a GG on a Citadel. You get more GGs in Deity, and you can afford it. A well-placed Citadel with a promoted unit backed up by a medic can hold off an army.

Have to try that. I've generally been burning a GG (first or second, depending) to chain a GA behind the Rationalism GA for quick infrastructure. Fast, empire-wide Colosseums are hot.

 

[Druin]

OK thanks everyone for the comments. I am going to go back to the first save and try building a scout first. I am still going for AH first because we need it for Trapping to hook up the furs. The scout is only going to take 7 turns to build. Should I make a worker next, in case we fail to steal one?

Yes, my second build is always a worker. You should be able to steal one in 100% of your games, but sometimes you won't find a good open worker to steal until well after you need to be improving your luxury resources

Yes and no. It depends on how aggressively you chase the bottom. If you beeline Iron out of the gate, you can usually find a victim that has nothing but Spears when you hit them with Swords. Ditto if you GS Steel right after you get the infrastructure techs; you can usually find someone that doesn't have Swords yet. And we all know about Rifle slingshots by now.

By focusing on the lower half of the tree you should almost always have a window of steel via GS bulb -> longswords against someone's warriors / spears / archers / swords. And, more so, you can then snag math, phys on your way to gunpowder for the gunpowder GS bulb which allows trebs for defense against all pre-rifle units. This ends up being one of the strongest, non-UU reliant defense strategies out there. The only problem is the extreme reliance on Iron. If you take IW and find less than 6 iron available to you ... bummer Probably break the "no-horsemen" rule and spam them -> knights -> cav like no tomorrow

 

[LegionSteve]

Yes, my second build is always a worker. You should be able to steal one in 100% of your games, but sometimes you won't find a good open worker to steal until well after you need to be improving your luxury resources

To the east, the scout has found a barbarian camp, the city state of Hanoi (Military, Neutral) and an archer belonging to Egypt. So we have someone to sell our furs to when we connect them. Production of a worker has started. To the west, the warrior wasn't as lucky with the ruins this time around, but we did get 30 culture so we can buy a policy. Which do you normally go for with your Deity strategy?

EDIT:
Well I think the balance changes in the patch will screw up our plan of selling luxuries to buy a settler, but since the patch doesn't seem to be save game compatible anyway, it doesn't really matter I guess this is the end of this game, but thanks to everyone who posted anyway.