Deity Help

[Shillen]

I know this is probably a shot in the dark but I was hoping to get some help with my current deity game.

It's PTW v1.21, huge continents map, ottomans, 8 opponents. I made sure to get a good start position with lots of bonus food. With two 5 food surplus cities I was able to grab more land than any of the AI's. Sadly there's an awful lack of luxuries. I managed to secure some dyes deep to the south in the middle of jungle and didn't get them hooked up until 100AD. There's no other luxuries in sight that aren't claimed. So I've had my luxury slider at around 50% the entire game which I imagine is hurting me pretty badly.

I had no contact with other civ's until about 100BC when I finally found the Egyptians far to my south. This hurt me pretty badly as well. I was about 4-5 techs behind and I had nothing to offer except my map. That got me contact with the Germans who seem to be the only other civ on the continent. I did get to literature before Egypt or Germany but I held out trading it in hopes of getting the Great Library. With 8 turns to go an unknown civ beat me to it and by then the Egyptians and Germans already had literature. Around 200AD the other continent must have contacted Germany and they sold my contact to everyone else but the Zulu. The other continent was a bit more advanced and Germany and Egypt gained a couple more tech lead on me. They also traded the world map that I had already traded with Germany and Egypt so I couldn't get anything out of the other continent either.

Luckily the Egyptians and Germans have no iron so I hadn't given up yet. I started building a large horsemen army and have taken 3 Egyptian cities so far. I payed Germany a fairly high price for polytheism in hopes of getting monarchy from Egypt in the peace treaty. But when I negotiate peace they'll only give me philosophy or code of laws (not both) and they're insulted when I ask for monarchy.

Now it's 290AD and I'm not sure if there's any hope of catching up. I still need 4 required ancient techs along with monarchy and republic. The AI has theology and they just got feudalism. I could keep driving into Egyptian territory. They're sending hordes of archers at me but I'm suffering minor casualties compared to them. I just think I'm running out of time. If I continue the war I'll probably just fall more techs behind. I'm guessing the reason they aren't offering me much though is because I've taken outlying jungle cities that probably aren't worth much to them. I could possibly try a strategic strike on one of their core cities and see if I get a better deal. Although it would probably flip since they have 2.5 times as much culture as I do and I'm not sure I could defend it anyway since it's so far from my own production core.

Anyway I'll attach my save file if anyone wants to take a look. I appreciate any comments/criticism/advice that people have. Also do you think I would have been better off to choose more opponents for increased trade opportunities?

Here is my file, Shillen_290AD.zip.

 

[Shillen]

I forgot to say why I'm asking for help. I'm just trying to learn how to play deity. Every game turns up like this one does. I don't have trouble grabbing land or competing militarily but even when I capture their cities I can never get techs in the peace treaty on deity. So even if you don't want to look at my save I wouldn't mind some general advice on catching up on techs on deity without the great library. I don't really want to rely on the great library because even if I got it I would likely fall behind after education anyway. I think maybe part of my problem is I've been playing with reduced # of civ's. And having lots of contacts early may be necessary, I'm not sure.

 

[DaveMcW]

You're doing quite well with infrastructure and expansion. But your happiness management is terrible.

All cities should have 2 military police under despotism. And the luxury slider should never hit 50% except in extreme temporary circumstances like an OCC wonder race or Democracy War Weariness.

I told the governor to manage moods in all cities (except for the 1 scientist) and turned the slider down to 30%. The 65 gpt it freed up was enough to buy contact with the Zulu (more contact = cheaper techs) and all required ancient techs except for Currency. 2 turns later I got free Engineering, which I traded to France, Babylon, and Zululand for another tech each. Once you build marketplaces you'll be able to stay 1-2 techs behind the leaders for the rest of the game with science at 0%.

 

[Shillen]

Thanks for the advice! I managed to mimic your moves and got all the ancient age techs, but I didn't luck out with engineering like you did. I got feudalism which every other civ already has except Zululand. At 30% luxury they won't give me monarchy or republic for it, but if I notch it down to 20% I can get monarchy. Some of my cities will starve but I figure it's worth it to get out of despotism. Maybe I can hammer Cleo a bit more and still get a free tech as well. I'd like to get those furs she has on the eastern coast before making peace.

I will get marketplaces built asap and hopefully will be able to stay in the pack like you say. I will also keep in mind your advice on military police. Thanks so much for replying. This game doesn't look half bad now. I figured with that kind of land grab there had to be something I could do.

 

[I. Larkin]

Try gambit (I did, and it works). Offer Iron to them, probably you got a Tech. They will be polite to you, hurry up, before they find their own Iron. Also, you can offer your own City. (It should be big but useless). Then try "Science broker" strategy. If you have Gold reserve by Tech from most advansed AIs and sell it to others ones. You will get profit, and you will be at least at the same Tech level.