Deity Level Techniques Discussion

[looper]

Hoping to start a thread about Deity Level Techniques Discussion:

IMHO, way I play:
1. Great library is a MUST. Actually I have to pre-build the darn thing. I started to build palace first thing in the second city, it has to be near the river with goooooood terrain around it.
2. required techs for Great Library (alphabet-writtings-literacy) are brought using my hard earned gold.
3. I never researched any techs until I have conquered enough land. which is actually in industrial age.
4. I started war with my riders or knights, you will get Chivery for free from great library.
5. every war I fought, I almost if not totally annihilated the enemy civilization, this will prevent culture revolts. But before I conquer their last city, I always make peace and get their techs first. Sometime I cant get all the techs in peace talk, I have to AGAIN buy the rest of them.
6. when my territory is 4 times larger than the biggest AI civ territory, I would say it is time to do my own tech research, now I am a little, just a little faster than AI.
7. when I get to this step, wining is for sure, just a matter of if I want to kill them soft.


I would really want to know other Deity addictive players’ strategies.

 

[WildFire]

8. The Theory of Evolution is a MUST for me on diety because i like to bolt ahead in techs, or trade them to the AI for gpt, luxuries, maps that i might not have yet, and a big lump sum.

 

[looper]

Totally Agree, forgot to mention it. thanks

 

[d10]

I rarely build the Great Library and do fine without it. Too much production for such an early wonder, doesn't last long enough to be really useful, and it's easy enough to stay caught up in tech with a few good trades.

As far as other GLs go, the Great Lighthouse can make the difference between winning and losing if you're separated from another civ by too much water. You could always suicide galley your way out to find them eventually, but the biggest key is to stop the other civs from getting it. If you have 2 large groups of civs and you're the only one who has contact with both groups all the way up until the end of the middle ages, you should be guaranteed a victory.

 

[looper]

d10:

are you talking about Deity level?

without Great Library, on normal ramdon map, I dont think you can survive. (I am talking about conquest victory only, this topic is about conquest victory)

On deity level, it is really hard to block AIs from finding each other, coz they are just so many of their units going all over the map, so your stradigy aint going to work UNLESS you edit a unique map.

Without good technologies, you cant win, UNLESS you save and reload a heck lot of times.

 

[pilferman]

How, in the name of all things holy, is anybody able to build the Great Library on the Deity level? I've tried many games, doing everything I can to get it, only to have the French build it before I acquire Literacy. I've even tried to trade for Lit., but so early in the game, not even a heap of gold can buy the ability to read. So I'll ask again, how do you build the GL on Deity?

 

[d10]

Yes I was talking about Diety level. Without the Library, you'll probably be a bit behind in techs, but if you have contact with all of the other civs, that means you can buy your techs pretty cheap at 8th civ and below prices. At this cost, I typically find myself about 5-8 techs behind by the end of the ancient age. By the middle of the medieval age, I'm a few techs behind, and at the industrial age I make a run for ToE and from that point on I'm always either 1-2 techs in the lead or at parity. Somehow things really slow down for the AI once the industrial age starts. I'm not sure what the big deal is with the Library. I'll build it if I get Literature early, but whenever I do I just end up getting free techs which I would have otherwise purchased or extorted. It's a nice bonus having the extra cash in the treasury, but for the shield cost in the ancient age, not at all a top priority. Certainly not a must-have or restart the game kind of thing.

As for the lighthouse, I always play either large or huge maps, all other settings completely random. Obviously if I end up with a pangea, it's a worthless wonder, but on an archipelago and even sometimes continents it can be a huge benefit. On my current game there are 3 continents, with mine separated by 8 ocean squares from the next. I moved 4 squares out, then 4 more after my galley survived and I was right along the Greek border, and had contact with the rest of the world. Without the lighthouse, I would have also made my way through 4 sea squares, and at only 3 moves per turn, would have ended in dangerous waters on 4 turns. Still possible with a lot of galleys, but then again I didn't actually know where I was going at the time, and most likely I never would have been able to find the second and third continents until Navigation. The 4 other civs on my continent didn't make contact with the rest of the world until Navigation was discovered in 1250 AD by a civ on the foreign continent and I traded the contacts around myself for lots of cash. But the civs on my continent spent too much time in the dark, and I'm currently running through their pikes and spears with my cavalry. None of them have discovered Gunpowder, or Education yet. On small maps, there might be less of a distance between the continents. But on 2 out of my last 5 games on Huge maps, the Lighthouse has provided me a tremendous advantage, probably more than any other wonder in the game.

 

[Yndy]

Looper I only agree with points 3 and 5 on your list and maybe 7 (which is sort of a conclusion) and with wildfire's point 8.

GL is possible sometimes but you can do fine without it. I never bother to build it. Instead I could wage an early war which may win the game for me. If you manage to destroy one civilisation early you almost won the game IMO. On large maps you need to wipe out two guys to be sure.

I agree with d10 on the tech pace, i'm usually in the same bucket. But I don't value the Lighthouse either. Actually the first wonder that I am trying to build on deity is Smith Trading Company and then of course ToE, Hoover, aso.

Of course the odd leader is always welcome.

I go for a swordsmen of horsemen rush to wipe out one guy then go to the next with the knigts. The third comes with Cavalry, the fourth with Infantry + Artilery, and then I can choose if I want a conquest, domination, diplo or SS victory. My usual army starts with 30 units and grows all the time.

I do not build cultural improvements but hurry to get marketplaces and banks.

 

[Globetrotter]

IMHO, i agree as Yndy mentioned, to hit hard and fast. Get over your neighbor with as many swordsmen and horsemen, take all his techs then waste him. Then turn to another neighbor, etc etc...
In this way, you expand pretty good, you manage to get techs to keep up in the tech race, and you get rid of silly neighbors that could have one day razed you before you know what hit you.

 

[looper]

hmm I never started war that early, reason being is that AI just have so many units, looks like its a terrible war for me, however maybe I should try it, seems that stradigy may work too. some deity level games I played, I was too far away from AIs, when I find them, I dont think I had enough good units to kick their asses unless I cheat like crazy (save reload). How do you fight a couple of civs with twice or 3 times of your army?

ABout how to beat AI for great library, Pre build, pre build prebuild... prebuild palace. some of my friends built it with leader in militaristic civs coz they fought early wars.

 

[Txurce]

I learned how to play at deity level by allowing only domination victories. This meant that if I could survive, I would eventually win. The AI's learning curve flattens around 1500, which leaves plenty of time to build some MA and roll over it. That is what happened every time, even in a game where I started alone on an island.

In playing with all victory conditions on, keeping up in research becomes the key to every game. If I lose, it's because I fall hopelessly behind in the ancient era; if I don't, I always win. The industrious trait seems to make up the most ground in the area where the deity AI is strongest - productivity - so I chose Egypt for my first game, and made the Great Library my first goal. No other ancient wonder can do what the GL does: keep you even in tech a third of the way into the middle ages, and allow you to save enough gold to hang close enough to snag the Theory of Evolution. I built the GL by prebuilding it and creating a worker farm that pumped the GL city close to size 12. I won this game, in which I expanded peacefully and had only two short wars, but have come to learn that the GL isn't necessary and that, if the AI really wants it, they'll beat me to it no matter what I do.

I've kept playing with industrious civs, and won with a strategy similar to those mentioned on this thread: early war with one civ to stay current in tech - sometimes with archers - and subsequent wars whenever possible. Warfare is the area where the deity AI has the least advantage. My strategy in the middle ages, where I never have the strongest military, is to focus on geopolitics, and attack either isolated cities, or join a superpower and reap some spoils. This keeps me barely in the game regarding tech, but capable of buying my way to scientific method, where a prebuild almost always wins the day. After that, I enjoy a short-term tech lead which eventually fades, but not nearly fast enough to launch a spaceship ahead of the dithering AI.

In most of these games I only research select techs like military tradition; otherwise, everything comes via trade or purchase. A minimum of culture is necessary to avoid flips, but I tend to rank somewhere below the middle in most games. The more I play, however, the more I learn that no wonder is absolutely necessary: not even the ToE, which I failed to get in my one huge/16 civ game, a victory. (Having so many civs with which to trade made up for it.)

Recapping, my basic approach is to war selectively to stay close in research, which is all you need for a space-race victory. This breaks down to milking the fairly easy ancient-era war for end-of-age tech parity, and then to choose your battles carefully in the middle ages, picking up some free techs while paying and trading for the rest. In almost every case, the finish line is the ToE - build that, and the rest is downhill.

 

[Yndy]

Originally posted by looper
How do you fight a couple of civs with twice or 3 times of your army?

The first thing is that you want to fight them one at a time. Then the answer is: Choose the time and place of the battle.

It sounds like a quote from Sun Tzu but it's true.
For example in a Sword & spears war:
I place my spears on hills and mountains in his territory and wait for the AI to attack.
I have a stack of swords in my territory waiting for the enemy to enter. I use my road network and avoid leaving swords at the border.
When I attack I use stacks of 6-10 units with 1-3 spears. This way an injured unit will not be destroyed during the next AI attack and the attack units will hopefully not be attacked at all.

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by Yndy
The first thing is that you want to fight them one at a time. Then the answer is: Choose the time and place of the battle.

It sounds like a quote from Sun Tzu but it's true.

Sun Tzu says knowing the place and the time of the coming battle, we may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight.

http://www.sonshi.com/learn.html

 

[looper]

Yndy,
thanks, maybe I should give a try with your stradigy too.

However, The following question is: if your tech is falling behind, more often AI will have better units than yours. in this case, even a stack of 20 units aint gonna cut it, say....20 knights/pikemen against AI's chavary/infantry, and more often AI's military outnumbers yours.

 

[Yndy]

Wow, I hope to get a little closer to the AI techwise.

I am hoping to have a Horsemen/Swords/ Spears against Knights/Pikes, then Knights/Pikes against Muskets, then a big break and later Cavs/Rifles vs Tanks/Infantry and finally Cav/Infantry/Arty vs MA/MI. Then the AI will win by Spaceship.

In most/if not all wins I become dominant power before Motorized Transportation. Otherwise it will probably be a loss.

 

[Zachriel]

Originally posted by looper
However, The following question is: if your tech is falling behind, more often AI will have better units than yours. in this case, even a stack of 20 units aint gonna cut it, say....20 knights/pikemen against AI's chavary/infantry, and more often AI's military outnumbers yours.

If you are an Age behind in technology, you might want to try and avoid a war with that Civ. Use tech-buying to catch up, find a weak foe to attack, or if you are attacked, play a defensive battle and hope for enemy exhaustion.

 

[Txurce]

Looper, the common thread in these responses is to pick a single opponent, and do so wisely. Even if you are one military tech level behind, surprise and local superiority should allow you to take a city or three. (My best is horsemen and archers vs. muskets and pikes.) Then all you have to do is hang on for a few turns, and the AI will give you generous terms. If there is no one that you can effectively fight, even tagging along in an alliance, then it's probably time to call it quits.

 

[king greg]

although i have only limited experience at deity, it seems that the only shot at victory is by taking persia and building immortals to defeat at least one civ and carve out a semblance of an empire, especially on smaller maps

 

[Thoth]

Originally posted by Yndy

It sounds like a quote from Sun Tzu but it's true.

Studying "The Art of War" will improve any Civ player's game.


"Go into emptynes, strike voids, bypass what he defends, hit him where he does not expect you"

 

[Karl_t_great]

Agree with Yndy, I usually play tiny panagea (shortest game in RT..) and sword or horse rush seem to be the only way to survive AI's bonus units. Though I haven't played huge archipelago -- I guess that would need totally different approach.

I usually build no wonders until Smith & ToE, but often gain cotrol of those by taking cities with key wonders first.

Beeing a few tech's bihind does not matter, after all You get a great discount if
some of Your rivals have done the initial reseach.