Txurce
Deity
Charis, some specifics on early rushes in deity:
I decided to reprise my approach with the Persians, whom I view as less than optimal on deity because the immortals are slow and there's no avoiding an ancient-era GA. I hadn't played deity in a while, and fell hopelessly behind in my first game, after making the mistake of entering my first war in a piecemeal fashion, and thus finding myself unable to win it anywhere nearl quickly enough.
In my second game the Persians started in the northeast of the largest land mass, which was shaped like a U. I researched ironworking and - blocked by mountains to the south - expanded in a generally northern direction. The Americans and Iroquois were directly below me, so I naturally targeted America.
Persepolis built two settlers, then vet spearmen and, eventually, immortals. Pasargadae became my settler factory. The other cities all built barracks and immortals. Research was at zero after ironworking. By the time I was up to seven cities in 825BC, I had 6-8 vet immortals. I made the assumption that, against America, two would take most cities, and even sent one solo against a new city defended by a warrior. I captured a deep city which I then lost, lost the battle against the lone warrior, and destroyed one city. This was not a great start, but the GA was on my side. It didn't take long before I could send three immortals at a city. After I captured Seattle (to the southwest) in 590BC, America was ready for peace, but first I took San Francisco on a small peninsula to my east in 530BC. I bought tech prior to making peace, extorted the rest of the ancient techs, and launched myself into the Middle Ages.
(This is my basic warmongering strategy in the ancient era. With less powerful units, I group five against one city, and so can attack only one or two cities in one shot. As long as you don't take on a miltary powerhouse, you are fighting spearmen, are sure to take 2-3 cities, and thus can make a peace that will get you out of the ancient era.)
Babylon, which started on the southwest end of the U, had two isolated cities on my southern border, so I hit them next, taking them in 210 and 190BC, and picking up a few more tech. This was with three immortals per city - my entire offensive contingent. After that I destroyed one American city and destroyed another in that eastern peninsula in 310 and 320AD, with the same immortals. In both cases, I encountered one pikeman per city, then spear and longbow.
(The powerhouses were Japan, who had their own continent, and then Germany, who kicked England off theirs. Babylon destroyed the Zulu. I wound up best friends with Germany somehow, and Japan was too far away to be a factor.)
I was now in full Middle Ages tech catch-up mode, aiming for the ToE. I bought my way up to the industrial era, where I was finally able to trade some tech around. I upgraded my defensive units - one per city - to riflemen. Picking up steam power revealed that I had no coal, but the Iroquois had an isolated city (Centralia) on my southern border with a coal resource. The Iroquois were at war with America, and I jumped this industrial city with my five or so remaining immortals. They killed a musketeer and two pike, and took it in 590AD. Now came the hard part: fending off the vengeful Iroquois cavalry. I had cut some roads, and managed to take the brunt of their counterattack with riflemen on hills. In the meantime, I swung west and took another isolated Iroquois city with the immortals in 650AD. The Iroquois made peace soon after, and Centralia became not only my coal source, but iron once my other supply soon ran out, and rubber as well!
The Iroquois war gave me 15 cities, and I barely grew after that. I had enough luxuries to keep the tax at zero despite no happiness wonders (or any others). I prebuilt the ToE, researched scientific method - my first since ironworking - and the game was effectively over. (Interestingly, by the time I traded my ToE techs, Japan had already researched flight.) I built an FP and moved my palace very late - Persepolis was perfectly centered. I expanded slightly over time, warred recreationally with a few tanks, nuked the huge Japanese empire to almost half its pop size in a war I never felt, and launched in 1670.
In summary, I started warring as soon as I had several immortals, fought four wars that netted me two cities per conflict, and did this with roughly the minimal number of offensive units. (It's worth noting that the immortals fought successfully into the industrial era, and despite my love of mounted units, I didn't build one the entire game.) I prefer short, multiple wars in deity because their point is to garner me tech or resources. There's usually no need to crush an AI civ to ensure launching ahead of them, and the relative lack of investment in units allows me to build more infrastructure. And it's worth remembering how little military you need to survive once you hit the Middle Ages.
You could say that the only essential war is the first one, which gets you out of the ancient era. After that, it's quite likely that you don't need the "bonus" of free techs gained by warring to capture the ToE, and win the game. (The only game where I didn't fight in the ancient era is the one where I built the GL, which gave me the same result.)
I decided to reprise my approach with the Persians, whom I view as less than optimal on deity because the immortals are slow and there's no avoiding an ancient-era GA. I hadn't played deity in a while, and fell hopelessly behind in my first game, after making the mistake of entering my first war in a piecemeal fashion, and thus finding myself unable to win it anywhere nearl quickly enough.
In my second game the Persians started in the northeast of the largest land mass, which was shaped like a U. I researched ironworking and - blocked by mountains to the south - expanded in a generally northern direction. The Americans and Iroquois were directly below me, so I naturally targeted America.
Persepolis built two settlers, then vet spearmen and, eventually, immortals. Pasargadae became my settler factory. The other cities all built barracks and immortals. Research was at zero after ironworking. By the time I was up to seven cities in 825BC, I had 6-8 vet immortals. I made the assumption that, against America, two would take most cities, and even sent one solo against a new city defended by a warrior. I captured a deep city which I then lost, lost the battle against the lone warrior, and destroyed one city. This was not a great start, but the GA was on my side. It didn't take long before I could send three immortals at a city. After I captured Seattle (to the southwest) in 590BC, America was ready for peace, but first I took San Francisco on a small peninsula to my east in 530BC. I bought tech prior to making peace, extorted the rest of the ancient techs, and launched myself into the Middle Ages.
(This is my basic warmongering strategy in the ancient era. With less powerful units, I group five against one city, and so can attack only one or two cities in one shot. As long as you don't take on a miltary powerhouse, you are fighting spearmen, are sure to take 2-3 cities, and thus can make a peace that will get you out of the ancient era.)
Babylon, which started on the southwest end of the U, had two isolated cities on my southern border, so I hit them next, taking them in 210 and 190BC, and picking up a few more tech. This was with three immortals per city - my entire offensive contingent. After that I destroyed one American city and destroyed another in that eastern peninsula in 310 and 320AD, with the same immortals. In both cases, I encountered one pikeman per city, then spear and longbow.
(The powerhouses were Japan, who had their own continent, and then Germany, who kicked England off theirs. Babylon destroyed the Zulu. I wound up best friends with Germany somehow, and Japan was too far away to be a factor.)
I was now in full Middle Ages tech catch-up mode, aiming for the ToE. I bought my way up to the industrial era, where I was finally able to trade some tech around. I upgraded my defensive units - one per city - to riflemen. Picking up steam power revealed that I had no coal, but the Iroquois had an isolated city (Centralia) on my southern border with a coal resource. The Iroquois were at war with America, and I jumped this industrial city with my five or so remaining immortals. They killed a musketeer and two pike, and took it in 590AD. Now came the hard part: fending off the vengeful Iroquois cavalry. I had cut some roads, and managed to take the brunt of their counterattack with riflemen on hills. In the meantime, I swung west and took another isolated Iroquois city with the immortals in 650AD. The Iroquois made peace soon after, and Centralia became not only my coal source, but iron once my other supply soon ran out, and rubber as well!
The Iroquois war gave me 15 cities, and I barely grew after that. I had enough luxuries to keep the tax at zero despite no happiness wonders (or any others). I prebuilt the ToE, researched scientific method - my first since ironworking - and the game was effectively over. (Interestingly, by the time I traded my ToE techs, Japan had already researched flight.) I built an FP and moved my palace very late - Persepolis was perfectly centered. I expanded slightly over time, warred recreationally with a few tanks, nuked the huge Japanese empire to almost half its pop size in a war I never felt, and launched in 1670.
In summary, I started warring as soon as I had several immortals, fought four wars that netted me two cities per conflict, and did this with roughly the minimal number of offensive units. (It's worth noting that the immortals fought successfully into the industrial era, and despite my love of mounted units, I didn't build one the entire game.) I prefer short, multiple wars in deity because their point is to garner me tech or resources. There's usually no need to crush an AI civ to ensure launching ahead of them, and the relative lack of investment in units allows me to build more infrastructure. And it's worth remembering how little military you need to survive once you hit the Middle Ages.
You could say that the only essential war is the first one, which gets you out of the ancient era. After that, it's quite likely that you don't need the "bonus" of free techs gained by warring to capture the ToE, and win the game. (The only game where I didn't fight in the ancient era is the one where I built the GL, which gave me the same result.)
The Persian game is a style I'm experimenting with now (alas, SG RBP2 saw the tech race 'get out of hand', but RBP5 is now quite interesting, after going to the very brink of defeat early on)
