Deity not hard enough - what are my options?

[Wilyum]

First off, I'm not that great of a Civ 6 Player and I'm not being modest. But I keep running into the same "problem" playing in Deity mode.

I play on the biggest map with at least 20+ civilizations on Deity/Marathon. After some interesting confrontations with a few civs early in the game (after beating them) I always get into a lobsided game where I've got 5-8 cities (because I've conquered some early game) and my opponents don't. From there it's nearly impossible for them to catch up as I simply steamroll through weaker civs.

Are there some nice mods that will give the AI some added juice later in the game? I'd like to be able to take on massive opponents versus steam roll everyone.

 

[Bangau]

Unfortunately in VI, once you've mastered deity, you rarely see an AI that has such a great early and mid game that they become a real threat in the late game. Not like I remember from e.g. civ IV. To get a more challenging game in VI the best thing to do is 'handicap the human' by setting rules for yourself you can't break. There are a few AI mods out there as well, you'd have to try and see for yourself it you like them (search Steam). I read 'mixed' reviews about them, and haven't played them myself yet.

 

[Patine]

First off, I'm not that great of a Civ 6 Player and I'm not being modest. But I keep running into the same "problem" playing in Deity mode.

I play on the biggest map with at least 20+ civilizations on Deity/Marathon. After some interesting confrontations with a few civs early in the game (after beating them) I always get into a lobsided game where I've got 5-8 cities (because I've conquered some early game) and my opponents don't. From there it's nearly impossible for them to catch up as I simply steamroll through weaker civs.

Are there some nice mods that will give the AI some added juice later in the game? I'd like to be able to take on massive opponents versus steam roll everyone.

Self-imposed handicaps and play restrictions?

 

[Wilyum]

I was hoping that by having ginormous maps the AI would grow unto it's own in a land far, far away so that I could have a big challenge looming. But it seems that none of them have any really aggressive moves against their neighbors, so they tend to stay fairly "limited" in size.

 

[Victoria]

Deity/Marathon.

Play standard speed standard size without a top end civ and don’t re-roll. If you don’t want to, don’t, but I play enough deity to know some maps and starts are just not that simple.
You adapt your play to size and speed but the game does not do so as well.

 

[Trigan Emperor]

One day, hopefully, there will be an increased AI Combat Strength mod, which will make the warfare side of the game much harder. I think you would find Deity a lot tougher if the AI had +20 Combat Strength.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

If you win every game you have four options to implement.

1. As already stated you enforce certain rules on your gameplay.
2. You set a turn time limit to win by.
3. Mods
4. Civ Players League
(Multiplayer Games vs Humans which are more difficult and frustrating for many different reasons)

For the last year or so I have only played single player Deity but I used to rotate my choices.
I would switch my choices around as I got bored.

Single Player Deity
1v1 Multiplayer
2v2 Multiplayer
6 Player FFA Multiplayer
Multiplayer Tournaments
10 Player FFA Multiplayer
GOTM Civfanatic Games
Sharing Games on Civfanatics and or Youtube
Record your games with commentary

Rinse and Repeat.
This kept it fresh for 5 to 10 years till I burnt out of MP games.
Now I usually just play up to turn 100 on SP Deity and see how I am doing.
Sometimes if I am doing things completely wrong I get rolled.
However, usually by turn 100 I am ahead in Tech and Military Strength.
So I just start another and see how fast I can get it going.
It all depends on Land and CS's and some other factors but usually if I have low tech so does the AI.

 

[inquisitive_otter]

Try some challenges such as:

• No campus science victory
• Don’t settle your first city until turn 20 or later
• Make a map where you spawn surrounded by tundra on an island
• No government and no governors

You pretty much need to handicap yourself since it is pretty hard to make the AI more competent. Try out standard speed with a huge map, the game tends to be easier on slower speeds.

 

[MrRadar]

Simplest thing would be not to overload the map with numerous AIs. If they lack space to expand and if the military might/tech level of neighbouring AIs is about even, they tend to stagnate and get nowhere. So pick standard numbers of AIs and CS on the map, or you might even remove some, so that they have more room.

And if you really want to test your mettle, try out online speed.

 

[Bliss]

Increase game speed! You will find it much harder to catch up with the AI bonuses. War becomes less important and that is where human players excel.

 

[Trigan Emperor]

One day, hopefully, there will be an increased AI Combat Strength mod, which will make the warfare side of the game much harder. I think you would find Deity a lot tougher if the AI had +20 Combat Strength.

The day has come.

Good luck on Deity.

 

[Trigan Emperor]

The day has come.

Good luck on Deity.

Mod released: Tough A.I.

 

[AlannaT]

Thanks for the mod, @Trigan Emperor. I probably won't use it to increase the combat strength (by resetting the values back to vanilla's -1 and 1) but I am very excited to try this feature:
"The Combat Strength bonuses in this mod are given to AI civilizations, city-states and barbarians. (In the vanilla game, Combat Strength bonuses are only given to AI civilizations). So the human player will be at a disadvantage in combat against all AI. AI vs AI combat is not affected. When a human player levies a vassal city-state and takes control of their units, they will no longer receive the AI combat bonuses."

 

[Trigan Emperor]

Thanks for the mod, @Trigan Emperor. I probably won't use it to increase the combat strength (by resetting the values back to vanilla's -1 and 1) but I am very excited to try this feature:
"The Combat Strength bonuses in this mod are given to AI civilizations, city-states and barbarians. (In the vanilla game, Combat Strength bonuses are only given to AI civilizations). So the human player will be at a disadvantage in combat against all AI. AI vs AI combat is not affected. When a human player levies a vassal city-state and takes control of their units, they will no longer receive the AI combat bonuses."

It will mean that AI Civilizations lose the AI Combat Strength advantage that they get in the vanilla game against City-States and Barbarians, but it's only a small advantage they get in the vanilla game, anyway.

 

[beest]

Some easy things that comes to mind: do not sell stuff or DP for gold. Try to use the civs abilties better, even if that leads to suboptimal play. Or generally use some fun but suboptimal strategy. Don't reload mistakes. Purposely avoid the free settler from Religious Settlements. Anyway, these are things I sometimes do.

 

[AntSou]

Some handicaps I use:

- Never sell Diplo Favor;
- Luxuries for Luxuries only;
- Open Borders for Open Borders;
- Chop/harvest only when tile needed.

Also, have you tried hot-seating with two human players + AI? Not recommended for Marathon, but your best opponent is likely yourself.

Mod released: Tough A.I.

Thanks. +5 seems a bit excessive to me. I'll try +3.

 

[Trigan Emperor]

Thanks. +5 seems a bit excessive to me. I'll try +3.

I think +5 is good per difficulty level is good. I play on Immortal with +15 AI Combat Strength. The key on higher difficulties is look for ways to boost one's own Combat Strength to narrow the gap.

 

[Sykes179]

Try a small map with max number of AI civs.

Are you using the 'exploits'? If so then stop.

 

[DrCron]

Play standard speed standard size without a top end civ and don’t re-roll. If you don’t want to, don’t, but I play enough deity to know some maps and starts are just not that simple.
You adapt your play to size and speed but the game does not do so as well.

This, especially the speed part. In every CIV game since at least CIV 4, marathon is way easier than standard speed. Quick speed will be harder in most situations, so if you are no finding standard speed challenging enough either, move it to quick.

The reason for this is that the movement speed of the units doesn't scale. You will always move your units better than the AI, so in slower speeds you will have a greater advantage.

 

[Bee7]

First off, I'm not that great of a Civ 6 Player and I'm not being modest. But I keep running into the same "problem" playing in Deity mode.

I play on the biggest map with at least 20+ civilizations on Deity/Marathon. After some interesting confrontations with a few civs early in the game (after beating them) I always get into a lobsided game where I've got 5-8 cities (because I've conquered some early game) and my opponents don't. From there it's nearly impossible for them to catch up as I simply steamroll through weaker civs.

Are there some nice mods that will give the AI some added juice later in the game? I'd like to be able to take on massive opponents versus steam roll everyone.

I agree with Victoria that playing on the biggest maps makes it easier to win. Even if you pack in other civs, they don't engage with you soon enough to cause any problems. Some maps present the same problem even on the standard size—the lakes map being a very good example, because it has so much more land than the continents map, for instance. Once you have mastered the rules, the best way of having a testing game is to use one of the smaller map sizes and stack up aggressive civs as the other players while you play a civ with cultural strengths, for example.

The main problem I have found is that once you have enough science advantage over the other civs, a win is likely, but then I guess that is the history of the world, and not just a problem with Civ (-: