[Vanilla] Deity try - turn reports - Now after success with a guide!

[dwcole78]

Finally beat the game on immortal in an amazing come from behind science victory as Aztecs that was a nail biter down to the very last turn (norwegians had two mars modules down before I had landed on the moon). Great fun! Trying deity but thought would post settings and turns here ask for advice as I go. Likely early especially will post every five turns or so. Below is my start for arabia - chose Arabia because of the civs I hadn't played yet seemed the most powerful - guaranteed religion which otherwise I expect I had no way to get - cheap building and a special building that gives religion and science. Mining for first tech, and scout for first production. Advice? (also any better way to post screenshots - finding this in the steam files to post was incredibly difficult..)

 

[Bangau]

Good luck! First tips:

• Move your mouse away when you take a screenshot, now we can't see all the tiles. (F12 is the way I take my screenshots, I have made the screenshots map a favorite in my explorer, so I can easily find them back)
• Arabia is a good Civ to try for a deity win. Not THE easiest one, but not a very tough one either.
• When you first play deity, you might get overwhelmed by the headstart the AI gets. Don't. You can be behind them in any way till between turn 120 and 160, somewhere around that time you get even and then surpass them.
• Early game aggression is often an issue when the AI are nearby. For a first deity game play it safe and get a little army to defend yourself. And remember: diplomacy is the best defense, a friend can't attack you!
• I always play with the yields ON, it looks less pretty, but helps you make decisions easier. Helps us as well if they are in your screenshot.
• Mining and scout seem like good choices for this start. Would get a slinger or warrior after the scout.

What map type are you playing?

 

[dwcole78]

This is a continents map with speed and everything else turned to normal. I assume Gilgamesh would be the easiest to play with? Won with him long ago so didn't want to play him again. France, Spain, Norway, Brazil were the ones I had to choose from that I hadn't won with before I think. Of those this seemed the most powerful for my favorite map conditions Thanks for advice - usually I start with a settler after the first scout is done, but early military is probably a good idea.

 

[dwcole78]

Ok hopefully this picture is better moved forward in exploration using a circular route found two general areas where I might put cities - unsure if these are the best locations yet or not but in this area seems good. Far right because of access to good district spots around the mountains and new luxury resource. Far left due to general food tile resources closeness to city for defense roads. I person in capital is working the two food one production tile and expect second will work the other tile same resources so no need to change those. Usually prioritize food at capitol until I have couple early cities up. France, Harald Hardrada, Kongo, Brazil, Russia, Spain, China, and Tomyris ones I haven't won with yet other than Arabia any of these considered stronger?

On first turn I had considered moving the capitol so it wasn't right next to the south east mountain so I could use that space for a district but decided that would just put me to far behind. Thoughts?

 

[Vargas1]

Since you know you will have a religion, have you given any thought to beliefs? Work ethic is often my default go-to, but it looks like you may not have super high adjacencies at least in these first cities. I just finished a game with Arabia (on Emperor) where I took Jesuit Education, mostly as a roleplaying thing, but found that it actually worked really well later in the game - I bought the majority of my libraries/universities with faith, and had such a high faith income by the time I unlocked research labs that I was able to buy one in every campus immediately upon unlock (I think I had around 8 campuses at the time). I also was able to get Amundsen-Scott late game very quickly by settling a new city, moving Moshka, faith-buying the campus and all buildings, and using Eiffel to build the wonder.

I've found the trick with Arabia is to wait to found your religion until you have holy sites up in all or most of the cities you want, since that will immediately convert them upon founding. If you found one right away but only have one or two holy sites up, you can end up wasting a lot of time and faith on missionaries to convert your other cities.

 

[dwcole78]

I usually go with Jesuit education for first belief along with Tithe and hardly ever change. I also use the pantheon belief that gives and extra great person point in each district almost exclusively. Here since I start with stone was considering using the pantheon belief that gives extra faith for stone. However as I expect to get the very last religion (higher than emperor getting a religion is hard) will likely take beliefs that I can. As well don't recognize the wonder you mention and was unaware founding a religion converted all cities with religious districts to that religion immediately are either of these things dlc stuff?

 

[Vargas1]

Ahh, forgot this was Vanilla - yes, Amundsen-Scott is DLC. But cities with a holy site converting to your religion when you found it is a mechanic that’s in the base game. It’s really helpful for Arabia particularly because they are one of the few civs where you will definitely build a lot of holy sites but won’t necessarily rush them early.

 

[dwcole78]

Interesting never knew that was a thing and I have 526 hours in the game heh. Thanks will have to use that in my times where religion comes late.

 

[PiR]

also any better way to post screenshots - finding this in the steam files to post was incredibly difficult..)

You can Print Screen and just paste within the forum.

 

[Socrates99]

On deity with the crazy high city strength I find Monty better than Gilgabro. Gilgamesh depends on being able to sack cities before walls and they come quick. Monty's eagle warriors get a weaker early rush than war carts but you also get a lot of free workers out of them which is huge. Below deity I'd go Gilgabro any day but at deity I love love Monty. He's just better at early infrastructure and gets a combat bonus that lasts the whole game.

 

[dwcole78]

Gilgabro? And so no one has thoughts on the specific game I am in - sigh..

 

[marcopolothefraud]

Ok hopefully this picture is better moved forward in exploration using a circular route found two general areas where I might put cities - unsure if these are the best locations yet or not but in this area seems good. Far right because of access to good district spots around the mountains and new luxury resource. Far left due to general food tile resources closeness to city for defense roads. I person in capital is working the two food one production tile and expect second will work the other tile same resources so no need to change those. Usually prioritize food at capitol until I have couple early cities up. France, Harald Hardrada, Kongo, Brazil, Russia, Spain, China, and Tomyris ones I haven't won with yet other than Arabia any of these considered stronger?

On first turn I had considered moving the capitol so it wasn't right next to the south east mountain so I could use that space for a district but decided that would just put me to far behind. Thoughts?

View attachment 599091

In general, prioritizing food in the capital until size 4 (or size 7, even) is a pretty good plan. But Cairo is very food-poor and gold-poor, and it's going to have a really hard time growing past 5 pop or 6 pop (even with a nice food-yielding trade route). Other cities will *definitely* overpower it, given enough time.

My advice is to focus the nexus of your empire elsewhere. In the limited information of the map we have so far, the horse towards the northeast looks pretty nice. The gems to the west look good too. (Remember to find ways to earn gold - districts and military units become unexpectedly expensive over time!)

Have you played many religious games in the past? If you haven't, you may struggle a little bit with Arabia.

 

[Bangau]

Gilgabro? And so no one has thoughts on the specific game I am in - sigh..

I've never played Vanilla, I'm not sure many people on here still do. Can't really advice you therefore. Watch Youtubers from a few years ago, watching others play helped me beat deity!

 

[dwcole78]

So explored some more and picked up in science animal husbandry and working on pottery - could have gone to bronze working and considered it but going for the tea earlier seemed like a better bet. Thoughts? After buying a worker think i am going to buy the two wheat tiles close to capitol. Second city to north east location near barbarian encampment. Hong Kong is the city state to the north east.

 

[vortical42]

Are you looking at the two wheat to the north along the river? For the amount of gold it would cost to buy four tiles and a builder, you could just buy a settler. At this stage, you should probably be focusing on getting your first slinger to deal with that encampment to the east and hopefully get the eureka for archery.

 

[Vargas1]

I would not worry about buying tiles in the capital. You can work the 3F sheep for now, and once you move forward a bit and get bronze working you can chop the rainforest (and the sheep) to boost your population a bit. You're in a nice hilly area which means you should be able to get plenty of mines - you shouldn't have much trouble getting the eureka for Apprenticeship early, and with the sheep in your capital and/or the horse in your second city, you can get the eureka for horseback riding easily. The other eurekas on the way are easy, so you can beeline Apprenticeship if you want which will make your capital pretty productive once you get into the 4-6 pop range if they're mostly working 2F3P grassland mines.

I would definitely take @vortical42's suggestion to get a slinger out and get the archery eureka - you need it to get to horseback riding and clearing that camp will allow you to get up and settle there.

For a third city, you might be better off going straight west and settling next to the diamond - the mountain could help with campus/HS adjacency, and the diamond is a good tile to work immediately. The trees surrounding can be chopped and then mines built on those as well.

 

[PiR]

I would say: plan your Eurekas, Inspiration, and plan how/where you will spam settlers.

 

[dwcole78]

Hmm thanks so you mean chop the sheep removing them from the map? I have to say I have never done that. I plan on thinking over my Eurekas and which great people I plan to go for (this is what you mean by inspirations right?) though I expect I will have to work very hard to get any. Religious victory being the easiest is what I expect to go for but not sure. The camp I was going to just kill with my warrior (taking a turn to heal during attacking) but getting a slinger to get the inspiration is a good idea. May send second city to the west near the diamonds then and put the third near the wheat after the encampment is gone.

 

[vortical42]

Chopping the sheep will permanently remove the resource in exchange for a lump sum of food. Before you go doing that though, there are some things you want to look at.

1. Do you have Magnus installed as govenor of the city? His starting promotion provides 50% additional resources from chopping so you always want him in place if possible.
2. Do you actually need additional population? Looking at that location, there really aren't a ton of tiles that provide high yields when worked. You need to hit 4 population to unlock your second district, but after that you don't get a huge benefit going from 4 to 5.
3. Will chopping actually provide enough food to grow an additional pop? If your growth is maxed out and you need 100 food for another pop, a chop that provides 99 food is just a waste of a builder charge.
4. Will you have enough food to feed the additional pop? Growing from 4 to 5 doesn't do much good if you don't have enough food production to feed the additional population.
5. How long can you afford to wait? The amount of resources you gain from chopping increases based on the numbers of techs/civics you have researched. If you can wait until you hit feudalism, you will gain significantly more food than you would if you chop now AND you will be able you create a farm triangle on the river to help sustain your growth.

 

[PiR]

I plan on thinking over my Eurekas and which great people I plan to go for (this is what you mean by inspirations right?)

Inspirations are Boosts for Civics.
So I meant all Boosts.

1. Do you have Magnus installed as govenor of the city? His starting promotion provides 50% additional resources from chopping so you always want him in place if possible.

Vanilla has no governors.

I would try to work the tea as soon as possible, +1 science can be nice.