A varientless deity game. Will be tough, but with this start I'm a solid favorite to win. Strategy going in is to expand like mad at first while keeping up in tech. If I'm not satisfied with my territory (something that happens 9 out of 10 times) I wage some quick, to - the - point wars to grab some productive land. Ansars are nice, but I don't plan on doing any major conquering with them. I will become republic ASAP, and keep up in tech via 2fering/3fering/etc. Then when I get RP, huge arty stack. Then motorized transport, huge tank stack, then the world is mine. It is often said that if you are somewhat in the game when artillery and tanks roll around, the game is over. My job until then is basically to keep myself somewhat in the game by keeping up in tech and aquiring a decent amount of land. A good formula for deity, but solid MM is a must.
No talkie, only pictures
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World Size: Standard
World Form: Pangaea
Water: 60%
Wet, warm, 5 billion, sedentary barbs.
Civ: Arabs
Opponents: Max random
AI aggression: least
Difficulty: Deity
To be continued
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/55802/DeityPic1.JPG
No talkie, only pictures
.World Size: Standard
World Form: Pangaea
Water: 60%
Wet, warm, 5 billion, sedentary barbs.
Civ: Arabs
Opponents: Max random
AI aggression: least
Difficulty: Deity
To be continued
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/55802/DeityPic1.JPG

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I was too. Sadly, I see no opportunity. The Aztecs are just too strong. With the Great Wall, and muskets in all bordering cities, I'd need trebs. But I'd also need more ansars and lots of muskets. But that requires a bigger, more productive empire, which I sadly don't have, and most cities are producing badly needed infra anyway. Also, to make ansars useful, I'd have to attack on turn one, not allowing them to reinforce those cities, but with muskets and walls that's foolish. Maybe if they didn't have muskets or didn't have the great wall I could pull it off, but I don't see it getting me anywhere. What's good about this game is that no AI is running away. The AIs in this game are unusually balanced, which means my current empire, small as it may be, could take on the world when tanks roll around. We'll just have to see, but until tanks this is a builders/ diplomats game. I'll need a lot of troops to attack my opponents, ansars and cav are too expensive, so I'd need factories, but when those come I might as well wait for tanks as I'll be facing infantry anyway.
. Then I got the worst RNG luck I've ever had (no, this isn't some common exaggeration, I can't remember ever having enemy cavs on defense consistently take down a cav or two with them on defense on flatland). WW was heavy, so I had to sign and alliance with the Maya to avoid getting killed and to get easier peace, but I knew I'd have to break it, 30% lux tax isn't acceptable for 20 turns. It ruined both trade and alliance rep, but I'm still well in the game. Eventually the Americans were getting owned by the Mayans, so I sent 11 cav or so to raze a city, getting me 600g