Diety Strategy

[ixmyron]

Finally won on deity after struggling with it for a week. Heres how I did it. Sorry its long.

1. Build warriors until you get to about three, explore and get money from barbarians
2. Once you get three warriors then switch to all science and research alphabet first.
3. Once you get alphabet then switch your city to balanced and build a library. Research writing next then code of laws
4. Hopefully by this time you have 100 gold to get a settler, find a spot with at least a 2food and 2production and make sure its as close to your capital as you can get it
5. Once you have two cities then rush the libraries in both cities with gold or production whatever you need to do.
6. Keep exploring with the warriors until you get to dead ends either map wise or other civ wise pull back the warriors to defend your two cities once they have reached dead ends.
7. Once you reach code of laws switch to republic govt. and switch the cities to high production and build settlers. go for democracy next then university.
8. settlers now only cost one so its easier to expand, this part is up to you as to how many cities you want. Personally I like to keep it small with maybe 3 to 5 cities.
9. Once you have your cities choose the one that is in the most crucial area such as very near another civ or maybe its your bottleneck city. With that city switch to balanced and all the rest keep on production.
10. This is the priority for building on your main city
a.libraries, universities
b.courthouse, city walls, tile upgrading buildings
c. temple, cathedrals(cultural vic) market, bank(economic)
11. All the other cities will only produce settlers and be at high production. Try to rush settlers as well with whatever gold you have, Send the settlers to the main city and join it to population pump that city.
12. Once you have university tech then go straight for industrialization then mass production, it will be a while.
13. Once you have the main city at 25 population which will happen pretty quickly depending on how many cities you have population pumping it, move on to pop pump another city and repeat steps for building in that city.
14. Once you have industrialization, make building factories a priority in your main city or cities. Once you have factories you should also have mass production finished so build infantry armies to protect all your cities. Next I would go for automobile to build artillery for attack first defense, but if you are going for domination victory build alot of these artillery and a few battleships.
15. At this point you have probably one huge city that can produce pretty much anything very quickly, one medium size city, and one tiny city. I believe you have to tools to win any victory from this point.

Other civs will try to get things from you and you should react differently depending on what victory you want to achieve. ie.. if you want economic victory try to give them tech instead or great persons. The way I negotiate is that if they want something I usually will refuse unless they have high movement troops right next to my city which means that they will attack pretty much right after you refuse. After I refuse I go back to talk to them and most of the time different options are available so try to get the option that least hurts your type of planned victory. Some times they actually back off if you refuse the first time, you would be surprised. Once you have your defesnes set up with infantry and artillery I would refuse anything that got in the way of the victory I wanted.

These are tips for every victory that you should follow after you got your defenses up.

Domination: Use caravans to find capitals that you didnt find in the beginning or research flight to get fighters to find capitals not on your island. Once you find all the capitals you can pretty much stack up on artillery and infantry together to take down the capitals. I use a 1 to 5 ratio of 1 infantry to 5 artillery, I would send two of these groups to each capital. go after the capitals that are closest to winning first. Make sure your big and med city have factories at this point so that you can rush armies.

Technology: After you have infantry in all your cities and a few artillery for defense just switch to science and democracy govt. Go for space flight and build a space ship

Economic: After your defense is set switch to democracy and rush to networking tech and build internet. make sure that your cities have market and bank, by this time you might already have them. Once you get internet done then switch to all gold and then build world bank. give civs anything else but gold to stop them from going to war with you. If war is inevitable you can withstand it.

Culture: For this one I would build magna carta once I got democracy. once your defense is set up I would build spy rings to steal other great people from other civs. Build temples, cathedrals, and wonders. Protect your great people because you can withstand any war thrown at you at this point.

For any victory, attack any civ that looks like its going to win before you do. go after their largest city if they are winning tech or economic. Use spy rings if they are going to win cultural, remember to defend the spy rings with infantry every step. Thats pretty much it, sorry for the length.

 

[Kadazzle]

I see one problem in your strategy. You seem to be using the Mega City strategy, where you pump settlers out from all your cities, moving them onto one big city. The problem with this is, is that early in the game the AI would be out-teching you. Because of that, and because they'll always be declaring war on you, I see it hard for you to win unless you start of in a really nice starting location.

For Deity, generally if you get a rush off, with Veteran Warriors with Infiltration, you're pretty much set for the game, unless you screw up horribly.

 

[Boomsie]

Perhaps... Explain which civ you used. It may be why. Would the romans be ideal early with their republic? Or the Chinese with it's spies due to writing? Or perhaps, the greeks with their democracy, hoplites, and courthouse?

 

[ixmyron]

It doesnt matter if youre not ahead in tech in the beginning actually its better if they are out teching. I rarely have a declaration of war without a proposal, like i said I always negotiate in order to give them the least amount in order to not go to war. And to be honest I am not sure it matters if you are ahead or not they will always constantly threaten you. But I always assumed that if you are ahead in tech or culture, econ that they are more aggressive with declaring war with you. But in the rare occasion that they declare war with no terms I will go right back to the diplomacy menu and sometimes they will offer something entirely different, and if that is not an option then of course drop whatever you are producing in the big city and pump out the best defense that you have at the time, probably pikemen. If you handle one turn then go right back to the diplomacy menu and try again. I basically try to avoid war until I have my infantry up then I dont really care to much. I have won on deity about 20 time now with this strategy, and Ive done it with americans, russian , japanese, greek, and arab. I havent tried the other cultures yet but I think the strategy will still work. So far the "mega city" approach gives me much more science trade than I could acheive with more smaller cities, the only time i had a problem was when I had a city in the middle of land with not alot of sea squares. I had to start over, but I realized afterward that I just needed to make my second and third city next to the water which was in reach. Anyway with the big city producing university library, and courthouse it can produce up to 300 tech by the end maybe more not sure.

 

[Kadazzle]

Finally won on deity after struggling with it for a week. Heres how I did it. Sorry its long.

This contradicts this:

I have won on deity about 20 time now with this strategy, and Ive done it with americans, russian , japanese, greek, and arab.

Anyways, personally I find the Mega City cheating, as well as ICS cheating. These tactics may work for some players, but you must realize that well placed cities will always make you produce more units, gold and science then any of these other techniques.

I'm rather confused about how it's good to be down in tech. I don't understand how you can be winning if you're not reaching the techs first. Are you sure you're playing on Deity? Last time I checked (Earlier today, actually) the AI are constantly warring you if you're playing on Emperor and Deity.

I know I shouldn't be saying negative things on someone's help guide, but I honestly have a hard time digesting this.

 

[Smirk]

Typically you can win on any difficulty long before you research Internet or even Corporation and Industrialization. And the longer you wait for a domination the harder it will be, I've never needed factories for a domination win. Factories help economic and cultural, and maybe science (but I just always rush the space parts with gold).

I disagree with your first few steps.
With one, this could be pointless of you are stuck on a little island or another civ cuts you off, also while I do this myself on lower levels because I eventually make those warriors an army and try to take a city on deity this isn't gonna happen.
On two, this is an early jump on tech that doesn't give you much, even if you were able to get 100g quickly and then quickly rush a library how much science would you get in that city, 8? Its much better to put that 2 pop on 2 food, 5 turns gives you another pop which you can work science.

I don't agree about the megacities being cheating, reloading a turn is cheating, megacities is just a distracting strategy. Rationally it could just be like New York or LA, its a draw for people all over America. Its a logical thing to have, and of course the cultural or scientific development will benefit. I find no need for this massive amount of effort just to boost the pop in any given city.

Mostly this is just a turtling strategy, sure it works, but I'm sure in any given game that you wait till infantry and factories to win, I could have won at some much earlier time.

 

[ixmyron]

Hey thanks for the comments. Anyway I am not contradicting myself kadazzle. I think you are assunming that I wrote this thread right after I won the first time. I was just stating that it took me a week after I first got the game to finally win implying that it was somewhat difficult for me. Since I have won for the first which was 2 weeks ago I have won another 19 times. That's what I was trying to say.
After reading your comment I tried last night to be behind on tech on purpose and I see what you are saying about the war thing. It was pretty difficult if you don't have much to bargain with when it comes to tech. Thats my bad. It is not good to be down on tech, but I guess from the past I always made my capital the mega city and rushed to get university and courthouse so I never really had a problem with techs with my strategy. I guess spreading out your cities works for some but I found it to be difficult hence thats why you label mega city strategy cheating because it makes it easier to win.
These two statements seem to contradict each other

"Because of that, and because they'll always be declaring war on you, I see it hard for you to win unless you start of in a really nice starting location."

and

"Anyways, personally I find the Mega City cheating, as well as ICS cheating"

I cant win and I am cheating at the same time. Doesnt cheating give you an unfair advantage so that you can win. Anyway I dont think its cheating because its part of the game, and someone else could do it to you. I agree with smirk.
Yeah I build the warriors mainly because I just want to get the barbarian money so that I could later get a free settler and build two cities and rush libraries at both cities which should give you a total of 12 science. Once I get 100 gold I pretty much have two cities producing 12 science within a one or two turns of that. So the speed more depends on when I get the money from barbarians which is contingent on me building warriors. Hey it works for me. And if I read my strategy when I first got the game I wouldnt have went through the week that it took me to figure it out, thats primarily why I posted this thread. I am not claiming to be able to beat anyone or be faster than anyone just claiming to beat the computer at deity consistently. I probably would get my ass whopped in multiplayer. I didnt even know what I was doing was called mega city and I dont even know what ICS is, this is pretty much my first time playing this game and now I want to buy civ 4 for comp.

 

[Kadazzle]

These two statements seem to contradict each other

"Because of that, and because they'll always be declaring war on you, I see it hard for you to win unless you start of in a really nice starting location."

and

"Anyways, personally I find the Mega City cheating, as well as ICS cheating"

No, they really don't contradict each other, at all. I'll point out how it's not.

I cant win and I am cheating at the same time. Doesnt cheating give you an unfair advantage so that you can win.

Here, you state that cheating gives you an unfair advantage, which is true. But the latter part of that sentence, is incorrect. Cheating gives you an unfair advantage so that it is easier to win. Period. Cheating doesn't automatically make you win, you still have to do something to win. Therefore, I didn't contradict myself, and even with your example, I wasn't contradicting myself.

The main problem with this, is that I really don't see how the AI don't declare war on you when you're in the lead, especially when you're building a Mega City. Even when I play on Emperor, I always rush an enemy capital, then declare war with the rest of the civs once I get Mathematics and Feudalism. War makes the AI focus on war, and not technology, which generally increases my already big tech lead. With your example, because you don't declare war the AI are always teching. They're always bound to tech more then you while you build your mega-city, because they'll be a Democracy if they're only teching. Once you get your Mega-City up, you claim you take the tech lead. I don't see how this is possible. Because you make your capital your Mega-City, as you said, there's no way you can produce more then 500 science at 25 population (With Democracy), because capitals are placed in spaces that would be balanced.

For these reasons, it seems that this technique is more luck then skill. If the AI are in a bad starting position, you have a chance at winning, but if the AI are in a decent to good starting position, you're pretty much screwed as I know the AI can get more then 500 science per turn if unattended with 6-8 cities.

 

[ixmyron]

So you say that my strategy dooms me from the beginning because the computer will out tech me, but then you say that my strategy makes it easier for me to win. Now that is a contradiction because how is it easier for me to win when the computer is constantly out teching me? That is the point I am trying to make. It doesnt make sense. By your definition then I am not cheating because you clearly state that my strategy makes it harder(impossible) for me to win than easier to win.
And I also never said that I have 500 tech in one city I can get about 300+ towards the end and about 50-100 tech from my mid level cities. Anyway I win pretty much every time so far on deity and its the truth. I have no reason to make something up. I am glad that you have a strategy that is better than mine. Could you make a thread that explains your strategy?

 

[Kadazzle]

So you say that my strategy dooms me from the beginning because the computer will out tech me, but then you say that my strategy makes it easier for me to win.

This is no way contradicting myself. I never said you're doomed, but I did say building the Mega-City makes it easier for you to win. Even if I did say you were doomed (Which I didn't) it still wouldn't contradict each other. You can be doomed, but do something to make it easier for you to win. Stop trying to twist my words into a contradictory sentence and think next time, please?

If you only make 300 science in the late game per turn, I don't see any way how you can win. The latter techs need a lot of science to research, which you aren't getting.

 

[Fillmore27]

what i did was, i put it on the senario of beta centary and i built a whole bunch of tanks and stuff then i attacked my neighbors fast and captured all there citys. then with those citys i built more and more and more!!! lol and waged war apon the world

 

[Sciguy001]

I think the Mega City strategy is completely fair strategy despite what others think.

I think that the easiest civ to win on diety is Russia. The +1 food from plains means +4 food from plains In other games I base my entire strategy on plains because they are the unltimate source of growth in teh game and they come close together. With plains producing four food, cities are going to be very big even without using the mega city if you place the right

In deity, the enemy civs are so agressive that you either have to be attacking them or have a very strogn defence system to not be toppled. Russia is the number one defender so it makes it easier to worry less about your attackers.

The only way I can win on diety is being a very agressive civ like Arabia or Germany or be Russia

 

[Kadazzle]

To get the 4 food though, you have to build a granary. The thing most people complain about is, would you rather build the granary, or use the production to pop out units or build a library?

As the Russians, I always find a nice spot with 3 hills and a bunch of plains as the Russians, so I like' em.

 

[Sciguy001]

I think that graneries are always worth it no matter what civ you are. If a city has more than two plain spaces in its radius the first thing I do is rush a granery. It can make multiple large powerful cities and the Russians excel at this.

 

[Hertsh]

I think that graneries are always worth it no matter what civ you are. If a city has more than two plain spaces in its radius the first thing I do is rush a granery. It can make multiple large powerful cities and the Russians excel at this.

I tend to agree, but you must be careful when spending that many hammers early in the game.

 

[MorteEterna]

I think the Mega City strategy is completely fair strategy despite what others think.

I think that the easiest civ to win on diety is Russia. The +1 food from plains means +4 food from plains In other games I base my entire strategy on plains because they are the unltimate source of growth in teh game and they come close together. With plains producing four food, cities are going to be very big even without using the mega city if you place the right

In deity, the enemy civs are so agressive that you either have to be attacking them or have a very strogn defence system to not be toppled. Russia is the number one defender so it makes it easier to worry less about your attackers.

The only way I can win on diety is being a very agressive civ like Arabia or Germany or be Russia

I think plains help, but you shouldn't compare the growth to other huge bonuses, as having religion free, as example. And, russians aren't the best defender, in fact, english and greeks (I prefer greeks obviously because you can tech up) have both pikemen (english with 10 hammers instead of 15). Russia has many bonuses but noone is helpful to win the game in my opinion, they are considered one of the worst civs and I tend to agree.

 

[kingdarius]

Aztecs - First diety win, very easy. Perfect for warrior rush with 1st turn buy, instant heal. Everything flows pretty easily from there.
Zulu - Second win. Almost as easy, but took a few losses to iron out differences from aztecs. You have to send at least two warrior armies in an early rush since you don't heal instantly, but the zulu speed gives you more huts, so more warriors and more upgrades.
Spanish - I probably will go back and try to win this again, since it felt like cheating. My first hut pointed to knights templar close to my capital. Rush galleon, quickie knight plus all the other artifacts shortly after. Obviously I can't count on this...
Greek - warrior rush failed miserably multiple times. What worked was pumping out several pikeman to occupy choke points and then rushing to code of laws and pumping up athens (starting courthouse is a great benefit of greeks).
Romans - did a quick warrior, focus on science to get archers, then pumped out a group of archers to act as poor man's hoplites. No good science city available so rushed a galley and found a suitable island. Then pumped up that and beat off wave after wave of legions until I finally turned the tides with tanks and artillery. The experience my archers built attacking huts helped me stave off the initial onslaught of angry civ's (I never bow to threats, ever!) Cheap Roman roads helped me shuttle my catapults around to face the latest wave.


Generally, if your civ (and map) is suited, try taking out 1 or 2 civs before they get an archer army (if I see archer army I retreat immediately). You will have to fight pretty much continually, so catapult armies have to be a high priority early on. I aim for 1 science city, 1 gold city, and everything else is more or less a production city. I will micromanage with the custom work assignment to get exactly what I want - the game's "maximize x" is not always the immediate maximum. Remember to match one veteran (3 easy barbarian wins) with 2 rookies when forming your early armies. I post settler poaching units close to all the other civs early on. You stop one of their cities in its tracks and get a settler to boot.

 

[Sciguy001]

Kingdarius, you forgot that the Arabs are the best warrior rushers since a warrior is the equivalent of a legion. Rushing hoseman takes longer but is more effective. Early I warrior rush one city and manage to horesman rush one or if I am lucky to other cities.

And Morte Eterna, the Russians are the number one defender in both the early and late game! Archers with loyalty have 2+%100=4 strenght wich overshadows the Longbowman and the Hoplites but it is just later. And rifelman would be the same cost as Longbowman but have 10 strenght with loyalty versus 3. And the Russians are defenetly not the worst. If you play them right, you can steal almost everthing you need from your neighbors with half-cost spie rigngs. And what are you talking about with free religion? There is no religion in this game and if there was it wouldn't contribute to growth. Russians probably are not the best, but they are far from the worst.

 

[Jimmy369]

I find that in Civrev the AI is very easy compared to the AI on the computers. The only thing you have to watch out for is a teching civ(China,Egypt) launching a spaceship before you completely crush all opposition. I find that actively hunting down attacking AI units in a middle ground will lead to you eventually building up enough to go on the offensive.

 

[kingdarius]

I haven't tried the Arabs yet. I'm working my way through, it's interesting their differences.

I personally think the AI is on balance more clever than the computer version, although Diety is far easier on civrev, I assume because less cheating and a smaller map. I actually don't mind that. I gave up playing the computer version because diety was too difficult and emperor was too easy. The civrev diety is difficult enough to be challenging but still beatable for any victory condition.