First time on Diety, help me survive

[Itrade]

After absolutely dominating at my first try at emperor with Darius, I've decided to make the jump to Diety to see what it's like. I just bought the DLC packs, so I'll be playing as Korea. I've decided to pick a huge Earth map, since I'm quite familiar with it from my days in Vanilla, but to counter that advantage I'll choose all the DLC leaders (whom I've never played with before so they'll be pretty unpredictable) as my opponents with the rest of the slots filled by randoms.

I will be cheating a little, resetting until I get a good start near a mountain on a coast, preferably near the desert, which means an African or Arabian start. I'll also quicksave frequently in the first few turns and load back when I discover a ruin until it becomes a unit upgrade, faith, or tech ruin. If the AI ever looks like it's about to declare war on me, I'll give it loads of GPT in exchange for all its gold so that when war begins and the deal is cancelled I will have a net gain of plenty of gold.

So I'm wondering what strategy would be good to use. I don't necessarily want to win, I just want to hold off until the game ends. I'm thinking of going for Great Library, then National College, then Stonehenge, then the Hagia Sophia and the Great Mosque. My religion will be desert folklore with pilgrimage, divine inspiration, religious texts, and swords into plowshares so that I can accrue loads of faith to spend on Great Scientists once freedom is unlocked. Is there anything you can recommend to help me survive?

 

[BigChicagoBob]

Huge map = bad news for 1st time deity. Go smaller map and like epic or marathon. Also, the learning curve from emperor to deity isn't linear. I'd recommend learning certain aspects of deity aka how to tech, to manage faith and culture, to build a unit or building...etc Maybe try an island map first to learn the tech/culture/faith aspect without the AI unit rush.

 

[BigChicagoBob]

also, it's impossible to get great library on deity (even with plain hills, egypt, tradition, chopping...etc), so dont expect to get it on deity then slingshot to NC and education.

 

[Itrade]

I always play marathon nowadays. If GL is impossible, what wonders should I aim for? The pyramids look nice for the two free workers, but they're on the wrong side of the tech tree.

 

[pollock]

I dont build wonders unless im very sure ill get them. Expanding, teching and military take resources. As for pyramids i think you can just build some workers and its less risky

If just moving up id pick a good leader and restart until get pretty good capital. Hammer heavy is ok cause its hard to maintain high population.

Get a libary early and keep your populations as high as possible. Its very easy to get into a tech hole that with all strategic genius in world you cant get out of.

You need pay attention to the diplomatic game alot. Even one little war can get you universally hated. Choke points with cities on hills can be very useful cause the computer brings alot of troops.

 

[snarzberry]

Maybe if you play on standard settings you'll get more and better input. Huge, marathon - how long do you expect this game to last?

 

[Itrade]

If I lose too hard or too fast on these settings, I'll switch over to more standard ones. You can start giving me advice for that eventuality if you'd like.

 

[Moriarte]

I ll tell you about a game I had yesterday. Monty. Large. Pangaea. Deity. Spawned right in the middle of it.. with Boudicca to the east, Atilla to the north, Askia - south. Few others also there, but in the fog. Turn 50. Happiness in check. I feel comfortable. 7 Jaguars, 1 spearman. Rushed a library, built barracks in Capital City. Working on walls in both cities. Askia declares and swarms in 9 warriors/spearmen, all of them die in swamps and jungles surrounding my Cap. Lost 1 unit. Bought one more Jag. Turn 60. Boudicca charges in and surrounds my satellite. 4 picts, 2 warriors, 2 archers. No problem. Killed half of them (while losing one Jag) before turn 70, when another piece of good news Arrive - its Atilla time!! Four rams, 4 horse archers and a bunch of spearmen captured my Cap and killed the Jags in three turns. So, my strategy was - kill all invaders, capture couple of capitals, strive for science, no wonders. Didn't work.

Well, back to immortal space race, trying to launch before turn 270. More experience needed .

 

[Resonance]

So I'm wondering what strategy would be good to use. I don't necessarily want to win, I just want to hold off until the game ends. I'm thinking of going for Great Library, then National College, then Stonehenge, then the Hagia Sophia and the Great Mosque. My religion will be desert folklore with pilgrimage, divine inspiration, religious texts, and swords into plowshares so that I can accrue loads of faith to spend on Great Scientists once freedom is unlocked. Is there anything you can recommend to help me survive?

I would say put the plan out of your mind. All of these wonders will be constructed before you can hope to build them yourself. Depending on the AIs present you will also not found a religion unless you focus heavily on it. Expect the AI to found religions at about turn 45-70 the latest.

So I recomend trying to play the first turns without wonders in mind other than the national ones of course. You might get stonehenge, but it might also be gone turn 25. Try to set up an early game that does not need wonders.

 

[Sadato]

Some deity gameplay novice tips:
- Do not build wonders.
- Do not build wonders.
- Around turn 20+ steal a CS worker.
- At turn 20+ (when you reach 200 gold), get a loan of 112 gold per 5 gpt and buy a worker.
- Research Writing ASAP, only deviate to AH if you have sheeps or cattle and to research the luxury techs you have in your capital on ir your near future cities.
- Research archery and buy or build 3-4 archers fast. It is better to build and archer than a wall. A wall won't help if you get attacked in another city.
- You will receive and attack from 1 to 4 different civs after turn 30, If you have Monty, Alexander or one of the crazy guys as a neighbour maybe earlier. One of them will be mad at you the whole game while the others will only test you. You will see a mob of units visiting your lands, don't panic, let them come and position your archers behind your city with one or two melee units fortified guarding them. After some turns and a bloody carnage the AI will assume he had enough and will turn back, persue them and kill the remains. If you have enough troops you can push and try to take a city or at least get a juicy peace deal, otherwise, heal your wounds and sign a decent peace (you can loan other civs your gold for gpt in a 31 to 1 ratio to get peace without losing money.
- Research Philosophy ASAP and get libraries in all your cities. If a recently settled city will delay your NC 15 turns, spend 400 gold and buy it.
- Research Public Administration ASAP and then Education. It is vital to grow and a Pikemen smashes a swordsmen and a fortified pikemen can go toe to toe against a longsword. You don't really need IW.
- Research construction if you see an attack coming to upgrade your archers or later when you need the happiness from coliseums. Plan in advance.
- Sell as may luxuries and strategics to the AI as you can.
- Expand fast and spread your empire, build 1 city for each different resource you can get. If an AI gets mad at you for that, don't bother.
- Unleast you know what you are doing like a Tabarnak tradition opening, open with Liberty-> Settler growing your capital to size 4-5 in the process then start popping settlers. Aim for 4-6 cities by turn 60.
- If you are ahead in research, move your spies constantly so you can share intrigues with the civs and make new friends.
- Play babylon and research Pottery-Library or play pacal and spam cities with his shrine. You'll feel like playing inmortal.

 

[csliza]

Guys, thanks for the great information and tips about diety, it help me to improve my game!!!

 

[Zednaught]

A diplomatic win, though harder to get in the expansion, is still the easiest victory type. The commerce tree can get you crazy GPT.

It may depend on your map, but see if you can conquer one or two civs so that your empire occupies a body of land with easily defended choke points. With even a small puppet empire and a half dozen of your own cities (the amount you'll found depends on the map size), you should be able to reach the UN vote and secure all the city states. Just hope Austria isn't in your game.

-You may not have as much of a problem with this as Korea, but it's very important to never neglect science.

 

[ense7en]

I'd recommend you not bother with Deity based on your plan.

Try Immortal first; it's already extremely hard to get wonders there, and a bit less insane AI boosts to deal with.