Care to share what tech path you used etc? Was it AH->BW->writing->myst->poly->pri->mas->mono->theo(oracle)->alpha or something else? What leader did you play? Quin of bismark? What opponents did you have? Ghandi, Zara, Ramess and Hatty? What map did you play? Boreal? Pangea?
Huts:
First of all, you want Huts on, just to have a chance at getting a free Technology that is useful for RL DV, but mainly to get extra Gold (Coins) to finance 100% Research while supporting more than the 5-6 free units an early City can support. (Your City will probably not grow large enough to support 6 free units, so count on only 5 free units.) This extra initial Gold will allow one to support extra Workers and Missionaries at 1 Gpt per unit beyond the free 5-6 units.
Technology path:
I would omit Animal Husbandry, [EDIT] since it's not required for a RL DV game. I know some players think its required for Epic speed to get Writing and Open Borders very early, but do you really need +2 Diplomacy versus +1 Diplomacy for Open Borders? I think not. [end EDIT]
There are two major alternative optimal Technology paths (they all start with BW). I will specify the Technology paths complete with common starting Technologies, since different Empires will usually have different starting Technologies (just ignore those your chosen Leader starts with):
Bee-line Bronze Working, bee-line Writing via Priesthood, bee-line Monotheism, complete The Oracle, finish with Alphabet:
Mining -> Bronze Working -> Mysticism -> Polytheism -> Priesthood -> (start The Oracle) -> Writing -> Masonry -> Monotheism -> Theology via The Oracle -> Alphabet
As
WastinTime has already noted many times before, this path may not complete Writing by turn 45, which is important to allow 50 turns of Open Borders to gain +2 Diplomacy by t95 for a t96 Win (1600 BC).
Bee-line Bronze Working, bee-line Priesthood, bee-line Monotheism, bee-line Writing, complete The Oracle, finish with Alphabet:
Mining -> Bronze Working -> Mysticism -> Polytheism -> Priesthood -> (start The Oracle) -> Masonry -> Monotheism -> Writing -> Theology via The Oracle -> Alphabet
This Technology path allows only +1 Diplomacy for Open Borders, since Writing is founded far too late, but allows Organized Religion sooner for help building The Oracle and to gain the Favorite Civic bonus with Hatsheput and Ramesses II siginifcantly earlier, assuming they complete Monotheism and run their Favourite Civic that early as well. Simply sharing the Organized Religion Favorite Civic with either of these two Leaders for a long enough number of turns plus a few other Diplomatic bonuses can be enough to get the RL DV.
This is also a good Technology path to leverage Marble not long after starting The Oracle. (Priesthood and Masonry can be reversed in the research order to allow the Marble build bonus throughout the construction of The Oracle. Priesthood can be completed while 2-3 Workers build a Marble Quarry.)
Leader:
As
WastinTime has already mentioned, the most popular Leaders for Deity RL DV are Qin Shi Huang and Bismarck. Both have the Industrious trait which most people consider critical for building The Apostolic Palace. Bismarck also has the Expansive trait which builds Workers from Hammers at +25%, which essentially means getting five Workers for the price of four Workers. Note that this Expansive bonus does not apply to excess food that is applied to Worker builds, so shift your Citizens to maximize Hammers while building Workers with the Expensive trait in effect. The disadvantage to using Bismarck is Deer (Hunting one of his initial Technologies) is relatively rare in Maps with both good Mining resources and vast numbers of Forests. Boreal would seem to be a good Map and it is for Deer, but the Gems tiles lack Food and often have a Forest on top that must be chopped before the Gems can be Mined.
There are alternative Leaders, but they are all works in progress as far as I know. Focus on Leaders with Industrious, Expansive and possibly Financial traits. Pacal II is promising due to all his starting Technologies (Mining and Mysticism) being required for an efficient RL DV, but I'm not sure his lack of the Industrious trait can be effectively compensated for.
Best Opponents:
For RL DV, always pick the minimum number of Opponents. This Gauntlet requires a Small map, so the minimum number of Opponents will be four.
Since you will be running Organized Religion, often right after you complete Monotheism, for most of the game, you will want Opponents whose Favorite Civic is Organized Religion. Thus, Hatsheput and Ramesses II are at the top of the best Opponents list for any Religious Leader Diplomatic Victory game, including this Gauntlet.
The other two Opponents should be almost as obvious. There are only two BtS Leaders with a hidden +2 Diplomatic bonus in favor of the Player. They are Gandhi and Zara Yaqob.
Avoid: Brennus and Suryavarman II also have Organized Religion as their Favorite Civic, but their Peaceweight is so low (0 and 1 respectively) that everyone with high Peaceweights them hates, and they become Worst Enemies, thus making them unsuitable for a RL DV game.
Maps:
Any Map where all Civs start on the same Continent is excellent. Any flat map is very good, but they don't have a Sea Level that effectively reduces the number of tiles when the Sea Level is set to High. For this reason, I recommand single Continent maps (including Terra) surrounded by Ocean over any flat maps with no
surrounding Ocean.
Avoid Navies: Any map that requires a Navy is bad, since building a Navy will cost you a significant number of Hammers and consequently turns that can't be compensated for. Galleys also require Fishing and Sailing, both of which are not free, regardless of chosen Leader. Maps that require Caravels are the worst, since they will also require Iron Working, Metal Casting, Compass, Machinery and Optics.
In my opinion, Pangaea is the absolute best Map for RL DV. It has everything you need to win RL DV fast. It has numerous Mining resources for fast research. Vast numbers of Forests to chop; only exceeded by the Boreal map whose limitations have already been mentioned above.
The Terra map has far fewer Mining resources and Forests, but it still can be used. Expect to run Map Finder much longer to compensate for the lower resources and also far larger map size to accommodate the New World. Also, I really don't think the Old World on Terra is really significantly smaller than the only "World" on Pangaea.
For Maps with a meaningful Sea Level, always use High Sea Level to reduce the Size of the Continent where all Civs start, effectively making them closer to each other.
It may be best to start in the middle of the (starting) Continent, making the distance to all Civs equally short. Ideally, your Civ will become the Hub of the Wheel of all remaining Civs such that you share a Border with all other Civs. For this Gauntlet and any Small Pangaea or similar one Continent/Flat map this should be relatively easy to achieve.
Sun Tzu Wu
, so I researched archery ASAP. I know I'm not going to finish 1st in this gauntlet anyway
