Getting Help On Deity

[wolverinegod]

Okay, so i've started up a variety of diety level civs, and no matter what i do i get creamed!. I get clobbered in production and clobbered in tech advances, and....well frankly i just have no clue as to how to get a solid start. Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks!

 

[Sirp]

Beating Deity is the same as beating any other level: you just have to have a strong enough grasp of the fundamentals of the game as any other level.

The main skills you need on Deity are understanding of the importance of food, shields, and commerce, and when it's best to emphasize each, understanding how to make good trades, even when you only have little income to leverage trading opportunities, and understanding the fundamentals of good early expansion. Careful management of cities, and a little micromanagement at crucial junctures helps greatly.

Can you win on Emperor convincingly? If not I suggest you step back and master Emperor first. Try playing an Emperor game where you never research technologies yourself, only buying them off others. That's good practice for Deity.

In the Succession Games forum (inside the Stories & Tales forum), I'm just finishing up playing a game called SP6: Deity Training. In it I am leading a group of players who are new to Deity to their first Deity victory. You might like to read the thread to see if you get any hints or tips.

Also, there are some good articles, especially cracker's article on opening play, and Bamspeedy's "Deity Settlers" article in the Strategy Articles forum.

Finally, you need to have tough resolve. Even if you do manage things well, you *will* fall behind on Deity. You have to have the resolve to bounce back and keep trying if you want to win.

Good luck!

-Sirp.

 

[Michael York]

I've found the not research/one scientist research early to be effective. Then you should also pursue techs that the ai likes to avoid. (such as medicine or steam power before nationalism, or polytheism & mathematics) This will give you something to trade.

 

[wolverinegod]

Sirp, i appreciate the advice, but your response doesn't really tell me anything. Of course you need to understand the importance of things like food and production. Also, i believe the word resolve to be a bit misplaced here. How would one have resolve during a game of civilization, just because you fall behind and need to keep playing doesn't mean you are being resiliant. As such, you can set a goal and try to achieve it but i don't believe you really understand what that word means. Sorry don't mean to be rude, but i just think that people should understand the words they are using when trying to make a point. Like i said, don't take that the wrong way, just expressing a point.
Michael - Yeah i've noticed that dropping science to non existent is a good idea. But I guess i just don't understand how i get so outproduced. Example: Both the americans and i discovered literacy in the same turn. I started to build the GL in my capital and it was size 7 with 5 mines in proximity (3 on hills,, 1 on a mtn)...and then i investigated their city which was building the GL. It was smaller (size five) and had less production yet mine was taking 61 turns and theirs 16.....how exactly does that work, or is it just part of the handi cap?

 

[Sirp]

wolverine: My main point was that there are no special 'tricks' to winning on Deity; you just have to concentrate on the fundamentals of the game. Learn the importance of having lots of food early, and balancing it with production later. I could have talked about it at length, but many others have done that, I was just trying to give you a hint as to where to start looking. I think that some of the best strategies can be found by studying some of the games on the Succession Games forum.

As for the word 'resolve', it means to have made a firm decision about something. To do something that is difficult, you must have resolve, or else you will give up when it becomes difficult. And so it is on Deity, you will fall behind, and many (most?) players will give up and quit when they have two cities to the AI's eight. You have to have determination to keep on playing and have a chance at winning.

-Sirp.

 

[Sullla]

Originally posted by wolverinegod
Example: Both the americans and i discovered literacy in the same turn. I started to build the GL in my capital and it was size 7 with 5 mines in proximity (3 on hills,, 1 on a mtn)...and then i investigated their city which was building the GL. It was smaller (size five) and had less production yet mine was taking 61 turns and theirs 16.....how exactly does that work, or is it just part of the handi cap?

Everything costs the Deity AI civs 60% of the shields that it costs you to build. For that matter, they also only need 60% of the food your cities need to grow, and techs cost them 60% less than they cost you (or more accurately, techs are 167% more expensive for you to research). This is what is meant by the "cost factor" which shows up in the Civ3 Editor, and it (along with the extra starting settler) is the thing which makes winning on Deity so difficult.

Sirp's comments may have been a little vague, but that's because there is no one strategy for winning on Deity. It all greatly depends on the different sitation for each game. What Sirp did say was good advice; make sure that you can win routinely on Emperor before thinking about challenging Deity and be sure to have all of the fundamentals down pat. I would also point you to his Deity Training Game as an excellent source of advice on how to break through the barrier and get that difficult first win. Trust me, Sirp knows what he is doing and has provided an excellent guide/tutorial in the guise of a succession game.

For more specific comments, I'd have to see a save game file. Good luck on getting that first Deity win!

EDIT: I see Sirp and I were posting at the same time with essentially the same message. I guess our minds think alike...

Here's a fun picture of what it means to have "resolve" on Deity (from RBE6, the Naked Vikings SG):

 

[Speaker]

I was just about to pipe in and point to that game, Sulla, but you beat me to it. I started trying Deity way before I was ready and when I found myself with a similar picture as the one above, I restarted. Talk about having no resolve! The best pieces of vague advise that I have are these: 1) be as efficient as you can be. Make sure to never (ok, you know what I mean...) waste shields, food, or beakers. 2) Trade early and often. Give up your last spices if you can keep up in tech and can afford the happiness hit. 3) Keep your word. Finding yourself unable to trade gpt for tech in the Middle Ages is often a death sentence. Sulla and Sirp could probably work their way out of it, but a Deity newcomer likely could not. 4) Read succession game threads or better yet, join a succession game. Voodoocat, Skyfish, and I had never beaten Deity but together we were able to dominate it in CF1. We are all Deity veterans now (Skyfish is a darn good player if I might say so myself ). Best of luck to you and let us know how you improve.

 

[Belisar]

Originally posted by Sullla


Here's a fun picture of what it means to have "resolve" on Deity (from RBE6, the Naked Vikings SG):

I like the picture no need for a dotmap, only for a little war...
I'm also wondering: one city in 2270 BC ? Barbs?

 

[JMB]

Belisar,

Go check out the game (RBE6 - The Naked Vikings) in the Succession Games forum (it should be within the first 3 pages...).

JMB