Falconiano
Prince
Hey all.
I wrote a guide explaining my personal strategy to win Deity mode domination (Marathon speed, 12+ civs) efficiently because I just want to give back to you guys as a few of these tricks I got from this forum.
Note that this is just my personal strategy and playstyle - there are other methods, there is personal preference, etc - but this happens to work reliably so take it for what it is.
Generic Rules
1) Always have a unit on a hill so that you have visual of at least 5 tiles from your borders.
This way you see incoming sneak-attacks earlier and you can prepare for them.
Like this:
Note: This lets you spot those pesky "ninja-settlers" from other civs that plop unwanted cities right next to your borders.
When you see them have a couple units "escort" them away by body-blocking their path.
2) Never buy - let alone, ugh, produce - workers after you pop your first one from capital.
You -steal- your workers from
Worker 24/7 shops, or other civs, or pop early Pyramids if you have plenty of 
.
If you don't have nearby city states to get workers from, build a mounted unit for easy worker-stealing from civs.
3) Try to get at least one coastal city.
This is a double-edged blade because from one side you get a chance at naval superiority and some unique coastal wonders/buildings, but on the other hand if you do a couple mistakes the AI can snatch the city with bombing+melee ships and you're susceptible to blockades.
Coastal play is a delicate affair but worth it due to the massive power of naval and better
routes and income.
4) Don't build second city until you popped the National College, or if you're sure that second city's lib will be ready by the turn capital finished the Great Lib.
I usually plop my capitol, worker, G.Lib -> N.College. I do this because in Deity you really need to catch up the tech disadvantage quickly.
5) Don't reload saves, you do a disservice to yourself.
Reloading diminishes the value of your mistakes and the lessons you'd earn from them, and thus you don't get better.
You should make it a point to only reload if you happen to misclick and send units moving instead of attacking, stuff like that.
6) The option "Raging Barbarians" is great if you can squeeze the most out of it..
You definitely risk some pillaged improvements or even stolen workers if you don't border-patrol properly, BUT raging barbs are more likely to steal other civs' workers and therefore you're more likely to find barb camps with them.
Plus more camps equals more
for you.
It also makes gameplay more varied overall.
Capital placement
On hill (not mandatory but it's nice), with river (req for Hydro plant) and adjacent mountain (req for Observatory/Machu Picchu).
Reroll till you get this situation.
City placement
Adjacent to river and possibly on hill.
Yes it's easier to plop the city on a lux, but that's being lazy and impairs your long-term efficiency.
I would only deploy on lux if you're surrounded by Montezumas and need to focus yourself on warfare.
Do your math and make it so when you plop the city you have enough smiles for the time you're working the improvement.
My first buildings are usually granary+mill to ensure a fast
growth.
I usually go 5 tall cities (including capital); it's riskier than classic 4 from a happiness point of view, but you should manage it without problems due to Honor boosts.
Build order
I personally don't use scouts, so mine is Worker > Shrine (Granary if Ethiopia), Great Lib > National College > Settler.
Time the lib well so you can get free Philosophy, aka finish Calendar before last turn of building the G.Lib.
The rest depends on situation/resources/map. Generally prioritize windmills/workshops/factories for hammers.
No monument/aqueducts as you get them free with Tradition.
Governor Resource Management
As of the latest patch the game is pretty good at managing resources.
As a general rule, take a look at how the "turns to grow" and "turn to building" turned out, if the ratio is good for your goal go for it.
"Default" is usually good if the city needs to build but also grow.
"Production" is when you just need to rush buildings - but don't use it a lot.
"Food" for those new cities you need to level pretty fast.
Specialists & Great People
As a general rule don't use them until growth isn't impaired much by them.
Here is what I do:
>Capital: Science boom, 2 in university, public school, research lab
>Second city: Hammer boom, workshop, factory, anything that gives Great Engis.
>Third city: Gold boom, market, bank, stock
The other two are better off without them until grown enough, then it's your call.
Policies
> Complete Tradition; get the +50%
city attack last, unless you're getting trolled by Alex/Monty/Nap early on.
> Complete Honor for per-kill, one of the most tide-turning policies on deity (this tree also helps a lot with unhappiness issues).
> Unlock Autocracy and grab discounts on military purchases, wounded units damage, double resources.
Religion
I find it very hard to pop a religion on Deity especially if you (like me) play with a ton of other civs (12-20).
The more civs, the harder to get a religion because every time a civ funds a pantheon/religion the
faith cost increases exponentially for you.
If you want you can mod the amount of religions allowed in worlds.xml, else if you want to stay vanilla I wouldn't personally bother with getting a religion unless you roll Ethiopia/Celts etc.
If you can have a religion though, ensure Faith Healers and Defenders of Faith.
1% per follower is also very good, and so are Pagodas if you're short on 
(but I value production more, happiness can be fixed in other ways).
Happiness
Never let it go below 0 for more than a couple turns.
You must try to "feel" your happiness, time it so that when it would go negative one of your cities pops a circus/colosseum etc.
If you get a good deal (ask Soliman, he's pretty honest at trading) buy a lux as a temporary amortizer while you build your happiness buildings.
Also, don't have happiness rely too much on the garrisoned-troops policy, as you might need those troops to get out.
Techs & Progression
1) Start with Pottery > Writing (build Great Lib) > Calendar, get free Philo (hold off Oracle a bit, then build it)
2) Wildcard:
- if lots of mining material nearby get Mining>Masonry; don't delay mining too much
- if animals nearby or low luxies get A.Husbandry (horses help, allow circus for)
- if Monty/Alex/Napp nearby, rush Archery
3) Beeline Construction for C.Bows (don't delay this if you're near Alex, hoplites laugh at basic archers) and Wheel for mills and trade routes.
4a) If you're Rome or other civs with strong early infantry, beeline Iron Working.
4b) Else Beeline Currency > Civil Service for Pikes.
5) Beeline Education (focus unis, build oxford), then beeline Scientific Theory (build all public schools).
6) Beeline Astronomy (in this time, start popping Galleas/Frigates and train them up).
7) Now Industrialization (Gatlin) > Biology (Oil) > Electricity (Stock, Hydro Plant, Aluminium) > beeline Flight
===
At this point you should be bunkered in high level Gatlin Guns and protected by Triplanes, while your fleet is almost level-capped.
Use this moment to make tons of (from full Honor) so you spam bombers and level them up as well.
This is the "golden age" for you, try to get the most out of it.
==
8a) If you smell a "WTF MONTEZUMA REALLY?
" situation, aka early atomic bomb rampagers, beeline Telecomm for early Shelter, while free-teching/stealing Ballistic to stall the enemy in the while.
8B) Else get Ballistic for machinegun upgrade and Radar for Bomber+Paratrooper city-conquest combo, then AA gun for deal-sealing on sky property.
War
> Rule One: Kill melee first.
This cannot be stressed enough. It should be a constant thought when doing war. MELEE FIRST.
Melee units are the only ones who can take cities, others can't.
Also, note that AI will retreat if they calculate that they don't have enough melee units, even if they have a ton of ranged units left.
If you want to get rid of a wave, eliminate melee units.
You let one slip, you lose the city.
The only exception is if you calculate that you can kill the rangeds and the meleers left won't be able to take the city alone.
This is risky though, because you never know for sure how many units the enemy can send; if he's got backup you might lose.
> How to win fights.
Simply have a couple units with a general
fortify on a hill on the side of your city.
Build a fort if you predict the main attacks will hit there.
Just lockdown chokepoints with the above tactic and rangeds behind.
A forward base should look somewhat like this:
Note that melee units go on *the sides* of the city not in front.
Else AI will focus the melee while your archer can't shoot them.
> How to end a war you dont want.
I suspect the AI giving peace depends almost completely on their available military.
Therefore to get peace you need to deplete their army; to do this, you must force him to send you all of his stuff to you.
Simply get a cheap unit to sling a couple shots to one of his city to anger him, if he's not sending armies and he'll start sending all he's got now.
Kill all units with the above tactics, lure and destroy, when he's out of units he will cheese you with peace requests.
Nobody asks a fair peace treaty if they have units, just have patience and the swarms WILL end at some point. If it's germany it will take a while.
> Notes on naval
Successful naval superiority is automatic win if you manage to get 3 or more galleas/frigates up to double attack, +1 range, +1 movement.
The trick is to have a caravel or privateer promoted for naval defense act as a scout for your frigates so that you don't end up in traps.
It's a good idea to wage war in the early years with a faraway civ that you can yet reach by sea quickly, using them as a training ground for navy.
The crucial part of naval warfare is the moment other civs discover Flight.
From this very moment to the moment you get some solid AA (triplanes or AA guns) navy MUST end their turn in city garrison, or enemy WILL send 20 bombers to it wasting your fleet and your efforts.
During this time, if you have properly leveled your navy earlier, you can do the following: move two tiles from garrison, shoot your 2 attacks, re-enter garrison.
>Notes on air
When Flight is discovered, enemies usually stack 10 to 25 planes against you, bombing to death anything out of garrison.
So get Triplanes first, GW bombers are pretty inefficient in that phase anyways. +2 range and interception promotions, then train them for 2 interceptions per turn.
Even if you don't a lot of oil, just get 4-5 triplanes before you pop bombers.
It's much worse if you have bombers and let your enemy bomb-snatch your cities and wipe your army because you got insufficient triplanes.
Wonders
>Pyramids - not necessary as you will steal your workers, but if your city has many hammers go for it, it will boost your early game progress
>Great Lib & Oxford Uni - a must due to free techs, required just to close the gaps with AI's massive tech advantage
>Oracle - free social policy, a must
>Circus Maximum - AI won't be able to get the prereq to do it due to their belligerent expansionism, so you can have a secondary city build this safely
>Chichen Itza / Eiffel Tower / Notre Dame - Great happiness boosters, but it's pretty hard to pull of the latter two unless you have a Great Engi or MANY hammers
>The Forbidden Palace / Sistine Chapel - you usually get to Acustics or Banking slightly before the AI as you're beelining Scientific Theory, so pick one depending on whether you need smiles or culture.
I personally believe Sistine is better because while happiness can be dealt with in other ways, the culture bonus is just huge and stacks with everything you have and will build.
>Big Ben - usually your last attempt at wonder building, helps from mid to late game
City States
For me, CSs are just Worker takeaways. "I'll take a worker and a diet soda thanks".
You grab your worker, make peace instantly, hear Alex whining, rinse & repeat.
Most times I even station a weak unit on a hill near a CS acting as a vulture waiting for the moment they pop my workers.
Very occasionally I ally one for quick smiles in a pinch, but that's about it.
I don't like how the system works for them and I don't like to rely on them for core stuff either.
I wrote a guide explaining my personal strategy to win Deity mode domination (Marathon speed, 12+ civs) efficiently because I just want to give back to you guys as a few of these tricks I got from this forum.
Note that this is just my personal strategy and playstyle - there are other methods, there is personal preference, etc - but this happens to work reliably so take it for what it is.
Generic Rules
1) Always have a unit on a hill so that you have visual of at least 5 tiles from your borders.
This way you see incoming sneak-attacks earlier and you can prepare for them.
Like this:
Note: This lets you spot those pesky "ninja-settlers" from other civs that plop unwanted cities right next to your borders.
When you see them have a couple units "escort" them away by body-blocking their path.
2) Never buy - let alone, ugh, produce - workers after you pop your first one from capital.
You -steal- your workers from
Worker 24/7 shops, or other civs, or pop early Pyramids if you have plenty of .If you don't have nearby city states to get workers from, build a mounted unit for easy worker-stealing from civs.
3) Try to get at least one coastal city.
This is a double-edged blade because from one side you get a chance at naval superiority and some unique coastal wonders/buildings, but on the other hand if you do a couple mistakes the AI can snatch the city with bombing+melee ships and you're susceptible to blockades.
Coastal play is a delicate affair but worth it due to the massive power of naval and better
routes and income.4) Don't build second city until you popped the National College, or if you're sure that second city's lib will be ready by the turn capital finished the Great Lib.
I usually plop my capitol, worker, G.Lib -> N.College. I do this because in Deity you really need to catch up the tech disadvantage quickly.
5) Don't reload saves, you do a disservice to yourself.
Reloading diminishes the value of your mistakes and the lessons you'd earn from them, and thus you don't get better.
You should make it a point to only reload if you happen to misclick and send units moving instead of attacking, stuff like that.
6) The option "Raging Barbarians" is great if you can squeeze the most out of it..
You definitely risk some pillaged improvements or even stolen workers if you don't border-patrol properly, BUT raging barbs are more likely to steal other civs' workers and therefore you're more likely to find barb camps with them.
Plus more camps equals more
for you.It also makes gameplay more varied overall.
Capital placement
On hill (not mandatory but it's nice), with river (req for Hydro plant) and adjacent mountain (req for Observatory/Machu Picchu).
Reroll till you get this situation.
City placement
Adjacent to river and possibly on hill.
Yes it's easier to plop the city on a lux, but that's being lazy and impairs your long-term efficiency.
I would only deploy on lux if you're surrounded by Montezumas and need to focus yourself on warfare.
Do your math and make it so when you plop the city you have enough smiles for the time you're working the improvement.
My first buildings are usually granary+mill to ensure a fast
growth.I usually go 5 tall cities (including capital); it's riskier than classic 4 from a happiness point of view, but you should manage it without problems due to Honor boosts.
Build order
I personally don't use scouts, so mine is Worker > Shrine (Granary if Ethiopia), Great Lib > National College > Settler.
Time the lib well so you can get free Philosophy, aka finish Calendar before last turn of building the G.Lib.
The rest depends on situation/resources/map. Generally prioritize windmills/workshops/factories for hammers.
No monument/aqueducts as you get them free with Tradition.
Governor Resource Management
As of the latest patch the game is pretty good at managing resources.
As a general rule, take a look at how the "turns to grow" and "turn to building" turned out, if the ratio is good for your goal go for it.
"Default" is usually good if the city needs to build but also grow. "Production" is when you just need to rush buildings - but don't use it a lot. "Food" for those new cities you need to level pretty fast.Specialists & Great People
As a general rule don't use them until growth isn't impaired much by them.
Here is what I do:
>Capital: Science boom, 2 in university, public school, research lab
>Second city: Hammer boom, workshop, factory, anything that gives Great Engis.
>Third city: Gold boom, market, bank, stock
The other two are better off without them until grown enough, then it's your call.
Policies
> Complete Tradition; get the +50%
city attack last, unless you're getting trolled by Alex/Monty/Nap early on.> Complete Honor for
per-kill, one of the most tide-turning policies on deity (this tree also helps a lot with unhappiness issues). > Unlock Autocracy and grab discounts on military purchases, wounded units damage, double resources.
Religion
I find it very hard to pop a religion on Deity especially if you (like me) play with a ton of other civs (12-20).
The more civs, the harder to get a religion because every time a civ funds a pantheon/religion the
faith cost increases exponentially for you.If you want you can mod the amount of religions allowed in worlds.xml, else if you want to stay vanilla I wouldn't personally bother with getting a religion unless you roll Ethiopia/Celts etc.
If you can have a religion though, ensure Faith Healers and Defenders of Faith.
1%
per follower is also very good, and so are Pagodas if you're short on (but I value production more, happiness can be fixed in other ways).Happiness
Never let it go below 0 for more than a couple turns.
You must try to "feel" your happiness, time it so that when it would go negative one of your cities pops a circus/colosseum etc.
If you get a good deal (ask Soliman, he's pretty honest at trading) buy a lux as a temporary amortizer while you build your happiness buildings.
Also, don't have happiness rely too much on the garrisoned-troops policy, as you might need those troops to get out.
Techs & Progression
1) Start with Pottery > Writing (build Great Lib) > Calendar, get free Philo (hold off Oracle a bit, then build it)
2) Wildcard:
- if lots of mining material nearby get Mining>Masonry; don't delay mining too much
- if animals nearby or low luxies get A.Husbandry (horses help, allow circus for
)- if Monty/Alex/Napp nearby, rush Archery
3) Beeline Construction for C.Bows (don't delay this if you're near Alex, hoplites laugh at basic archers) and Wheel for mills and
trade routes.4a) If you're Rome or other civs with strong early infantry, beeline Iron Working.
4b) Else Beeline Currency > Civil Service for Pikes.
5) Beeline Education (focus unis, build oxford), then beeline Scientific Theory (build all public schools).
6) Beeline Astronomy (in this time, start popping Galleas/Frigates and train them up).
7) Now Industrialization (Gatlin) > Biology (Oil) > Electricity (Stock, Hydro Plant, Aluminium) > beeline Flight
===
At this point you should be bunkered in high level Gatlin Guns and protected by Triplanes, while your fleet is almost level-capped.
Use this moment to make tons of
(from full Honor) so you spam bombers and level them up as well.This is the "golden age" for you, try to get the most out of it.
==
8a) If you smell a "WTF MONTEZUMA REALLY?
" situation, aka early atomic bomb rampagers, beeline Telecomm for early Shelter, while free-teching/stealing Ballistic to stall the enemy in the while.8B) Else get Ballistic for machinegun upgrade and Radar for Bomber+Paratrooper city-conquest combo, then AA gun for deal-sealing on sky property.
War
> Rule One: Kill melee first.
This cannot be stressed enough. It should be a constant thought when doing war. MELEE FIRST.
Melee units are the only ones who can take cities, others can't.
Also, note that AI will retreat if they calculate that they don't have enough melee units, even if they have a ton of ranged units left.
If you want to get rid of a wave, eliminate melee units.
You let one slip, you lose the city.
The only exception is if you calculate that you can kill the rangeds and the meleers left won't be able to take the city alone.
This is risky though, because you never know for sure how many units the enemy can send; if he's got backup you might lose.
> How to win fights.
Simply have a couple units with a general
fortify on a hill on the side of your city. Build a fort if you predict the main attacks will hit there.
Just lockdown chokepoints with the above tactic and rangeds behind.
A forward base should look somewhat like this:
Note that melee units go on *the sides* of the city not in front.
Else AI will focus the melee while your archer can't shoot them.
> How to end a war you dont want.
I suspect the AI giving peace depends almost completely on their available military.
Therefore to get peace you need to deplete their army; to do this, you must force him to send you all of his stuff to you.
Simply get a cheap unit to sling a couple shots to one of his city to anger him, if he's not sending armies and he'll start sending all he's got now.
Kill all units with the above tactics, lure and destroy, when he's out of units he will cheese you with peace requests.
Nobody asks a fair peace treaty if they have units, just have patience and the swarms WILL end at some point. If it's germany it will take a while.
> Notes on naval
Successful naval superiority is automatic win if you manage to get 3 or more galleas/frigates up to double attack, +1 range, +1 movement.
The trick is to have a caravel or privateer promoted for naval defense act as a scout for your frigates so that you don't end up in traps.
It's a good idea to wage war in the early years with a faraway civ that you can yet reach by sea quickly, using them as a training ground for navy.
The crucial part of naval warfare is the moment other civs discover Flight.
From this very moment to the moment you get some solid AA (triplanes or AA guns) navy MUST end their turn in city garrison, or enemy WILL send 20 bombers to it wasting your fleet and your efforts.
During this time, if you have properly leveled your navy earlier, you can do the following: move two tiles from garrison, shoot your 2 attacks, re-enter garrison.
>Notes on air
When Flight is discovered, enemies usually stack 10 to 25 planes against you, bombing to death anything out of garrison.
So get Triplanes first, GW bombers are pretty inefficient in that phase anyways. +2 range and interception promotions, then train them for 2 interceptions per turn.
Even if you don't a lot of oil, just get 4-5 triplanes before you pop bombers.
It's much worse if you have bombers and let your enemy bomb-snatch your cities and wipe your army because you got insufficient triplanes.
Wonders
>Pyramids - not necessary as you will steal your workers, but if your city has many hammers go for it, it will boost your early game progress
>Great Lib & Oxford Uni - a must due to free techs, required just to close the gaps with AI's massive tech advantage
>Oracle - free social policy, a must
>Circus Maximum - AI won't be able to get the prereq to do it due to their belligerent expansionism, so you can have a secondary city build this safely
>Chichen Itza / Eiffel Tower / Notre Dame - Great happiness boosters, but it's pretty hard to pull of the latter two unless you have a Great Engi or MANY hammers
>The Forbidden Palace / Sistine Chapel - you usually get to Acustics or Banking slightly before the AI as you're beelining Scientific Theory, so pick one depending on whether you need smiles or culture.
I personally believe Sistine is better because while happiness can be dealt with in other ways, the culture bonus is just huge and stacks with everything you have and will build.
>Big Ben - usually your last attempt at wonder building, helps from mid to late game
City States
For me, CSs are just Worker takeaways. "I'll take a worker and a diet soda thanks".
You grab your worker, make peace instantly, hear Alex whining, rinse & repeat.
Most times I even station a weak unit on a hill near a CS acting as a vulture waiting for the moment they pop my workers.
Very occasionally I ally one for quick smiles in a pinch, but that's about it.
I don't like how the system works for them and I don't like to rely on them for core stuff either.
you're fast, btw 
).
