Help n00b

[qwerty4429]

Hello! New forum member here.
I enjoy vox populi, and I think have played around 200hrs already.
However, I have no slightest clue how to play on immortal\deity.
On emperor, game is quite easy, where I chill or early war, and then have powerspike in medieval where I just vassalize nearest neighbor, and then have a tech lead for the rest of the game.
On immortal, on turn 100 (standard speed) I have 13 techs, 4 cities, 3 archers and 2 warriors. Authority, Assyria. Some libraries are goin in, but cant make UB national college yet cause I lack total pop.
Then Dido DOWs on me. 2 war elephants wreck one city, 7 units wreck another. 20 techs, 7 cities, GL, Great Wall, 3 allied city-states. What the heck do I even do? Even if I would mass produce units/walls 30 turns before, I'm pretty sure I would lose as well. 20 vs 13 techs sounds really bullfeathers.
I realize I could've settled 1 less city but this wouldn't really help me either

 

[qwerty4429]

I should've attached some screens or saves, but I've ragequitted)

 

[Noob Fanboy]

The key on Deity / Immortal is just patience. AI has good additional bonuses but at the end with proper optimization the human is able to obtain more raw yields than the AI. I would say, i prefer to play on Epic than to play in Normal, Epic gives you a lot more advantages over AI. Some tips:
Don't ignore army but don't overinvest, try to position your cities in highly defensive positions so that you don't need to invest heavily on Army at the start.
Play around your civ strengths, in the long run Assyria can outmatch Cartague, that civilization is based on a big early game bonus while Assyria plays a big more on the mid / long run

 

[Rean]

AI's bonuses are at their strongest early on at high difficulties, that's usually where they can be a real threat to you. And while it's hard to say anything concrete, it does sound like your early game needs work if that's all you have by turn 100. But that'll improve over time as you play more and get used to the higher pace of the game.

 

[Alpharius]

5 units seem awfully small for an army. Is your supply at max/limit with barracks in each city? A large army near the supply limit is a good deterrent against neighbors looking for war. It also doesn't help that Carthage has a very strong start.

Also as the others mentioned, put down cities in highly fortified positions. With careful utilization of terrain the AI's edge with numbers can be dulled.