Help with Deity save

[Southern_Man]

Hello,

I have not won a game at Deity level and I am kind of lost on exactly what my strategy should be in the attached game and looking for helpful advice. 730 BC as Carthage on a standard 80% archipelago map on the intermediate settings for warmth and wetness.

Plusses: I have managed to research philosophy and revolted into Monarchy (Code of Laws and Republic were not available to me)
I've built the statue of Zeus
I've effectively tech brokered my way into a tech lead, being up at least one tech on each of the four civs I know. All of them know me, but have no contact with anybody else.
I have a good shot at the Great Library
I have horses and iron

Minuses: I haven't made contact with the Celts, China, or Hittites
I've only managed five cities
only one luxury
I share a land with India
monarchy, not republic
I cannot yet trade any resources or luxuries with anybody

With my inexperienced eyes this looks playable and my thoughts are that I should try to squeeze in a few more cities (maybe a risky one next to the volcano and one towards India?). I need to make contacts with the other three civs in the game. I am going to need to grab more land, which I think is necessarily going to involve a war with India. India has horses, but no iron. They have two luxuries. I do not have a grasp on the timing. Seems best before they get chivalry and War Elephants and if I can leverage my golden age I could have a chance? not sure I can build enough troops at this point

Am I missing key points? What are your recommendations on timing war with India? Or is some other strategy best?

 

[Spoonwood]

Greetings General Hannibal of the Carthaginians:

You settled your capital next to a volcano. If you lose The Statue of Zeus because of this, don't blame me. Nor the gods. Didn't you hear of how they punish those that try to live next to their lakes of fire?

You have but one sole worker right now. This won't do! Get a few more workers! Sooner rather than later! Upgrade your regular warriors and have them march near to Leptis Magna. South of it. Do NOT leave units in Lepits Magna... from CrPMapStat it appears you need 11 units in it in order to prevent a cultural flip. Just put them south of Leptis Magna. If your capital has no units defending it, units that come by boat will go straight for your capital. That makes it convenient to develop a kill spot as to where to kill AI units.

There is island territory north of Hippo and Carthage *along coast*. Explore that area. It might have a trade route that doesn't require going over the sea (not exactly likely, but not impossible since this is 80% archipelago).

As to how to handle India, I suggest that you road up the mountain south of Leptis Magna. They look bigger than you. So, do NOT attack them. Instead, have your units parked on that mountain south of Leptis Magna, and only put units into Leptis Magna to defend it once war starts. Once you have more units... I advise horsemen and catapults especially though numidian mercenaries also have potential even it seems on this map, let Gandhi's army come at you. It might help if you can figure out one of your cities to produce some catapults. Again, let Gandhi's army come at you. Destroy his forces as they come in. Then, once Gandhi's units slow down their attack, then counterattack his cities and hit them hard.

I think once the war with India is over, you'll have Republic, and then can revlot to it.

As for now... explore north of your island, get some more workers in. Utica can change to a worker now, and irrigate those plains so it can grow to size 6. Oh... irrigation did you know that irrigation can travel *through* a city? With more workers you can also spare them eventually to cut all those plain forests. Plain forests may as well get chopped for shields freely... it's hard to imagine a situation where chopping them should wait post Engineering, unlike grassland forests, if there aren't other tiles to develop. Forget The Hanging Gardens. Carthage probably best produces workers to develop the land more, or military to prepare for the war with India. Hippo can also probably use a harbor.

Trade routes on a map like this develop over time. I highly suggest using CrPMapstat, which can get freely downloaded on these forums, to help keep track of potential trades.

Best of luck to you General Hannibal of the Carthiginians!

 

[Spoonwood]

Longer term... I think the Inca are the biggest threat on your map. They have The Great Lighthouse.

But, if you have an empty capital, if they want to attack you, they will send units right up next to your capital, if it's empty. So, don't defend it! Have a sneak counterattack stack of catapults/trebuchets/cannons and attack units like Ancient Cavalry next to it though, and you can probably spawn a leader well before Marines become available. AIs won't attack a 7/12 cavalry army or a more powerful army usually, unless there's no where for their units to go. So, if you can spawn an army on your island and get to galleons, then you can land a healthy army next to a city to establish a beachhead. But, The Inca look to me like they will be big for this map. If you can get a good research position, that might be preferable, if you're playing for diplomatic or spaceship.

 

[Spoonwood]

Guessing from the colors, The Hittities have a city west of the Mongols. I can clearly see some borders west of Karakorum.