Post your starting strategies [demi-god+]

[OThePestO]

With the bonuses that the AI gets in demi-god it is quite a big leap from Emperor. I was able to win one game on demi-god as the Iroquois; however, subsequent tries has resulted in many failures, coming close a few times but never achieving victory. I've tried many routes, cultural, militaristic, 20k city, etc....but no luck. My win was a domination.

I want to hear the starting strats of a all the demi-god and above players....do u max science or put it at zero, do u fight from the beginning or build up, do u build culture or not, do u use luxury slider or do u use specialists, ....post whatever tips u want.....hopefully they will help me and others improve!


What I normally do is put science on 100% until I feel I'm falling behind, and then adjust accordingly. If there is only a few cities that have civil disorder, I use specialists, if there is lots, I use the luxury slider. If I'm militaristic civ, I build only barracks and units and no culture. If I'm not militaristic, I mix it up. I always try to build lots of cities and just use them for specialists, but then I get lots of corruption. When I won, I only had 6 original cities, and I took over the rest.

....well what do you guys do....let's hear it!

 

[OThePestO]

nobody plays on demi-god or above levels?

 

[Chamnix]

I want to hear the starting strats of a all the demi-god and above players....do u max science or put it at zero, do u fight from the beginning or build up, do u build culture or not, do u use luxury slider or do u use specialists, ....post whatever tips u want.....hopefully they will help me and others improve!

Pretty much the same as on most other levels. Generally maximum science early picking up things like Pottery, Alphabet, Writing, Code of Laws/Philosophy (Code of Laws first if you are confident you can still get to Philosophy first - it depends on what techs you start with, what techs the AI starts with, and how good your start is), Republic, and maybe Literature or Currency. All the other Ancient Age techs can be traded for.

Whether I fight or not early depends on the map. I tend to take most of my early land via settler, but if an early opportunity presents itself or if I have a low food/high shield start, then I will expand via the sword.

I don't build any culture until close to the end of the Ancient Age if at all (unless you include the Forbidden Palace as culture).

I never use specialists in the early game - always the luxury slider.

 

[OThePestO]

i see....and how successful is your strategy?

 

[Chamnix]

I pretty much take for granted that I am going to win any game up through and including deity level. However, I have to admit that I haven't played a random start in a long time - the only games I play are Hall of Fame (in which I only play if I have a fantastic start) and Game of the Month (where the harder difficulty levels are usually given generous starts).

 

[rysingsun]

how do i play?

very tight city spacing, usually less than 12 tiles each.

no culture except, eventually, libraries in my core.

early wars if i am doing well. if i get hopelessly behind in tech, though, i may not war until the industrial age. if i take this approach i will not hesitate to trade away my iron and horses for tech to help catch up.

ROP with anyone with whom i am not at war. it prevents surprise attacks.

 

[vmxa]

How you play is a function of many variables, What is the map settings, what is my civ, am I using any variation of the rules, such as AW?

In a std size map with pangea or continents you play differently than an island map or if the size is other than std.

I did not read all the other post, but one of the things that often occurs in a std rules game at a high level, is demands. With that in mind, I am mindful to not try to pile up lots of cash, until I am willing to defend it.

I do not mind giving a demand for 10 or so gold early, but I do not want to pile a lot more and have them ask for it. That will force me to fight now.

So I temper my research according to that and the map. If I have lots of open space or I am isolated, I can pile up a bit. If I have the ability to make contacts, then I want to stay on good terms and to find a tech I may be able to learn and trade around. Well that last only so far, of course.

Culture is never part of my games. It just slows me down and I am not going to be able to match the AI in culture at these levels. I prefer Sid, but DG is still too much for you to match.

The one bad thing about DG as opposed to deity and Sid is the GLB. It is just not going to pay me back enough, unless it is a variant game like always war. The other two levels it will be worth it in std rules.

Play to your civs strength, the UU is the most important thing in these games. As far as units, same as any game to me. I try to not build any units without a barracks after the first few warriors.

The one change is defenders. I would not make any spears in a std game lower than DG, unless something special was going on. In a DG, I would probably make them. I would tend to have more units than I would prefer at an early stage, to try to keep the AI form seeing me as a target.

 

[OThePestO]

thanks for the tips guys, keep them coming!

 

[Bucephalus]

vmxa is right that you should temper your strategy according to the cards you have been dealt.

One option that you may wish to consider if you run out of expansion room early on, is to drop to Zero Science, and progress through the tech tree via the 'pointy-stick' approach. Using your gold in this way allows you to support a larger military than you would otherwise be able to, and since the AI starting bonus is not hugely influential at DG, you can out-fight them quite easily.

The trick is to oscilate your wars between your neighbours, taking maybe a couple or three cities each time, then suing for peace, taking techs for reparation.
The result of this is that you more or less keep-up in research, while expanding the size of your empire at the expense of your neighbours.

 

[Othniel]

I've always thought that the AI bonus settler on DG makes the leap from Emperor to DG harder than the leap from Monarchy to Emperor. When I first started playing DG, I was shocked at the speed with which the AI settled the land.

Anyhow, good tips from all the excellent players above. The OP would do well to follow them.

A few other tips to winning a standard game on DG:

Contacts: The DG civs research quite fast, a lot faster than Emperor civs. This means the human needs to early on aggressively scout for contacts. This is a crucial skill at DG and above.

If you get scouts, spam 2-3 at the game start. If you only get warriors, still make a few right away and send them out. Maybe use one unit to scout in a circle around your start to give you the lay of the land, but send the rest in direct lines across the landmass. Their goal is simply getting contacts. Usually ignore barbs camps and perhaps even goody huts because you're unlikely to pop much good stuff on DG and the barbs will beat your reg warriors very often on DG.

For any high-water map (or even Pangea!), get a city on the coast ASAP. Use this city to make curraghs and send them out. For any civ that doesn't get scouts, the curragh will be your first 2-move unit, thus it is very important. Obviously this means you need Alphabet early, and if you are following Chamnix's tech progression from his post above, you will be prioritizing Alpha anyway. Learn to use suicide curraghs also.

Of course, the primary goal of contacts is the trade opportunities they provide. Use these trade opportunities well, focusing on exploiting tech discrepancies (who knows what techs) between the AI civs. Trading is an art in itself and deserves it own post. I'll let someone else go into trading if they want.

Phony Wars: When you get lots of contacts, know writing, and have gold stockpiled that is not needed for deficit research, it's time to start some phony wars and get war happiness.

-Build embassies
-Declare war on some far off civ(s)
-Renegotiate peace with a neighbor of that far off civ (make sure the neighbor and your new enemy know each other, you might be surprised. Check F4 for this). Tie in an MA against your new enemy together with your peace deal with this neighbor. Pay any gpt or techs needed to get the deal done.
-Hope your new ally betrays you and breaks the alliance and the peace deal in the process. They will declare war on you and you get war happiness.

War happiness is especially important at DG because fewer of your citizens start out content. This saves you tons of $$ that you can then put into unit upgrades and research. Remember than war happiness make 1 of every 4 citizens happy (25%), so cities that are size 1-3 get no happy bonus, cities 4-7 get one happy face, and cities 8-11 get two happy faces (and so on). This means getting to size 8 as opposed to size 7 can make that city happy.

Thirdly, build absurd amounts of Workers.

 

[ecuwins]

Nice thread.

 

[OThePestO]

played another game.....came in second this time.....England was too far from me and it wiped out the the other civs with tanks before anyone else got them.

 

[vmxa]

Run away civs are a danger in continents.

 

[OThePestO]

it was Pangea but it was like two separate continents with one little stip of land in between joining them.

 

[Spoonwood]

Can someone explain what VMXA means by GLB here "The one bad thing about DG as opposed to deity and Sid is the GLB." Great Library???

 

[vmxa]

Yes rather than us GL, I use GLB. GL could be Great Leader, GLB does nto conjure up other references. G for Great LB for library.

 

[Spoonwood]

Thanks VMXA. GL could also mean "Great Lighthouse." The "Great Library" seems to have "paid me back" in emperor games, as well as a recent demi-god game using Drakan's builder strategy (more time for infrastructure development... as well as slowing the tech pace down, since I have it... and I have my reserach turned off for a while). It always pays back in a 20k game. This proves your point of "how you play is a function of many variables..."

 

[PaperBeetle]

In terms of commerce saved versus shields spent, yes the Glib can be worthwhile. But the trouble is that in order to make best use of it, you have to stop researching yourself. This slows down the overall tech pace, which is often not strategically advantageous.
Especially in the case of 20k games, you want to race to Artistry as fast as you can, so the Glib often makes itself obsolete after gaining you only a couple of techs, which you could have traded for anyway. You still build it just for the culture of course...

 

[Spoonwood]

[This slows down the overall tech pace, which is often not strategically advantageous.]

I think in a peaceful SS or diplomatic game, especially at harder levels, slowing down the tech pace comes as especially advantageous. Slowing down the tech pace by shutting off research gives your cities more time to build marketplaces, courthouses, and aqueducts, as well as lets you stockpile gold so that you can set your research slider at full tilt when the GL turns off (or when you get theology and can research printing press). I've often used it as a "slingshot" in culture games to propel my research ahead. Not having to trade with the AI in these games, slows them down a bit.

Also, from what I've read of some Sid HoF games, slowing down the tech pace comes as advantangeous. For SirPleb the GL accomplished this (as well as enabled him to basically catch up in tech later), and Moonsinger's "banker" strategy I'd suggest slowed down the tech pace also. It all depends on the game... I suppose.

 

[eamofox]

...Code of Laws/Philosophy (Code of Laws first if you are confident you can still get to Philosophy first -

Does this ever happen on demi-god? Unless I make contact with several willing to trade civs early, I am never even in position to take Philosophy even as a slingshot. Would like some advice on how this can be done on a non heavily modded map.