nickytootricky
Warlord
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2013
- Messages
- 132
Hi guys,
I'd call myself an intermediate Deity player. Like many Deity players, I find the Science and Diplo victories far too easy, so I've been experimenting with the (relatively) peaceful cultural victory. By no means am I the best Deity player in the world and I appreciate some or all of this might have already been said. but I just thought I'd write the following reflections, in no particular order.
- Which civ. Obviously there are better civs out there for this victory type, but I've found it can be doable with any. Particularly easy ones have been Poland, Babylon, Korea, Maya and the Celts.
- SPs. I've found that consistently the best social policies are Tradition followed by a mixture of Aesthetics and Rationalism. I've experimented with other combos but these seem to be much better.
- Wonders aren't THAT important. Especially at the beginning, when you need to expand to 3-4 solid cities. But even in the midgame it's not the end of the world if you miss out on wonders like Leaning Tower of Pisa, Sistine Chapel, Uffizi, etc. Science is the most important so focus on science and try and plan to get some of the wonders, but if you don't, it's not the end of the world. If you are behind on science the cultural victory will be pretty much impossible anyway, as you need to get to Internet fast.
- You need faith, and don't dare neglece it, but you don't need that much faith. I've won a number of times without a religion. It's definitely not worth building Stonehenge. You just need to make sure you will have enough faith for 2-3 Great Musicians at the very end and perhaps 1 Great Engineer. More than doable with Shrines, Temples, and being allies with Religious CSs in my experience.
- I have found Freedom to be the best ideology, but Order is also fine.
- Prioritise the culture city states as soon as you can. It is always easy to find things to complete before this, but it is very important to spend that gold and complete those quests early. Not only do you get the important culture you need to plow through the SPs but also to stop the AI from getting too much culture. Later on you can prioritise the religious CS to get as much faith as possible.
- As soon as you can cross oceans, buy (do not sell) open borders from everyone. Keep buying open borders until the end of the game. Send 1-2 boats and 4-5 scouts to explore the world. When you arrive at Archeology, you can use the scouts to sit on the antiquity sites. Avoid letting people into your borders, unless for a valid reason (e.g. letting your neighbours fight each other). If you want to steal more than one antiquity site from an AI, just make sure they all finish on the same turn.
- Use your early spies for spying, then when you are tech leader or close to being the tech leader, send them to the cultural and religious CSs. Towards the end send them to the culture leaders' capitals as diplomats.
- Remember to get your bonuses for museums etc but again in my experience it hasn't been the end of the world if you don't get them straight away.
- Early caravans seem more significant than National College for the science. Also a sea capital with another coastal city close by is awesome for a relatively early sea food trade route.
- Don't build the Musician's Guild until the very end, as the Concert Tour tourism boosts are based on the current tourism output. Wait until you have your maximum tourism and buy as many Great Musicians as you can with faith (they will start spawning from the guild as well) and send them to the culture leader(s). From about the midgame check regularly who is running away with culture.
Taking these factors into account, alongside general solid Deity play, and the cultural victory should be won most of the time without resorting to destroying a cultural runaway with military. Any comments or tips from players who like this playstyle would be appreciated.
I'd call myself an intermediate Deity player. Like many Deity players, I find the Science and Diplo victories far too easy, so I've been experimenting with the (relatively) peaceful cultural victory. By no means am I the best Deity player in the world and I appreciate some or all of this might have already been said. but I just thought I'd write the following reflections, in no particular order.
- Which civ. Obviously there are better civs out there for this victory type, but I've found it can be doable with any. Particularly easy ones have been Poland, Babylon, Korea, Maya and the Celts.
- SPs. I've found that consistently the best social policies are Tradition followed by a mixture of Aesthetics and Rationalism. I've experimented with other combos but these seem to be much better.
- Wonders aren't THAT important. Especially at the beginning, when you need to expand to 3-4 solid cities. But even in the midgame it's not the end of the world if you miss out on wonders like Leaning Tower of Pisa, Sistine Chapel, Uffizi, etc. Science is the most important so focus on science and try and plan to get some of the wonders, but if you don't, it's not the end of the world. If you are behind on science the cultural victory will be pretty much impossible anyway, as you need to get to Internet fast.
- You need faith, and don't dare neglece it, but you don't need that much faith. I've won a number of times without a religion. It's definitely not worth building Stonehenge. You just need to make sure you will have enough faith for 2-3 Great Musicians at the very end and perhaps 1 Great Engineer. More than doable with Shrines, Temples, and being allies with Religious CSs in my experience.
- I have found Freedom to be the best ideology, but Order is also fine.
- Prioritise the culture city states as soon as you can. It is always easy to find things to complete before this, but it is very important to spend that gold and complete those quests early. Not only do you get the important culture you need to plow through the SPs but also to stop the AI from getting too much culture. Later on you can prioritise the religious CS to get as much faith as possible.
- As soon as you can cross oceans, buy (do not sell) open borders from everyone. Keep buying open borders until the end of the game. Send 1-2 boats and 4-5 scouts to explore the world. When you arrive at Archeology, you can use the scouts to sit on the antiquity sites. Avoid letting people into your borders, unless for a valid reason (e.g. letting your neighbours fight each other). If you want to steal more than one antiquity site from an AI, just make sure they all finish on the same turn.
- Use your early spies for spying, then when you are tech leader or close to being the tech leader, send them to the cultural and religious CSs. Towards the end send them to the culture leaders' capitals as diplomats.
- Remember to get your bonuses for museums etc but again in my experience it hasn't been the end of the world if you don't get them straight away.
- Early caravans seem more significant than National College for the science. Also a sea capital with another coastal city close by is awesome for a relatively early sea food trade route.
- Don't build the Musician's Guild until the very end, as the Concert Tour tourism boosts are based on the current tourism output. Wait until you have your maximum tourism and buy as many Great Musicians as you can with faith (they will start spawning from the guild as well) and send them to the culture leader(s). From about the midgame check regularly who is running away with culture.
Taking these factors into account, alongside general solid Deity play, and the cultural victory should be won most of the time without resorting to destroying a cultural runaway with military. Any comments or tips from players who like this playstyle would be appreciated.
