Songhai

[Soronery]

I played a game as Songhai on deity quick pace. Pretty fun civ to play. I beelined straight for Mandekalu Cavalry (I didn't go past mining).
Things that I noted:

1. You basically NEED to go patronage and get the science bonus from city states. Don't bother playing without it.
2. Mandekalu Cavalry have a 30% bonus vs cities. They can easily solo cities in 1-2 turns if you get them out early enough.
3. Taking cities gives lots of gold. 300-500 gold per city taken is the norm.
4. Don't spam trading posts in the cities that YOU build...make them production cities. Fail on my part, I had zero production cities.
5. Getting trade routes up to your conquered cities is important.
6. Picking your first target is important. It's good to pick someone that is a. at war with a city state (free ally) or b. at war with someone else (easier to kill).
7. If you declare war on someone else and start taking cities, everyone is going to be pissed off at you.
8. puppets spam his unique building (which is a good thing)
9. Order is insanely strong. I gained around 20+ happiness. And +5 production in puppets that have been spammed by trading posts is invaluable.


Edit: Tried to do a horseman rush strat again... Game 1: Declared war on (2x) early. I was able to get a horseman out but I was careless and lost him. Game over. Game 2: Alexander settles RIGHT NEXT TO MY GOD DAMN CAPITAL...and what do you know he has horses out before I do... Game 3: Settle right next to my capital and declared war on by 2 people. I was doing alright but I needed to play it out a bit better. Lost my horse city and I just gave up.

I really hate it when the AI decides to bum rush you. Maybe I should just spam a couple warriors early to deter them. I also wish there was better scouting early in the game. You have to suicide your scout to find out what the enemy is doing most of the time :/

 

[SureYouCan]

Set up a game on deity in the advanced options. Set up 1-2 of the civs to be on the same team as you. That will give you an idea of what is going on early game. 3 warriors, 2 workers, 2 settlers, and 1-2 scouts. All those settlers/workers also trigger barb spawns like crazy giving the AI that already starts with a golden age and several techs even more gold from all the camps.

Couple all that with the ability to spit out units from a coastal grassland city with 1 pop faster than a players 20 pop city surrounded by forests and hills all mined/milled with steam power and longhouses and you'll get an idea of what it takes to win deity.

On another note, Mandekalu cavalry. Their ability to rip down any city, if you beeline them, in 1-2 turns is nice. My main problem with them is that they're horses without the mobility. 3 moves isn't enough for a unit that can't take advantage of rough terrain. Against immortal/deity AIs all that seems to happen is you run in, kill 1 out of 100 units, can only move back 1 tile and lose the knight. I'd rather have 3 horsemen to kill that same target but move back 2 tiles afterward and keep all 3 horsemen alive.