win 100% of the time on deity/Pangea

[KevinMiles90000]

This strategy has been posted here before, but I have spent the last several months perfecting it. I have mastered its subtleties to the point where I am comfortable that I can win 100% of the time using it.

Mongolia
Pangea
Deity
Standard/Standard
Quick combat option highly suggested


Start off by finding a good spot for your first city. Even if you have to waste a few turns scouting/moving your settler. Preferably get 2-4+ luxuries, but cash is not absolutely vital if you have horses in your starting location. If you can pick up some deer/wheat/fish in your 3 hex limit then all the better.

First build 2 scouts. I have found that this is the best option because one always ends up dying and it allows you to get early cash by signing open borders and meeting CS. It is also vital to scout as much of the map as you can so you can begin crafting your overall strategy.

You are going to want to then build 2 workers and tech whatever techs allows you access to nearby luxuries and bonus resources. You can steal a worker from a CS or DOW on another civ and steal a couple of those workers, but doing so is not crucial. Also throw in animal husbandry in there sometime early to see if you are going to have a shortage on horses. Generally the game is balanced with starting resources, so if you don't have any horses you often have a bunch of luxury resources or a lot of production or whatever.

Next I would tech pottery if you haven't already and build a granary if you have wheat/deer in your 3 hex limit. After that tech writing and philosophy and build a NC while exploring the map and selling whatever luxuries you aquire.

This is key: don't spend any gold. Don't sign any RA's or CS... You can actually buy CS at this point, but only maybe 500 gold total once depending on how much cash you have. The reason for this is that you will need this cash later to buy horses, upgrade your army, and it is important to have a reserve fund in case you get an early DOW.

In regards to early DOW, you should be able to fend off any early attack by the AI using archers/walls/warriors/diplomacy. You will almost always get an early DOW, but I wouldn't stress too much unless you are getting attacked by 2 different civs and they are throwing swordsmen/catapults at you.

Anyway, you should be building the NC and spamming farms and mines with your workers. After teching philosophy, tech mining/bronze working/iron working and build a barracks/Heroic Epic. After completing NC/Barracks/Heroic epic tech wheel and start pumping out chariots.

A quick note on social policies: I have found it is best to go one point in tradition initially for the border growth and +3 culture, and then fill out Honor completely. If you have enough gold then I would suggest spending 500 on a cultural CS (preferably one with horses). You want to initially fill out the right side of the Honor tree, with maybe warrior code for a general if you are having to defend with an archer in your capital.

You should ideally have 7+ horses so do whatever you can to get them. It is the most gold efficient way to buy them from other civs, but if you get a DOW from them then you obviously lose access. If you have a ton of gold and there are some CS with 4+ horse resources then I would get them too.

So as you are building you chariot army and filling out the honor tree, beeline towards chivalry. At this point you might get a DOW from another civ and they will send swordsmen/horsemen/catapults at you. Don't fret, just keep your chariots safe and dispose of any units the AI sends at you.

After teching chivalry and building 7+ chariots, you should have the honor tree filled out if you had at least one cultural CS. Upgrade the chariots into Keshiks with your remaining gold and find the most opportune civ to attack.

At this point it should be around turn 100-120 and the AI should be in the renaissance era and building musketmen etc. Don't fret, your keshiks will be able to handle everything up to infantry.

 

[KevinMiles90000]

Picking what civ to attack first is probably the most important strategic decision of this entire strategy. You will eventually be attacking all the civs for a domination victory, but doing so becomes trivial once you get to the last 1-2.

I have found that initially Siam or Arabia is the easiest to conquer because you don't have to deal with knight rushes which will be the bane of your existence the entire game. Knights and later lancers making suicide runs against your Keshik army are really the only threat you should have from the AI. You really should never lose a Keshik to anything other than a mounted unit unless you get too aggressive or start playing sloppy.

Anyway, the battle order becomes the same: dispose of the enemy units and then start working on their cities. Keshiks should be able to play hit and run with the AI units and gradually become upgraded into 2 shot a turn, line of sight ignoring, 3 range monsters.

I would suggest razing any city that you come across that is not a capital. If you feel confident enough doing so, I would also consider selling captured cities to the AI for massive cash.

What you should be building in your capital after the initial chariots are more Keshiks mixed in with 2-4 horsemen for city capping. A fully healed horsemen will capture a 0hp city regardless of era, so keep a bunch in reserve because you may be capturing 1-3 cities a turn once your keshik juggernaut gets rolling along.

In regards to tech, the only semi necessary tech after chivalry is machinery for the armory that allows you to pump out double upgraded Keshiks. After that I would start teching towards rifling.

In regards to gold, you have two options. Your first priority is keeping enough horses available so you can build or rush buy endless amounts of Keshiks. You should have enough money from capturing cities, selling resources, selling cities to the AI that you can buy any remaining horses from the AI. If there are none available, then I would find some CS with horses. The other option for whatever gold you aquire other than rush buying is to get a bunch of cultural CS and beeline towards scholasticism.

Initially I tried to get scholasticism early to hopefully beat the AI to riflemen, but I have found it's probably better just to rush buy Keshiks and scrounge around for horses.

 

[KevinMiles90000]

After conquering 1-2 civs you should essentially be invincible. You should have razed/sold all non capital cities and should have a massive influx of gold from your conquests. Keep building Keshiks/horsemen and rush buying the rest.

If you haven't lost too many units and have been fortunate enough with selling cities/resources/capturing gold producing cities/doing the GPT DOW exploit, you should have around 10-15+ keshiks plus generals and horsemen. This is usually enough to split your army in 2 and start taking on 2 civs at a time. Speed is important but not vital, focus on maintaining the safety of your elite Keshiks and promoting the rest.

Your main enemy at this point becomes happiness as you can easily sometimes take 3 or more cities a turn from the AI. You shouldn't be heading into the 10 unhappiness range, but if you are bribe a CS for a luxury or buy one from an AI or whatever. At all times you will probably have 4+ cities being razed so you may need to hold off your advance for a turn or so for the unhapiness # to get under 10. Also you should be getting massive numbers of generals. Keep 2 per "army" and burn the rest on golden ages.

Towards the endgame the last few civs should have infantry and cavalry, but that is not as much a concern as it would seem. You may lose a few units here and there, but with 20+ keshiks it's not the end of the world.

Anyway, that's the strategy. There are a lot of subtleties to it, but I can honestly say that I have perfected it to the point where I will win 100% of the time. Peace... or should I say WAR HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH

 

[KevinMiles90000]

It is also my conclusion that Mongolia is the best civ hands down because I'm pretty sure a modified version of this strategy would work on continents, and winning archipelago is always trivial.

 

[Sadato]

You can and you should upgrade your horsemen to keshiks around turn 80. Throwing in some RAs around turns 40-50 is greatly recommended. It is much better to build horsemen and upgrade them for 100 gold instead of messing with chariots. You should build growth and production buildings after NC rather than barracks or heroic epic which keshiks certainly don't need.

I would also recommend liberty so you can burn a GS to get chivalry much faster. If you ally cultural CSs you will get it faster. Given the power of keshiks you don' need the honor tree at all.

You should get the horses by yourself building settlers.

If you get your keshiks at turns 100-120 you're doing it quite wrongly and I think you shouldn't make a guide about it.

 

[KevinMiles90000]

You can and you should upgrade your horsemen to keshiks around turn 80. Throwing in some RAs around turns 40-50 is greatly recommended. It is much better to build horsemen and upgrade them for 100 gold instead of messing with chariots.

Where do you suggest getting all of this gold from? Depending on start position you can be -30 or so GPT while you wait for the first few cities to flip due to the amount of units you have.

You should build growth and production buildings after NC rather than barracks or heroic epic which keshiks certainly don't need.

This is about the only suggestion that I agree with. Heroic epic is a little costly and you could make the case for not building a barracks or even teching iron working early. In regards to production, the majority of my units using this strategy come from rush buying.

I would also recommend liberty so you can burn a GS to get chivalry much faster. If you ally cultural CSs you will get it faster. Given the power of keshiks you don' need the honor tree at all.

Are you suggesting that I fill out the entire liberty tree simply to get a GS? Filling out the honor tree nets you a 50% bonus to experience gained with units, plus gold for every unit killed, plus a happiness bonus when a puppet builds a wall/castle, plus cheaper upgrades.

The bonus from every unit killed is not to be underestimated. Pikemen are around 10 gold per kill all the way up to infantry which are around 30 I think. With the amount of units the AI throws at you that is a serious amount of GPT.

You should get the horses by yourself building settlers.

I disagree. You will undoubtedly run into serious happiness issues once you start conquering if you build an empire that is not happiness neutral, which requires a lot of building. And even then what is the point when you could just conquer/annex. I also don't understand how you would fill out the entire liberty tree for a GS before turn 100 using multiple cities without serious investment in cultural buildings and/or cultural CS.

Also, the advantage of staying with one city is that it helps avoid an early DOW, which is about the only thing that can mess up this strategy.

If you get your keshiks at turns 100-120 you're doing it quite wrongly and I think you shouldn't make a guide about it.

Like I said, I win 100% of the time using this strategy. Sometimes before turn 200. You can't argue with success. If you want to write a similar guide where you can win just as much then be my guest. I win every time using this strategy. Unless you are going for a high score there really isn't much else to be improved on.

 

[Buccaneer]

Keshiks by turn 80 is the norm, I believe.

 

[KevinMiles90000]

Keshiks by turn 80 is the norm, I believe.

is winning 100% of the time on pangea/deity the norm as well?

 

[Resonance]

Using Keshiks? I believe so, yes. At least from players that understand the first 100 turns of deity and are able to use superior movement to outrun the AI in combat.

I would say that a Keshik conquest can be considered a godmode button. You cannot push it on turn 0, but reaching 6+ Keshiks by turn ~100 is an I-win-button for any player that knows how to play deity.

A player that can win a deity conquest game without keshiks will achieve 100% win ratio when using mongols.

 

[Tabarnak]

A player that can win a deity conquest game without keshiks will achieve 100% win ratio when using mongols.

This.

His guide is not bad for players who want their very first deity domination game. But getting keshiks around turn 80 is stronger. You don't even need the NC.

A fully healed horsemen will capture a 0hp city regardless of era

Any non ranged units still alive can take 1 hp cities.

 

[Soronery]

Keshiks are broken vs the AI.

 

[Monthar]

A fully healed horsemen will capture a 0hp city regardless of era.

Any non ranged units still alive can take 1 hp cities.

To clarify this further:
The non-ranged unit doesn't even need to be fully healed, it can be at 1 HP itself and still take the 1 HP city without losing the unit.

 

[KevinMiles90000]

To clarify this further:
The non-ranged unit doesn't even need to be fully healed, it can be at 1 HP itself and still take the 1 HP city without losing the unit.

That is an incorrect statement.

 

[snarzberry]

Check that kevin, I think you can take a 1hp city with any 1hp non-ranged unit. That's regardless of unit or city strength. So even a 1hp scout can take a 1hp 100 strength city. I'm pretty sure that's right anyway.

 

[Monthar]

Check that kevin, I think you can take a 1hp city with any 1hp non-ranged unit. That's regardless of unit or city strength. So even a 1hp scout can take a 1hp 100 strength city. I'm pretty sure that's right anyway.

Yep, I've done exactly that with a 1hp scout before, because it was the only non-ranged unit still alive and in range of taking the city.

 

[KevinMiles90000]

Check that kevin, I think you can take a 1hp city with any 1hp non-ranged unit. That's regardless of unit or city strength. So even a 1hp scout can take a 1hp 100 strength city. I'm pretty sure that's right anyway.

fools

 

[Camikaze]

fools

Moderator Action: Let's make sure we keep this civil, okay?

 

[nea*Nicu]

of course Monthar and snarzberry are right, a 1 HP city can be taken by any non-range unit, regardless of strenght or health. The 1 HP scout is a good example.

 

[Optional]

You wouldn't know it without testing, but I learnt about it through an article in the war academy, here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=432238.
It's not in the article itself, but it pops op in the discussion after. Enough evidence there.

But that doesn't do anything to discredit KevinMiles90000 article.

 

[Monthar]

You wouldn't know it without testing, but I learnt about it through an article in the war academy, here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=432238.
It's not in the article itself, but it pops op in the discussion after. Enough evidence there.

But that doesn't do anything to discredit KevinMiles90000 article.

Actually it is in the article itself. It's down in the death section. Here's a copy of that section with the relevant portion in bold.

Death

When two low hit point melee units engage in combat only one of them can die. The winner always survives with one hit point. In this situation the total damage is calculated as normal, and if the attacker ends up with what would be more hit points than the defender, the attacker survives. If the combat would result in an equal amount of hit points, the defender will survive, which tips the scales in favor of the defender. In combat between two equal strength units both at 2 hit points, the attacker will die about 2/3rds of the time.

The same rules are not applied when capturing cities; if a city is brought to 0 hp, the unit is guaranteed to survive and capture the city. This can result in low hp units successfully capturing low hp cities without dying in many situations, and a city at 1 hp is guaranteed to fall to any attack.

With a high enough combat ratio, units become unkillable via melee (though any ranged attack will kill them). A defender with about 3.6x the strength of an attacker (such as infantry vs pikeman) will always do at least 10 damage and and take at most 1, resulting in the defender always surviving.

While he says the city is at 0 HP and I said 1 HP, we're talking about the same thing really, because I'm referring to that last sliver of health on the display that no amount of ranged attacks can remove, ie. the point where a ranged attacker can't gain any experience because it can't do any more damage to the city. The only time I've ever seen a city drop to 0 health (completely empty health bar) and not be captured is when attacking with a helicopter, because though it is counted as a melee attack, that unit isn't allowed to capture cities.