I need help on Deity...

[MadWombat]

AAAAH! I can't seem to beat the AI at Deity level; they just expand too fast. I find myself with 3 cities when all the AI players have 10+, and far more technology than I have. Now, before the patch, I was able to do ok, because taking a size 1 city was allowed. Now, it apparently is not.

So, I can't attack right off the bat, because if I do, the AI cities are too small to capture. While I CAN run around razing peoples' cities, that doesn't help ME grow, and only slows down at most three of my neighbours.

I can win Emperor consistently, so I'm not a hopeless case... If anyone has any tips for me, they'd be most appreciated.

[jgflg]

Originally posted by MadWombat
AAAAH! I can't seem to beat the AI at Deity level; they just expand too fast. I find myself with 3 cities when all the AI players have 10+, and far more technology than I have. Now, before the patch, I was able to do ok, because taking a size 1 city was allowed. Now, it apparently is not.

So, I can't attack right off the bat, because if I do, the AI cities are too small to capture. While I CAN run around razing peoples' cities, that doesn't help ME grow, and only slows down at most three of my neighbours.

I can win Emperor consistently, so I'm not a hopeless case... If anyone has any tips for me, they'd be most appreciated.

It sounds like you've got the right idea, just the timing of it might be a little off. Don't worry that they're bigger and more advanced after the initial land grab, you can use it to your advantage. While they're churning out settlers and warrior escorts, churn out horseman or swordsman and rush the nearest civs (one at a time) with a horde of units. So basically wait a little while longer to do your rush. Even if they're more advanced, they'll still be using spearmen for a long time. Since they expanded so fast, you'll have one of the largest empires if you can take a good chunk out of two other civs at the start. You want to leave enough left of them that you'll be able to invade again later and still get more techs.

Once your early rush is done, it's basically the same thing again once you get knights or cavalry. Use those units to take out what's left of the other civs or to invade a new civ. In my last game, it basically flowed from one to the other. I was constantly at war with someone from the time I got the wheel. At that point you should have the edge in land, although it usually takes me until the middle of the Industrial Age to catch up my own research capability, mostly because all I've been building is units in most cities until then.

If you can make it to the Industrial Age as the largest land wise and somewhere in the middle of the pack technology wise, you'll be in good shape. Since the AI loves to start fighting in that age it's timed perfectly for you to leap ahead. Their research will slow down at the same time your's is picking up. If they aren't fighting each other by the time Communism is discovered, I'll usually try and start a war myself with a distant neighbor and get everyone involved. Winning gets a lot easier when you're the only Democracy in the game.

Lastly, don't get down playing the early game. It's easy to think that you're beaten because of the way the AI takes off from the starting line. It takes so long to finally move ahead that it seems like there's no way you'll get there, but you will eventually.

[Dalai Lama]

My first game i tried on regent, then Monarch, which I won with ease. So I thought i was ready for Deity. Man I was mistaken. Got my arse kicked seriously.
I still have problems in the landgrab period. Most of the times my capital is near a coast , so you can`t build around it. Also grasslands and other good terrain appear mostly on 1 side, and not all around the capital. So I have to expand away from the capital, thus increasing corruption to the point that a newly founded city is only producing 1 shield out of 3.
Try popping out settlers then...
And a capital-re-placement is takes far too long...

[pchang]

Try Playing Persians
1) Set science to minimum (1 beaker) and go for iron working
2) warrior, warrior (or spearman depending upon productivity of 1st city), settler is the initial build queue
3) explore and expand until you find someone.
4) buy/trade any/all techs you can when you do find someone
5) get iron working, then secure available iron.
6) Crank out 8 - 10 immortals
7) Declare war on nearest neighbor and trigger golden age
8) Set all production to immortals
9) Swarm neighbor until you have captured enough cities so they sue for peace (2 to 3 early, 4 to 6 later)
10) Demand all tech and money for peace
11) Send immortal horde to neighbor #2
12) Continue to build immortals to replace losses and increase attack force by at least 30%.
13) Declare war on #2
14) Repeat from step 9

For variations, try this with Iriquois, then Aztec

[solo]

It seems hopeless at the start, but one tactic I used recently works well and does not require a military rush. Make quite a few warriors to start off the game. Explore and see which areas nearby are best for additional cities, but do not stray too far. As you encounter the AI, keep looking for their settlers, which are sure to be headed towards these spots, and use groups of your warriors to block their progress. Form little warrior walls which their settlers will keep trying to get by. Keep moving the walls just in time to frustrate their progress. They will keep trying one way, then the other, going back and forth like little robots. The longer you can deny them their extra early cities this way, the quicker you are able to grab choice city locations and catch up a bit in early expansion. The new patch made changes to frustrate the early military rush, but this peaceful alternative is still pretty effective.

[MadWombat]

Hmmm.. It seems that my biggest problem is actually capturing any cities. I'm ok with not getting as many cities as the AI off the bat, heck, I expect it. However, not being able to capture their cities is my big issue. The inability to capture size 1 cities is REALLY hampering my early growth.

One (really cheap) way to do it is to play the ancient era without the patch, and then apply it after the start of the medieval period.

On Emperor, I've been playing with the Egyptians a lot; I LOVE the early "horsemen", and religious is a wondrous civ trait, as is industrious.

I DID enjoy my Aztec game though, so maybe I'll try again with them. It seems though that the slow initial period when AI cities are too small to capture could be a big problem for the Aztecs. Maybe it's time to give the Iroquois a chance...

[pchang]

Size 1 cities are destroyed if they have produced no culture. During war, bypass these cities and go for any cities which have expanded boundaries or go directly after the capital. When the AI loses its capital, it is instantly relocated to another city. This city, improved or not, then gets a palace which immediately produces 1 culture point. If you take over cities by chasing the capital, none of the cities will be destroyed.

[MadWombat]

Ah... now THAT is a good tactic. Thanks pchang.

[Trdi]

Yeah, very nice.