Since my perfectionist streak doesn't jive with corruption, I multiplied the number of optimal cities by 6. With that I could breeze through Emperor level with no problems. I could build a SSC with all the science wonders even.
But at Deity level, it just seems impossible to win since I'm so far behind in tech. The AI usually completed the NU around 200 AD and go to the Industrial Age before 500 AD. It seems impossible for me to catch up with them in research since there's no way I can get gold fast enough to do research or just to buy the techs from them. At best I could only get one wonder which is always the Collosus.
So I tried pop rush + the vassal state strategy and ignore all the wonders. By the time I get around 20 horsemen, they would be producing pikemen. When I get to 25 horsemen, I would be fighting against knights, etc.
Last night, I seemed to have the best start when my Iroquois scout found a sea of flooded plain squares around my starting position, four of them even have wheat resources, perfect for a pop rush strategy. However, soon after I built my third city, my only neighbor, the Americans, sneak attacked me with their warriors, without any prior demands/threats. I built my fourth city on a horse resource, got Horseback Riding researched on the same turn, started to crank out Mounted Warriors and took two American cities by using the Mounted Warriors mobility to get them to defend one city and then attack another (I only had about 5 Mounted Warriors against their
number of swordmen/spearmen when I started the attack).
But by the time I get to 6 cities (four of mine and two from the Americans), other civs are building Hanging Garden and are probably researching Feudalism so I'm at least 8 techs behind. Even if I can subdue the Americans eventually by slaughtering their stream of lumbering swordmen and get all of their techs for free, it might still be too late to catch up.
Previous deity game went pretty much the same, no matter how I wriggled, the AI just researched way too fast for me to stay in the game.
Then it dawned on me that maybe because the corruption level is reduced, and because the AI civs have an overwhelming numerical advantage at the beginning, I only helped the AI getting too much of a headstart on me, much more than the game was designed for, by reducing the corruption level on their settler's diarrhea cities. Their otherwise useless cities can now cranking out units and commerce against my few cities. In this game, for example, despite the fact that my capital is near a wheat flooded plain resource and I could crank out settlers faster than normal, by the time I had two cities, the Americans already had 5 !!!
Anyway, my questions are:
- What is the average year the AI get to the Industrial Age in your diety games ? Did I really shoot myself in foot by reducing the corruption level as I suspect ?
- Have any of you won diety games with reduced corruption before ? This is standard map and standard number of AI civs (seven).
And, of course, thanks 
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