Deity for beginners.

[Txurce]

What did Gandhi say? The AI usually only mentions obsolete techs to me, trying to pick up a little extra gold.

I agree that, playing with the SS option, there is no one likely way to win. The middle of the game becomes one of constant adjustment to an opponent who has the means to set the tone. This very fact - overlapping with your underdog status - is what makes deity games so exciting.

[jshelr]

He wanted to trade territory maps. Ha!

[Lord Merciless]

What I mean by developing is to boost your production. Then it's a matter of gaining several key techs and overwhelm any leading AI civs with massive Tank and MA attacks.

[Txurce]

LM, that's how I played my last game, and am playing my current one. But I did it with the SS option turned off, which puts time on my side. It's going to be a lot harder for me the next time around, when I keep the SS option on.

[Catt]

Originally posted by jshelr
I'm just amazed that anyone can win a peaceful Deity game, unless the AI spending the whole game at war and leave you alone.

I'm probably just not good enough, but I too find it exceedingly difficult to win on Diety without a significant amount of warfare - if I'm not at constant warfare into the early to mid middle ages, I just don't seem to have a snowball's chance in h*ll to win. And the only "peaceful" wins I've had have been diplomatic wins -- all of which require significant early warfare anyways to (1) stay close enough tech-wise to build the UN, or (2) be big enough tech-wise to be a candidtae at the UN if an AI builds it and calls a vote.

Maybe if I were better, I could play something other than a "constant oscillating war" strategy at Diety and win, but I can't do that today. And since I don't really enjoy playing in the same style with the same "macro goals" every game regardless of civ, map, start position, etc., I tend to play on Emperor most of the time just because it offers me more game strategy choice (and therefore is more fun for me personally).

Catt

[Lord Merciless]

Originally posted by Txurce
LM, that's how I played my last game, and am playing my current one. But I did it with the SS option turned off, which puts time on my side. It's going to be a lot harder for me the next time around, when I keep the SS option on.

I'm winning on my Japanese Deity game, too, but I stopped playing it for now because it's getting quite painful: hundreds of units to move each turn, rampant pollutions, etc...

In this game, I used at least 210 MAs in a massive ROP rape and totally crippled the leading AI civ. All that remains from this game is to mop up the rest.

I think it will be easier to play on a standard Pangea map than on a large Continental map.

[Txurce]

Catt, I agree that variety in strategy is what keeps Civ from getting boring, and I "oscillate" in order to stay interested. The problem is the range. For example, there are more strategic choices in monarch than in emperor (because it's easier), but most of us find the lack of challenge at that level problematic. Emperor with standard settings seems to require an aggressive start - less variety than at monarch - but then you can win with various approaches.

Deity roughly parallels emperor into the middle ages, in that you have to be a warmonger to stay even. If you make it into the modern era, by definition you've caught up, so the game again becomes like emperor, only more competitive. So the major difference between emperor and deity vis-a-vis game play is in the middle game. In emperor, your choices are builder or warmonger, as best suits circumstances, and you have a reasonable chance of winning either way. In deity, warmongering is a frequently unrealistic option, and building is effectively replaced by negotiations (trades and alliances). I think within this admittedly narrow context, the choices are quite varied.

That's how it feels at this point, anyway, with very few games under my belt. I suspect that I will soon be agreeing with you in general. But like everyone else, I have to find out for myself.

[Txurce]

LM, my current Aztec game is similarly painful - nuke city - although I have nowhere near the number of units you do (never have, and I hope never will!). I'll post when I wrap it up.

[Catt]

Txurce - keep at it - I really want to see a Txurce game summary a few months from now in a thread titled "Deity for Less Warmongerish" or something similar . I'm pretty sure there are those who play Deity and are able to mold strategies other than early, constant warfare - I just think it takes a lot more effort, attention, etc. than I'm willing to put in with my somewhat limited free time. I would love to hear from a bunch of folks that Deity is doable even with a peaceful start.

I don't think my skills improved all that much since 1.29f, but I think that the new version has made Emperor "easier" (I know you're on a Mac and therefore on 1.21). The changes to the tech progression under 1.29f seem to actually make even Emperor games viable with a variety of strats. After playing a lot of Emperor games with early warfare a requirement rather than a luxury, it seemed like the first couple of 1.29f Emperor games I played essentially forced me into a very passive, peaceful, trader-builder game due to very pooor start locations and/or lack of resources, etc., and both games were winnable and won! It was a lot of fun and exciting to find that I could play with the greater challenege that Emperor provides without being channeled into one macro strategy regardless of the game parameters. If many others start reporting that it is doable on Deity as well, then I'll start playing more Deity games.

Great thread, BTW!

Catt

[Txurce]

Now you're making me jealous, Catt. I'm looking forward to playing on 1.29 even more now.

[Lord Merciless]

Why can't you get the 1.29?

[Txurce]

I play on a Mac. Their next step is to put out the editor, which has never been finalized because every patch threw it off. Then they'll get to 1.29.

[Chemical Ollie]

Have anyone figured out how to keep up in tech with the AI after 1.29 (also valid on emperor and in some cases monarch)?

Before 1.29, it was possible to trade yourself to state-of the-art tech, but now you simply lack the funds.

After 1.29, you also have to push a civ to the brink of annihilation before they will give you any tech in peace deals. And by then, they have fallen behind too much to have anything valuable to give you anyway.

[Theseus]

Olaf, the trick seems to be researching whatever techs the AI civs don't... you can trade your way into a tech lead quite handily.

[vmxa1]

Re: Deity for beginners.

Originally posted by Txurce
Background

I would say that this is a good job of writing, but I am not to sure about the thread title. It should be something like tales of deity. I expected to see a run down on how to play deity for beginners. Anyway good luck.