The Pregame

This is it then: my first real try at Deity. Plan of attack: survive. Something about cold, dead fingers comes to mind. Expand like fury, then aim for spaceship or diplomatic. To that end, do not EVER make anybody unhappy with me. War would NOT be a good thing. Being a bit cocky, I decided to go for the 4000 BC start. It just felt better to stand on my own two feet. And here it begins:

The Early Years OR "See what you mean about the barbs, Sirian"

The first thing that happened was that I almost founded right where I was, but just in time remembered to move the worker first. Where to go though? Let's check that water to the West, is it coast or what? Ah-ah, lookit that wheat! Maybe that's why there's a 3500 BC save, I very nearly missed that. So, of course, the settler followed the worker. Rome was built there on the lake, taking much more than a day, it seems. A warrior was begun (of course), and research begun at max into Ceremonial Burial. The worker went to irrigate the wheat, which took ages. It came in just in time to shave a turn of the growth of Rome, though. When the warrior finally finished, he began to scout Eastish, and a settler was begun, due to the availability of much food.

The border expansion brought a third silk into view, and a very high priority placed on getting all of them into my territory before any nearby AIs could snatch them. The warrior turned North on the mountains, and soon found a camp. Not fully into the Deity mindset, I popped it. Surprise, surprise, what came out but barbarians. Whaddaya know. Amazingly, though, my single warrior beat all three of theirs, promoting all the way to elite in the process. A settler popped out in 3100 BC, and another was begun. I hope that isn't too much gambit for the situation.

Veii was built in 2950, up along the coast, also on the river. There was some barb menace, this may not be an optimal spot for the city. It's not too bad though. A warrior was begun, as clearly there was already a camp to the North. Ceremonial Burial came in, and I started Pottery as the cheapest tech. How long before I meet somebody?

The second mine finished in just the right time to build a settler with the extra shield. I'd like to say that was planned, but of course it wasn't, so I won't. Maybe I should start to look for that sort of thing. Antium built a warrior and began a worker, non-industrious seems so slow to me. Also, I figure I'll need more than usual on Deity to keep up with the tech progress. The warrior heads North to join the first, and together they eventually got the first barb camp. By that time, though, more had appeared to the South-east, and it was clear that there was another camp already. Unfortunately with the warrior screen off up to the North, they sacked and burned my settler progress, with more on the way. That could be a major pain, this early in the game. The settler had all of one turn to go as well.

Antium was founded by the cows, on the river, well away from the encroaching barbarians. Antium and Veii were both building warriors to fight the great menace, but Antium soon switched to a settler due to the cows. Another brain aberration occurred when I popped another camp, but fortunately it was only deserted. New plan: only pop camps with a city building, that's never seemed to give barbs to me. One problem with that plan: what do you do when the camp is right where you want to build? A barb horse kills a worker (Ouch!) rather than pillage a city. Is this an upgrade in 1.21, I don't remember them doing that before.

My scouts (yes, I did just manage to pull some away from barb hunting, or rather they were hunting and just happened to be in unexplored areas) found the oceans connected in the North, so it was decided to expand to the S and E, to cut out the AIs if at all possible. On the other hand, I still had to get past these annoying barbs. A minor breakthrough came when I got warriors to the mountain range, they were able to hold off the inevitable attacks much better there.

Dual settlers in 1830 AD meant that I could get my expansion back on track at last after that earlier hiatus, and the warriors seemed to be getting somewhere at last. Life was good. The Wheel was discovered then, and so of course the closest horses turned out to be way down South, where I hadn't a prayer of getting to them unless I was on my own island, which would hold all sorts of consequences for the game, mostly technological. In the same turn, (1750 BC), Thebes built the Pyramids. Wow! How early is that? The Oracle completed in Delhi the following turn also. Life continued apace, with the foundation of my two new cities near the wines and the silks, and the continued attacks of the barbs. The next real thing to happen was the appearance of like 6 Egyptian warriors in one turn, to my South. They were immediately contacted, and were found to have 3 further contacts with Azteca, China and India. Also just about the entire ancient age, tech-wise. Figures. With that contact, tech was stopped forever, not doing another lick during the entire game, and a new age began:

The Era of Expansion OR "fill that land NOW, before the hordes get here"

Within the next couple of centuries all the barbarians were destroyed except one in the mountains to the North, as the raging hordes of the AIs swept over them. That said, I did get an uprising from that one that was left, and it killed the first 2 warriors that attacked it. They were a real menace early on, unlike in most games. Is this indeed the Deity effect? It must affect more aspects of the gameplay than I realized.

Fortunately for my cashflow, I did not have to buy any of the expensive contacts (is the price of these affected by the game level?), as all 3 of the other AIs wandered up from the South before too long. I sold my maps quickly, before they explored my lands anyway, and got, eventually, all their maps in return. Due to my wide-open lands and the way they were all cramped into the South, I was catching up to and eventually passed China in empire size. I therefore bought most of my techs from China, as they were the underdog.

I proceeded to expand as fast as reasonably possible, knowing they would come up through the jungles before long. Most of my cities were building settlers, most of the time. When I spotted the Dyes, I beelined a settler for them, and even so the Chinese got a settler to them just a couple of turns before I did. They built Tatung with them not in 1-square radius though, so I built 3 squares from Tatung, with the Dyes all in my territory, and made sure I had plenty of culture in the city(Lutetia).

I did find a little time for other projects though, I built a barracks in Veii, and got a first real defense into Rome in 875 BC, which also built a temple a bit later. A WM buy in showed a black culture border across a little coastal strip, which amazingly the others had not contacted with galleys yet. I immediately stationed a warrior on the one square of our landmass that had any chance of contacting them, and indeed in 650 BC I got lucky: I was able to contact Shaka across the water. I promptly sold the contact and his WM to all 4 others on my continent, and pulled 8 techs and some cash from the AIs for some involved trade deals. That put me all the way to the Middle Ages, just 4-5 techs behind. And all because I met Shaka first. Yay! I revolted straight to a Republic, about 2 turns later when I picked it up.

Over the next turns I raced the AIs to settle my southern lands, and eventually I got most things above the horse, but also I lost the very Northern tip of the land to China. Amazingly, Egypt demanded tribute for the FIRST TIME in 410 BC, I'm sure they usually do much more than that. With our entire landmass filled in by 290 when I finally connected Iron, I call this another new age, with its own new priorities:

The Technological Revolution OR "Beg, borrow, scrape(lots) and steal (not yet, as such..) but KEEP THOSE TECHS COMING)

The next turn, all the contacts came out due to the AIs having Navigation. Hmm. Well, I'll buy those, and at last the tech prices are a bit more reasonable. At this time, with half the Middle Ages discovered, all but 4 of my cities are building temples. Yep. By the time I can talk to them, France have musketeers, whereas I just upgraded one legionary, and that only so they can fear it.
I did in fact get just one city off the main continent, the bottom bit of the island to the west with a horse on it. Unfortunately, the Zulu's got to the horse a couple turns before I did, so I still didn't have one.

The wonders fell like skittles, bam-bam-bam-bam, 4 in just 6 turns. The cascade's still going though, with Smith's and Shakey's. The histographs show me as clearly bigger than both China and Egypt, and about equal with most of the rest, thanks to the great start with all of them cramped together so far away. (Thanks Sirian! How long did it take to get a map this nice?)
I finally realized that, with a couple of galleys exploring a couple of black squares each turn, I could afford the couple of squares that several others each got, and then sell all of them to several other AIs each turn. I began to supplement my income with this, pulling probably 30 gpt on average. I really should have done this earlier, but I just didn't think of it.

That was around the turn of the years, and looking back on it I believe that at that point the AIs were 2 techs from the Industrial Age. How does this compare to the average Deity rate, I wonder? I, on the other hand, had bought a sum total of one tech into the Middle Ages. With my new income helping rather, I was able to buy tech every 1-2 turns now, so I began to catch up a little, I think. Some wars would really help, to slow them down.

In 150 AD, the AIs all entered the Industrial Age. I had 4 techs of the Middle Ages. Just a bit behind then. I got Gunpowder for saltpeter availability, and was interested to see that I actually had one. Of course, if I was going to get one resource then it would be the almost entirely useless saltpeter, wouldn't it. I don't think I ever built a single unit with it, in fact.

In 230 AD, I at last built a harbour. This opened up many trade options, my excess silks and dyes, and with 3 iron I was even able to trade Iron to England. Later, Shaka lost iron somehow and I was able to trade to him as well for a further 3 techs. I gained Education, Banking, Democracy and Astronomy right off the bat, and so revolted to Democracy. Trying to set up some more embassies than the two that others had opened with me, I discovered that I couldn't. Can this not be done in anarchy, or was there some other factor that I didn't spot?

Entering Democracy, my income did not actually jump that much, but the worker speed increase was the real reason for doing it so I was happy. When I connected my saltpeter I immediately traded it to the Iroquois for Magnetism and Military Tradition, which put me in the Industrial Age just 14 turns behind the pack. I saw a couple of wars being declared, so I took the time out before I started to buy the expensive new techs to establish a few new embassies, to see what was really going on in the world. What I saw was that 3-4 people were at war with each of Zululand and German, and there were a few other scattered wars as well. Go tech slowing!

The Age of WAR OR "Please sir, not me... (Oh, and keep that tech coming)"

From here (340 AD) on in, just about every single interturn saw the activation of a new war, military alliance or MPP: Far more than the number of peace treaties that were being signed. Of course, little old me, just really building most of my aqueducts in many cities, was quite content to stay as far away from all of that as I possibly could.

As the deals finished I renewed them, getting significant discounts on techs such as Medicine for my luxes. In 440 AD I sold a tech to an AI for the first time since the contact of Zululand: Industrialization to China for Nav, Monarchy and Chivalry, to clear up the trade screen. I was now even in tech with China, Germany and England. Steam Power allowed me to see the coal that I was so relieved to have, although it was not connected yet.

When the wonder cascade ended at Suffrage, I began to wonder whether I might even have a shot at ToE or Hoover, as Scientific Method wasn't even out yet and Rome was on a factory. Whilst routinely checking the trade screens on one turn, I saw that Egypt had over 8000 gold! And everybody else was broke. This, coupled with the fact that Egypt, even though smaller than Babylon, had more culture than them, led me to believe the following: I believe that at the time of contact between the two continents, our continent, and specifically Egypt, were ahead on tech. From the sales to the other continent they got all their cash and significant gpt. This allowed them to be the tech leaders EVER SINCE, and they still received most of everybody's gpt. Amazing, the effect of being the one to make first contact, isn't it.

Babylon ate almost the entire of continental Germany, and all the wars meant that I was beginning to regularly get tech ahead of China and England, and sell it on to them, whenever possible for other techs. I began to feel that I was actually running in the pack, rather than behind it at last. Still, several war declarations were coming in each turn: Egypt on Zululand! India on France! Azteca on Babylon! And so on and so on. In fact, the Egyptians destroyed the Zulu city on the horse island, and I was able to rush a settler there to claim them. Might as well.

The Egyptians started Toe in Thebes in 550 AD, due in just 18 turns at 20 shields per turn. The French also began it in Besancon 2 turns later, which appeared to be pulling more shields then Thebes. In a further 2, I began it in Rome, cranking at 39 per turn with a factory. That brought it due in 16 turns, so I knew I would lose out to Thebes by 2 turns, and did not know about Besancon. I fully optimized Rome over the next 2-3 turns, but was only able to shave 2 turns off that date, when Thebes needed about 3 rails to beat me.

The advent of Replaceable Parts brought about a nasty discovery: the lack of Rubber. Only the Zulu's had spare, so I just hoped I didn't need it that much. In 620 AD Egypt started Hoover in Memphis, so Electronics was out. Good, there wouldn't be much trouble getting it to swap if I lost Toe Here is a sample trade that I pulled, which came off rather better than most:
Silks, 1120g and 18gpt to France for Atomic Theory,
Atomic Theory to England for Steel,
Atomic Theory to China for Refining.
This was a rather nice 3-for-1 deal, the sort of thing that I had to try and pull every few turns just to stay up in techs. That, of course, discovered me my 2 Oil, which I was later able to swap out to both India and the Aztecs.

In 670 AD, just 10 turns after they started, the French built Toe That meant Besancon has 36+ shields. Oh dear. Thebes, of course, swapped to the Hoover Dam, as did I after buying Electronics for Oil and cash. They had a four-turn head start though. A couple of turns later, I investigated Thebes and discovered that they were on 6 turns whilst I was on 7. I was unable to squeeze any more shields out, so reluctantly conceded it and swapped off to a Hydro Plant. The thing that really bugs me, though, is that if I had been a bit faster on my rails whilst the factory was in production I might have got it. Oops.

The following turn (710 AD) Egypt and a fair number of others entered the Modern Age. I lacked 4 techs still. The demise of Germany and peace with the Zulus meant that some new wars were needed: the AIs happily obliged with some that might actually make a difference: France and America against Babylon, and Egypt against the Aztecs.

The Modern Age OR "I know we don't have a wonder, but if we don't get the UN we're dead. OK?"

Trades of stuff including my second oil and some gpt got me into the Modern Age in 790 AD, 8 turns behind the leaders. I was gradually catching up! I'm not going to talk much about the next few turns, even though they took over an hour to play, because in 880 my computer suffered a power loss that killed all saves back to 790. That put me in a tricky position: I had to try to replay those turns as close to identically as I could, not capitalizing on my knowledge of what was to come.

In fact, the first few turns seemed identical (trades for Fission, due at 88 shields/turn, and Space Flight), but gradually changes crept into the AIs and by 860 everything was different. In fact I did less well in the re-playing: in the second attempt I came out in 880 about 150 gpt poorer than in the first! However, I BUILT THE UN, in 920 AD. I was not totally certain that I could win by the vote, although I was fairly sure. I decided to go for the Space Race and take a vote if I was losing the race.

The wars between Egypt/Babylon and France/America meant that there were 2 separate research blocs on the planet, so I was able to buy one tech from one side, sell it to 2 on the other for a tech and cash, and then turn right around and sell my new one to the first bloc again, sometimes even coming out richer, let alone 2 techs. I repeated this to pull in all the techs needed, made extensive use of placeholders, and kept building. Even though the AIs had the same techs I did, they were way behind on their spaceships.

They weren't very cooperative though, and researched all sorts of techs rather than the important ones: Recycling, Miniaturization, Genetics and Stealth, most of which I ended up buying in my complicated trades. The Cure for Cancer even got built by America!

The Laser was finally discovered by Egypt in 1050, and in 1060 I pulled some incredible trades to try and get it: I bought Genetics from France, sold it to Babylon. I sold Superconductor to India for little gt. I sold all of my only luxes to France for cash, just to get a bit more, and I dropped my lux tax to 0% just to get the fake 92gpt increase. After all that, I discovered something: The Laser is EXPENSIVE. I offered Genetics, 1426gold and 572 gpt for it, and at 2nd-civ that was not enough! I paid out for a couple of lux and ended the turn, reluctantly.

The next turn they had sold to Babylon, though what they paid with is a mystery. I therefore bought it for 1774g, 380 gpt, and completed The Planetary Party Lounge in early 1080 AD, with a pre-build. The spaceship was launched, and I received a hefty 7501 points, clear to the top of my Hall of Fame. The previous turn, I had 1671 and Egypt had 3019 points.

I WON ON DEITY!!!!!

Thanks for the game, folks. Now, how many others won too????