Getting stomped on Immortal

[brobban]

Hello,
Have been playing Civ V for a short time now, only have just above 100h played, I have progressed quite good I think. Winning easy on emperor so switched to immortal but Im really getting my ass kicked on this level :mad:.

I have two different playstyles. Either I play aggressive with China/Japan/Aztec/Mongolia(or some other leader with gives bonus to an aggressive playstyle) and trying to expand alot and keeping the pressure up on the others. Or I play a more defensive style with 4-5 cities and growing them big and selecting a leader like Greece/Siam/Babylonia and work alot with my influence on the city-states and aim for a science victory.

Both these strategies worked fine on emperor but now I have so damn hard keeping up with the AI's pace. I always run short on gold and units, and usually Im always behind in the research. But the biggest problem is I just cant keep up with the AI's expanding, they always have atleast double my city numbers and like 3-4 times my military strenght at the later stages of the game. Even though the AI still is stupid and I get a long way by good strategy while fighting. I get to a point(usually around start at industrial era) where they just swarm me like damn sand people and it is plain impossible for me to keep producing units to match the flood of units they send at me.

The first attack waves is no problem fending off, and I usually take out the closest aggressive AI player asap to give my empire some space. At start I usually research Iron asap to get the swordsman and be able to expand to iron resources. Finding this to be a good way to get a military advantage at start.
Im finding diplomacy is really wierd and instabile on immortal, my experince so far is that the AI can turn on you at any time and you always know that sooner or later they will come for you. I play continents with standard settings and 10 civs and 20 city states.

I know specific advices are hard to give, but any advice and suggestions you can give me to create a more stabile path on my way to victory would be more then welcome!

[Gooner]

Science becomes really important at higher difficulty levels. I prefer to play a science orientated civilization and rush to get as far in front of the AI in terms of science as possible.

For me, this means that I delay my expansion as much as possible, and focus on having between 1-4 cities. My strategy normally is to research pottery, build a worker or monument depending on the terrain, research writing and build a granary whilst I'm researching writing then I rush to build the great library whilst researching sailing and optics to get the most valuable free technology possible - compass. Then I focus on getting to education as soon as possible and try to build the Hagia Sofia to get a great scientist or engineer to help with getting both Notre Dame and the Porcelain Tower. This will allow me to get to Astronomy Navigation and will allow me to get frigates well ahead of the AI which can be used both offensively to destroy enemy cities or defensively to defend coastal cities. This will help unlock the rationalism and path of social policies and will give me almost double what the AI gets from research agreements and will help boost my science again.

The trick is to defend my cities without focusing heavily on military technologies, but it's possible to do so if you place your cities in the right places. Rivers are extremely useful in making the AI attack your units across rivers.

In terms of gold, whilst you've got a small empire, it's worth selling open borders for 50 gold rather than just swapping open borders. It's not a lot, but every little bit helps.

Alternatively, you can play with Japan, which I rate as the best civilisation in the game due to their unique ability and the samurai and rush to get the samurai and then go nuts with them and a few crossbowmen to back them up.

[wingednosering]

It's unfortunate that this post has been up a week and you only have one reply.

Here are some general tips:

-Don't let one or two AIs run away with the game. If one civ is getting too powerful, take them down. Either ally yourself with citystates around their territory and declare war, or pay off another militaristic AI.

-Sell anything you aren't using. Trade excess luxury resources and purchase research agreements with somebody you have good standing with.

-Population = science. Maritime city-states give you boosts towards every victory type (except time). Never get Militaristic city states unless you use them as stated above or you want a diplo victory.

-Gold, gold, gold. Trading posts and selling off excess assets should be a top priority. You can buy as many buildings/units as you'd like, not to mention the almost mandatory CS allies.

-Once you've conquered your starting continent/island, turtle up and go for tech. Naval invasions aren't worth the production.

-Target cities with wonders (generally capitals). If you aren't sure who has the most wonders and have ignored the 'most wonderful people' list, target Egypt first. If Egypt is not in the game or are already dead, focus on whoever has the most points in the tradition policy tree.

Hope those help a bit.

[Gooner]

Gold becomes quite important at higher difficulty levels. I find that it may be useful to sell luxury resources if you don't need the extra happiness or no other party has the resources that you require for the 'we love the king day'.

Micromanagement becomes really important on higher difficulties levels. It may be useful to switch cities to production when you hit a golden age to generate as much production as possible or to food when you have a 'we love the king day'. Focus on getting the most from your research agreements by ensuring that you have the highest median technology possible and on getting quickly to the techs that are most important to your game style.

I tend to start small and expand through conquest or even I've cleared the space by raising cities and then build my own cities exactly where I want them.

Great Library + National College is the best way to jump from about 7-8 science to 35 science within a few turns and will help you keep up with the AI.

Good luck!

[<3_BILL_HICKS]

Either way, if youre going straight for iron, I would go catapults. Then go for Hanging gardens in your capital. Use your capital to produce units and wonders and do alot of fighting with your catapults. Getting logistics fast is the best way to annihilate an AI swarm in late game battles, as a matter of fact, I would say its mandatory. If you really like swordsman, you should play Caesar, Praetorians are great rush units. If you want to play strong in late game, I think you would do well with Napolean.

The problem that I have on Immortal and Deity is just being outright cheated on damage. I just quit a game(that I really wanted to play) because I hit a German landsknecht with 2catapults, a city barrage, and an archer(with a GG in proximity) and it didnt kill him. His 4 archers all hit my city for 3 or 4 damage(my archers never hit for over 1 damage on cities) and his landsknecht insta heals and does 8 damage to my city and takes it.:(

[wingednosering]

^ Was your happiness above -10?

Generally, Catapults are only useful against cities and ancient era units. I find using Catapults against Crossbowmen, Swordsmen, Trebs, Pikes, or Knights always ends badly.

The AI gets exp boosts on Deity (I think), so you either want to finish off the enemy units in a single turn or ignore them completely. They'll insta-heal nearly every turn.

My first attempt at Deity was brutal. I remmber Siam rushing me, shooting me through a forested hill (still don't know how that hapened) and insta-healing two turns in a row with the same unit. I was eliminated by turn 60.

Stick with it. Eventually you'll win ;).

[<3_BILL_HICKS]

I was playing with the French. It was a lovely inland sea map. I purchased tiles in my second city to secure cerro de petosi, I mean, the game was going to be great. I think my happiness was at 8. I have my Deity and Immortal victories, I just hate the feeling of wasting hours of my life because the AI just does unbelievable damage sometimes. I would have myself to blame if I didnt build the units, but I was set. Have you ever seen archers do more than 1 damage to a city? I am not kidding you, first 2 hits from his archers both hit for -4 on my city. My jaw dropped, and when I saw that landsknecht insta heal, I knew what was going on.

I dont mean to sound like I am QQing, I play on Deity and Immortal only, I am just venting a little and wondering if anyone else has the same experiences.

Siam is nuts sometimes, if they get going and secure some city states, the AI is unstoppable.

[Omer Hassan]

Very nice thread!

Like others above, I also try to beat the AI in science building these wonders:
- Great Library for getting Civil Service early to speed up growth
- Hanging Gardens for even faster growth. Usually someone else beats me to HG and I have to make do with farms.
- Hagia Sofia for a free Great Scientist
- Notre Dame for, you guessed it, growth.

These wonders along with Rationalism policies can really help to stay ahead of the cheating AI. Once I have a sufficient lead in science, I start pouring out military units. If, however, my research lags behind the most advanced civ by too wide a margin, I just start a new game because it's a hopeless cause.