Deity is apparently hard, any tips?

Make sure you get a good start; don't be shy about restarting when you are just starting out on deity. Also, I would recommend playing a civ with a lot of early bonuses. I usually get Pingala and his first two promotions as my first governor for some extra science and culture based on population since you're so far behind, unless I need Victor.

Some people might disagree, but I think the AI has too many bonuses to play very aggressively off the bat. Best to just turtle until you get stronger.

My first deity win was with Australia (Science) on a true start Earth map and that allowed me to get strong and wait for invaders on my own little continent.

Another good beginning deity civ is the Maori as it begins with some sciences.

I also like to play Russia, as the early bonuses are very helpful, especially if you want a religion.

But it really all depends on your own play style.

I've found that if you get a good start and exploit early bonuses, deity is very doable but luck is involved. If you have two or three aggressive civ(s) near you, you are in deep trouble.

Gorgo is probably very doable but I've never done it with her because her culture bonus depends on being in combat, and after you've taken care of the barbs, you've got to be at war. The AI gets some heavy duty unit production bonuses and that means you can get swarmed.

I'm sure there's people who can win with any civ or any start, but I'm not one of them. Luck is always a factor as well.

You need to play as a top tier civ to win on deity. Try Persia. You need to play aggresively early. Start a war, win it, and take as much land as you can.

Then focus on expanding with settlers, and improving what you already have. Don't be shy about surprise warring someone to grab an early worker. Don't build anything but slingers and warriors early (then archers). 2 warriors and 3 archers should be able to take a city.

You are going to be behind for most of the game. The point is to build it a critical mass and to know your power spikes. That is just raw knowledge of the game, and you will just get it with practice. Don't be afraid to restart. General rule of thumb if my empire hasnt captured at least 3 cities by turn 100 (meaning I have 4 total) I will restart. Nailing the early game is what Deity is all about.

Oh, and going diplo/faith/culture victories on deity are REALLY hard. I suggest just ignoring them until you can win domination and/or science. Good luck and feel free to ask questions.

I usually play Immortal, its a little easier than Deity, but the strats are pretty much the same.

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Regardless of which civ I play, I found that the best solution to survive the early onslaught is to build ALOT of warriors early. My build order is usually Warrior->Settler->Warrior->Warrior->Warrior...

You get the jist of it. At those difficulty, AIs and bards gain ALOT of bonuses and combat strengh bonuses, so you absolutely have to outnumber them or at the very least be on par with them when they come knocking at your door. I would also like to mention that the AI usually considers military power more than other factors when it comes to relationship. Having as many units as them makes them less likely to randomly denounce you and declare war. You will notice this is obvious when you are ahead of a civ in military power and all of a sudden they get all friendly with you and what not.

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But yeah, Warriors, and science. You should always look for a good campus location for your second city, as keeping ahead or on par with science is crucial if you want to stay on level with them. If you get out teched, they could declare war on you and Warriors are pretty damn weak vs Swordsmen and Coursers..

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Hope that was good help. Good luck!

In general the most important thing on Deity is to have enough cities. You should aim to have at least 7-8 cities (ideally by T100-110 - standard speed). Anything less and it's going to be a struggle.

I think there are 2 ways beginners should approach their first Deity games:

• Playing aggressive from the very beginning with a civ, that has a strong early game unit. Take over 1-2 neighbours and then turtle into a science victory. This allows you to control enough land to keep up with the AI, even without perfect play. Additionally, you already have a pretty strong standing army to defend yourself agains barbarians and any AI attack later on. For this approach I'd recommend Sumeria:
  • Spam war carts form the very beginning and once you have 5-6 of them attack your closest neighbor. Keep producing war carts until you have completely conquered them or feel comforatable you have enough units to take over the rest of his cities.
  • Additionally the Ziggurat is one of the stongest unique improvements, allowing you to keep up in science and culture without haven to worry too much about perfect campus and theater square placement.
• Or playing a strong science/culture civ: Build a few slingers/archers early on to defend yourself and focus on building mainly campuses and commercial hubs to keep up in science. Settle as many cities as you can without pissing off your neighbors (ideally at least 8). Use science boosting policies (Natural Philosophy, Rationalism), try to keep good relationships with you opponents (check their agendas and if possible fulfill them) and turtle into a science victory. For this approch my recommendation is Korea:
  • Half price campuses with consitent high adjacencies allows you to easily compete with the AI's science output. (Just make sure you don't build other districts next to your Seowon to not decrease their adjacency bonus)
  • Hwachas are super stong defensive units keeping you safe in the mid game form any aggressive AI neighbor.

Having said all that, I think the jump from king to deity is very steep (1 vs 3 AI starting cities) and I'd recommend first getting comfortable winning on emperor (AI starts with 2 cities) before going directly for deity.

Being late in the early game is normal in deity. Defending is not that hard but requires you to focus on it. use agoge and spam archer(walls if they build quickly enough. As long as you can win before turn 350-400, you should be fine since it's roughly the time it takes for deity AI to complete a science victory. In general, I advise you to go for science victory since it requires no interaction with the AI. what you should be aiming for is strong industrial zones (at least +5 ) abusing aqueducts and districts. The #1 priority in settling most of your cities is abusing rationalism: make sure you can get +3 adjacency(at least with districts) and 10 population. If you want to "cheat" abuse trades with the AI: use Amani and alliances to get diplo points, and you can get stupidly high gold incomes by selling them.

Also, a good civ to start deity is Nubia, because it is utterly broken in early defense which is the biggest issue in deity. Archers are kings. Also, it lets you get 1st golden age, which is extremely strong with monumentality if you go for a religion(which you prob should. A monumentality gameplan is unreliable but insanely strong and it's not like you will reliably win on you first game anyway. Also, always send delegations turn 1 (it gives you additional strength), get mutual open borders and bribe neighbors that aren't guaranteed to hate you(those include cleopatra, seondeok...) since getting a friendship basically guarantees an ally until the late game

massive jump from king to Deity.

from king to emperor is a significant jump due to the AI starting with 2 settlers instead of 1. Smaller jump between immortal and Emperor.

on deity, AI starts with 3 settlers. forces you to settle very intelligently so that loyalty pressure nor military invasion by an era more advanced than you will wipe you out in the first 3 eras. later on, you should start making a lot more progress in science.

will take a while though before you manage to easily invade and seize cities on deity AIs in the early eras.

if its a 8+ player map, I don't even bother with religion. if its 4, you have to try usually. 6, its a gamble on if you hope no AI snowballs religious pressure, especially a map with one single landmass without significant barriers (Pangaea, inland sea).

Don't fight an AI over a city state if it really really wants it and is spending well over 6+ diplomatic points on it. go to 6, then move on to the next that way you get the lvl 1 3 and 6 bonuses to your buildings. those are really important. industry and science city state to 6 are high priorities, trade if you are landlocked (if mostly harbors, can ignore), get the military ones right before you put in the 50% production policies. if the city state borders an AI who is current Suzerain with it, don't take over Suzerain unless you are capable of a full scale protectorate war over that city state. on the otherhand, it can be a good way to bait wars with low greivances.

Lots of good advice. I'll add that you should go read what the AI's bonuses are on deity. They get extra cities and basically have a huge advantage from the get-go. IME, it takes at least three ages to catch up on tech.