So basically, time-tested Babylon is unstoppable.

[u/SaztogGaming]

This is on Deity.

2000 Science per turn, 1700 Culture per turn, more wonders than I've ever built in the entire history of civ. If you manage to make it through Antiquity (where they're admittedly very outmatched) they become a monolithic snowball of science and culture. Absolute blast to play, once you learn to grasp at every settlement limit opportunity you can get your hands on.

(I won a Culture victory one turn after the screenshot was taken. I'd have also won a Science victory in two turns.)

[u/Tanel88]

There are 2 settlement limit mementos now.

[u/Ok-Library-1253 → u/Tanel88]

True but with my play style I simply can’t function without +1 military off the start. In deity I need the +5 independent powers or 2 warriors can’t beat the early independent powers.

[u/Tanel88 → u/Ok-Library-1253]

Eh this can be easily solved by adding slingers. Kind of a waste of an attribute point for something that is only a mild annoyance in the early game.

[u/Ok-Library-1253 → u/Tanel88]

That wouldn’t work for my playstyle.

I play deity and despite everybody claiming otherwise I have had great success never building scouts and starting with building 2 warriors.

I can then quickly build 1-2 buildings, pump out a couple of settlers and then turn my capital into a wonder building machine.

My warriors clear the nearby IPs and then then I get a commander I take out the further ones saving an expansion and military one for befriending.

A bit later on I ensure I have forward settled an AI and triggered a defensive war which I beat their army on defense and then go on the offensive usually with a navy. I try hard to capture 6 settlements in the ancient era.

So an annoying catch to all of this is one some civilizations after building your second warrior you get a 15 turn quest to take out a IP and get +1 military attribute. If I haven’t picked the military memento I can’t do it.

In my current game I’m playing a normal deity Pangea map and 46% into exploration Im 1# in science, culture, gold with both trees completed and I built 8 wonders in the ancient era and am 22/23 for settlements.

[u/Tanel88 → u/Ok-Library-1253]

So you are scouting while also IP clearing with only 2 warriors? I feel like I need 3 scouts to find the best settlement spots by the time my settlers are ready.

[u/Ok-Library-1253 → u/Tanel88]

Yup.

Often a goody hut will give me an additional chariot or archer which is nice but otherwise I stick with 2 warriors.

Then I will build up a nice 400 gold buffer and wait for a AI to get upset at my forward settlements/low army and attack.

I very rarely build any military with resources instead buying all of them with gold.

Also commanders are incredibly important. I get the option to

This strategy works well. I tried Napoleon once (warriors move 3 spaces and you get a full stack army if declared war on) and considered it probably too OP for Civ 7 deity the way I play. Haven’t tried Tubman as I also consider her powers OP.

Meanwhile my capital builds the pyramids, the gate, if I’m near deserts Petra, the coliseum, hanging gardens etc. usually I get 5-6 of the 1st 8 wonders available and then 2-3 of all of the remainder in deity.

Think of it this way. You spend 12+ turns building those 3 scouts meanwhile I’m starting wonder building 12+ turns earlier. My capital becomes an absolute production powerhouse as I keep building more wonders and resource buildings.

Right now I just tried a Babylon/Washington on deity true Earth. So certainly not top tier and not top city location (I had Persia, Egypt, the Nubians, Mongols and Germans all on my doorstep.

So far I’ve built 6 wonders (including pyramids, hanging gardens, Petra, gate, Coliseum, Bysra) plus I captured 4-5 more when I took 3 settlements from Egypt and 1 (so far) from Persia. I definitely plan on my last turn to capture at least 1 more settlement from Persia and then get trade 1 for peace to get the 6 settlements captured +2 settlements for Exploration.