Culture Victory on Deity

Diety is difficult, very difficult but it is possible very possible to win. This guide will show you the strategy I used to win a culture victory on deity on turn 317 as France. Due to the amazing variety of every game in civilization the results will barely be gaurenteed in fact the chance are somewhat dim but I can assure you it has worked before. Good luck and have fun trying to achieve such a mighty feat.
Cheers Politic Revolutionnaire

The Journey Begins

Before you start the game ou must chose a civilization to play as. I suggest France or Brazil with a slight bias towards France due to the fact Brazil tends to get low production and slow jungle starts. As you begin you should build in the following order,

Scout
Monument
Granary
Stonehenge

Stonehenge is essential to a victory on deity as it will give you not only the faith to get a religon (hopefully) but it will also give you a great engineer in time to get the Sistine Chapel a very good wonder for a culture victory. It will require great sacrifice but if you are able to build it by turn 40 you should get it 1/2 or 1/3 of the time (Note: if Gandhi is in your game he is very likely to build it before you since he build it 99% of the time). In order to build Stonehenge your technologies should be pottery then calander to start off with. If you get it then congratulations chose a faith yeilding pantheon to ensure a religon, if not then it is better to restart.

Once you have researched calander it is always my preference to go writing to exchange embassies and build an early library, however if you have a close neighbor (ie. within 10 tiles of a city of yours) then it is better to build a caravan and get technology that way. Once you have scured good technology focus on expansion and the aquicision of luxury resources. You should build the national college by turn 100 as well as a full worked writers guild.

As for your policies in the early game you must go tradition going for aristocracy in order to get stonehenge then oligarchy, legalism, etc. You will have sufficient culture to fill this tree out quickly with a full worked writers guild. In addition you should build the oracle and use to policy to finish tradition or open aesthetics(depending on your culture rate). The oracle is a relatively easy wonder to obtain as the AI does not highly prioritize it and it is at philosophy meaning its in your tech path.

A Rennisance!

Your tech path should continue as follows after philosophy.

Technologies leading to Eduaction
Education
Acoustics
Guilds
Military Technologies
Technologies leading up to Scientific Theory
Scientific Theory

Once you have researched education you must build a university in all your cities and work the university over the writers guild, fill the writers guild quickly after the university but make sure that you grow well. Once you have researched acoustics use the great engineer generated by stonehedge to rush the Sistine Chapel. Prioritize the artists guild over the musicians guild. You should get 3 great works of art in total in the Rennisance one of them coming from a policy in aesthetics. This will be enough to get the theming bonus in the Uffizi which is very important expecially if you are playing as France.

Once the world congress has been founded propose immediately scholars in residence, since you are going for a culture victory then science is not your highest priority and you will be for the most part behind in technology.

A Brave New World of Innovation and Ideologies

It is once again time to learn about scoial policies. By the end of the Rennisance you should have finished aesthetics, worked through at least part of rationalism and opened exploration. The only reason for exploration is to build the Louvre which is an amazing wonder as France. Once you have finished scientific theory you should build public schools in your cities then focus on getting either electricity or moving up to archeology. I personally go archeology then electricity however it is to your discresion. Once you have finished electricity you need to get Radio using Oxford university and get the Effiel Tower or Broadway with a great engineer obtained through faith purchase. The other wonder you will most likely have to build from scratch. The turn after you get radio you will be faced with the choice of ideology.

There are two main options, freedom or order (autocracy is technically a valid idea but it is not usually advisable to declare war on everyone). Freedom will give you good solid bonuses, however order is the only ideology to give a bonus for shared ideology which is huge if you are going to go cultural as much of the world will be converted to your ideology. Again this is a matter of preference I have seen it done with both, I personally perfer order it has good solid bonuses expecially to science which will allow you to build a very solid empire.

Once you have entered the modern era you will want to stay in that era for quite some time as you want to get theming bonuses from great artists and writers and such for the wonder you have built.

The End Game

Once you have researched all the major technologies in the modern era you will want to then research atomc theory for the extra yield from your academies and then you will move all your science to rushing towards the internet. This final technology is essential to your victory and will be the deciding factor. In the late game you will mainly focus on building military and economy and of course your tourism and culture. You should not engage in any wars and should save your faith in order to purchase musicians, scientists and engineers. You want to make your religon the world religon and force the world to accept your ideology. You should get sufficient city state allies in order to further your goals and you want to use some spies to try to counteract any ideology differences. Your trade network should be diverse in order to keep those tourism modifiers high and your cities should grow quickly. Focus on increasing your happyness if your an order civilization and perpetuating wars to avoid having the AI steal a victory. Otherwise you should be victorious.

Suggestions, Ideas?

If you have any suggestions or ideas please note them in the comment below as well as any alternative strategies that you would suggest. Also share screenshots of your game so that I can add them to the guide and the stories of your hopefully successful venture. Good Luck with a culture victory!

[Adam Jensen 007]

my man very nice I only manaed immortal

[Lord Setting]

the way i do it is to just kill the wonder whores

[Brocerer]

Just play against Venice on a dual size map with city states turned off.

Conquer their only city whenever it works best for you.

[Politic Revolutionnaire]

oh thank you i wil fix that right away

[NPearce]

I dont mean to be a grammer nazi but its stoneHENGE not stoneHEDGE

[Politic Revolutionnaire]

ah ok

[pentach]

begin to train a worker until i can switch to granary. but like i said i haven't even attempted deity so, as Mr B points out, for ruins a scout is useful

[Politic Revolutionnaire]

yeah scout first though how do you build granary immediately after monument i dont know as pottery requires 12 turns to research and a monument is done in about 8 do you play quick speed?

[Chimaera]

i would pick scout first as ruins are something you will absolutely require, and your warriors are needed for defending from barbarian attacks

[pentach]

Interesting that some of your ideas are how i'm learning to progress, although i have yet a lot to learn and haven't tried deity so far. My start build order though is monument>granary>scout, which saying is more a query than a suggestion. With regards, from a New Zealander