Civ 4 again...

[Failhorse]

I've been playing civ 4 again, as my gaming budget is nil.
My first game.
Deity, Fractal, STD map, normal time, 7 Civs. Playing Krmer.

After about 40 turns realize that an early domination victory is impossible. Pacal is on my ass to the east. India is north, inaccessible due to an odd outcropping for mountains cutting off the entire northern part of the continent. The other 4 civ's requiring Astronomy to get to.

80 turns in. I press Pacal to capitulate. Never declared war. Used 2 great artists to push on his culture. And place about 30 units on his border. He gives in. Which gives me access to his east to build 2 more cities, for a total of 6.

Here's where it gets idiotic. I b-line for Theology so I can build the Apostolic Palace. Looking for a quick diplomatic victory. I have 3 civ's pleased, and they should vote for me. Ending the game around 300 AD. 2 bigger civs worth the bulk of votes, and 1 smaller (found to be worth 7.)

The first vote is not for the diplomatic victory. But to give over one of my cities to the heathen Indian empire. And I lose it. This rebalances voting structure and i'm now 4 votes shy of winning the diplomatic victory. I scramble to get the other smaller civ on my side. 4 turns prior to the diplomatic victory vote he is pleased. A shoe in right? Of course not. Somehow India secretly built 5 galleons and shipped it's army across the ocean. Something that should have taken 10-15 turns. And captured a city. The vote comes up. And I lose victory by 1 vote.

Thoughts on this. I was the civ that gave India Astronomy. (This allows Galleons to be built, which is the first Ocean traveling vessel that can carry troops.) From that point to the cities capture was 11 turns. They had no money, so they could not have upgraded their caravels. The civ was on the opposite side of the map and would have been a minimum of 6 turns to get to. Prior to this I was the only Civ that made contact with this small civ. But some how India discovered them, decided to hate them and attack all within 25 turns total. Not to mention India had a bigger fish, that was a lot closer.

The game cheats.

I have since wiped India from existence. I razed 12 of their cities, and returned the 2 they captured from the Babylonians. Doing so, I destroyed 2 holy cities. Putting the 2 civ's who have not capitulated to me to war. Pacal also grew, due to the large amount of open land, and left my protection. He also had to be destroyed. I have 8 cities on a mostly empty continent. It's kinda funny.

It's now 1650 in the game. I have built the Manhattan Project and have plans to bomb the crap out of everyone.

[Trauma Advocate]

I'm pretty sure on Deity difficulty, the game makes no claim that it DOESN'T cheat.

[VoltySquirrel]

The game cheats.

Dude, your playing a strategy game, of course it is going to cheat.

[Failhorse]

Civ is usually really good about having some sort of level playing field about it. I normally play immortal though. I decimated my enemies and won. playing online is still a trip though. Everyone thinks a rush strategy is effective. I think it's more fun to drag them down and out.

[mrProtagonist]

I'ma huge fan of the CIV series. Played them all, I'm actually into BTS Rhye's and Fall. We should play a Game sometime.. although I can only play on Noble and even then I'm not that good xD

I also own CIV 5 if you've got that.

[BoB Dolen]

I still haven't gotten past playing Civ 1 and 2.