The following is a high level overview on how I was finally able to win at Deity level. There are a lot of guides online but most of them call for a "death match" on a small map against one opponent.
I used the advanced set up features to restrict the victory conditions to a Domination victory only (must capture all the original capital cities of all civilizations) as the AI's advantages make winning a Science, Culture and Points victory in time almost impossible. There may be hope to win a Religious victory, as CIV VI has set it up to be won by theological "combat" but I was not interested in pursing this option as the AI advantages at Deity level usually mean that all major religions have been founded by the time a human player has accumulated enough faith.
My
first go around I made the mistake of only setting the game for Domination victory, neglecting to scroll further down the Advanced Set Up Menu and un-click the
No Term Limit box.
I selected a
huge island plates map just for a Steam achievement but I attribute my victory to playing on this map (that and lots of luck). Initially, I thought my starting location was detrimental (see end of post at link above) but it turns out I had an almost island like refuge in an out of the way region. My closest neighbor was a city state, which was the victim of my first imperialist aggression.
The screen shot below of the Greek homeland is from the last turn of the game. Please excuse the radiation and the fact that my capital, Pella does not have a higher population. It seems that the other civilizations will not go down without a fight and Pella and Dion were targeted for multiple nuclear strikes:
More on the next page.
