Hey guys.

I am by no means an experienced Civ player. I usually play on Noble and go for cultural, space race and time victories. Anyway, in my next game, I am going to head for a domination (maybe, conquest victory.) This is the first time I'm ever going to play aggresively.

I am well aware that I will be playing on Noble difficulty, but do you think I could win the game by either of these two methods on a "Huge" map, with 9-11 opponents? Or shall I use a Standard map and have about 7 opponents, seeing as it is my first attempt at this playstyle? I'm pretty sure I can handle myself and have a fairly good knowledge of the game and it's mechanics.

Thanks.

The size of the map does not matter all that much in learning to plat aggressively. More leaders to beat up on (or get beaten up) but more to Allie yourself with.

As you win peaceful wins, I'll assume you have a good grasp on diplomacy. Don't forget that aspect.

I think a leader is more important, perhaps someone with military and economic traits.

Al
Hannibal
Ragnar
Licoln
Hammarabi
JC

Are some of the best I would recoomend to start with. Perhaps Lincoln so you do not get into a habit of relying on the UUs.

Good luck

Pangaea makes it much simpler because you don't have to go through the logistics of a naval invasion, I'd suggest that for your first domination/conquest.

Keep in mind that vassals add half of their land/pop to your domination threshold and subtract one rival for conquest. So feel free to capitulate enemies to save time, as long as you're sure they don't have anything you want.

You might even pick a Small land heavy map like Oasis or Inland Sea (with world wrap) for your first shot at this. The hardest parts of going for a military win are A) not getting ahead of yourself and conquering so much you crash the economy, and B) getting accustomed to moving around lots of units during the middle and late game. With those two options, there's still plenty of land, but point B isn't overwhelming.

There's also two ways to approach this, at least in Noble, in my experience. You can leverage military traits and UU's, and let the economy and expansion take care of themselves, or you can supplement the military by picking traits like Exp, Org or Spi to absorb all the land and cities you'll be taking. (It's my understanding that on higher levels, leverage is the best, sometimes only way to go.) Personally, I love warring with Asoka or Gandhi, and not just for the irony-- they make you focus on the nuts and bolts of expansion. Lincoln is also pretty powerful, but he's a strong leader no matter what. Zara also deserves an honorable mention, at least IMO.

i would use a smaller map, or a terra/pangaea map. Play with Rome. go ahead, live a little. I saw a necro thread recently ( http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=144520 ) that reminded me of the big fun to be had with praets. persian and egyptian chariots wreck shop early too. Or play as gandhi and learn the fundamentals of warmongering.

If your learning the game. 7 civs and standard size map.

11 civs on a pangea map will take much much longer to complete.

If your going aggressive build 3-4 cities. Research Bronze working asap. Find the copper and build 6-10 axes. Whipping or chopping forest to speed up the build time. If your persians or Egptians you should really be going for chariots or immortals. You should be attacking the Ai before 1500bc with axes. Warriors you can build warriors from the start and do this 3000bc or earlier.

On Noble level the Ai start with warriors. So one city knocking out 5-8 warriors should take out an AI capital with only warriors defending. Beware you need to do this very early or your sending warriors against archers. Ackkk.

I'd go with a standard map, all of that warring on a huge map can get very tedious and it's not easy to conquer all that land.

Why don't you post some screenshots here and we'll comment on your game?

Good luck!

One of the Roman Leaders should be able to teach you how to make use of your own advantage... and condult a sucessful rush :)

I would say stay away from the Roman leaders. It's too easy and you won't learn anything. Hammurabi is a good first try. Aggressive, Organized, and has an early UU that isn't too offensively minded.

I would say stay away from the Roman leaders. It's too easy and you won't learn anything. Hammurabi is a good first try. Aggressive, Organized, and has an early UU that isn't too offensively minded.

I think India is the best civ to use to learn with.