I keep reading post after post of players complaining about the new Warmonger system for BNW.
I, for one, LOVE the new system!
For the most part, I feel that people are relying too much on old strategies that worked in Vanilla and G&K, but which are ineffective in the new BNW paradigm. Yes, you do have to adapt to the new mechanisms!
I might eventually make this into a formal guide, but for now, here are some brief tips:
1. The old system of "let the AI DoW you and then take all their cities but one" doesn't work so well.
Diplomatically, it is still better if the AI starts the war but the penalty for doing the DoW yourself is actually less in BNW. HOWEVER, you add to your warmonger penalty with every city you take, so you have to be more careful now.
2. Liberate, liberate, liberate!
I used to enjoy liberate civs (and recalling them to life) in G&K, but it's become even more helpful and powerful in BNW since it helps remove the Warmonger penalty.
Between the decreased penalty for actually DoW'ing and the benefits for liberating, I am finding that I can warmonger *even more* than in Vanilla and G&K.
3. Be selective about the cities you take
Capturing each city comes with a penalty, so you don't want to take every one (especially the ones you would simply raze).
Here are some sample strategies that allow you to warmonger with minimal diplomatic penalties:
A. Selective sniping
For pure Domination efficiency, you can just focus on capturing each AI's capital and let them keep the rest of their cities. You will still suffer a "You captured our capital" penalty with that particular civ, but since you are only taking one city, the global Warmonger penalty should be much less.
This can sometimes be harder if the AI has other cities in the way that block you from their capital. Take those if necessary, but try to keep the city conquesting to a minimum.
B. Conquest through Peace Deals
If you want a large expansive empire with lots of puppets, that is also possible in BNW. The key thing is that you DO NOT want to take those puppets through conquest, since each city conquest comes with a warmonger penalty.
What you want to do is get in a war with someone, obliterate their army and defeat them soundly, and then get them to give you their cities in a peace deal, since cities you puppet/annex through a peace deal apparently don't add to your warmonger score.
C. Plundering Great Works
Cultural games may also benefit from a Domination strategy since you can capture Great Works, or you can handicap rival civs to decrease their cultural output.
It can be tricky to capture great works before the Renaissance (things become A LOT easier once you have spies).
Generally, the majority of great works will be held in the capital. Before Industrial (Museums), Great Works of Art will normally be held only in the Palace slot in the capital (with the exception of Cathedral religions and wonders like the Parthenon, Sistine Chapel, and Uffizi). Great Works of Writing are a bit trickier. Sometimes the AI will build lots of amphitheaters, so it will be hard to capture the Great Work since it keeps getting moved around. Other times, the only writing slots will all be in the capital. Besides amphitheaters, Great Works of Writing are usually centered in the capital due to National and/or Heroic Epic, as well as Oxford.
If you want to capture lots of Great Works, your best bets are to either capture the capital (which should net you most of the great works) or if there are several satellite cities, just take them all in a peace deal. If you know the AI has a Great Work stashed in a crappy city, take the city in a peace deal.
D. The liberation game
This is my personal favorite. You can do immense amounts of conquest with minimal diplomatic penalties as long as you remember to liberally liberate. This goes a LONG way towards reducing the warmonger penalty.
I often like to manipulate the AI's into fighting each other so that when I do eventually attack, I can liberate a few cities.
It also makes the game much more interesting. In Vanilla and G&K, it was common to pick on the weaker civs. With the new BNW system, you're actually better off squaring off against runaways and warmongers, which makes things a lot more interesting.
Another thing I do is keep a temporary "portfolio" of puppet cities that I take, which I eventually give away so that I can retake them and liberate them.
I, for one, LOVE the new system!
For the most part, I feel that people are relying too much on old strategies that worked in Vanilla and G&K, but which are ineffective in the new BNW paradigm. Yes, you do have to adapt to the new mechanisms!
I might eventually make this into a formal guide, but for now, here are some brief tips:
1. The old system of "let the AI DoW you and then take all their cities but one" doesn't work so well.
Diplomatically, it is still better if the AI starts the war but the penalty for doing the DoW yourself is actually less in BNW. HOWEVER, you add to your warmonger penalty with every city you take, so you have to be more careful now.
2. Liberate, liberate, liberate!
I used to enjoy liberate civs (and recalling them to life) in G&K, but it's become even more helpful and powerful in BNW since it helps remove the Warmonger penalty.
Between the decreased penalty for actually DoW'ing and the benefits for liberating, I am finding that I can warmonger *even more* than in Vanilla and G&K.
3. Be selective about the cities you take
Capturing each city comes with a penalty, so you don't want to take every one (especially the ones you would simply raze).
Here are some sample strategies that allow you to warmonger with minimal diplomatic penalties:
A. Selective sniping
For pure Domination efficiency, you can just focus on capturing each AI's capital and let them keep the rest of their cities. You will still suffer a "You captured our capital" penalty with that particular civ, but since you are only taking one city, the global Warmonger penalty should be much less.
This can sometimes be harder if the AI has other cities in the way that block you from their capital. Take those if necessary, but try to keep the city conquesting to a minimum.
B. Conquest through Peace Deals
If you want a large expansive empire with lots of puppets, that is also possible in BNW. The key thing is that you DO NOT want to take those puppets through conquest, since each city conquest comes with a warmonger penalty.
What you want to do is get in a war with someone, obliterate their army and defeat them soundly, and then get them to give you their cities in a peace deal, since cities you puppet/annex through a peace deal apparently don't add to your warmonger score.
C. Plundering Great Works
Cultural games may also benefit from a Domination strategy since you can capture Great Works, or you can handicap rival civs to decrease their cultural output.
It can be tricky to capture great works before the Renaissance (things become A LOT easier once you have spies).
Generally, the majority of great works will be held in the capital. Before Industrial (Museums), Great Works of Art will normally be held only in the Palace slot in the capital (with the exception of Cathedral religions and wonders like the Parthenon, Sistine Chapel, and Uffizi). Great Works of Writing are a bit trickier. Sometimes the AI will build lots of amphitheaters, so it will be hard to capture the Great Work since it keeps getting moved around. Other times, the only writing slots will all be in the capital. Besides amphitheaters, Great Works of Writing are usually centered in the capital due to National and/or Heroic Epic, as well as Oxford.
If you want to capture lots of Great Works, your best bets are to either capture the capital (which should net you most of the great works) or if there are several satellite cities, just take them all in a peace deal. If you know the AI has a Great Work stashed in a crappy city, take the city in a peace deal.
D. The liberation game
This is my personal favorite. You can do immense amounts of conquest with minimal diplomatic penalties as long as you remember to liberally liberate. This goes a LONG way towards reducing the warmonger penalty.
I often like to manipulate the AI's into fighting each other so that when I do eventually attack, I can liberate a few cities.
It also makes the game much more interesting. In Vanilla and G&K, it was common to pick on the weaker civs. With the new BNW system, you're actually better off squaring off against runaways and warmongers, which makes things a lot more interesting.
Another thing I do is keep a temporary "portfolio" of puppet cities that I take, which I eventually give away so that I can retake them and liberate them.