which civs for dom victory?

I always play for victory types other than domination. Don't get me wrong I usually have a really strong compact military to defend myself and take out any cities that get too close. Basically just being powerful enough to not be worth messing with...and nuke anyone who does start war with me. (i'm playing a MP game as morocco right now at the advice of these same forums.)


But I would like to try a game as a complete warmonger. Problem is I don't know what leader to go with, what they're strengths are, which ones are duds. or really at all what I'm doing with a war race.

I find that having a good economy, good happiness, good culture helps so much in being able to support an army in the first place, I'm not sure how to build for just war without reverting back to my happiness/culture type civs.

please help an aspiring dictator out.

Naval or land?

livsbrand said:

Naval or land?

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I like the naval game but my group plays small continents deluxe map so it's a pretty even mix of both where if you don't have a land army as well you're toast pretty easily.

Assyria : Just research bottom half of the tech tree. About the upper half? :looking at AI city: Go and get it.

Arabia : Trade, Trade, Trade, CAMEL! Yes, My religion said that I can camel at you.

The Huns : No one doesn't like a 40 strength "spearmen" hitting a 15 def city. Unless he is rammed by it.

Korea, Babylon : Anyone interested in shooting pikeman with machine gun?

On a small continents map everyone should be coastal, right? The Byzantine Dromon helps you get going early. England rule the seas really, and the Longbow is a very strong land UU to boot. Dutch Sea Beggar is a very strong unit. Sciency guys like Korea and Babylon will also be good, I guess they're the best bet for you. Carthage and Indonesia are obviously cool for water maps. Portugal are also water biased but you probably just want your navy protecting those valuable cargo ships.

dannyslag said:

I like the naval game but my group plays small continents deluxe map so it's a pretty even mix of both where if you don't have a land army as well you're toast pretty easily.

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Ottomans and England are solid civs for small continents maps

Five replies into a which Domination Civ should I choose and no mention of Mongolia or China. ISHYGDDT

poom3619 said:

Assyria : Just research bottom half of the tech tree. About the upper half? :looking at AI city: Go and get it.

Arabia : Trade, Trade, Trade, CAMEL! Yes, My religion said that I can camel at you.

The Huns : No one doesn't like a 40 strength "spearmen" hitting a 15 def city. Unless he is rammed by it.

Korea, Babylon : Anyone interested in shooting pikeman with machine gun?

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or conquer all sea based cities on your continent with great galleases?
ships of the line during exploration phase? sea baggers?

and so on. every civ can be sucessful with a domination victory. some get no bonus directly like the science ones, but through science advantage they can still do this job. others have culture advantage, and get the crucial war SoPos earlier like full honor or exploration. with money you could get a nice UU from a military city state (like in one game where i had kheshiks and chokunus with VENICE )

The Zulus are a damn good domination civ.
The Danish I think are underestimated but their ability to execute rapid amphibious invasions is unparelled.

Mongols
China
England
Assyria
Arabia
Ethiopia
Poland
Russia
Rome
Babylon
Korea
Maya
USA
Ottomans

Zulu + Honor is just plain easy....all you need to do is get their UB up, spam spearmen, which turn into Impi, which turn into riflemen. Throw in a couple of siege units for softening up the cities and just go to town. Impi have no counter...they kill horses, they kill melee, they kill ranged, they kill gunpowder. And if you lose one, don't sweat it, just pump out another one in two turns (or just don't stop).

You can swarm any opposing defenses with minimal losses and then sit by the city walls sipping tea while you bring in your catapults. By the time they turn into cannons they will already have +range and double attack.

Put cultural civs with happiness wonders high on your hit list and away you go. To avoid major 'warmonger' penalties early on, try to take as few cities (but make sure the capital is one of them) as possible.

Thank you much for all the advice everyone.

I'm liking the look of the zulu and the dutch with a quick glance at those listed.