What's my next move?

On my current game, I am Askia.

I built my first city along a river in the desert. I tend to build where I start. Along the way, I discover El Dorado, so I place a city next to it. I still lacked a coastal city so I captured the CS Helsinki since there was not any good places to build a new city on the coast.

That was my empire for awhile and then I DOW'd Darius to go for the domination win. After two wars (the first time I accepted a peace treaty since he made a deal too good to refuse) I captured Persepolis.

The only Persian city left as far I can tell, is Pasargdae which is sandwiched between two of my cities. Since domination is my goal, should I bother with taking it? I can steamroll right over it and end Persia. If I take it, should I raze or puppet it and give it to whoever gives me the best deal?

I think Persepolis is coastal city. I might annex it and make that my naval base, but give Helsinki away since I also annexed it and I do now need to annexed coastal cities.

Also, Helsinki is a good place for a denfensive stronghold. It is surrounded by hills, two mountains and I could easily cut off enemy access to it.

What should I do from here?

If you have the happiness for it, then take it and then march onto the capital.
Maybe post a picture for us, just so we can see if it is worth it.

Don't bother with Pasargadae unless it's got something you want, like wonders or resources. Otherwise, it sounds like Darius is not a threat at all. Of course, later on, if the turn times become too tedious, you could take him later just to eliminate one of the turns.

Never take an AIs last city. That eliminates them from the game and gives you massive warmonger penalties. Other AIs will hate you, give you worse deals, it can start chain denouncements and it's just generally not worth it. Just ignore it for now. Of course once you are sure you'll conquer the world, take the city out at your leasure.

yung.carl.jung said:

Never take an AIs last city. That eliminates them from the game and gives you massive warmonger penalties. Other AIs will hate you, give you worse deals, it can start chain denouncements and it's just generally not worth it. Just ignore it for now. Of course once you are sure you'll conquer the world, take the city out at your leasure.

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Ok, I will leave Darius alone. To the north is Monty and the Aztecs. He has the great wall and a few walled cities and the larges territory. His fight is going to be tough.

Darth Tribble said:

Ok, I will leave Darius alone. To the north is Monty and the Aztecs. He has the great wall and a few walled cities and the larges territory. His fight is going to be tough.

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Why? If you are going for a Dom victory you are going to be hated no matter what. You can't keep the AI sweet while also killing them.

Also if you know an AI has the great wall and will be tough to beat, they are the ones you should ignore. Time is finite, the longer you spend in a drawn out war, the less other options you can be pursuing, like full focusing science to unlock artillery.

yung.carl.jung said:

Never take an AIs last city. That eliminates them from the game and gives you massive warmonger penalties. Other AIs will hate you, give you worse deals, it can start chain denouncements and it's just generally not worth it. Just ignore it for now. Of course once you are sure you'll conquer the world, take the city out at your leasure.

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I kill them just because I hate listening to their pathetic threats and whiny denouncements for the rest of the game.

yung.carl.jung said:

Never take an AIs last city. That eliminates them from the game and gives you massive warmonger penalties. Other AIs will hate you, give you worse deals, it can start chain denouncements and it's just generally not worth it. Just ignore it for now. Of course once you are sure you'll conquer the world, take the city out at your leasure.

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He said he's going for a domination victory. I don't think he really cares about warmonger penalties.
Civs can't hate you when they're dead.

Just make sure you keep your trade routes up with the CSs so you don't go in the neg on GPT. Also, go commerce after Honor. Also, build markets/banks/stock exchange, and have a specialist work 1 or 2 slots per city. When going Domination, you don't really care that a GM pushes back your next GS or GE.

Save the guy with Great Wall for last. If he get's Dynamite before you get him then all is good. If he doesn't, oh well. If it's a slightly longer war due to Great Wall, it won't matter because this will be the final Capital, so you're not losing anything in opportunity cost AND you're not giving the other civs more time, because they're dead.

Just remember that Persia will have his votes counted in world congress whenever its available. Sometimes it can be better to eliminate the AIs.

Callonia said:

Just remember that Persia will have his votes counted in world congress whenever its available. Sometimes it can be better to eliminate the AIs.

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I agree.
Civs can't hate you when they're dead.