Science Victory always seems most optimal on Immortal +

Hey guys,

Just finished a Portugal Immortal Epic game which I won by SV.

I would've like to have gone for a Diplo victory, however the AI as usual all chose Order, and since I didn't focus on culture very much I had low Tourism, which would've ended up in massive unhappiness had i chose Order or Autocracy, which are obviously much better Ideologies for Diplo victories.

Aside from this, the certainty behind researching techs and building Spaceship parts, as well as the overall importance of Science in ANY victory condition always seems to end up in me winning by SV regardless of the Civ I choose.

Has anyone else found themselves in a similar position and managed to branch out from relying on SV's all the time?

What I tend to do is work out how close behind me the other civs are , and save the last space ship part, the try push for a different victory.
As you said strong science puts you in a good position but I find different games have different "flavours" sometimes I have finished Tradition very early and I find myself with both patronage and commerce also open before Rationalisation, and with a bit bribery, you aren't far off a diplomatic victory. It all depends how your competitors are doing.

On Immortal diplo is pretty easy with strong culture and an early Freedom open, but I don't usually play tall/Freedom, it's boring.

I can usually get a diplo victory within sight about the same time that I'm finishing spaceship. Meaning the second or third World Leader vote. One tool that Immortal gives you for diplo victory is there's a lot more conquest, so you can liberate one or two civs if you're aggressive in the modern era, which is some free votes.

Yeah, it kind of bothers me that science dictates every other victory condition, even though that does make a lot of sense. But it's just boring to always rely on science.... it's basically like the must-have Tradition start which has become the optimal=best strat on higher difficulties regardless of what VC you choose.

There's some civs with a faster victory condition than science on Immortal *, but science is King towards any condition.

* Biggest example of this is Brazil. Late game caravel induced cultural victory; for them it's achievable before the internet even if you don't get wonders with theming bonuses.