When do you decide on a victory condition?

I

InFlux5

King
Joined
May 25, 2003
Messages
617
The way a lot of the civs' UA is designed, it seems like it's often a good idea to decide on a VC before the game even starts.

Nonetheless, I prefer the idea of starting without a preconceived notion and deciding based on the map. (Choosing a certain map for a certain type of victory may play a role for many, but personally I prefer Continents for a variety of reasons. I don't like the idea of, for example, loading up a Pangaea to play a Domination Victory. It feels too much like cheating.)

So let's say you start out without a clear idea of what victory you're going for. When do you decide? And what are the main factors that go into your decision?
 
Science is usually the default victory to start. If the mood strikes me and conditions are favorable I may shift to domination. Will
switch to diplomacy if economy is better than expected and Venice/Austria aren't on the map gobbling up city states.

Culture victory decision has to come earliest for me, really depends on how the AI is doing. If wonders are going quick, CV may need to be domination aided.


A lot of it depends on the AI. Even on King I've seen incredible wonder building and domination snowballing by the AI. Not enough to result in an AI victory but enough to make me change my plans from one VC to another.

Map types make a difference too. I may want to start a domination victory only to find I'm on a pangea jungle/hilll/forest mess and don't have the patience for troop mgmt.
 
I almost never decide until near the end. I try and keep all aspects of my civ as good as possible but ultimately it's all about survival to the end game, and then keeping the AI from winning until I can. Usually Diplomatic or Science are at hand first and Cultural just always seems impossible on Immortal unless I take out a few AIs first.
 
I think it's always best to keep the science victory in mind from the start and then swap accordingly as the game goes on. Science is the safest option.

It depends on the AI going for a diplomatic victory for example with Greece, Venice or Mongolia in the game won't be easy. I just recently finished a game and at the end there was only two city states left.
 
Sometimes on turn 0 when I decide the civ, other times as late as when I need to pick the first filler policy (after completing my first tree while waiting to be allowed into Rationalism)
 
If I am going for a culture victory, I usually have decided that when I start a game. The same goes for early Domination victory. Otherwise, I just go with the flow and decide to do what I feel like doing for Science, Diplomatic, or late game Domination as things happen in the game.
 
For the most part, from turn 0 but there are exceptions since I'm not a top tier player:

If I have a great start, I'm more likely to go Culture since I'll be able to get midgame techs early enough to secure me a few wonders, and then beeline to archeologists.

If I have a not-so-great start, the go-to VC is Science.

If I have a fairly crap start, I either survive long enough to score a Diplo win or get stomped by a neighbor :lol:
 
I decide what I am aiming for at the start of the game, but then also leave room to adapt to a plan B if necessary (i.e. some Science games end up being Diplomacy games).
 
Before start the game.

I'm picking just one victory condition before starting the game. Also, DV is always there. So, there is always 2 Victory Conditions in my games. Like; DV + CV or DV + SV etc. etc.
 
When I start the game and pick my civ. I used to go towards a SV when my original plan is not going so well just to win, but now I just leave the game if that happens.
 
I go in with a general idea and I try to stick to it but sometimes an opportunity will present itself to go in a different direction and I'll take it. I'd say 90% of games I finish the way I went into planning it, but depending on difficulty or the civs I'm playing against I'll have to adjust my plans.

If I'm playing a civ that isn't really geared towards a victory condition I'll just go in and start playing and see what happens based on resources and which wonders I get. Religion is kind of a wild card that can sway which way I go.

Sooooo, I guess all that didn't answer any question at all.
 
Acken said:
On turn 0.
Click to expand...

Do you mean to say you go in with a plan or you can make a decision just by looking at your start location?

@ OP - I pretty much go in with a VC in mind every game. This dicatates the civ I choose and sometimes even the map type/game length. If I ever do decide to go random civ Deity or something, I usuallly just play the game as if I'm going for a SV and stray into dom/diplo if the game goes that way.
 
I decide beforehand if I will attempt Domination or not. If not Domination, then I usually aim for either wide culture or tall culture, but if I'm not in a great position ca. T120, I will go for Diplo instead. Science is a last resort for me on account of how boring it is.
 
Aheadatime said:
Do you mean to say you go in with a plan or you can make a decision just by looking at your start location?
Click to expand...

I tend to pick something that I can use the civ I'm playing with or for flavour. So no Zulu science.
Although half the maps I play have an imposed victory anyway (Gotm).
 
I generally try to focus on science because that will help you win any victory condition. Then I like to pinpoint other civs who have wonders I may want or who look like they might be on their way to a culture win (the 2 are often related) and try to take their cities if possible. Then toward the end of the game I try to get the culture-boosting wonders and get to Internet as soon as I can while also beelining Hubble as soon as possible. At that point you can go for Globalization if a Diplo vic looks possible, or go back to the spaceship parts techs. And unless you've been turtling the whole game you should have a decent shot at domination with your advanced science and policies, and at culture from all the stolen wonders and works.
 
How many of you play entirely with the 4 city model but then mid to late game you are going for a Culture win and see that it would be in your best interest to start taking over some Capitols to gain Wonders and to slow the AI down. Thus now you don't have the 4 city model anymore...you have 6-8. I tend to do this...how many others too.

Also...is that a bad thing...I guess it's not unless you want to lose.

Brew God
 
brewgod said:
How many of you play entirely with the 4 city model but then mid to late game you are going for a Culture win and see that it would be in your best interest to start taking over some Capitols to gain Wonders and to slow the AI down. Thus now you don't have the 4 city model anymore...you have 6-8. I tend to do this...how many others too.

Also...is that a bad thing...I guess it's not unless you want to lose.

Brew God
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the "4 city model" refers to 4 self-founded cities. As for puppets, the sky's the limit (and Happiness of course).
 
As soon as you see your starting location or before you start the game if you just want to make your civs ua, uu' s/b's work under any conditions
 
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