Domination Strategies - Emperor and Above

So, having just finished a King-level game with Poland where by the end I was basically sabotaging my cultural and diplomatic victory opportunities because I wanted to win via science (while avoiding a lot of wars I could have easily won, as well) I'm moving to Emperor and wanting to finally dominate for real. The tedium of the peaceful late-game has made me yearn for blood.

That said, I'd feel most comfortable wrecking the world if I have a chance to build up my infrastructure such that I don't get teched-out if I get lost in the doldrums of tons of war. I'm guessing China is my best bet there, so I'm probably going with that.

So, I'm looking for general tips, such as:

1.) What wonders should I strive for, and which ones count as too unlikely to grab? I'm guessing Statue of Zeus is both doable and a must-have. Great Library might still be attainable at Emperor if not beyond that. Temple of Artemis probably a waste of hammers.

2.) If I'm beelining (within reason) to Machinery, and starting my campaign with CKN, what composition should I ideally have before starting out?

3.) Is the strategy for using GG's as simple as keeping them near the center of your attack force?

4.) To what degree does waiting for others to ask me to join in their war effort help me diplomatically? Should I care?

5.) Is there any benefit to putting effort into repairing relationships with civs whose capitals I've conquered?

6.)Anything I'm not thinking about?

Thanks.

You do not need any wonders and you don't need Honor policy for a Domination game. If you want to use it, you could build Zeus of course. But if it's a tight game, it might be better to invest those hammers in units rather than a wonder.

Do you plan to play Poland? Just asking because some Civs favour a different Domination approach because of their UUs. If you play a Civ without an early Warmonger unit, Composites + 1-2 melee/horsemen and maybe 1-2 catapults are great. The siege units are not mandatory but speed things up and your long term should be to reach Dynamite asap. Then you could really use some battle hardened units to upgrade them and reach the Logistics promotion.

Before attacking this early, you might check the terrain of the enemy capital. if it is surrounded by Hills, be aware the Bows + Siege might have a problem shooting over it.

Oh and don't get the GL on Emperor. it's possible but it is a gamble and you need to sink a lot of resources to reach it first. it's not worth it, especially if you are going Domination anyways.

Navelgazer said:

...sabotaging my cultural and diplomatic victory opportunities because I wanted to win via science...

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CV & SV go hand in hand. Have a strong science start and you'll get to the cultural techs first. Have a strong cultural start you'll open Rationalism earlier.

Navelgazer said:

...Temple of Artemis probably a waste of hammers...

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Assuming this is built in a strong production city this isn't a waste imo. You'll get your investment in hammers back from the buff from producing ranged units.

Although a noob at warmongering I've been trying out a bit of early capital capping myself and have 2 tips:
Don't go for the cities(s) too early. You want to kill all of the AI's units first, using a combination of worker baiting and retreat to accomplish this.
As DocRock has suggest ignore cities on hills/surrounded by rough terrain for now. Target those cities on flat land first as you can take those with archers. The rest will need composite bowmen and crossbows to take, some will need cannons and artillery.

Shaka
He needs to be taken out early, or late as his Impi are OP. I've only ever once been successful against a neighboring Shaka and that's because I beelined Navigation.
Atilla
Don't be scared by him as his Battering Rams are pretty useless against an attacking force.
Nebuchadnezzar
The AI can't really play as him but you should as you'll be first to machinery for a long time. The detour wont affect your building of Universities much as you can build the workshop.

1) Don't build any Wonders

2) Ignore XBows and CKN. Get 3 Composite Bowmen and 2-3 Spearmen and hit the AI as hard and fast as you can.

3) GG are not crucial to Domination Victory but yes, you should keep them protected in the center of your formations.

4) Screw diplomacy, you talk with your sword!

5) Screw diplomacy, you talk with your sword!

6) Hit the AI hard, fast, and overwhelm them as early as possible. Steal Workers, kill their early Settler, pillage their tiles to destroy their economy and happiness. Tonight you dine in hell

you can also just science and infrastructure up till like cannon or gwi or something and then start warring and taking everything over when you get a science lead, ofc this is assuming you should still be looking for good spots/ pick your battles wisely. if theres an easy capital to take like ethiopia is building all the wonders in his only city by all means take it lol.

I think there are windows of opportunity for overtaking of civs (leaving naval out of it) that give you a significant advantage. Darkest Onion has described the first - if you can get to cities with like <15 strength quickly, you can rush something as he has described. Xbows is kinda the next time and you can ride that for quite a while. Artillery another spot. By then, you should be well on the way. You should be prepared to make a rush attack at each of these spots.

Another thing that is not mentioned above - money obviously helps the situation a lot. Keep the gold flowing to either buy troops or buy buildings so you can build troops and upgrade troops immediately.

Make alliances with city states.
Commerce or Honor are the best for warmongering IMO. If your poland, try to fit one (Or Both) of them into your strategy.
Terracotta army is useful, especially if you have some UU's around the time your finish it. If you time it correctly, you could could even get extra winged hussars as poland (Well... that is if Zulu or Assyria aren't in the game. They are large fans of that wonder.)

How can you get Terracotta Army at Emperor level in late renaissance (Metallurgy)? It is usually long gone by then regardless of the civs in the game. If no warmonger builds it then even a peaceful civ like India or Brazil build it. If I beeline education and only go to the ancient era techs on the lower part of the tree I don't even get to construction in time to build it.

Right: for your domination game you're interested in three things.

1) Getting military tech quickly.
2) Getting units produced quickly.
3) Maintaining happiness.

Anything that doesn't approach one of these three goals should be a secondary priority.

DarkestOnion said:

1) Don't build any Wonders

2) Ignore XBows and CKN. Get 3 Composite Bowmen and 2-3 Spearmen and hit the AI as hard and fast as you can.

3) GG are not crucial to Domination Victory but yes, you should keep them protected in the center of your formations.

4) Screw diplomacy, you talk with your sword!

5) Screw diplomacy, you talk with your sword!

6) Hit the AI hard, fast, and overwhelm them as early as possible. Steal Workers, kill their early Settler, pillage their tiles to destroy their economy and happiness. Tonight you dine in hell

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This is excellent advice all the way to diety. If you want a pure domination game with no distractions, do this:

stanard pangea map - you can walk to every enemy.
only build one city - your first - no more.
the only building is a monument - build order: monument, archer, archer, archer, archer, spearman, spearman, archer, archer, trade routes, more archers to protect the acquired cities.
tech order is archery, mining, masonary, bronze working, AH, wheel, construction. After construction, get the lux techs, then beeline civil service, then machinary.
explore with your warrior - find ruins and enemies.
policies: only honour - left side first. plant the free GG near your capital for added protection; keep the 1st earned GG with your army, all others are planted around your cities to access lux or used as enemy bait.
Other people make all your workers.

first archers farm barbs for experience and influence with city states.
attack your closest enemy as soon as you have 4 archers and 2 spearmen - protect your archers - they will soon be double shot, extra range composites. Start with a non-capital city - it will be weaker. Destroy their army first then take the city. Rinse and repeat until you have all the capitals - raze almost all non-capital cities.

Everyone will hate you - deals are possible until the 2nd civ falls. Store gold for upgrades and rush buying. Sell any luxs in excess of 0 happiness even if you only have 1 of it whilst you can.

Enjoy.

I like your style warmonger, well said.