Domination victory as the Japanese

Dark Paladin X

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I'm planning to doing a domination victory as Japan on a Large map. 6 players, raging barbarians, no ancients ruins, and Prince difficulty (I don't I have the guts to do any difficulty harder than Prince and no idea what the AI will be like). I'm planning on playing as Japan because 1) I'm an anime geek, and 2) Their UA, Bushido, is just too awesome for domination victory. But I have a few questions before I actually do Domination victory. And knowing that Domination victory is one of the hardest victories to obtain, I want to hear a few tips and ideas.

1) What's is Japan's late game for domination victory is like when compared to other civilizations designed for domination victory? Do they have any significant advantages due to their unique ability? I've been reading threads their their Zero fighter unique unit is crap.

2) One of the biggest issues with late game domination victory is that you are going to have excessive unhappiness, diplomatic penalties, and gold problems. Particularly the later, because I have a habit of getting of most of my gold through trade routes. And since a lot of civilizations will be embargoing me for my warmongering attitude, it drastically cuts off my main gold income. And since I'm going to need a lot of GPT to maintain a strong army, are there any good alternatives on maintaing my GPT. And how should I deal with the excessive unhappniess?

3) I know one of the key things in obtaining domination victory is trying to build as many cities as possible. How often should I build cities (like a set criteria number of turns or something; i.e. every X number of turns, I should build at least one city)?

4) I know the two key factors of unhappniess in this game is usually owning a lot of cities, high population, and number of annexed/puppeted cities you have? What is the average population size I should try to maintain per city? And which unhappniess factor has the highest weight (my gut feelings is having a lots of cities, but I'll be mitigating this with Liberty social policy)?

5) Wonders will not be a big issue for me since I'll be aiming for domination victory and I'll be taking every city with a wonder anyways. But I need to build Wonders, what wonders are useful for Domination victory.

6) I already have some social Policies plans I should. Liberty and Honor being the highest priority, but what about my third social policy?

7) For ideology, I was thinking of of Authority. What useful tenets I should rush?

8) For research, what are the highest priority technologies on grabbing?

9) What opponent AI I should choose for domination victory? I want AI that have a significant early game disadvantage and relatively easy to conquer on or before Renaissance Era? I'm picking Venice and India since they are both known to have the weakest early games.

10) So since I'm going to get a lot of diplomatic penalty and aiming for domination victory, there is no reason to make any diplomatic alliances or friendships, even among other warmongers (IIRC, warmongers are not only relatively difficult to befriend; they usually have the lowest loyalty rating and will backstab you eventually if you befriend them. Although I do know there are few rare warmongers that have high loyalty rating like Shaka; they're difficult to befriend anyways).

11) Since I'm going to fight a lot of barbarians, will that give a significant advantage of unit level and exp?

12) How difficult with it be to build tile developments in my cities?

13) Finally, is it a good idea to say neutral with a lot of nations, then suddenly declare on them?

14) I usually play Pangea map, but I'm completely refuse to play Earth map since the resource locations are fixed. I want to try out different maps. What good maps I should try for domination victory.
 
Rush Great Library and National College and play one city until after oxford while beelineing to labs. And then blitzkrieg enemy knights and lancers with modern armor.
But it works much better with Babylon.
 
1) Japan's late game is virtually the same as everyone else's without a late-game UU, because the Zero is so bad it shouldn't even qualify as one. Yes, it's that bad.

2) Try getting a good religion going and get Tithe, which should give you a steady gold income throughout the game. Either snag Stonehenge or go Piety (or both!).

3) Erm, I would completely disagree with that assessment. For Domination, you want to "capital snipe" as much as possible; fewer cities, in general, is better, as it prevents you from running into ridiculous unhappiness penalties.

4) You're correct, it's the number of cities you have. Simply put, if a city you capture isn't great (I'm talking GREAT, not decent), raze it. Period. If you don't, you'll be knee-deep in happiness problems very, very quickly. The only exception to this rule would be if, say, you need a city to base your aircraft in or you need to be able to rush-buy reinforcements IMMEDIATELY.

5) If you have to get two wonders, go for Alhambra and Brandenburg Gate, and be sure to get them in the same city. If you can, every unit you produce can start with either March (preferable for melee, makes the unit heal every turn) or Logistics (preferable for ranged, allows 2 attacks per turn).

6) I might not even go Honor, it just depends. Honestly, it's a VERY weak tree, so oftentimes you're better off going Patronage, Aesthetics, or even Commerce as a second tree. One thing, though is to never, ever, EVER go Honor as your first tree unless you're the Huns or Assyria.

7) That would be Autocracy, yes :) That's probably gonna be the most useful, although Order can actually occasionally be better when you have a lot of cities in a Domination game. Go for Total War (combine that with Alhambra and Brandenburg, if possible, for absolute super units), the one that allows you to tech-steal twice as fast (I think that's in Autocracy, although it might be in Order...), and anything that gives you happiness, which'll be at a premium the entire game. Also, if you can, grab Neuschwanstein and combine it with the Autocracy tenet that gives happiness from Walls/Castles/etc. Each castle will provide something like 3 gold, 2 happiness, and 2 culture.

8) Science techs, science techs, science techs, and Steel (for Samurai). Otherwise, staying ahead in Science is absolutely imperative in a Domination game.

9) Those are good choices. Brazil is very weak early game, too, although they may spawn in a giant jungle, which would make them significantly tougher to wipe out.

10) Not true. Stay friends with people as long as possible; just one good trading partner can help keep both your happiness and gold afloat. You can prevent people from hating you too quickly by not backstabbing and trying to pick on the AI civ(s) that most other AI's hate.

11) Not really. Barbarian XP is capped at 30 XP, so you can't get great units from just fighting barbarians.

12) You don't want too many workers, as that costs valuable maintenance. As stated before, only keep great cities; by doing this, you can afford to grow a bit more (at least, until you hit a happiness wall, which will probably happen sooner or later).

13) It's really not that difficult until you've wiped out multiple civs. Only capture cities that will help you, since the warmonger diplomatic penalty is based on the percentage of the map's cities that you conquer. This also means that you shouldn't do a ton of warmongering early; try to time a conquering spree with Samurai.

14) Pangaea is pretty fun, although Continents is often more challenging, as there's a chance you'll run into a runaway civ on the other continent.

Hope this helps! :D
 
Aaron90495 makes some great points and I'd second what is said.

Just a few extras that I'd like to add - the Commerce tree is very powerful when you are playing a domination game and can really help you to keep your happiness/money afloat. Being able to build Big Ben is useful too as you will be able to purchase units cheaper.

Keep your culture/tourism high - don't ignore it! It is likely that not many (if any) of the civs that you have chosen will select Autocracy as an idealogy although the chances are that they may choose Order. You can find yourself with dissidents and major unhappiness everywhere if your culture isn't high and the other civs go for a differing idealogy. Also - if you are razing cities be sure to move any Great Works out into your own cities before the city disappears! This will boost your tourism and keep your influence high with other civs.

If you do go Honor (a tree that I actually like - but it really depends on playstyle) - building Statue of Zeus should be a priority.

Finally, build a strong ranged Navy if you have a lot of water on your map. The Japanese UA really shines when you use ranged ships because until you get the relevant promotion (Supply?) ships can't heal outside of friendly territory. This won't matter so much to Japan because they will still fire ranged shots at full strength even when heavily damaged whereas your opponent's ships will be much weaker. The same goes for aircraft - Japanese planes will continue doing full damage even when severely damaged. The reason the ranged units are so good is because there is no retaliation when you attack so there is little fear of losing the unit.

Have fun! :)
 
So burn down every city in sight. Got it. But should I keep cities that have any wonders in them? Cities that have wonders are usually ones that are worth keeping right?

And also, speaking of diplomacy, which warmonger civilization (or warmonger tolerance civilization) I should befriend that are quite loyal. Because usually warmonger civilizations are very difficult to befriend.

And the reason why I ask about building a lot of cities is trying to take control of as many strategic resource as possible. The more Oil, horses, Iron, Uranium, etc. I have, the more nukes, mechas, tanks, cavalry, knights, etc. I can build.
 
So burn down every city in sight. Got it. But should I keep cities that have any wonders in them? Cities that have wonders are usually ones that are worth keeping right?

Yes, typically keep the ones with wonders. Still, you need to be selective on what cities you take. Don't simply attack everything. Remember, you really only have to control all capitols to win. Attack cities at stragetic points. Maybe a city that has a resource you need, or one that controls a choke point, or will give you access to the other ocean (or another civ), etc.

And also, speaking of diplomacy, which warmonger civilization (or warmonger tolerance civilization) I should befriend that are quite loyal. Because usually warmonger civilizations are very difficult to befriend.

You might not be able to befriend a specific civ (ie warmonger), but try to befriend 1 or 2 civs, and attack them last. Friends are more forgiving of warmongering, but even they will eventually turn on you (or you on them). Remember, Japan does not get the samurai until late medieva era, so it might not be a good idea to tick everyone off before that time.

And the reason why I ask about building a lot of cities is trying to take control of as many strategic resource as possible. The more Oil, horses, Iron, Uranium, etc. I have, the more nukes, mechas, tanks, cavalry, knights, etc. I can build.

Don't build a lot of cities. As a warmonger, I usually only build 2 or 3. Take the rest (selectively). You will want to research bronze working early and plant a city next to (or on) some iron, preferably 6 if you can find it. If not, ally a CS that has it and protect that alliance. Japan without iron is a very bad thing.

Because you will be using samurai, you probably only need 2-4 horses. You WILL need oil later, but by the time you discover Biology it will probably be too late to found a city on/near oil. If you didn't get it, go take it instead. Same for Uranium, which isn't disocvered until Atomic Theory.

Some other points:

If you don't have to steal techs/rig an election, use spies to scout cities. If you plant a spy in the city next to the one you are attacking, you can see reinforcements approaching.

For Domination, you really need to watch your :c5happy: and :c5gold:. Those will be the hardest to maintain. Don't attack a 30:c5citizen: city when you are sitting at 1:c5happy: (unless maybe it has Notre Dame!). Don't attack a civ allied with a city state that is sitting on all your trade routes. Those things will kill the war machine.

Consider a hybrid policy approach with Honor. Go down the left side to get the extra exp from fighting, but fill out Tradition or Liberty to maintain your empire. Then get the rest of Honor if you want. Honor alone is good, but not great. Honor with Tradition or Liberty is excellent.
 
So burn down every city in sight. Got it. But should I keep cities that have any wonders in them? Cities that have wonders are usually ones that are worth keeping right?

And also, speaking of diplomacy, which warmonger civilization (or warmonger tolerance civilization) I should befriend that are quite loyal. Because usually warmonger civilizations are very difficult to befriend.

And the reason why I ask about building a lot of cities is trying to take control of as many strategic resource as possible. The more Oil, horses, Iron, Uranium, etc. I have, the more nukes, mechas, tanks, cavalry, knights, etc. I can build.

The Zulu, Mongols and Denmark are all very loyal civs that don't mind warmongering (they love it!), but they aren't very easy to make friends with.
 
1) What's is Japan's late game for domination victory is like when compared to other civilizations designed for domination victory? Do they have any significant advantages due to their unique ability? I've been reading threads their their Zero fighter unique unit is crap.
.

Well your air repair bombers will do more damage than someone else's would (since they will always be a little bit hurt)
2) One of the biggest issues with late game domination victory is that you are going to have excessive unhappiness, diplomatic penalties, and gold problems. Particularly the later, because I have a habit of getting of most of my gold through trade routes. And since a lot of civilizations will be embargoing me for my warmongering attitude, it drastically cuts off my main gold income. And since I'm going to need a lot of GPT to maintain a strong army, are there any good alternatives on maintaing my GPT. And how should I deal with the excessive unhappniess?
.
Autocracy tenets have good happiness

Make sure you have good tourism and that strong tourism Order/Freedom civs don't get Open Borders with you.

Mercantile CS can be good

Razing cities without wonder/good terrain.. temporarily razing worthwhile cities to cut the pop down



5) Wonders will not be a big issue for me since I'll be aiming for domination victory and I'll be taking every city with a wonder anyways. But I need to build Wonders, what wonders are useful for Domination victory.
.

Terracotta can be a good early boost... some wonders give an instant benefit to the builder but not the capturer


6) I already have some social Policies plans I should. Liberty and Honor being the highest priority, but what about my third social policy?
.

Commerce is good for happiness and buying units
Rationalism helps you keep up in technology


7) For ideology, I was thinking of of Authority. What useful tenets I should rush?
.
Cheaper unit purchase
Happiness from def buildings/exp buildings/courthouses [depending on your actual happiness needs]
Cheaper unit maintenance
Total war


10) So since I'm going to get a lot of diplomatic penalty and aiming for domination victory, there is no reason to make any diplomatic alliances or friendships, even among other warmongers (IIRC, warmongers are not only relatively difficult to befriend; they usually have the lowest loyalty rating and will backstab you eventually if you befriend them. Although I do know there are few rare warmongers that have high loyalty rating like Shaka; they're difficult to befriend anyways).
.

probably, remember you can still ally city states.


11) Since I'm going to fight a lot of barbarians, will that give a significant advantage of unit level and exp?
.
Not really.. it is a small early boost, but once you have armories your new units are as good as barb hardened ones.

14) I usually play Pangea map, but I'm completely refuse to play Earth map since the resource locations are fixed. I want to try out different maps. What good maps I should try for domination victory.

Pangea is fastest, but Continents is nice.

Island maps are easy because the AI isn't good at naval warfare (in that case focus on exploration social policy)
 
Large map with 6 other players? That's a lot of land to be filled. Raging barbarians will seriously kneecap AI expansion especially in a large map. I've seen AI capitol being siege by Barbs in a small map with 5 other players on Prince.
 
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