Domination

[Rebslager]

I have been playing 3 games all as Japan but it has made me think. What is the best nation to play as if you want a domination victory? I have had some problems in the games even though they all has come out in my favor(prince level).

1) Happiness !!!: Damn my citizens are annoying.
2) Gold: At some point I have cash problems. Mostly because of happiness problems.
3) Social: I have problems choosing which one to pick. I have never completed a whole brance but is that a problem. For now I have gone: 3 in honer, 3 commence, 3 order and a single one in autocracy and "the science" tree. I don't know if I am way off.
4) For some reason the computer players are very glad for food improvements. My cities is almost never over 12 but the computer has several over 18. Am I building my ciies wrong?
5) Which country should I pick playing? Should I go with France?

Even though I like domination victories I don't like to play it one sided. I like to have my people a little over 0 i happiness and I also like to have a culturel flow to get the Social... which leads to my money problem.

Do anyone have any idea for me? :-)

[fed1943]

From my experience France, China, Babylon and Greece are very good.

[stormerne]

I would start by trying Greece. For two reasons. Firstly, their unique unit of companion cavalry is perfect for an early domination rush. Secondly, you get good value when gifting money to city states. (Maritime city states can feed your empire, allowing you to grow more gold instead.) On the other hand, a domination rush usually means you will ignore city states as you'll pump your money into purchasing companion cavalry!

Mongolia is another good one. In that case their Great General is a Khan and can keep up with the horsemen - and they both get five moves instead of four!

However, it also depends on how many civs you will be playing against, what map type you'll have and what difficulty you prefer. For example, a duel pangaea will be over in 70 turns or so using a standard horseman rush, even on deity, so you won't need to plan for a long game. By contrast, a huge archipelago game will need careful planning and city states and social policies before more important.

[Cywil]

try Germans for early domination

[Darth Caesar]

ROME!!!!!!!!!! I think.

[Set]

Askia

Mandekalu Cavalry are AWESOME!!! and the UA is pretty good too