In this thread i shall attempt to dominate the world...

Not sure how it'll play out, but i'll post visual evidence of the struggle against my opposition as i can.

Warning: this game may take me a long time to finish due to me being extremely slow in war-heavy games, and my tendency to play many other games before finishing older ones.

The adventure begins with a specific set of civs, all with a war flavor of 6 or higher.
civ bias flavor info here: (acquired from here)


Here is the game setup:

Total of 15 civs, Frontier map (because it's awesome), everything else normal, Emperor, with me taking random civ (was rather hoping i wouldn't get screwed with someone poor at war, haha).

And here we go!

I roll Arabia. Quite happy with this civ for this game.

I am not happy with my starting location (started on southern-most jungle river tile).
I really dislike jungle starts as it takes forever to get going. I take my warrior NE and find zero ocean resources and more jungle NE.
Settler wanders SE and things don't look good.

In hindsight, my start really wasn't that bad, and settling on the hill just SW of the Gems would have been just fine, but for some reason at the time i really didn't like it.

I continue wandering south with the settler, and realize i might be in huge trouble if i don't find a spot in a hurry.
Luckily, a desert river hill appears, and without even seeing what else is around south of it, i climb up and settle, on t4 finally.
This is the latest i have ever settled a city in a game i actually plan to play thru to the end.


It does not take long to see i have settled right beside Milan, but more importantly, that the location i've moved to is rather terrible, unless two things occur.
Those two things. Desert Folklore, and Petra. Without them, this is going to be one absolutely terrible capital.

Immediately, i focus on getting a shrine up, and then prepare to tech toward Currency for Petra.

We meet our first neighbor, Nebby.

Soon after, a wild Monte appears!


I decide my Liberty-derived worker needs a friend in the form of another worker-buddy, acquired from Warsaw


Nebby wants to be friends.
While not really close, he's certainly one of my closest neighbors discovered thus far, so i decline.


t26
The deserts become filled with faith, praise the lord!


Hitler, err, Bismark shows his face.
One of my most hated rivals in civ5 for his uncanny ability to fill every bit of land with his cities and run away with games.


t63, religion founded.
We like tithe, and Asceticism for the extra gold, and the extra happiness we will no doubt need in our quest to take over the world.

Our current scout sees Monte escorting trouble our way.


We have our own settler, heading to locate a third place to call home.


Our archer has been keeping tabs on the southern front as there has been Babylonian activity there, and now sees a significant gathering.
Harun knows what impending screen will appear soon.

Tlaxcala puts down roots far too close for comfort, and Harun grows even more troubled.


And the very expected visit from Nebby finally transpires.


Ranged units keep Babylon's units away from causing any real trouble, but then real trouble begins.


As all units were occupied with the war down south, this attack is highly concerning.

As soon as it is procured, a wall is built with gold, and almost all units race north to assist in the defense.

Fantastic news in the capital!
Construction of Petra has concluded. This is easily the best thing to happen in this game thus far, and gives me great hope for its future.


We manage to push back the Aztecs and burn their nearby city to the ground.


Religion is enhanced with more happiness boosting to buildings, and Itinerant Preachers


Finally Nebby is willing to offer some gold for the war he started, which we take.


Our forces have pushed back the Aztecs, and they are willing to cease the war.


It's time to visit Nebby again, this time on our own terms


The nazis complete one of my very favorite wonders.


After a fairly good scuffle, we add Babylon to our empire.


Apparently, we have too many units and are being penalized for this.


I free Kathmandu from Babylonian hands and make peace with Nebby for his small chunk of gold, leaving him with one city.


Grr, Monte sends a settler back to the same spot. I manage to get units to form a line to stop him, but he settles one tile farther back this time.


Lots of missionaries have been doing their job well.


Monte drops a citadel, stealing one of my sugars.
This means war. Well, i was planning to attack him again anyway, but it appears he wants to give me even more reasons.

I add Milan to my empire before dealing with Monte again.
I've bullied them countless times for workers and gold and they hated me anyway, and i don't want unfriendly CSes right beside my cap.


Germany doesn't like me anymore apparently.
I've had good relations with the Huns, France, Sweden, and them, until now.


We resume warring with the Aztecs, while Tithe continues funding our military nicely.


Finally we conquer Tenochititlan, Aztec's capital, and make peace, leaving him with one city.


Germany is doing what they always do in my games. So. Many. Cities. And of course their science is doing great and they are right with me in the tech race (or maybe ahead by then, cannot remember).


I decide it's time gain some favor with the other civs around Germany he's beating on.
Denouncement back at you, Bizzy.


WTH Attila, i thought we were pals?
Even if it's a terrible force, i don't want to have to deal with the Huns as i want to deal with ze Germans ASAP.


I pay off Germany to attack the Huns, and France.


Naturally, i see what Napolean wants to pay me to attack Germany.
Yup, sounds good.

Hopefully the Huns and French can keep him busy while i head thru French territory toward his cap.

Nebby settled a city not too far from his old cap, and i decide i want the silk beside it. Citadels are great, and i'm quite happy to piss off Nebby now that he's hobbled.


Life at t191


The terrain en route to German lands results in very slow movement forward, and i can see it's going to be very tough doing much to his cities without a lot of losses.


Heh, haven't met them, but i see Greece has found a horrible spot to settle instead of one of the great spots west or south...


Shortly after, i meet Greece as they have a unit swimming near my forces attacking Germany.
I pay them to help Germany to be at war with as many civs as possible.


WTH France...this is not good, as i was counting on them remainly cooperative in the fight against Germany (open borders from them is crucial to access Germany).


War against Germany up north did not go well, so i migrated south to deal with his crappier cities.


Yay, Professional Army finally.


We finally manage to get two German cities, and burn one to the ground.
We make peace with Germany for some gold + gpt, as i need to deal with the French now that they've decided to be problematic.
Soon after, a settler arrives to re-settle the razed former German city-site...fortunately my lines of units block that from happening.


Life at t214


Tech tree t214


Scouts hanging out in cities to aid in happiness and culture.

Due to some issues, i am unfortunately missing about 20 turns worth of images, but i'll try to fill in the action.

Colombo is my gateway CS ally to the other section of land.
3 workers and a pike kept a French merchant away from them for quite a number of turns while i set up for the war against Nappy.

Former German city, Duisburg, was very useful as a war base of operations.
I moved my Crossbows there to upgrade them to Gatling Guns, and Pikes to Lancers, and Treb to Cannon.

I was able to line units up around Paris outside their borders on the west, south, and east so no units needed to get kicked out of their territory when i attacked.
Paris fell according to plan. Lyon was worse due to lack of initial positioning, but it fell as well.

Then south i returned Helsinki to Sweden accidentally, as i thought they were a city state but aren't anymore i guess?
No matter, Sweden can use the help and they've been a great friend and trading partner.
For peace, Nappy agreed to give me Dresden, and they kept Orleans.


I then returned to the German lines for more action.
Should i have waited till Artillery?
Probably, but Harun was impatient for more war.

The battle against Germany has been rough.

Frigates and a scout (ala vanilla style) allowed me to take Munich, which is burning, but Berlin has resulted in many casualties.
Every turn a unit dies as my army tries to get into position.

Bizzy paused building the Porcelain Tower to add an Arsenal to their already very defended capital which is really annoying as it may mean i take their cap before Porcelain is finished, not to mention being two turns away from being able to try stealing a tech...
Really should have waited a bit longer to attack them i think, but too late now.


I finally met the final unmet civ, Boudicca. She built the Great Wall.
As diplomacy shows, many civs don't like me for being a warmongering menace to the world.
I have some friends still, but i know it's only a matter of time before my extremely profitable lux trading economy weakens due to all partners being unhappy with me.

Back at home, Monte and Nebby have both started filling in the massive space Frontier gives. I'm hoping they don't try anything silly.


Big Ben was successfully created in Mecca to great celebration.


I need to work on an actual Navy as there are so many civs far away i will need to deal with, but my best coastal cities are facing a large lake, so i need to rush buy any naval units presently, since production is impossibly slow in Damascus.

Is that a fractal frontier? Interesting map tis random gives

It can create either pangea or large continents; i believe this one is continents, though i've not uncovered enough fog to say for certain yet.

Best of luck!

I don't think huge map and normal speed work so well together. You'll need a big, a huge, air force to conquer the entire world. Stealth bombers and nukes FTW.

I'm not sure, but I think that may be the first time I've ever seen a human player be first in approval.

Interesting game, Btw.

The Pilgrim said:

I don't think huge map and normal speed work so well together. You'll need a big, a huge, air force to conquer the entire world. Stealth bombers and nukes FTW.

Click to expand...

I should clarify that i don't care about conquering every single city out there, just attempting to win via domination.
I agree it's going to be tougher, which was the whole point!
Obviously it's going to take a lot more time with 14 other civs to deal with, which should allow me to enjoy some more modern warfare, indeed.

I'm not too worried as things are looking quite good actually.

Heerlo said:

I'm not sure, but I think that may be the first time I've ever seen a human player be first in approval.

Interesting game, Btw.

Click to expand...

Not sure how the approval is calculated?

Thanx!

The war against Germany continues...

Our longtime friend and trading partner finally decides he wants to be one of next targets.
Foolish move, Gustavus. Right after i liberated Helsinki for you, too. How ungrateful.


We finally reach Fertilizer. Finally some of my poorer cities can grow!


Oh happy day!
Agent Khenzeer, you have done well
Free Electricity.


The aforementioned tech reveals our very limited supplies of Aluminum
3 by the cap, and 3 by Babylon. We will definitely need to conquer more.


t237, Berlin falls to the Arabians, after heavy losses on both sides.
Inside we see the beloved Chichen Itza, and Stonehenge for good measure.
Porcelain Tower they did not finish, which is very unfortunate for us.


Good news back on the homefront. Babylon completes a Sistine Chapel, which will help in our attempt to complete more Autocracy policies eventually.


And the real prize of Germany, tucked away in Leipzig. They had finished Machu Picchu not that long ago. Harun had desired this wonder greatly, but was unable to task a force to built it himself, due to an utter lack of nearby mountains.

ense7en said:

I should clarify that i don't care about conquering every single city out there, just attempting to win via domination.
I agree it's going to be tougher, which was the whole point!
Obviously it's going to take a lot more time with 14 other civs to deal with, which should allow me to enjoy some more modern warfare, indeed.

I'm not too worried as things are looking quite good actually.

Click to expand...

Dominating 15 civs on standard speed sounds sooo tedious to me. If you're experienced with such setup, I'll take your word here. Actually, if you aren't, I'll still take it, because I most definitely am not familiar with huge maps dynamics.

Not sure how the approval is calculated?

Click to expand...

I think it's 60% for 0 happiness and then +/-3% for each happy/angry face you have. So basically whenever you have 14+ you're at 100%. Since G&K it's fairly common to see a human with 100%. And most of AI controlled civs are also over 13 happiness, obviously, unless they give up on all their luxes in exchange for peace.

The Pilgrim said:

Dominating 15 civs on standard speed sounds sooo tedious to me. If you're experienced with such setup, I'll take your word here. Actually, if you aren't, I'll still take it, because I most definitely am not familiar with huge maps dynamics.


I think it's 60% for 0 happiness and then +/-3% for each happy/angry face you have. So basically whenever you have 14+ you're at 100%. Since G&K it's fairly common to see a human with 100%. And most of AI controlled civs are also over 13 happiness, obviously, unless they give up on all their luxes in exchange for peace.

Click to expand...

Oh yes, tedious it is.
Extremely so, hence the initial warning that i might not finish this game anytime soon, haha.
I wanted a challenge, and this is going to supply one for sure.

Thanx for the info on approval, i didn't realize it had to do with happiness.

I'm rolling along pretty nicely right now (will post more screenshots later), but the real issue is happiness, as usual, and this is going to be even more magnified with so many capitals to take.
I suspect i'll be doing a ton of city selling later on, well, or gifting, and that brings me to my other annoyance.

Pretty much all the AI are broke.
Like well over half are -gpt constantly.
Admittedly i am milking them of gold via trades like you wouldn't believe due to the Bazaar doubling luxs, but still, almost no one has gold.
I am making insane GPT (around 150gpt just from from trades) from the many AI in spite of this, but if they actually had gold, it'd be even better.

I'm a huge sucker for Tithe myself. But playing wide happiness is much tighter than cash flow. So maybe Ceremonial Burial would have been better. And there are pagodas and mosques. In my recent ICS attempt I took every happiness boost possible and thought I totally overkilled it, sitting with 40 and ~25 cities. Then I've got few more cities and all of them started to grow. Split of a second and I was in the red zone. But, since you have so much cash, you can easily rush buy every happiness building out there. And massive annexing with Autocracy helps a lot. I think you'll be fine.

AI is totally broke. I love it and hate it at the same time. Is there a moment when AI finally has some money at emperor? At immortal it becomes less broke by Industrial. Sometimes. Maybe there is some little tiny hope?

Leipzig looks like it might become the future financial center of zee Caliphate you are developing, ens...

Maybe you could pay them off to DOW each other so that their gpt might stabilize for the better (by relieving them of some units and maybe cities too)?

The Pilgrim said:

AI is totally broke. I love it and hate it at the same time. Is there a moment when AI finally has some money at emperor? At immortal it becomes less broke by Industrial. Sometimes. Maybe there is some little tiny hope?

Click to expand...

Well, there was once when runaway ethiopia offered me something like 3000+ gold for peace. That was the largest sum I've ever seen post-Fall... and it happened really late.

smallfish said:

Leipzig looks like it might become the future financial center of zee Caliphate you are developing, ens...

Maybe you could pay them off to DOW each other so that their gpt might stabilize for the better (by relieving them of some units and maybe cities too)?



Well, there was once when runaway ethiopia offered me something like 3000+ gold for peace. That was the largest sum I've ever seen post-Fall... and it happened really late.

Click to expand...

Not such a bad idea. I could pay them off, and the promptly sell them more luxs with the money they have from me, hahaha.
I'd break even and they'd be at war...hmm, brilliant idea really.

Yeah i remember the days of AI sitting on 10,000, to 50,000 gold stacks...which they could have used with devastating results. I think they use a lot of their excess to rush buy units on Immortal now, which is why i have a lot more trouble with Immortal post-patch. (Emperor i still find easy enough generally.)

Arabian explorers discover Harold's fleet, and make note of its size for future visits.


Oooh, more coal hiding in Hamburg. This is excellent news as our existing supply is not plentiful.


After some solid Frigate action against some German coastal cities, a great admiral appears, to the delight of a city state.
And of course, it appears in the big lake from which it cannot leave.


Dido also possesses a nice navy.
The next turn, she becomes the third civ to join Germany and myself in the Industrial era, meaning those will soon be Frigates and Ironclads.


Ridiculous lux deals with the few civs who don't hate me and have something to give back in return.


Again, Harun pokes the Babylonians with another citadel for fun, well, and for silver and incense.


It is time to make peace with the formerly great German empire. We leave them with one city down south, knowing quite well that city will likely fall to France, Greece, or one of the many other civs who hates them and now sees them completely vulnerable.

Dortmund and Dusseldorf are set ablaze.
Bremen is sold to France for the piddly gold they have.

Much gold is emptied from the treasury on Mercantile city states and rush buying happiness building to rise above -10 unhappiness.

Police State takes effect, and there is much happiness in the courthouses!


With Germany taken care of, Arabian forces move around Stockholm. Unfortunately not stealthily enough, as Gustavus asks us if we are planning to attack. We do not want to lie, and he delivers the initial blow in the war because of our honesty.
Here is a couple turns later, we have begun to push back.


t255 - One more turn till we discover where Harun's favorite resource is hiding!


t255 demographics look very green

Nice!
I'm really loving the story, keep it up!

very interesting story. good luck with it

Flush with gold, i decide to have some fun, and pay off a bunch of AIs to go to war.
As most were broke or nearly there, this allowed me to then sell them luxs, getting most of the gold right back

Alex is happy to join in against Sweden for 467g.


I convince Dido she needs to stir the pot with Boudicca.


Stockholm is mine, another capital down.


We complete Brandenburg Gate!
This means lots of units can be rush bought here with three promotions


Cahokia wants me to denounce the Huns.
After Spain, they are the next target, so i oblige.


We take out Sweden's secondary city, set it ablaze, and make peace, leaving them with the city i liberated down south.


Boudicca likes to keep busy with war on two fronts...she agrees so visit Oda for a mere 137g.


It took forever, but we finally have another great prophet.
Missionaries no longer have the strength to convert any citizens in cities to our religion, so we send a prophet over to remove the German paganism and spread our faith.


Keeping Alex busy


Madrid is ours.
While finishing up the Swedish war we sent our now burgeoning fleet of Frigates to pick away at Madrid, and the job is finally done.


This one is just silly.
France cannot even deal with the Germans (who France should have been able to wipe out), and yet they are willing to go to war with Attila...not that any unit of theirs would ever make the journey...


Spain is left with their second and only other city, and we move on toward Attila's ridiculously hilly lands.
My nicely upgraded lancer with March races forward to pillage a Hunnic citadel, sacrificing his life for the empire the next turn.


The Japanese finish the Porcelain Tower.
Not surprising really, but unfortunate for us, as the GS would have been handy.


Even after cleansing Confucianism from his former capital, and converting three cities with our prophet, the German faith still permeates too many cities.


A golden ages dawns!
It brings even more prosperity to the empire's coffers.


The Huns have many land and sea units.
In our impatience to conquer, lives are being lost.


Fascism is implemented, and resources become even more plentiful.
One more policy until finishing Autocracy! Harun eagerly awaits this occasion, as it will mean immediate improvements to warfare.


Another Great Admiral is born, but this time, he is actually born in a city from which he can be useful, and there is much rejoicing.


Arabia's chests overfloweth with gold, according to Ptolemy.


We continue to find ways to trade with the others.


A truly momentous occasion!
Flight is achieved.
In a game where Harun's dominance is already incredible, this will completely annihilate any tiny chance the rest of the world has for survival.


Slowly, the war up north continues. One city burned, another accidentally annexed too soon.