4-point Victory Guide

[maltz]

As for domination victory, the requirement differs with map sizes and possibly map types. In many games of mine I could get a domination win with something like 42% of the land (roughly 20 cities at that point), and ~40% of the population as well. So it isn't too hard.

Marathon games makes everything "fast". I got Communism in 550 AD! (And the AIs are having Grenadiers now, too!) You don't have to have cavalry to win in a domination victory. You can go with a large number of catapults and some quality melee units and possibly some knights (useful for pillage and anti-pillage). In my current game, I got Grenadiers (Chemistry) through Liberalism in Marathon, and I've grabbed 13 cities without seeing another Grenadier in the way.

 

[fortytwo]

I did not know the victory requirements varied. Is there a way to see not just who is in the lead, or second if you are, for land area? Can you see how much land area each Civ has?

I just lost a Monarch game when I realized, far too late, that Asoka had gobbled up *just* enough land to keep me from taking a Domination Victory without attacking him. I started taking cities with Praetorians, and had Grenadiers by the time I destroyed the second to last Civ. - But had only 61% of the area and needed 66. Asoka had about 40 gunships in every city.

So I will add, in light of yesterday's debacle, that the calculations necessary to determine where the Domination Victory ends makes it difficult as well.

 

[Crimso]

This is a terrible guide.

2. RELIGION.

There is no sense in only concentrate on spreading your relegion to your weaker neighbor. Spread it to as many cities as possible, especially to the stronger neighbor, since being on good terms with them actually matters. Again, converting to a weaker neighbor's relegion will only put you in the sights of the stronger. You do not have to "take them out," in fact doing so is probably suicide. If Monty is twice as big as you, borders 50% of your empire, and is Buddhist, you better become Buddhist or start chopping out an army like mad.

Pillaging any old tile appears pointless to me.

Pillaging stops you from going into the red. Each city you capture is going to give you 10 to 20 gpt in new maintenence costs. This is countered by the lump sum you receive, but not for long. Also, the support for your units shoots up once they enter enemy lands. You have to make up that money somehow, or fall behind in tech.

(E) KNOW WHEN TO DECLARE PEACE. Cripple an opponent down to 1-3 cities to prevent them from thinking about future retaliation, which is just annoying. With 1-3 cities they can operate as a pretty nice buffer to other invasionary forces. Make sure you leave cities forming a buffer! Give them resources and techs that will allow them to defend their tiny empire. Convince them to stop trading with aggressive Civs. Aggressive neighbors will usually destroy themselves and be non-factor by late in the game.

Or, you could just destroy them completely. If you had enough troops to take out two thirds of their empire, your units should be promoted enough to take the rest with ease. You're going to let them live and actually gift them techs, so you can have a "buffer" for your next invasion? What the hell does a "buffer" do? And how exactly are you going to convince them to stop trading with your enemies? They're best friends after what you did to them.

The rest of your guide is crap I could figure out from reading the instruction booklet, and severly lacks actual experience. I cannot find one example of insight or anything that tells me you've actually played the game. For all we know you've browsed these forums and looked over someone's shoulder as they played it. How would you write a recipe for apple pie? "Take dem apples an' da cinnamon an' da crust an' put it in da oven. DON'T BURN IT. Stick it in your mouth when it is done."

Ok I am done being an ******* for today g'night everybody.

 

[afireinside]

i disagree with no overlapping.

with overlapping, u can strategically overlap forests, so both cities share the health bonus.

U can also share a strategic resource from your capital with another city. Usually the capital has multiple not needed food square bonuses with no commerce like animals and crops.

also, theres no problem with overlapping. Usualy i only get 1 city at most to use all 21 squares in a game, and it happens after biology. It seems liek a waste of space and land to save so much space for one city. In fact, in the begining of the game, ull find that space between cities leads to lost money form maintenence, no trade connection, and longer to walk for workers.

 

[fortytwo]

This is a terrible guide.

Well, you know, that's, like, your opinion, man.

There is no sense in only concentrate on spreading your relegion to your weaker neighbor. Spread it to as many cities as possible, especially to the stronger neighbor, since being on good terms with them actually matters. Again, converting to a weaker neighbor's relegion will only put you in the sights of the stronger.

Spreading religion everywhere is always good, but split between investing your resources in something other than missionaries, such as military, the strategy suggested is to focus on appeasement of a weak neighbor, thus directing your aggression in one direction only. Remember, the other AI's will "pile on" if they see you protracted in an expensive war, so make sure they like you enough to resist. If you plan on invading a neighbor it doesn't accomplish anything to become friends through mutual religion, or any other such diplomacy.

If you had enough troops to take out two thirds of their empire, your units should be promoted enough to take the rest with ease.

Sure, that goes without saying, but then how do you extort them with a peace treaty?

You're going to let them live and actually gift them techs, so you can have a "buffer" for your next invasion? What the hell does a "buffer" do?

No, the buffer is not for an invasion, but to prevent/predict an invasion coming your own way. This also helps to keep other Civs from having "close borders spark tensions." A civ left with 1-2 cities is only as significant as you will allow them to be, that's the payoff. With the proper genorosity they will indeed forget your, er, overzelous past.

And how exactly are you going to convince them to stop trading with your enemies? They're best friends after what you did to them.

The techs you wind up gifting them are usually obsolete, and only enough to give them enough military threat to establish enough defense to keep aggressive neighbors from finishing them off, e.g. Feudalism, Gunpowder, Rifling.

How would you write a recipe for apple pie?

Good analogy. I set out to write a guide that didn't tell you EXACTLY what to do in order to win. It is a STRATEGY GUIDE, not a cheat-sheet, or way of manipulating the programming to take advantage of the game mechanisms. That is what too many of these "guides" do, and that's the point at which a game loses its flexibility and appeal.

No, I don't have the formulas mapped out, I don't know how the game calculates and rounds-up commerce points per turn. I just like how natural and replayable it is. But your points are valid and apprechiated, feel free to contribute anytime.