How soon do you plan victory type?

[Chee]

Do you know what method of victory you are aiming for immediately or before the game starts?

Or is it something that you decide on after so many turns?

This is something I struggle with, when to decide what type of victory to go for. I have a reasonable amount of experience on the game and am playing at Prince level.

 

[Brichals]

If I am planning to play 1-2 levels above my comfort zone I plan my victory type before and pick a civ and map type that suit that. I then restart maps until I find one I like. This way I can beat Emperor easily and maybe Immortal, but otherwise, totally random start, I am about King level. I think this preplanning is quite normal in the civ series at very hard levels.

For instance I am now thinking of trying a game as Korea (probably Science victory) where I want to get Hanging Gardens and a massive high pop in the capital. So I will go tradition and maybe settle 1-2 cities more. I will need 2-3 sites with luxuries and much food around the capital. I will restart after 10 turns if I don't find this. I will try to arrange my culture/tech so that I can go straight to rationalism after Tradition. I will then go Freedom and with all my high pop capital run specialists which Korea benefits really much from.

Playing this way is actually fun for me. I think everyone should try a level higher than they are used to but reroll until they get a good start and know which Civ to use and how to play to that strength.

 

[Dark_Jedi06]

I usually don't ever plan out which victory I want, which leads to games that draw out into the modern era in which I find myself scrambling to win.

 

[janboruta]

If I play to win, I play to get an achievement for winning with a Civ I didn't play before. So I plan to get the best victory type from the start of the game, though I usually adapt to the environemnt I encounter.

But in most games I play for fun. In such games I look for victory in late Renaissance or Industrial age, when my empire is well-established.

 

[blasto]

Way before I even start the game, while I'm building it in Worldbuilder.

 

[headcase]

I'm kind of on the role-playing side of things and don't plan much.

That said I almost always go for science if I have it turned on.
- I avoid financial (a.k.a diplomatic) because of the idea of the AI snatching up CSs with their huge gold reserves. They don't actually do this, but I don't like the idea that they could; it makes the victory feel hollow.
- Domination, a lot of people here would agree, is fairly tedious and if I'm doing that well I usually just quit.
- Culture is the one that really needs to be planned early on, it's a fun change but I usually play NiGHTS which doesn't have this currently (though it has many reasons to want culture regardless). It's certainly fun trying to balance empire size with culture, and probably the most challenging to get just right.

 

[civplay]

Except for culture victory, it's not necessary to really plan ahead. Science is the most important aspect of the game. Wanna win Domination? science. Wanna win diplomatic? science. Wanna win the space race? obviously science. So no matter what science is the priority. then around turn 150 you really start to plan exactly which victory you want.

 

[nokmirt]

In my current game I am playing my first game on Emperor. I lost my capital early on to Japan, who was helped by Russia. I have been trying desperately to regain it. I already have lost a huge army which got massacred trying to take it back. All I needed was one more spear and I would have taken it. All I had left was two chariot archers, and they could not capture it.

This game has been endlessly frustrating, but fun, because it is challenging. I am also impressed with the AI, it has not held back a moment. I need to recapture that capital, before long I will be too far back in tech to make a difference.

I can't be on here whining all day. Its time to get back in game and kick some people's teeth otut! Victory condition choice= Survival and Death dealing!

 

[Tabarnak]

Turn 0. In multiplayer its obviously domination. For singleplayer it depends of what HoF and GOTM offer. I never play alone for myself excepted for specific strategies/beelines studies but never finish these games.

 

[blackcatatonic]

As soon as I can, if not from when I'm setting up the game.

My first few attempts at King went badly because I didn't really know which victory type to go for, and let the AI get ahead of me. So I'm trying to go for a plan from the off and stick to it. I usually leave myself enough room to go for a Plan B if necessary, though.

At the moment I'm trying for a science victory with Greece, who I haven't won with before, on a small continents map. I'm leaving myself the option of a diplomatic victory in case someone builds the UN before I've finished my spaceship, but I'm still going for science. I'm also testing the AI to see how long it takes for me to get attacked when I remain completely neutral politically: no DoFs, no joining in with AI wars, etc. Though that will probably go out of the window if I have to start stealing CSs from others...

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I usually allocate victory type to certain Civs, for example

Diplomatic results in Washington, Alexander and Ramkhamhaeng.
Cultural results in Montezuma, Kamehameha and Gandhi
Science results in Nebuchadenezzar, Sejong and Catherine
Domination results in Harald, Augustus and Bismarck.

 

[Rex_Mundi]

Usually I have an idea of what kind of game I'd like to play and pick my civ accordingly. I think almost half of my games end the way I was aiming for but many games end very differently.

I consider my target when I have scoutet my immediate area and met my neighbours.
I consider my possition again when I finish iron working.
I pick what victory I chase some time during the medivel period, most of the time I also consider a backup victory condition in case something goes very wrong.

 

[manu-fan]

Before I play. Because I always go for Domination.

Cheers.

 

[dexters]

Before I start. But I usually only go for diplo, UN,tech or cultural. Domination is just tedious for me.

I've had games where I switched plans mid-game. But I play to Civ strengths, and it's reall fun exploring Sukhotai, and the Inca in particular. Two civs that are not really glamorous, but Inca is by far the most fun I've had in terms of really executing on a strategy.

Going from a few super mountain cities and parlaying into a massive empire mid-game was very satisfying - it's always nice when a plan like that comes together

With the Inca's, slowing that urge to sprawl and grab as much land/unique resource and instead cling to the mountains early was a challenge.

The AI and configuration of Civs, CS proximity account for 30-40% of my VC decision and diplomatic play as well. Some games are just rough.

And I'll freely admit 50% of my games I either exit for a better start or I get jumped in the early game with a bad alliance against me and I give up. All on the same difficulty. The variability in civ5 is quite high especially in the early game due to the differing intensity of competition depending on what AI I roll and where they are situated.

I always play with randomized AI. All DLC civs enabled.

My last 20 games or so are on Pangea / Pangea + for maximum diplomatic intrigue by the renaissance ; I avoid archipelago or any maps that artificially deflate difficulty.

 

[Mariner91]

If I play to win ...

This pretty much says it for me lol. I start games not planning to win, much less What kind of Win it will be

 

[snarzberry]

Before I play. Because I always go for Domination.

Cheers.

Same, at least these days. I got bored of the peaceful conditions and I pretty much treat civ 5 as a war game now, hopefully the expansion will provide some depth in the other areas.

As the game stands now, I'll take a nuclear wasteland over a cultural utopia any day.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I actually prefer the less domination type of victories because they get tedious, and I've noticed that if there's a civilization that annoys me (like Inca, who was in my way of regaining Brussels when I was going for Diplomatic Victory) I conquer them if I have the upper hand.. other than that.. I rarely conquer other civs.

 

[pxpdoo]

One time I was going for a Domination win - and won 'by accident' with a Diplo vote Darn City-States...
I usually have a pretty good idea of what sort of victory I want by 1/3 into a game (depending on terrain, which other Civs there are, and how close they are to me). By 2/3 of the way through I have a definite path.

 

[therottweiler]

Good question. I always have my victory condition before even starting the game. I choose my CIVS and map type accordingly. I always play marathon.

 

[joncnunn]

As I'm doing exploration on most maps. I always play Epic

If I see 5 or more cities I want to found (including the capital) : Science victory

4 or less : Cultural

Either way my first tree is Liberty, and I'm always able to make that determination before starting the second tree.

There are some cases where its known on turn 0:

1. Duel size map : Domination

2. OCC challenge checked under advanced startup : Cultural