What is easiest victory for a noob to go for?

[Antmf]

Hey guys, just started playing and want to try winning a game on easy to start with but not sure which ictory condition would be best to go for while learning the game. Any advice on what to go for and how to go about it? Thanks...

 

[Silvtown]

The easiest victory to achieve right now is diplomatic. I'd recommend going for science so you can start learning how to get as much science as possible, which is helpful for any victory.

 

[renton555]

Science is the most straightforward, Diplo is a little bit more complicated but relatively simple compared to culture and domination, both of which can be quite complex and lead to easy pitfalls.

Sci and diplo are also the quickest.

 

[evilcat]

I think Science is the easiest (even if not the fastes), since you always know what to do, and demands least interaction. Just pick Korea or Mayas to speed it up. However Poland does everything better, and gives space to mess with policies.

 

[Crafty Bison]

Time . Seriously though, while you're finding the difficulty level that's right for you, it's good to try each vc so you learn as much of the game's mechanics as possible.

 

[Buccaneer]

I agree, everyone should learn to do an efficient science victory at a difficulty level is not too easy or hard. Growing science will apply to all victories, esp after the Fall patch. Diplomacy requires nothing more than surviving.

 

[z284pwr]

Greece plus Patronage / Consulates and Pledge to Protect gets you halfway to an easy diplomatic win. Just complete quests at random to ally every city state. add in Scholasticism and you'll feed off their science as well. All the happiness and food you need as well

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

Always have We Love the King Day in your capital.

 

[Theruss]

Time . Seriously though, while you're finding the difficulty level that's right for you, it's good to try each vc so you learn as much of the game's mechanics as possible.

Time...

In all my years of playing CIV and with each game. I have never ever gotten a time victory. Had one close game though recently, won science with 5 turns left... the whole world was backwards that game, myself included.

The easiest would probably be science though. Just build science buildings and let your cities grow, and wait it out. But Science takes the longest though, imo.

 

[livsbrand]

I agree, everyone should learn to do an efficient science victory at a difficulty level is not too easy or hard. Growing science will apply to all victories, esp after the Fall patch. Diplomacy requires nothing more than surviving.

Sorry for going OT, but where can I read more about this patch?

 

[eewallace]

If you are playing below prince level, you have advantages over the AI, so a science victory should be relatively straightforward. You might want to aim for a science victory but watch for opportunities to grab a diplomatic victory on the way. Cultural victory is fun but you pretty much have to aim for it fairly early, and take a different tech path than the one you need for your spaceship. Domination might be a bit tough on your first game, at least until you get some experience with attacking cities.

 

[Buccaneer]

Sorry for going OT, but where can I read more about this patch?

All we know (esp. from our friend, MadDjinn) is that there will be a Fall Patch. The contents are speculative (go to the BNW if you want to waste your time) but most believe that rebalancing the victory conditions will be included.

 

[Theruss]

All we know (esp. from our friend, MadDjinn) is that there will be a Fall Patch. The contents are speculative (go to the BNW if you want to waste your time) but most believe that rebalancing the victory conditions will be included.

Also, most believe Japan and Germany's UA will be changed.

 

[uncle bulgaria]

Time . Seriously though, while you're finding the difficulty level that's right for you, it's good to try each vc so you learn as much of the game's mechanics as possible.

Science has the most obvious route to victory (research the tech, build SS) so would be my suggestion first, diplomatic is easier in BNW once you've got to grips with how the WC works.

Good science is essential for pretty much any victory condition.

 

[sonicandfffan]

Easiest civ is Poland
Easiest victory is diplomatic (then tourism, science and domination).

 

[Dark Paladin X]

Order (from easiest to hardest IMHO):
1) Scientific
2) Diplomatic
3) Cultural
4) Domination

Scientific is the most straightforward victory. Get a lot of science, don't build lots of cities, make your cities tall, and build as many wonders that grant you science.

Diplomatic is a little tricky. You need to be peaceful and win favors for the city states. It's more of a late game victory like the scientific victory.

Cultural victory is also late game oriented like Diplomatic and Scientific. However, it's a little trickier because your starting position is crucial in winning cultural victory. You really need to maintain peace, spread your religion as aggressively as possible, maintain trade routes, building wonders that grant art/writing/music slots to boost tourism, making sure other civilizations adopt to your idealogy. It's usually easier to do this in smaller maps than much larger maps. If you ever need to declare war, it's most likely that it involves a civilization adopting to a different ideology.

Domination victory is easily considered to be hardest. It involves lot of early game domination, but you have a lot of late game penalties such as unhappiness, lower GPT, and diplomatic penalties if you choose to go on a domination victory. Although I've heard the ICS strategy is the best strategy to do this domination victory (particularly in larger maps) while others prefer you building your cities tall.

 

[Buccaneer]

You really need to maintain peace,

That depends upon who your opponents are and the geopolitical siutation.

spread your religion as aggressively as possible,

Why? On Immortal+, you will likely end up with someone else's religion or at least, your religion will be confined to just your cities.

maintain trade routes,

Of course, except when the fighting starts and trades routes with you disappear and your lucrative trade routes with combative opponents get plundered or destroyed.

building wonders that grant art/writing/music slots to boost tourism,

Much easier said than done on Immortal+.

making sure other civilizations adopt to your idealogy.

And how do we affect their choice? We can somewhat force them to change but their initial choice depends upon other factors besides what you have chosen.

 

[Dark Paladin X]

That depends upon who your opponents are and the geopolitical siutation.


Why? On Immortal+, you will likely end up with someone else's religion or at least, your religion will be confined to just your cities.


Of course, except when the fighting starts and trades routes with you disappear and your lucrative trade routes with combative opponents get plundered or destroyed.


Much easier said than done on Immortal+.


And how do we affect their choice? We can somewhat force them to change but their initial choice depends upon other factors besides what you have chosen.

Well, nice points. But Domination is MUCH harder. When late-game comes, it's less and less convenient to go domination victory over other victory conditions. This is because the penalties for domination is much more harsh than any other victory condition (gold, unhappniess, and diplomatic penalties). Expect above -20 unhappiness in harder difficulties if you are going for Domination victory.

 

[Gort]

I think by default I go for a diplomatic victory these days. The tenet in Freedom that gives you +4 influence with any city state you trade with makes getting allies extremely easy. It's called "Treaty Organisation" and it's level 3.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Order (from easiest to hardest IMHO):
1) Scientific
2) Diplomatic
3) Cultural
4) Domination

Scientific is the most straightforward victory. Get a lot of science, don't build lots of cities, make your cities tall, and build as many wonders that grant you science.

Diplomatic is a little tricky. You need to be peaceful and win favors for the city states. It's more of a late game victory like the scientific victory.

Cultural victory is also late game oriented like Diplomatic and Scientific. However, it's a little trickier because your starting position is crucial in winning cultural victory. You really need to maintain peace, spread your religion as aggressively as possible, maintain trade routes, building wonders that grant art/writing/music slots to boost tourism, making sure other civilizations adopt to your idealogy. It's usually easier to do this in smaller maps than much larger maps. If you ever need to declare war, it's most likely that it involves a civilization adopting to a different ideology.

Domination victory is easily considered to be hardest. It involves lot of early game domination, but you have a lot of late game penalties such as unhappiness, lower GPT, and diplomatic penalties if you choose to go on a domination victory. Although I've heard the ICS strategy is the best strategy to do this domination victory (particularly in larger maps) while others prefer you building your cities tall.

I agree with these points; remember, the OP said that he/she was a new player, so tips that apply at Immortal difficulty or higher are less relevant. Might be correct, but less relevant.

As your understanding of the game mechanics increases, the VC on this list become more achievable. A new player can achieve a science victory on low difficulty levels by focusing on 4 cities, building enough military to stave off attacks (and upgrading them), and teching like crazy. On the other hand, domination requires skills in attacking cities (vs. simply killing units) that a new player will need time to acquire. More complex empire management is needed to keep up with science while pumping out a lot of units; the warmonger penalties will limit your ability to make research agreements.

I recommend fighting a few wars during your first few science victories, so that you learn how many units to bring to the battle, and how to best use ranged units and siege units. How to bring in melee units as "meat shields", and rotate them out as they are damaged. (BTW, those are skills I am working on, myself)