You make valid points about the ROI of building districts versus running projects. However, in the context of a
fast Domination Victory, prioritizing
power spikes and
chopping projects becomes crucial
earlier to compound the
snowball effect. While I don't claim that projects are inherently superior to buildings in a straightforward, linear fashion, the timing of when you pivot to working on projects is much earlier than in a fast Cultural or Science Victory. The window to "sim" (focus on building infrastructure) is comparatively
longer in those victories. I need to reframe my earlier statement about "not simming." What I meant was avoiding building a 3rd or 4th district, and not growing beyond 4-7 population in most cities. Instead, the aim is to have 1-2 key districts per city and switch to projects earlier for a fast DV. In fact, you typically always close out games with projects; it’s just that in fast DV's, that timing occurs much quicker, making it feel like you didn't "sim" in the traditional sense.
The dynamic lies in recognizing when
passive yields won't have enough time to bear fruit, opting instead for
projects that create immediate
power spikes, especially when aiming for crucial techs like
Knights or
Bombards. Let’s break this down:
1. Costs and Project Chopping
Running projects becomes an efficient way to
generate immediate yields. Two consecutive project chops in a city can produce science and Great Scientist Points far more rapidly than investing in new infrastructure.
The exact margin—whether it's one, three, five, or even ten turns—matters less than the fact that gaining even a single turn’s advantage can snowball into
significant momentum. The focus here is on
speed and
scale:
- Power Spikes: The value of reaching key techs like Knights, even just one turn earlier, is immense. It not only provides a crucial Combat Strength (CS) boost to sustain your conquest but also grants movement advantages, both of which contribute significantly to reducing your overall turns to victory (TTV).
- Example: Going with your 5-turn tie-breaker calculation, getting Knights 5 turns earlier isn’t just a minor head start; it sets off a chain of events. This early access means you immediately gain a combat and movement spike, enabling you to continue conquest.
- You pillage tiles faster, yielding crucial science, gold, or faith. This immediate return accelerates your conquest.
- Capturing a city 5 turns earlier (or more, as each turn compounds the risk of the enemy gaining UU's or building walls) creates a snowball effect. It not only yields additional science and production but also allows you to buy a builder with pillaged gold or faith sooner, accelerating your overall momentum.
- This builder can then chop projects (securing another Great General faster) or chop more military units in your front-line cities, further boosting your war efforts.
The initial
5-turn head start compounds at every stage of the game. Whether it’s upgrading units, pillaging, capturing cities, or chopping projects, that consistent gain keeps the momentum in your favor. In a fast DV, gaining a 5-turn, or just a 1-turn advantage becomes pivotal. It’s not merely about recouping costs but about how that advance
continues to pay dividends throughout the game.
2. Projects vs. Districts is not a Binary Choice
It's not about
projects being superior to
districts in all scenarios; you need
districts to run projects, so it's inherently not a binary choice. While pure yields from districts are essential for longer games, fast Domination Victories revolve around hitting key timing windows. By chopping projects to spike GPP or science output, you maximize your chances of seizing these timings when they matter most. The discussion revolves around recognizing the right timing for two critical gameplay aspects:
- Switching to Projects in the Last Phase: In the final phase of a fast DV (typically around Turn 60-65), passive yields from buildings or districts don't have enough time to provide their full benefits. Switching to projects capitalizes on existing infrastructure rather than expanding it further, aligning with the short-term needs of a rapid conquest strategy.
- Project Spam for Critical Timing: Recognizing the need for a project burst to hit a crucial timing window is key, especially in Domination Victories. Achieving units like Knights or Bombards a few turns earlier can completely alter the game’s trajectory. Running a project spam (chopping 3-4 projects quickly) can secure a Great Person or spike science output, reducing turns needed for a key technology.
3. Great Person Sniping and Tech Timing
Chopping projects allows you to snipe Great People, especially when an AI is close to recruiting one crucial to your strategy. For example, chopping projects can secure a Great Scientist who provides Eureka(s) on your critical tech path. When you need to reduce research turns for a key tech, chopping projects spikes science output to hit the timing faster. For maximum efficiency, use Magnus and chop food-yielding tiles first to boost production first that then converts into science when continuing to queue projects after chops are exhausted.
4. District Requirement for Projects <Context Matters>
Running projects is not about
ignoring district development. You need a district to run projects, so it’s not a simple choice of one over the other. In a DV targeting sub-Turn 80, cities are typically capped at 4-7 population depending on land richness, focusing on key districts like Campuses, Encampments, or Commercial Hubs. Overdeveloping cities with 3-4 districts is unnecessary.
- Capturing Cities: Capturing cities with pre-built districts reduces the need to build new ones. You leverage these existing districts for rapid yields instead of creating new ones.
- Prioritizing Builds: Allocating production correctly is crucial. If you're ~20 turns from victory, building a T2 building like a Temple in your capital might make sense for a final burst of faith. However, simming out other cities with new districts is unnecessary. It's about situational ROI and where production provides the best returns.
- Warlord's Throne Synergy: Warlord's Throne directly synergizes with project chops. While this bonus applies to hard-building and not directly to chops, the increased production output means that cities can complete projects faster.
5. Chops Prioritization and the Value of Immediate Benefits
In
fast Domination games, chops are localized:
- Immediate Gains: In a DV, the “now” is more valuable than the “later.” Chopping projects enables you to secure techs or units earlier, contributing directly to the snowball effect.
- Captured Front-Line Cities: Focus on producing additional military units, often chopping to create 2nd or 3rd armies rather than evolving their infrastructure.
- Home Cities: With 1-2 districts and Tier 1 buildings already in place, they focus on project chops to beeline key techs or secure Great People.
Localized chopping ensures each city contributes to the broader strategy, either through project chops in home cities for science/Great People or military unit chops in captured cities.
By Turn 70, higher-tier buildings (e.g., Universities) cost 250 production, whereas projects cost around ~120 production each and provide a burst of 36 science and GPP. Recall that you can also daisy-chain project chops for immediate (T-0) benefits. Chopping 2-3 projects yields faster ROI than waiting for steady science yields from buildings. In a fast DV, projects offer immediate contributions toward victory.
Final Thoughts
In a Domination Victory, the game revolves around power spikes, not incremental gains. While building districts works for long-term economic growth, chopping projects provides the high-impact, immediate yields needed for fast conquest. By recognizing when to pivot from infrastructure to projects and using localized chops efficiently, you ensure that every turn counts toward achieving domination.
In the early game, teching to
Horses correctly is also crucial. Because I pivoted to getting an early Holy Site, I compensated for the loss in science by taking a weaker horseman unit from a barbarian clan as early as possible and sought out a tile/campus to pillage on the way to the first conquest target: Georgia. Additionally, settling on a
5F4H start provides a slight edge, allowing faster growth which translates to
early science gains.
); a third scout would not have been too much.
