DV @ turn 188
This is my second dom victory, after the last 6otM, where it took 192 turns. This was an interesting game on a very surprising map, not at all what I expected.
- How many cities did you settle or capture?
8 settled and another 13 captured.
- What did you prioritize for research and policies?
I did not rush legions, as there was no one to use them on, went for settlers to colonize Rome Island, then for naval techs, knights, muskets, field cannons and infantry. After that it did not matter.
- Did you send anyone to the dustbin of history?
No one. I just took capitals and nearby cities that were in the way.
- What did you build for an Army and Navy and how did it change?
Started with a force of legions with Sun Tzu. Used them to take Pokrovka followed by Uruk. At this point I built a force of HC at home and sent them across the sea to Egypt's iron city, as it still had a defence <20. However, when I landed them Cleo built the first knights so it was a catch 22 - I had no iron to upgrade to knights myself and I had no friendly city nearby either. I got iron by suzeraining Hattusa and captured an English settler that wandered around my army. This cavalry force took Cleo's iron city, followed by Ra-Kedet, London and Rio, while the legions (upgraded to muskets and infantry) moved on Kyoto and Washington.
- What was your most useful unit?
Don't really know. Maybe the frigates I used to clear the seas of barbarians and protect the army en route?
- Was diplomacy useful? How?
Not really, everyone started denouncing me but they were very weak militarily so no one attacked. By far, Tomyris was strongest but I took her out first, together with a few key cities to make sure she did not recover.
- Were City-States helpful?
Yes. This time I found most of them early, and got plenty of envoys to science CS.
- What was your strategy, what order did you take your opponents out in?
Once I could jump in the water, I attacked Tomyris, followed by the other empires one by one.
- Any surprises you ran into, how did you deal with it?
Well the major setback happened when attempting to attack Cleo with outdated units, which caused a delay of up to 10 turns, as described above. Also, the AI's (except Tomyris) seemed very weak militarily. They mostly defended using cities and walled encampments, with very few units. Barbarians were also running amok on the map close to AI borders and were the biggest threat to my embarked units. Hojo for instance had a very well prepared defensive setup with overlapping cities and encampments placed in choke-points surrounded by mountains. With a few crossbows, he could have really delayed my action.
- Did you enjoy the game?
Yes, thank you!