Best CIV for every victory type in 1.18?

[MrFeline]

What do you consider to be the best civ(s) for each victory type in 1.18? (Other than their own UHVs)

Those being -

Conquest
Culture
Diplomatic
Domination
- Side note, is there a civ in 1.18 with a core that can support a solo, no vassals domination victory?
Space Race
Time

As well as all of the religious UHVs:
Pagan
Secular
Zoroastrianism
Judaism
Catholicism
Orthodoxy
Protestantism
Hinduism
Buddhism
Taoism
Confucianism
Islam

 

[a pen-dragon]

Conquest - Rome
Culture - Rome
Diplo - US is guess? (enough pop to reliably be eligible)
Dom - Rome (No vassals is possible with good planning. Store a few golden ages (2-3), build TONS of units and take over the world in 16-24 turns (before the GA ends, or shortly after). With very careful play It should be possible to have Rome shaky at -25 expansion penalty, but that is risky.)
SR - Rome
Time - Rome I guess?

Rome basically has a core that can support half of europe by the medieval era, with lots of historical area to grow even quicker. just do not settle any cities that will flip and play tall (Italy, carthage, maybe the balkans), the conquer the europeans after they spawn.

URV:
Pagan (they differ by region) - Rome (once did it accidentally)
Others - I have no idea. Anyone with core/ historical area in that religions historical area?

 

[MrFeline]

My own thoughts:

Conquest - Persia has (afaik) the only UP that could keep up with the razing/expansion necessary to win a conquest victory.
Culture - France is very strong. Great cultural modifiers, I've had games with France where I was trying for Diplo or Domination victory end early because I ended up with 3 legendary cities.
Diplomatic - France is the strongest. To my understanding, their UHV means you only need +8 to get a Diplo victory vote in the UN, which is huge. With the +4 from trade agreements, you're only one GP away from a vote. You also have enough military prowess to reasonably vassal high voters like Russia, Canada, or England.
Domination - Mongols? The French, Russian, and English also have historical areas that lend themselves well to this victory.
Space Race - Has to be a civ that has good enough research to get to the end of the tech tree while also having good enough production to build all of the components. Some civs that come to mind are America (commerce on the East Coast, production in the plains), England (commerce in HQ and India, production in Australia and South Africa), and China (commerce everywhere, production inland.) France suffers from not having a lot of high-production areas in its historical area.
Time - the least interesting... Mongols? US?

As well as all of the religious UHVs:
Pagan - haven't tried
Secular - really any well-balanced civ
Zoroastrianism - Persia feels like the only option
Judaism - most civs could, though Babylon is the only one I've found who can found Judaism anywhere other than Jerusalem. This is less of an issue in 1.18, where Jerusalem is a much better city than in 1.17.
Catholicism - this victory is a deceptive one - getting 50% of the land controlled by Catholics without winning a domination victory first feels like a job for spies. One big turn of influence religion. So whoever in the Catholic sphere can do that best.
Orthodoxy - One of the easier ones, especially for the older civs who will naturally have most of the top cities anyways if they survive into the medieval ages. Greece, Byzantium, Rome, Egypt all come to mind.
Protestantism - Feels similar to a secular victory. So long as you get the techs first, the rest are inevitable.
Hinduism - haven't explored enough to have a meaningful idea
Buddhism - haven't explored enough to have a meaningful idea
Taoism - haven't explored enough to have a meaningful idea
Confucianism - haven't explored enough to have a meaningful idea
Islam - Arabia feels like the obvious choice. Ottomans would probably be good, too, but for no reasons that outpace the Arabians. Better core, similar historical area, a very useful UP. Both have cores that contain plenty of shrines - Islam, Judaism, usually Orthodoxy, and Zoroastrianism. All you need is one more - Hinduism and Buddhism are right there in India and Catholicism and Protestantism are almost always in Europe.

 

[Fresol]

Arabia is a prominent candidate for Orthodoxy URV, and for Judiasm as well(though unhistorial and sarcastic).

 

[Fresol]

Domination
- Side note, is there a civ in 1.18 with a core that can support a solo, no vassals domination victory?

The Mongols with no razing stability penalty can always win a domination victory solo.

 

[MrFeline]

The Mongols with no razing stability penalty can always win a domination victory solo.

I had forgotten about that UP. Would probably make them the best (and only?) candidate for conquest as well, then.

 

[banzay13]

England, one country to rule them all

 

[Kott]

Polinesia is nice for the pagan URV, I believe.

 

[karuruna]

There are different URVs for different pagan religions indeed, the Egyptian/Nubian one (Pesedjet) is fairly easy to get as Egypt, and sometimes you also end up getting it by accident while playing for the UHV.

 

[BaneFire]

I handled Catholic religious URV as Spain on 1.17 by ignoring the colonies and instead mass conquering and vassalising Asia.
Obviously the 50% requirement would be even harder on 1.18, and I don't think a bigger core helps much. However, maybe some new and improved cities in Southeast Asia would enable a more efficient approach.