DoC Domination Challenge

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

Very good job, Chep!

About vassalization. Ever since the stability changes, AIs have been much more difficult to peacefully vassalize.
I've only ever gotten peace-vassal offers from Tibet now, which I typically refuse because they don't contribute to the Land percentile very much.
However, it seems like capitulation is a bit easier now, which may tie into the new paradigm of encouraging small extraneous cities.
It appears we have gone from 10-supercities to an ICS paradigm now.
This feels like Civ5 during it's opening month actually, now that I think about it.

 

[Chep]

another one, I failed my goal of beating the current "record" by 100 years or more...only 95 years earlier :/

Spain, 1575, 600 AD, Monarch/Normal, normalized Score 17368

Spain is powerful, so winning is easy, it is just trying to expand quickly that can cause trouble

 

[ales_]

When I was first reading this, I've thought that you had won in 600 AD.

 

[Chep]

hehe, of course, I always win before my spawn date

 

[Jusos2108]

OP updated.

@Chep, you didn't beat any record by 95 years, because there wasn't a standing record for Spain since the stability overhaul (which ruined the stability for the DoC).

 

[Chep]

that's why I wrote "record" instead of record

 

[Sanguivorant]

I always think of how radically different our world would have been if Chep's conscious was instilled into a random civilization.

 

[Chep]

it would be glorious, unified, peaceful and horrible

hm, the Moors really suck at domination as the Spanish and Egyptian usually limit their possibilites for quite a while. It took me untill 1450 to conquer Madrid and get the 2 conqueror-events in the new world. Have to try a different approach somehow

 

[Chep]

this one is sort of special, as I tried winning without Astro! thus without settling the Americas (I also didn't settle Australia and Africa), my goal was to win a domination purely by conquest and settling cities in my core (well, in the end I settled some just outside my core to shorten it a few turns, but yeah, that's basically what I did)

Mongolia, 1520 (600AD), Monarch/Normal, SVN 615, Normalized Score: 18713

basically I controll Asia (my vasalls in the new world are tiny), I let my cities flip to Iran, which probably cost me a turn but by that time I didn't care.

The Mongol Keshiks are incredibly awesome and overpowered, so your main focus has to be not to win an accidental UHV (I decided not to raze, so that I could get the golden age but not the UHV-victory)
On Monarch/Marathon I won the UHV in 100years, while normal is "harder" as in you need more time to move your troops from one side of the map to the other, it is still easily feasible.
(however land area held by vasalls does not count for UHV, I liberated heavily to my vasalls, which wasn't that good an idea as my Arabia soon collapsed and most of their cities fell to my enemy the Ottomans)

I think this can probably be won even on normal speed by ~1450 if you use Astronomy.
Focus on conquering China, build wealth in almost all cities (courthouses are a nice idea as well) and only very few designated "Keshik-Centres" (you don't want to build any other kind of unit except for maybe workers and a few galleys...well, if you're scared you can also build a few axemen (cheapest) as city defenders but I left many of mine undefended). Whip as much as you can, untill you have reached your "technological peak" (in my case optics, usually Astro or Music/Drama), try to conquer Pagan soon and switch to Secularism & Mercenaries.
China should build settlers for your huge core, while all other cities (except the designated Keshik-centres with settled GGs) build wealth. Once your conquest rolls, switch to recruit Keshiks right at the front line (I had an income of ~200-300 gold/turn allowing me to rushbuild 2-4 keshiks per turn).

 

[youtien]

The usual feudalism line, skip civil service. Stole engineering and military science from vassal French (got gunpowder by trade). Moors is a little harder than other European civs.

 

[Chep]

BOOYAH!


Prussia, 1940 (1700AD), Monarch/Normal, normalized score: 7132

here is the "real" victory-screen (after accepting the voting results):

Spoiler :

I own more than 58% of the worlds population, more than 41% of the land, all top5-cities, all shrines except my vasalls Mekka, more than 100 cities myself and have conquered about 4-8 cities per turn over the last 10-15 turns, so these values would have gone up even further when they all stop revolting
(and untill ~1930 I could research at 100% without making real minus)
But most importantly, I managed to win a simultaneous Domination & Diplomatic victory (although only the Domination counts ). I could have won a couple of turns earlier but I wanted this to coincide, and I managed it, yeah!

And all this while being incredibly solid:

------
If I wanted to make a game with the Iranians, how would I have to do it in order for the game to be counted here? start as Congo and then switch?

 

[ales_]

I think yes.

 

[Sanguivorant]

Just don't dominate with Congo before the Iran spawn and you'll be fine.

 

[youtien]

I rolled a very good 3000 BC start -- GLH, GC in Byzantion, and Greeks founded Corinth instead of Athens! Didn't see that ever.

No special strategy, beat everybody by cataphracts, pikemen and bombard, bulbed rifling by liberalism, stopped research for final invasion and expansion. The last tech I got is contistution, won the game before the wonder was built (switch to secularism).

 

[Chep]

Brazil, 1960 (1700AD), Monarch/Normal, normalized score: 4769

I basically own 5 continents:
both Americas, Africa (except for the Mediterranean part), Australia and Asia
However I'm almost an era behind my competitors, techwise but that doesn't matter since I have defense pacts with the other 2 major powers
I also totally screwed myself over by unnecessarily switching civics in 1955 which caused 3 turns of anarchy (I didn't pay attention and thought it'd be only 1) and almost completely stopped my expansion for that time.
Winning via UHV was impossible (too few slaves) so domination was an obvious choice (as Brazil techs much slower than Prussia for example). My only concern was Bismarck who started building his space ship, but by 1960 he had only 2-3 parts finished
Slavery really is the way to go here. (plus Autocracy and at least after the initial consolidation: Secularism)

 

[Sanguivorant]

I be loving dat Brazil.

 

[Chep]

I would have loved switching sides and conquering that empire as the Prussians in the few turns left - could have been interesting

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

FYI, you can achieve a quicker Domination if you had liberated some small civs, which reduces the pop + land requirement.

 

[Chep]

True. I've never done that as I feel that for a real domination victory you should dominate but if there were a real race for the victory dates I might Start doing it

 

[youtien]

Mali in latest SVN, this is the first game I didn't get Egypt and Jerusalem lately:

1. Found Timbuktu 1E from starting tile - covers 1 desert hill. 2nd settler go to Accra (don't found yet), 3rd go to Coast of Ivory, or you may found on one of plain ivory. Switch to OR + warrior code. Missionary spread Islam to Timbuktu.

2. 2 Starting units go to map the coast, 1 go NE to meet Arabs and Moors. Timbuktu build barracks.

3. On 4th turn, buy fishing+sailing by gold, buy code of laws + calender + meditation from Moors by DR. Found Accra(whip work boat on the following turn) and the other city, Timbuktu build monastery and whip at 4, then whip barracks, then use surplus hammer to build a missionary, in case you don't get automatically spread. You have chance to capture workers from Arabs, attack! I captured 4 workers near Tripoli.

4. SWITCH TO THEOCRACY-AGRARIANISM-FANATICISM-MERCENARY, build 5-6 catapults and 2-3 war elephants and also a few skirmishers, then conquer the Moors! This is when you don't get flipped camel archers or fararis(not too useful). Conquer them at all cost.

5. At the same time, Accra build a settler and settle east, 1e from the cow and by the lake. That city can grow to 9. Go on expand to east Africa, there are some plain hill by lakes that can be a decent city with low need of workforce.

6. After conquest, switch back to OR+warrior codes.

7. Research paper-printing press, switch to Catholicism before you complete. You can buy feudalism from Europeans when converted. Guilds, engineering, gunpowder, compass, optics can all be bought. Go for liberalism after PP, bulb constitution, switch to republic + representation.

8. build jails all around and begin stealing tech. You can buy astronomy from the Dutch as well, Settle North America. Contact Mughals ASAP, they have nice trade rate. Respawned Chinese sells replaceable parts. Then you'll grow too big to buy teches. Steal, steal, steal communism (from Spanish) and have a GE ready for Lubyanka, then you are good.

Europeans will be normally strong, because we can't annex them in early game. Mali got bad tech rate but decent trade and UP, so use spies.

9. In mid game, I capitulated Portugal, gifted Lisboa to French before Spain took it(they got a huge stack). in late game, I've fought French, Spanish and English, took 2-3 cities and made peace, they collapsed by themselves later (Germans conquered Paris) - Spanish empire was no more after South America revolutions. I also hexed Turks by influencing religion for only 94 EP, which made their cities fall into anarchy for 5 turns. English collapsed after I stole flight. The most important tech: assembly line, I stole from my vassal America (I conquered San Francisco from Mexicans, and Americans are scripted to conquer it in 1850). The final helper is Xi'an with Porcelain Tower and the Forbidden Palace, which lifted my income by 600 golds.