DoC Domination Challenge

[strijder20]

I played England, and 'stumbled' upon domination (I was actually just trying to get a huge trading company, but then saw I was only 5% off and used some culture bombs).

I decided to do something unconventional at the start: I loaded all my Longbows on the galleys, and took barbarian Rome using the free barb wins (although my troops would probably have won without those too). I also used one of the settlers to settle Tunis/Carthago.

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English empire by 1200 AD: I control Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Tunis and Rome.

After that, I did the usual English opening: self-teching Guilds, Optics, Paper, bulbing Education with a GS and using Liberalism to take Astronomy in 1345 AD. I had already met the Aztecs by then, and was at peace (There is a small, easily abusable bug: when at first contact, just press 'We would like to make to make a trade proposal', and then 'Let us bury the hatchet', allowing quick vassalization - but not capitulation - of the native civilizations).
They both agreed to become a dominion.

At 1400 AD or so I got economics and switched into FM-Capitalism-Republic-Resettlement-Secularism.

I got Rifling and the Trading company by 1470 or so, and my Redcoats just slaughtered the Mughal troops. Rather great side effect of this was that in 1550 Persia - Persia, not Iran - number two in score decided to voluntarily vassalise to me.

During all that time, my core cities had been pumping out settlers/workers/garrisons, and I settled Brazil, North America and a little vanity project in Asia

Spoiler :

British empire by 1600 AD: American trio, Los Angeles and Vancouver, four S-American possessions, Hong Kong, a city on Papua New Guinea, Durban, Athens, Appolonia - with the great lighthouse! - Constantinople, Cape Town and Northern India have been added.

After that, I had severe stability issues, thanks to not being in Occupation while conquering India, and had to rushbuy courthouses and Stock exchanges everywhere to prevent collapse. In 1720 AD, I had settled three Australian cities and Dunedin - not for the resources or because they are great spots, but because they add land area.

Spoiler :

British empire in 1720 AD: India has respawned and causes severe culture problems, Indonesia has fallen to the Dutch trading company's armies and the other Europeans have finally begun colonising.

I still had to battle stability for the next century with all means (I beelined communism for the stability buildings and Lubyanka's economic boost), but I managed to end the game at Shaky. I used four great artists love: republic): two in Australia, one in Constantinople and the last in central Africa.

England in 1834 AD:

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Three cities in Britain: I don't like building a fourth, like the AI usually does.

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Conquering the Mediterranean: The Great Lighthouse, The Great Library and The Great Cothon were fun to have, and the cities themselves are pretty good too.

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Usual N-American cities. I didn't settle Denver, because I prefer having Grand Forks, which is probably a mistake

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Resource-spammed Brazil and food-rich River Plate.

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It's great to have a double shrine city and the Royal Exchange as an UB India collapsed the turn I won, hence the two independent cities ('India' was two size-1 cities, yes ).

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Australia, New Zealand and Port Moresby.

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South-Africa and the culture bomb city.

Demographics: I'm always surprised by how explosive England's economic power is, they are the best (and easiest!) civilization to play IMHO.

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All the top-5 cities are English

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Trading company is great to have, I should have settled more cities benefiting from it - but even now, it's netting me 200 gold per turn.

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That's a very fitting leader I got compared to

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[Jusos2108]

Good game strijder, the list has been updated!

Do you have a save close to the Seljuk spawn perhaps?

I might, but I believe this has been fixed in the SVN, so is it useful? I am playing 1.81.

 

[Jusos2108]

From the start I attacked Greece and took Sparta and razed Athens, which would've flipped to Byzantium. Then I moved on the indy Carthago. I settled only Salonae (it doesn't flip to anyone) with my starting settlers. I also founded Rusadir a bit later. Then I just beeffed my army and fought against the barbs without any serious trouble.

Spain spawned and I was ready to stomp them, but they vassalised almost immeatidely, so they were allowed to endure. Then came France and I razed their awfully placed cities and found better ones. Soon after I did the same to Germany. By that point I had 10 awesome cities and I began teching. After I got Astronomy around 1400, Russia also vassalised.

Roman Europe in 1480:
I found this city placement superior, thoughts?

Spoiler :

I wiped out the Aztecs, kept Tuitan and vassalised Incas. Then I found the NAn triangle around 1650. I also vassalised the Vikings. I really like the Roman vassal's names btw. By 1750 I had everything ready, but for some reason I waited for some time before tackling Ottomans and together vassals Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran. I rolled over the Ottoman cities easily and by the time I was at the gates of Baghdad, they capitulated. I liberated some cites back to them just to keep them live and to avoid the excruciatingly long anarchy. I agined peace with England for York Factory and that was enough to win.

World in 200, 1000, 1600 and 1820:

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The Roman Empire:

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Random pics:

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[jammerculture]

just looked at the first post. This thread has become a monument to the greatness of jusos2108. All hail the great dominater

perhaps you should retitle it "look what I can do" lol

p.s. do mali next

 

[strijder20]

just looked at the first post. This thread has become a monument to the greatness of jusos2108. All hail the great dominater

perhaps you should retitle it "look what I can do" lol

p.s. do mali next

Exactly, only I and 秦始皇 are on that list aside from Jusos.

Going for all civilizations, Jusos?

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

Actually...isn't that France game played on Marathon/Epic? Now that I think about it?

 

[strijder20]

I'll try Persia or the Ottomans next.

What civs are left? Turkey, Mali, Mughals, the two Germanies and Egypt?

It seems that the 'older' civilizations are easier to get a fast domination with. In fact, if it wasn't for my England game (which, as I already have mentioned, is an incredibly strong and fun civ to play with, thanks to being able to get Economics and Rifling and Astronomy and Liberalism in a reasonably timeframe) and that rather exceptional number one France game, the top 3 would be China, Rome and Persia.

 

[Gruekiller]

Iran and Indonesia as well, I believe.

 

[Acmeandco]

I'll try Persia or the Ottomans next.

What civs are left? Turkey, Mali, Mughals, the two Germanies and Egypt?

Turkey has already been made.

The ones left are:

Mali, Mughals, Holy Rome, Germany, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Aztects, Incas, Mayas, Italy, and surprisingly enough, Arabia and Russia.

 

[Jusos2108]

just looked at the first post. This thread has become a monument to the greatness of jusos2108. All hail the great dominater

perhaps you should retitle it "look what I can do" lol

p.s. do mali next

Thanks, I guess.

However, I would be glad to see other people participating more in this and I don't mind if people post failed tries as well, since then we can improve the domination strategies per civ. Domination victory is mostly about choosing the best strategy for the civ and only secondly about executing it.

Mali was the last civ that was done in RFC, but Mali it is..

 

[spartanlegend]

What do you find to be the best civic combinations?

I tend to fail miserably at domination attempts even on viceroy so I'm not going to be posting any battle reports any time soon

 

[strijder20]

I'll try to get a Russian Standard-Monarch Domination win. Can't be that hard with those vast stretches of land

 

[jammerculture]

Thanks, I guess.

However, I would be glad to see other people participating more in this and I don't mind if people post failed tries as well, since then we can improve the domination strategies per civ. Domination victory is mostly about choosing the best strategy for the civ and only secondly about executing it.

Mali was the last civ that was done in RFC, but Mali it is..

honestly since this thread was started I have attempted this many times, sometimes even following the strategies outlined in the game. However, each attempt lead to, if not failure at least a point in the game where continuing becomes no longer fun and a new game is started. I'm just not good enough. But I want to be.

What I notice from this thread is that there is a staged method to the gameplay. You first need to gain dominance in your own sphere. This is usually a strategy that is consistent with a UHV victory. The main difference is there is a an added strategy to catapult yourself into a position of strength for the second stage where you "go global". At this stage you settle NA, define the global power blocks and pick targets for elimination/vassalization. This second stage is very similar for each civ, however geographic/religious factors change the targets from game to game.

I think it is in the transition that I find failure, I don't enter the second stage of the game with enough strength or momentum to create that dominant position.


As well, I am constantly amazed at your ability to keep civs stable when your gallivanting all over the globe. I think there is a whole branch of the game that you seem to be able to deal with that is a constant problem for me.

 

[keli]

Germany (DoC 1.81)

I started playing with Germany just for fun, didn't want to achieve UHV or domination victories so I was the most surprised when the victory screen popped up. (Ignore the black triangles, my videocard is getting old and the game crashes very often :/)

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I like to create vassals/capitulate civs around me so I can enlarge their territory in favor of my stability. (Giving away cities lowers the stability temporarily, right ?)
Sometimes I don't know why can't I liberate my cities close to my vassals' border to them. (for example Isfahan to the Mughals or Turks, or Egypt to Turkey)

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The Empire:

My 5 vassals: France (my greatest asset, gave him Spain and the British Isles), Turkey, Britain (more like South Africa), Mughal, Russia. I won the game after capitulating Russia.

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Also Global warming in 1640:

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[Jusos2108]

snip..
What I notice from this thread is that there is a staged method to the gameplay. You first need to gain dominance in your own sphere. This is usually a strategy that is consistent with a UHV victory. The main difference is there is a an added strategy to catapult yourself into a position of strength for the second stage where you "go global". At this stage you settle NA, define the global power blocks and pick targets for elimination/vassalization. This second stage is very similar for each civ, however geographic/religious factors change the targets from game to game.

I think it is in the transition that I find failure, I don't enter the second stage of the game with enough strength or momentum to create that dominant position.
snip..

This is very true, since initially you need to gain a tech lead, although this is not possible with all civs. I think the most important part is to figure out where you can expand early without too much difficulty. For instance, with Greece it is Italy and Carthage, for Roma it is Sparta, Carthage and Balkan (with limits), for Persia it is India (but Mughals will give trouble) or west, but then you have to go all the way to Italy (to prevent Byzantine from spawning). The list goes on and on, but this is especially vital for early civs.

The colonial expansion era will always be costly for your stability and economy, unless you are a colonial civ. This is why I usually expand to Americas after 1700. Sometimes I even settle the NA cities just after the american spawn. Resettlement is also good to have.

@Spartanlegend: Concerning civics, my strategy is not switch too much after some initial moves. Before colonization I usually adopt Resettlement, for the stability bonus, together with Republic. Sometimes I make the switch to capitalism civics before I have Christo Redentor, but usually I wait for it. After I have CR I'll switch all the capitalism civics, but depending on the situation I sometimes adopt representation, not parliamentarism. If stability is causing trouble I'll switch to Autocracy and police state (or what it is?) as well. With four or more vassals viceroyalty is best for stability. Svn has some new changes that I not yet aware though.

 

[Acmeandco]

This is very true, since initially you need to gain a tech lead, although this is not possible with all civs. I think the most important part is to figure out where you can expand early without too much difficulty. For instance, with Greece it is Italy and Carthage, for Roma it is Sparta, Carthage and Balkan (with limits), for Persia it is India (but Mughals will give trouble) or west, but then you have to go all the way to Italy (to prevent Byzantine from spawning). The list goes on and on, but this is especially vital for early civs.

I'm currently working on an Arabian domination (600 AD), and I've found out the perfect strategy (because you said you'd like us to post strategy):

STEP 1: Once everything flips, research sailing, whip galleys out of Jerusalem and Alexandria, until you have enough galleys to carry all of your camel archers (I had 8 at the start of the game, counting the ones that flipped to me). Get all your camels on a boat, invade spain, like around 800 AD. Capitulate them, then liberate all captured cities. Have them convert to islam. Invade france. Capitulate them, then liberate all captured cities. Have them convert to islam. Invade England. They do not capitulate, so just annex it all.

STEP 2: When the Seljuks spawn, have ~9 Camel archers in Baghdad, and rush into Isfahan and conquer it. Once you do that, all Sekjuk troops will disappear and you'll be fine. Another wave of them will reappear; fight them off. Fight back the Mongols. Fight back the Ottomans (I managed to Capitulate them). Meanwhile, research straight towards Optics.

STEP 3: Capitulate Aztec, Capitulate Inca. Liberate any conquered Incan cities (they can use their +2 food +1 production bonus to mountains), and keep a couple of the conquered Aztec cities (liberate any others). Convert them both to Islam.

STEP 4: Colonization will begin around this time, and you can just chill; because you control the Maghreb, Turkey, all of the Arabian Peninsula, Britain and Mexico directly, it will take ALOT for France or Spain to break free of Capitulation. Conquer Mali. (For me, it's already ~1500 AD, and I'm still using Camel Archers).

STEP 5: Push East. Conquer Iran after Safavid spawn, conquer Mughals (you don't have to worry about England invading; you killed them off). You should be using Cuirassiers around this time.

^I have not finished it yet, though. I'm in the middle of Step 5.

Civics:
never change you civics. Never. Well, take a turn to change to Viceroyalty, but otherwise, don't change any civics until you have researched Communism, Nationalism and Democracy. Do a full upheaval, Autocracy, Supreme Council, Egalitarianism, State Property. (keep Fanaticism, and keep Viceroyalty, unless you like Imperialism better). Baathist Arabia ftw.

Wonders:
MAKE SURE YOU BUILD THE SPIRAL MINARET. I cannot emphasize this enough. B/c you're converting spain and france to islam, you have a lot of competitors to build wonders (not to mention Mughals). So you HAVE to make sure you build this one. You'll get tons of money from it. A massive amount of your income will be from the three holy city shrines: Islamic, Catholic, and Orthodox. Also, once you have communism, MAKE SURE YOU BUILD THE LUBYANKA. I cannot stress this enough either. This will give you a million espionage, and once you have electricity, it will give you visibility to every city on the planet. I'm not overexadurating.

I will let you know when I have gotten farther.

 

[Jusos2108]

Sounds pretty good, but I am a bit surprised that your stability doesn't plummit from all the liberations..?

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

I am retrying China in an SVN version w/ disseminating tech in mind.
Is it normal for me to have the WFYABTA so hard?
About around 1400s, my farthest tech was Scientific Method,
and EVERYONE, even my vassals, England & Germany would refuse to trade with me.
No one would even trade me Civil Service for the longest time.

I might as well reroll back to an earlier point, because at the part I'm at,
my once superb economy (94+) is plummeting to (73+) factors I can't exactly figure out.

 

[Jusos2108]

AI hardly ever trades CS for some reason. Some civs like the Netherlands and Vikings are usually eager to trade everything and thus good vassals.

 

[Tomorrow's Dawn]

I should add that I'm set back by not having certain Pantheon wonders; I did not found Confucianism or Taoism but I was still beaten to TGL, Pantheon, and Artemis by Greece because of the new restrictions. Confucianism did end up spreading to my cities anyway though and I managed to beat Rome (Confucian founder) to The Great Wall.

I beelined and hit Astronomy in the mid-1000s, and took Sci Method with Liberalism,
so I might have to tech it slower?