Domination on large/huge 60% continents

[Maharajah]

I earlier posted for advice on domination a couple of weeks ago. I was told to choose tiny or small pangea with 80% water. This also meant a lot fewer civs to play against. Some folks also set which specific civs they want.

I have won a game or two with those settings. But I'm wondering how people get domination victory on large to huge continents with 60% water and seven to eleven opposing civs. I just can't do it! Even after killing all my neighbors and dominating my own continent, there are still one or two powerful civs on the other continents who are several techs ahead and just can't be killed. They beat me with space race or cultural victory. If I turn those options off, they just end up with higher scores at turn 540.

Do a lot of people actually play domination games on large continents, or is it better to go for cultural/diplo victory in that setting?

 

[DaveMcW]

You have to be fast to win by domination on a large map.

Try doing a cavalry rush - full research to military tradition, then turn off research while you build hundreds of cavalry and take over the world.

 

[Pentium]

You mean no wars before Cavalry? That doesn't sound fast...

 

[Maharajah]

Also, since the most advanced civ is always a few techs ahead of me, by the time I build cavs they's got infantries and guerillas. So it's still hard to take them on. Numbers might be the answer though since cavs have decent combat stats against these units.

I tried another strategy once on a pangea: pick early fights with everyone and try to weaken them so nobody would be strong enough later on. But this only makes everybody furious early on, and makes it hard to trade techs or form alliances when you need them later.

 

[DaveMcW]

Don't try to take on the most advanced civ until you wipe everyone else out. When all the survivors have Infantry, buy Replaceable Parts and add artillery to the mix.