Domination victory seems overwhelming

[Donut9]

I always turn off all victory conditions except military ones. Even on a small map, with me being the only civ with oil based units, a domination victory seems impossible despite the fact that my military is larger and more powerful than the the rest of the world combined.

On one level this is pretty cool. On another it is a bit frustrating. Any tips for getting a domination victory? I do not want a smaller map size. If anything, I want a larger map.

 

[Synkndown]

If you can take out a few near by civs early it helps a lot. In the endgame I save the largest civ with a costal capital for last. 3-4 battleships and 3 destroyers can take out a capital in 2 or 3 turns with little resistance. You could even do 2 at once fairly easy. Attack runways with inland capitals as early as possiable. Bribe other civs to declare war a few turns before you launch your attack. It will give you a few turns to capture a city or 2 and setup a meat grinder defense before they can move thier units to your front. Let them slaughter thier whole army trying to retake those citys then sweep them off the map.

 

[joncnunn]

Is this pangaea? continents? A water map? Ring map?

For any map in which there's multiple land masses: For that other land mass don't try to conquer each and every city, just go for the capitals and skip over any some other AI conquered. (Check victory progress screen) Coastal cities are really easy to take with G&K with the combo of Privateers built in a city with Barracks & Armory + some Frigates (ideally pre built as the first ranged water unit and upgraded). Coastal Raider III is deadly in combo with Frigates. (These upgrade to Destroyers & Battleships which murder the poor AI.)

Ring map: Some cities will be on the coast of the main lake so the above applies to the cities on the far side of the ring.

 

[sufficiency]

I don't see how it can be even remotely difficult if you have oil (or preferably, tons of oil). Just get a thick stack of bombers and off you go!

If it's water maps, it should be even easier because the AI can't really deal with your submarines.

 

[alpha wolf 64]

launch the initial assault with plenty of ranged units. then pick off the damaged units that will not expose you units. then sit and watch them throw their units away counterattacking. in 3or 4 turns, they wont have any units left. then bombard the crap outta the city.

 

[killmeplease]

in my last game bismark killed darius very fast what gave him the whole continent BC, while i on my continent fought 3 agressive AIs (japanese, greeks and russians) well until renaissance. So i found myself 2 eras behind the germany when met them. killing them wasnt hard though, even with berlin being inland. i beelined infantry and research labs, then destroyers and bombers, then bribed all city states which supplied germany with aluminium (so they couldnt finish their space ship which was half-completed already, and their rocket artillery became worthless) and came for easy kill. their resistance turned out to be quite pathetic. great generals helped too, as i built a number of citadels on my way to berlin after conquering a first coastal city.

 

[Mesix]

Can the OP provide more information about game settings and situation? These will affect strategy.

I find the Domination is the fastest victory condition in the game. Unlike the previous posters, I do not find oil, battleships, nor destroyers to be of much use. I generally finish off a Domination victory by the Renaissance (or perhaps early Industrial on larger maps) Era.

The most important thing to remember for a Domination victory is that you only need to take the AI capitals. You can sue for peace after taking their capital (and perhaps 1-2 other key cities for good measure) and then move onto the next AI. Start your conquest early. 4-6 ranged units escorted by 2 melee units to take cities should be enough. Use to upgrade units as technology advances. Once your first force is off conquering, build a second force to go in a different direction, then perhaps a third as well.

For water map types, use the same recommendations, but supplement with appropriate navy units. You should be able to conquer the world with Frigates and Caravels (or Privateers).

 

[killmeplease]

if you wont take AI's cities you wont have enough science to keep your units up to date

if you win domination in renaissance maybe you should rise your difficulty level?
or maybe you play at marathon?

 

[Unresolved]

You can certainly keep up in science without conquering anybody in any difficulty level. And domination in the Renaissance Era is very common until Deity. I've only seen standard Deity maps won at Renaissance on water maps.

 

[killmeplease]

You can certainly keep up in science without conquering anybody in any difficulty level.

how?
there likely will be one or more huge civs which will start to outtech you if you wont expand through war like they do

 

[Unresolved]

if you wont take AI's cities you wont have enough science to keep your units up to date

That's what I was referring to. Perhaps a misunderstanding?

 

[Seabastian Civ]

For defense, you need artillery.
For domination, you need bombers.