Domination: When to go all in?

[masyauefa]

Hello everyone,

I have a strategic question for domination victory I've been pondering about.
I'm playing on Emperor level, but I think it's relevant for any difficulty.

So you start a game well, conquer your neighbor and then gain momentum to conquer your whole continent. At this point you develop your core cities, establish a strong economy and good production and gain advantage in both civic and science over everybody else.

In case you want to finish the game as quickly as possible, at what point do you drop everything and start building units only and go all in on conquering the capitals on the other continent?
In other words, how much ahead in science/civic/gold/production should you be to be sure to steamroll the opponents?

 

[Bluetooth]

I don’t know if its quick enough for your taste but I do it when I can build Field Cannons and Cavalry. That’s usually the only units I use.

 

[Lily_Lancer]

In late game(since you mentioned "whole continent", I assume you're playing continental game) what you really need is fast movement and faith( to initially purchase most recent units on newly-captured frontline cities), units built in the homeland takes too long to get to the frontline.

So a useful technology is Steam Power, another is Plastics, which both increase embarked unit speed. Also, cavalry and infantry are powerful to be bought instantly.

So my suggestion is basically, faith and science, also GG point may help since GG can move to the frontline in one turn and speed up your army. Science gives you strong units which can destroy city defenses fast(to avoid the case some Civs unlock nationalism and use musket/cavalry corp garrison, bringing city defense to 70~80 which cannot be captured easily by knights), while faith gives you opportunities to purchase them at frontline quickly.

 

[halfhalfharp]

Hello everyone,

I have a strategic question for domination victory I've been pondering about.
I'm playing on Emperor level, but I think it's relevant for any difficulty.

So you start a game well, conquer your neighbor and then gain momentum to conquer your whole continent. At this point you develop your core cities, establish a strong economy and good production and gain advantage in both civic and science over everybody else.

In case you want to finish the game as quickly as possible, at what point do you drop everything and start building units only and go all in on conquering the capitals on the other continent?
In other words, how much ahead in science/civic/gold/production should you be to be sure to steamroll the opponents?

Depends greatly on what civ you are using and the map type, and also the tech era you are in.
But generally speaking, for late game, I shall try to get a number (4-5, not too many, depends on my opponents' navy too) of battleships to escort my troops over the continents.
Even if your enemy has a large navy, don't bother to build too many naval units, as you probably won't need them once you get deeper into the lands.
And my land force will be composed of at least 1-2 artillery to bring down cities once the infantries/Rifleman failed to gain the upper hand.

For economy, try to maintain around +50 GDT when you start the war, that will ensure you to create roughly 10 more units before bankrupt.
For production, I count it in number of turns to produce untis. If it takes too long, like 10 turns.
(I play online Speed) You'd better use this city for building traders.

 

[Victoria]

I only play continents unless GOTM, it makes it harder, more challenging.
To me the key thing is to build 2 galleys and 5-6 quads that can be upgraded later and also allows you to scout out the other continents before you finish cleaning up.
When going for sea invasion you do need to upgrade your quads to the latest guns and you literally chew the coastline to pieces as well as support your ground troops... the AI will happily walk to the coast to die in droves.
Your frigates/battleships will get better range quickly with promotions and the off well placed city can allow these naval guns to reach well inland.

But to answer your question... don’t stop.
You build your army first and then your infra while your army is fighting, upgrade your troops, you do not need many against the AI.

 

[PYITE]

I only play continents unless GOTM, it makes it harder, more challenging.
To me the key thing is to build 2 galleys and 5-6 quads that can be upgraded later and also allows you to scout out the other continents before you finish cleaning up.
When going for sea invasion you do need to upgrade your quads to the latest guns and you literally chew the coastline to pieces as well as support your ground troops... the AI will happily walk to the coast to die in droves.
Your frigates/battleships will get better range quickly with promotions and the off well placed city can allow these naval guns to reach well inland.

But to answer your question... don’t stop.
You build your army first and then your infra while your army is fighting, upgrade your troops, you do not need many against the AI.

IMO you just perfectly described why continents is much easier than Pangea. The AI still has zero idea how to use naval units or use land units in defense of a naval attack. Using 100% production to make quads and upgrading later is extremely powerful. The AI doesn’t know how to deal with range 3 battleships. The oceans actually make it quicker to move your troops in position for attack when trying to reach the last few distant civs. Most of the time the AI can only successfully attack another civ by way of land, otherwise they suffer way to many losses at sea and can never get their troops in position.

If the AI knew how to navy then I would definitely agree with you, but sadly they don’t.

 

[Victoria]

The AI still has zero idea how to use naval

The AI also -10 ideas how to deal with knights.

A Pangea is faster and cheaper and that’s why it’s easier.

Ever had 3 frigates bump into 1 Brazilian battleship?... or subs? Be careful what you say, continents is harder on deity.

 

[Lily_Lancer]

The AI also -10 ideas how to deal with knights.

A Pangea is faster and cheaper and that’s why it’s easier.

Ever had 3 frigates bump into 1 Brazilian battleship?... or subs? Be careful what you say, continents is harder on deity.

If you play fast enough that won't happen. At least I never experienced that on continental maps. Maybe there're just a few turns for them to go, but they'll never have chance.

The most powerful AI unit maybe cavalry, corps. But that's just one unit and I don't think AI can spam the cavalry corp.

 

[PYITE]

The AI also -10 ideas how to deal with knights.

A Pangea is faster and cheaper and that’s why it’s easier.

Ever had 3 frigates bump into 1 Brazilian battleship?... or subs? Be careful what you say, continents is harder on deity.

I guess we will disagree then, you are probably correct for vanilla, though some maps and city placements would cause exceptions.

I also sometimes play large and huge maps where continents is always quicker for me to conquer because of my navy.

Knights work just as well on continents as Pangea

I usually go privateers because the AI has -100 ideas how to deal with a unit they can’t see and they can be extremely profitable.

Ever had the AI get knights by turn 60, cavalry at 80, and steel by 100? Happens frequently in my games when I use a mod to make the AI focus more on science. Slows your snowball significantly.

Things change a lot when they build a campus in every city, be careful what you say, Korea is coming.

 

[Victoria]

I think we really agree it’s just a finer point. There is water between those continents and if it’s shallow water like all GOTM’s seem to be then you can pretty much ignore Naval and rush across the water with your knights but do risk being attacked by barbs. You can build a navy to help and yes those frigates chew cities to pieces but few cities are really on the coast and LOS can be a big issue also. The fact you have to build galleys/quads as well as chariots even with the 100% is overhead.
As I have said in other posts, continents makes you use more of the game, I am quite happy if we think slightly differently about speed, it’s not much... but I do know in GOTM with the same map the best times are done by floating your knights, not your boats.

 

[Dark Phoenyx]

Steel... because Insta-walls on capture