Early Conquering For Culture VC?

[DeathFace]

So I've been recently playing since the fall patch and had to take a bit of a hiatus due to a bit of a dilemma that Iv'e been pondering for a number of days. I started up a game as Brazil, King Difficulty, Continents Plus. I started out a bit isolated with stone and marble whuch got me interested in trying to get wonders for my culture victory, something that didn't go all that well my last game. But then i fond my one direct neighbor, Ethiopia, who also has stone and marble.

So this brings me to my question(s): Should I take out Ethiopia when the eventually pop out a few early wonders? Should I try and build a few of said wonders my self? Or should I just leave them alone hoping that they don't beat me to any wonders I want?

 

[isau]

So I've been recently playing since the fall patch and had to take a bit of a hiatus due to a bit of a dilemma that Iv'e been pondering for a number of days. I started up a game as Brazil, King Difficulty, Continents Plus. I started out a bit isolated with stone and marble whuch got me interested in trying to get wonders for my culture victory, something that didn't go all that well my last game. But then i fond my one direct neighbor, Ethiopia, who also has stone and marble.

So this brings me to my question(s): Should I take out Ethiopia when the eventually pop out a few early wonders? Should I try and build a few of said wonders my self? Or should I just leave them alone hoping that they don't beat me to any wonders I want?

I would at least harass them, if it's possible to do so. You don't necessarily need to take their cities but if it's possible to get a few units over there to harass them by pillaging improvements and threatening Workers and (especially) Settlers it could keep them locked down long enough for you to pull ahead. A lot of factors to consider here though, like how far away they are.

 

[DeathFace]

I would at least harass them, if it's possible to do so. You don't necessarily need to take their cities but if it's possible to get a few units over there to harass them by pillaging improvements and threatening Workers and (especially) Settlers it could keep them locked down long enough for you to pull ahead. A lot of factors to consider here though, like how far away they are.

But wouldn't doing this still be building warmonger penalties? I've considered doing this but I always returned to the idea that if I'm going to DoW I should take out the most worrisome factor, their capital, and not have to constantly prune away at it.

 

[FrostK]

If u can settle 4 nice cities, u r ok. War wont fasten your CV. If u lack of space - go 1-2 city composite rush, which is not that hard on King.

In fact for CV u dont need any early wonders. So just focus on internal trade routes, population and getting not that late NC - then all wonders in Mediaval and later eras are yours.

 

[EEE_BOY]

Early wonders are not important. Try to secure a few Renaissance cultural wonders, so to do that you need ethiopia to help you with their caravans to give you money and science while you keep growing and teching to have tech lead in Renainssance.

If Ethiopia builds early wonder, even better, capture them after Renainssance.

 

[DeathFace]

Early wonders are not important. Try to secure a few Renaissance cultural wonders, so to do that you need ethiopia to help you with their caravans to give you money and science while you keep growing and teching to have tech lead in Renainssance.

If Ethiopia builds early wonder, even better, capture them after Renainssance.

I don't necessarily need Ethiopia for trade routes since I can reach a more distant neighbor, Japan, soon that can serve that purpose quite sufficiently well. Another problem is that with Ethiopia having marble and stone they will most likely be going for wonders the entire game and could become a bit of a pain in that respect. And I know that early wonders aren't all that vital, but with my particular start i think getting them might be a bit more viable with my mindset being grabbing wonders like the Mausoleum for cash from my GWAMs, Parthenon for early tourism and culture, and possibly even the Hanging Garden for growth to support specialists (even though I'm not all that experienced with trying to get the HG)

 

[isau]

But wouldn't doing this still be building warmonger penalties? I've considered doing this but I always returned to the idea that if I'm going to DoW I should take out the most worrisome factor, their capital, and not have to constantly prune away at it.

As long as you don't capture any cities the war monger penalty is relatively small. Chances are even Ethiopia would forgive you. The main objective isn't to conquer them but to hobble them long enough for you to get your empire going. Depending on how far away they are you might also get some workers out of the deal. If you manage to make it so they can't settle any other cities you've likely taken them out of the game completely.

 

[Deau]

There is a significantly larger gain for CV in late game warmongering than in early game warmongering.

Go for a peaceful 3-4 city and if you can't manage to catch up on tech in early renaissance nor to grow your capital tall enough to build some of the Sistine/Uffizi/louvre/pisa and a couple other earlier wonders that are just left available late (like oracle), then swap your game plan to warmonger based CV and go for scientific theory/radio or industrialization (whatever will get you one of the first ideology pick) and then detour for either artillery rush or bomber rush and eat 2-3 neighbors completely or almost, prioritizing those with many wonders/high total culture/high TPT as you'll then steal more great works).