Emperor UHV Strategies

[Andrrew]

Pontus

UHV1: Control Pontus, Cappadocia, Thrace, Asia, Crimea by 90 BC
UHV2: Capture 4 Roman cities OR control 7 provinces incl. Greece by 30 BC
UHV3: 3 Friendly civs by 100 AD

Civics: Used Tyranny, Tribal Levy, Paganism (in the early game happiness is a big issue and hence can't afford Slavery / Dynasty Cult). Once all cities had Monuments switched to Dynasty Cult.
Techs: Horticulture for happiness, then doesn't really matter. In fact I set tech at 0% as wanted to have cash to bribe folks to enter into wars with me.
Cities: Founded capital on spot, and built a couple of Spearmen there. Conquered cities also focused on Spearmen / Monument / Settlers. First settler founded a city next to Honey (214 BC).
Conquests: All 4 starting units immediately attacked Ankara. Most of Antigonid units were busy conquering Byzantion, so I successfully captured Ankara with 2 units lost. Also conquered poorly-defended Tarsos with no loss; then the CR2-promoted Spearman + add'l units continued for Ephesos and successfully captured it with 1 unit loss. At this point I made peace (276 BC). I captured indy Tarsus shortly after, and then continued with a stack of Spearmen/Javelinmen towards Crimean city. I captured Byzantion in 239 BC, Crimean city in 199 BC, and Athens in 192 BC.

UHV1 & 2: See above conquests. GA kicked in in 192 BC.

UHV3: I focused on Egypt, Rome, and Armenia as my friends. OB'd early on via gold gift, traded some resources with them, and bribed them to enter into wars with me (with enemies being Seleucid and Antigonid). Also gifted tech when possible. However, this is usually not enough, hence I used the Liberate strategy to rack up the relationship. I built a ton of Settlers and founded cities in these civs' cores (2 in Egypt in Libya, 1 in S Italy tip of boot, 1 in N Italy on Cow, 3 in Armenia province), then immediately Liberated them to the respective civ. With all these liberations I hit Friendly levels with all 3 in 161 BC and won!

Stability: Stable despite -4 in Empire category.

 

[Andrrew]

Antigonids

UHV1: Palace in Pella by 250 BC
UHV2: First to discover Monarchy
UHV3: 7 World Wonders by 70 BC

Civics: Used Tyranny, Tribal Levy, Paganism (happiness is an issue and hence can't afford Slavery / Dynasty Cult).
Techs: Monarchy, then doesn't matter.
Cities: All cities should build Taxation, apart from 2 workers (one at capital, one in Levant), required Work Boats, and a couple of Spearmen early on for defense/happiness.
Conquests: Starting 2 Heavy Spearmen captured Byzantion, then after healing continued to Pella, Athens, and finally Epidamnos. Also immediately declared war on Ptolemy, Seleucus, and captured Damascus and Jerusalem with Javelinmen. All these can be done by 280-270 BC or so.

UHV1: Pella should immediately start on Palace, and micro to work the 2 food tiles + 2 laborers, and immediately develop the Lumber once possible (once Epidamnos is captured). Pella also needs 3-4 Spearmen for defense / happiness. All 4 workers should also focus on chopping the trees to accelerate the Palace. I was done with it just in 251 BC, but can be sooner as I was stumbling a bit with Epidamnos.

UHV2: In spite of my big empire, with all cities building taxation I got to Monarchy in 252 BC. I also sold some techs for gold, and got a decent amount from city conquests as well as peace treaties.

UHV3: Ephesos started on the Great Lighthouse, completed in 256 BC. Once Monarchy was completed, all cities started building Heavy Spearmen. I easily captured indy Rhodos with my city raider veteran Heavy Spearmen, then continued towards Seleucids and captured Babylon which boasts with 2 wonders. Then kept a big stack of defenders there and made peace, while at the same time attacked Ptolemy and captured their Pyramids city. At this point I won (226 BC) given I amassed 7 world wonders!

Stability: Stable despite -4 in Empire category.

 

[Andrrew]

Ptolemy

UHV1: Build Great Lighthouse and Great Library by 180 BC
UHV2: 7 East Med ports by 150 BC
UHV3: Alexandria highest pop and culture in 100 BC

Civics: Used Tyranny, Tribal Levy, Dynasty Cult (happiness is an issue and hence didn't go with Slavery).
Techs: Literature, then doesn't really matter, but I went for Horticulture, Military Drill, Monarchy, Bridge Building, etc.. Antigonids actually beat me to Literature which is a big miss (no free GA), as I started with Horticulture and only finished Literature in 245 BC.
Cities: Alexandria builds Work Boats, Fishery, Market, Obelisk, Library, Company Buildings (for extra health), and the 2 wonders. I was running a bit behind on the wonders so had to switch to Slavery for 5 turns and get a Slave to rush production. All other cities should build up their infrastructure (Obelisk, Fishery, Market, Library, couple of Spearmen for defense/happiness) given it is a long game. Later on Spearmen/Axemen against nasty Barbs and Judea, then Taxation.
Conquests: Starting Axeman and Spearmen captured Jerusalem, Tyros, Damascus by 300 BC. Then I went for indy Kyrene and also Antiochia by 250 BC. Then I paused a bit to accelerate tech, and captured Edessa and Tarsos around 200 BC. At this point I only needed 1 more coastal city for UHV2; I put down a city b/w Alexandria and Cyrene, plus also captured indy Cyprus city so ended up with 8.

UHV1: As above. Naturally I quickly developed BFC of Alexandria, and put 2 Workshops where possible.
UHV2: As above.
UHV3: As above; I had to organically generate a GA as bloody Antigonids culture-bombed Ephesos with their bonus GA from Literature. So I built Library and Theatre in my Pyramids city and employed 2 artist specialists until I got the GA. In terms of population, 8-9 is very comfortable but one could go even higher (although not necessary as the second best city was pop 6).

Stability: Stable, no issues, as didn't overextend. Important to defend against aggressive barbs, esp. the 3-4 Axemen stacks near Damascus are scary.

 

[Andrrew]

Judea

UHV1: Conquer 4 Jewish cities and hold them in 50 AD
UHV2: Build Temple of Solomon by 75 BC
UHV3: Spread Judaism to half of civs and third of cities by 100 AD

Civics: Used Empire, Tyranny, Tribal Levy, State Religion.
Techs: Nothing essential, but I went for some military techs (Horsemanship, Military Drill, Selective Breeding) and Bridge Building (to make missionaries faster).
Cities: I set Jerusalem and Suez Canal city to focus on Great Priest generation (i.e. build Walls and Temples), Damascus and Antioch on Missionary production (plus ocassional military), and the rest of the cities just one culture building, couple of Spearmen, then Wealth/Science.
Conquests: Waited for Jerusalem flip, then quickly captured Egyptian Suez Canal city and Tyros and made peace. 2 Axemen and 1 Spearman went SE and captured Saba's Medina and indy/barb Mecca. Then my experienced troops went for Seleucid's Damascus, Antioch, Edessa (thankfully no Elephants as they were busy defending vs. the Parthians).

UHV1: The above conquests were sufficient to get to 4.
UHV2: Jerusalem generated its first GP just in time close to 75 BC.
UHV3: This is the tricky one. I tried to OB with everyone by e.g. gifting a tech. Suez Canal city can run 2 priest specialists, and generated the second GP fairly early on. I sent the guy far towards east, and made him spread Judaism once it was in Punjab. In addition, per above Damascus and Antioch produced missionaries on loop, and I spread it across Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece. The Temple of Solomon did their part as well, and I hit the objective around 20 AD! Jerusalem produced another GP shortly after which I just used to build the Christian holy wonder to maximize score. Finally the victory kicked in in 50 AD.

Stability: Given I had 2 cities in Foreign Core and only 1 in my core, my stability was Unstable the whole time despite good civic combo. It didn't cause any issues apart from a 2-3 turn anarchy twice. On balance it might make sense not to go for Mecca, although the Pearls are nice to have.

 

[Andrrew]

Saba

UHV1: 4 cities by 100 BC
UHV2: 3k culture by 50 AD
UHV3: Spread Incense Merchants to 5 cities in each region by 50 AD

Civics: Used the first civic of each category... switched to Monarchy when possible.
Techs: Alphabet useful to enable artist specialist vie Library. I tried to get to Literature first to get the free GA but did not succeed (got it in 172 BC). Otherwise doesn't really matter. I got to Philosophy first and was able to get a ton of techs via trade.
Cities: Founded capital on spot, and second city in Oman next to Copper and Crab. Capital builds Spearmen, Fishery, Market, Library, Fairground, and runs 2 specialists (1 artist, 1 merchant/scientist oscillated to maximize GA chance). Copper city is the main production site, builds Work Boat, Spearmen, 2 Settlers, 3-4 Galleys, then Incense Merchants ad infinitum... I put down third city in core with Crab, Sheep, and 2 Incense in BFC. I founded Mecca as the 4th city given nice health/happiness resources in the BFC. Additional cities build Monument, Work Boat, Fishery, Merchant Ships, then Wealth/Science.

UHV1: Per the above I got my 4 cities by 199 BC.

UHV2: I got my first GA in 152 BC and culture-bombed my capital, thereby achieving the goal.

UHV3: This is the tricky one. You need to gift an Incense resource to the civ you are targeting to be able to spread (unless they naturally have it which is very rare). Luckily when you stop supplying the civ with Incense, while the Company will disappear from their cities, the counter doesn't go back to zero. However, when a city flips / gets conquered it actually sets back the counter (not sure if this is a bug or not). As such, one should target stable civs that don't flip / collapse / get conquered. On that basis, Seleucids are a bad target given Parthian spawn in ~140 BC.
For Med, I spread it to Ptolemy which is stable enough; for Iran Parthians. For India, a combination of Chola, Stavahana (this was a mistake as these guys are very unstable), Kalinka, and lastly Shaka. For SEA, the most southern Au Lac cities unfortunately don't count (might be a bug), as such I had to go for the 2 northern Au Lac cities plus 3 Nan Yue cities in China. Merchant Ships are fast to go through India but going around Malay Peninsula is close to impossible given the ton of Pirate Ships. As such, I unloaded the Merchants in Thailand area and let them go through the jungle. It is a bit time consuming, but when you "oscillate" between SEA and Iran it is not too bad (key is to minimize turns where you are unable to build the Incense Merchant due to 3 guys being en route). I achieved victory in 15 BC; could be improved if I skip Stavahana and also if I "oscillate" better.

Stability: Stable given limited expansion. Core cities and Mecca should have 3 Spearmen defenders each as barbs are nasty.

 

[Andrrew]

Celts

UHV1: Capture Rome by 150 BC
UHV2: #1 in culture by 75 BC
UHV3: Control Gaul, N Italy, Narbonensis, Aquitania, Iberia, Illyricum, Germania, Britannia by 100 BC

Civics: Switched to Tyranny at spawn; also switched to Monarchy when possible.
Techs: Main focus is to trade techs asap; I got a lot from Carthage and Ptolemy. Key techs are Sailing, Writing, Alphabet. Then I researched Monarchy although not that essential.
Cities: I founded my capital 1SE of Copper as this spot has Sheep, Cow, Lumber, Copper, and fresh water. Capital starts with Worker, Dun, Forge, then Axemen; it should run 1 artist and 1 engineer specialist to accelerate UHV2. Second city starts with Worker, then Axemen. Once Rome was beaten these cities built 2 Settlers.
Conquests: Started Axemen immediately captured Dye city, Bordeaux, and Iberian city with Silver from Indy. Conquered cities build Work Boat, Galley, Spearmen, Axemen.

UHV1: Once I had a large enough stack of ~8 Axemen I declared war on Rome and captured Milan, Rome (199 BC), Venice, and the 2 Illyricum cities without much problem. Experience from the indy battles was a great help (CR2-3 promotion). In fact I could have attacked sooner as a stack of 5 is probably enough. In some games it is also possible to capture Rome immediately after their spawn.

UHV2: I got my GA in 191 BC and culture-bombed my capital. I also got a GG earlier which I also used to culture-bomb; this was enough to become #1 in culture.

UHV3: With all the conquests, all I needed is 2 Settlers - one for Germany and one for Britain. I went around Iberia with a Galley which took some time but still faster than building a new city in Normandy to build a Galley. Victory achieved in 175 BC!

Stability: Stable for the entire game; late game GA of course helped.

 

[Andrrew]

Dacia

UHV1: Control Dacia, Thrace, Illyricum in 50 AD
UHV2: Control 6 provinces by 250 AD (note it says "in" by acts as "by")
UHV3: 5k gold by 150 AD

Civics: Switched to Tyranny at spawn; also switched to Monarchy when possible.
Techs: Traded for Sailing, Currency, Alphabet, and later on even Monarchy. Otherwise, set research at 0% from the start.
Cities: I founded my capital on spot, and second city on hill b/w Iron and Wheat (hill defense bonus handy against the barb hordes). Cities should build Axe/Spear defenders, Walls, Market, more Axemen, then Wealth. I built the Royal Mint in Singidunum.
Conquests: My Axemen immediately conquered Singidunum, then paused. Around 60 BC captured Thessaloniki/Pella from Romans, then made peace. Byzantion was Parthian then Indy, captured it around 30 BC. Then I had to build up a massive force of Axemen to take Salonae which had 10 or so defenders! I built a stack of ~10 Axemen and also hired all available mercs (~5-6) around 14 AD, and successfully captured it! Shortly after also took Dyrrachium and Athens, thereby getting to 6 provinces.

UHV1 & 2: As above.
UHV3: With research at 0% I was generating 40-70 gold/turn, and during GA 100-130. I got the 5k gold in 37 AD, and won the game in 50 AD! I actually generated a GM around 40 AD but didn't actually need it at that point.

Stability: Stable for the entire game, despite slightly overextending.

 

[Andrrew]

Axum

UHV1: Adopt a state religion by 200 AD
UHV2: 3k gold from trade by 400 AD
UHV3: #4 or higher in score in 300 AD

Civics: First of each category initially; later on went with Monarchy, Vassalage, Market Economy, State Religion.
Techs: Your special power is tech brokering, so important to send your Trireme to China and make contact with everyone (preferably OB for a tech). I was able to get a ton of techs by getting Metallurgy from one of the Indian civs and trading it to all the Med civs. Organically I researched State Religion and then science/trade techs such as Bulk Trade, Manufactured Trade, etc.
Cities: I founded my capital on spot, although it is an abysmal location. There was an indy city 2 steps NE from my capital which flipped to me. I founded Mecca with the extra settler as it has nice resources. Given it's a long game, the infrastructure buildings are worth the investment and hence all cities built Stele, Market, Library, Fairground, Courthouse, Monastery, Observatory, etc., after the usual couple of Spearmen defense.
Conquests: My starting stack captured Meroe capital (suffering some moderate losses), then also their Ivory city, then made peace. I healed, CR-promoted my Spearmen, and continued to Meroe's third city (with Camel), and then shipped my experienced army over to Yemen and captured the 2 Saba cities as well. Later on I also captured Medina from barbs.

UHV1: Got the tech in 82 AD. Judaism was fairly well-spread in my cities, so I went with that and spread it to every single city of mine.
UHV2: Unfortunately selling your map/techs/trade missions don't count for this one, so has to be resource trades. I sold to Rome early on a couple of resources for ~20g/turn or so, which was the main driver. Otherwise, also tried to push other excess resources to anyone else who was willing to pay 2-3-4 g/turn for one. I achieved the condition around 200 AD.
UHV3: I put down a couple of additional cities just to boost my score although I was comfortably #2 due to my strong GDP and tech lead. I put 3 new cities in my core to boost stability (on Sheep, by the vertical lake, and another near the Ivory city). I also put down a city in southern Somalia next to Sheep and Sorghum.

Stability: Early on I was unstable due to the quick conquests, but after my first GA and Courthouses I stayed Stable.

 

[Andrrew]

Rome (Republic)

UHV1: 5 GPs in Rome by 50 AD
UHV2: 10 Med provinces incl. Africa, Sicily by 75 BC
UHV3: First to discover Engineering, Jurisprudence

Civics: Oligarchy (happiness bonus is really nice), Bureaucracy, Slavery (Slaves very useful to improve land/ rush wonders/buildings given plenty of conquests/barbs), Paganism.
Techs: Horticulture (traded), Literature (205 BC, free GA), Mathematics (166 BC, free GS), Philosophy (135 BC, bulb Engineering), Jurisprudence (119 BC).
Cities: I founded Rome on spot, and Venice city with Cow, Lumber, Crab in BFC. All cities prioritized Forum, Library, Fishery, apart from 1-2 Spear defenders and Wealth. The best production cities also built 1-2 Legions (Milan, Iberia city, Rome, Pella). Rome should also prioritize Royal Mint asap once have access to Gold. I Slave-rushed the Great Lighthouse and the Great Library in Athens, and Archimedes Workshop + Trajan's Column in Rome.
Conquests: Given going for 'Republic' I wanted to boost my science, and my cities sorely lacked happiness so I focused on luxury resources. My starting stack immediately captured indy Dye city and the two indy Iberian cities (one with Silver). After healing I attacked Egypt and captured their nice cities by 250 BC (with Gems, Gold). A bit later, around 250 BC I captured Athens/Pella/Epidamnos just because I thought these are decent cities and Athens can generate GPs. I was afraid of attacking Carthage given their bonus Elephants they get at declaration of war, but interestingly they decided to declare war on me and hence I was able to quickly capture Carthage City around 200 BC. By 150 BC I also captured Sicily and Sardinia at which point my GA kicked in.

UHV1: I settled 2 GGs, 2 bonus GPs (Scientist, Artist from techs), and one organically generated in Rome.
UHV2: Condition achieved in 150 BC (Sardinia, Sicily, Iberia, Egypt, 2x Italy, Africa, Greece, Narbonensis, Macedonia).
UHV3: As above; victory achieved in 119 BC!

Stability: Stable all the way, helped by good civic combo and strong economy. Important to defend vs. barbs; chokeholds are Iberian Silver city (Javelinmen - defend with 2 Javelinmen and 1 Legion), Dye city (1 stray Spear/Javelin - defend with 1 Javelin and 2 Spears), Venice city (Axemen/Spearmen - defend with starting Archer and Spearmen, later on Legions), Pella (Horsemen mainly - defend with Spearmen and later on 3 Legions in case Axemen show up), Egypt and Africa (Spears and Horses - defend with Spears).

 

[Edmund Ironside]

I like all the guides you have been doing.
Once you've finished doing RFCCW, any plans to do RFCA, RFCE or RFCGW?

 

[Andrrew]

I like all the guides you have been doing.
Once you've finished doing RFCCW, any plans to do RFCA, RFCE or RFCGW?

Thank you! Yes I plan to continue on depending on how much time I have. RFCE will be a quick one as I've done that a couple of times. RFCA and RFCGW last time I checked was pretty early-stage but they might have been progressing so will have a look!

 

[Andrrew]

Carthage

UHV1: Destroy Rome by 50 BC
UHV2: 6 different luxury resources by 150 BC
UHV3: 9 different luxury resources by 50 AD

Civics: Switched off Slavery for the first couple of turns until a few luxury resources were hooked up; then switched back as the productivity bonus via Slaves is significant. Tyranny also helpful re happiness esp early. Otherwise Monarchy once possible.
Techs: Horticulture (262 BC), then doesn't really matter. I went for Monarchy for stability boost, then started tech'ing towards Crop Rotation but won before completed.
Cities: With the extra settler I founded Elephant city 1 NW of Elephant (coastal city would be nicer but I needed happiness ASAP so couldn't afford to be 2 tiles away from the Elephant). Cities should build Work Boats, 1-2 Spearmen for defense/happiness, Monument if no religion, Market, Cothon, Numidian Cavalries.
Conquests: Starting units + 1-2 hired Heavy Spear captured Silver city, Dye city, and Sicilian city from indy by 295 BC. Then around 240 BC I hired all available mercs and attacked Rome, supported by a couple of experienced Numidians, and captured their 4 Italian cities plus 2 in Illyricum by 230 BC or so. I gifted the 2 N Italian cities to Celts as I was worried about my stability. Shortly after I also captured indy city west of Carthage, and indy Rhodos.

UHV1: As above.
UHV2: Dye, Silver, Elephant, Pearls, Wine are in your cities; I built a Settler in the Silver city and dropped it on top of the Iberian Gold to trigger GA in 221 BC.
UHV3: I initially misunderstood the UHV condition and didn't realize I need 9 different luxury resources... As such I captured Rhodos for the second Dye and founded Malta for the second Pearl (the latter likely isn't worth it). After realizing my mistake I went for: (i) Dacian Fur (built a settler in the Illyricum city), Egyptian Gems (4 Numidian Cavalries went by the border of Egypt and only captured the Gem city, then made peace), and Honey near Armenia (as OB doesn't allow military units to pass through, I had to declare war on Armenia and step through with a Settler protected by a Heavy Spear and 6 Numidian Cavalries...). Victory achieved in 163 BC! Surprisingly high normalized score of 80k! Timing can actually be improved with better planning and not wasting time on Malta etc.

Stability: From Roman conquests until my first GA I was Unstable, but not Collapsing so overall was OK. From my first GA onwards I was stable (also started a second GA with a GM shortly after).

 

[Edmund Ironside]

As far as I know Rhye & Fall of Asia is in a finished state. At least in terms of having UHVS, UPs and all planned civs in place, though there could be still some bugs in it. Rhye & Fall of Greek World unlike Asia is still being actively developed, so its game play should improve. It has been in development for years, so I wouldn't call it 'early development' however it certainly isn't complete as among other things only about half the civs have UHVs at the moment.

Anyway it is of course up to you. I will continue to keep an eye on your guides, as I am not the best at completing UHVs!

 

[Andrrew]

As far as I know Rhye & Fall of Asia is in a finished state. At least in terms of having UHVS, UPs and all planned civs in place, though there could be still some bugs in it. Rhye & Fall of Greek World unlike Asia is still being actively developed, so its game play should improve. It has been in development for years, so I wouldn't call it 'early development' however it certainly isn't complete as among other things only about half the civs have UHVs at the moment.

Anyway it is of course up to you. I will continue to keep an eye on your guides, as I am not the best at completing UHVs!

Ok, thanks! I'll have a look once done with CW and Europe

 

[Andrrew]

Seleucids

UHV1: Control Alexander's Empire by 180 BC
UHV2: 3 GGs by 75 BC
UHV3: 12+ cities and 6+ provinces in 75 BC

Civics: First row of each category initially; as soon as happiness allows switched to Slavery as the barb attacks and conquests generate a lot of Slaves which accelerates tile improvements and infrastructure. Once possible, switched to Empire.
Techs: Nothing truly essential but I tech'ed towards Horticulture, techs that give free GP (Literature, Mathematics), Code of Laws for Empire civic, Philosophy for free tech (picked Jurisprudence for Courthouses), Bridge Building for travel speed.
Cities: I picked the best production cities as my military cities (Babylon, Persepolis, Sousa, Damascus, Pyramids city) and built Barracks + Elephants ad infinitum. Other cities built either Market or Taxation (depending on how my economy was doing - I was bleeding money at 0% tech in the early game without building some Taxation). Capital also built Royal Mint asap once got access to Gold. Conquered cities also built Spearmen for defense, Work Boat, few Galleys for defense, Monument if no religion. Once my economy was in shape also built Libraries everywhere. I also picked up all world wonders in Alexandria. The 2 eastern cities built 1-2 Spearmen, Worker, Walls, then 2-3 Heavy Spearmen.
Conquests: Starting units are quite strong - I split my army up and had 1 Elephant, 1 Heavy Spear and a few Spearmen conquer Egypt, while in parallel 1 Elephant, 1-2 Heavy Spear and a few Spearmen went for Antigonids. Antigonids are usually the harder nut to crack, so once Egypt was done my experienced units came up to support. I captured all of the required Med regions by 266 BC. In the meantime, in the east I captured indy Samarqand with 1 Heavy Spearman, and used my free Settler to found a city in Bactria to fulfil UHV1 in the same turn (266 BC).

UHV1: As above. Once achieved, I gifted away Samarqand and the Bactrian city to Saba, and Epidamnos to Rome to improve my economy / stability.
UHV2: Given all the conquests + barbarian attacks, I got my third GG in 169 BC.
UHV3: This is an easy one assuming you defend vs barbarians and don't lose cities from then on. Parthians arrive with a massive stack of Horse Archers in 140 BC (I believe it is between 14-18 Horse Archers...). I brought my massive ~15-16 stack of Elephants to my city closest to their spawn and killed their stack that started to move towards me in 139 BC, then captured their capital shortly after. Unfortunately 2 of my cities still flip to them (Persepolis and Ekbatana), so I moved my defenders out and immediately re-captured them after the flip. The Saka arrive a bit later with stacks next to my 2 eastern cities. Otherwise it is just the usual barb harassment near Byzantion/Pella, Egypt, and also Camels/Horses near Babylon (which should be defended with 4 Elephants at all times).

Stability: Unstable for most of the game except for GAs. Apart from the UHV GA I started 2 more with GPs which was nice, esp. due to the +50% length from the Temple of Artemis.

 

[Andrrew]

Armenia

UHV1: Control Caucasus, Cappadocia, Syria, Armenia, Media in 50 BC
UHV2: First to adopt Christianity
UHV3: Never lose a city by 100 AD

Civics: Slavery useful at the beginning until tiles are improved and key buildings (Market, Library, Monastery, Barracks) are built; after that switched back to row 1. Tyranny useful for happiness (I stationed ~3 Spearmen in most cities for happiness in the early/mid-game).
Techs: I beelined for State Religion (76 BC), then doesn't really matter but I went for Philosophy (35 BC), bulbed Theology, then traded some techs and continued to tech forward and got Jurisprudence, Monasticism, Bureaucracy, etc..
Cities: Founded capital on spot (although arguably 1N is a bit better). Capital starts with a few Spearmen, Catapult, then buildings as above, 2 Settlers, then Horsemen. I picked Damascus as my other military city and built Barracks + a lot of Horses there. Other cities built buildings as above, then Taxation. With the 2 Settlers I founded city next to Honey and city next to Clam near capital.
Conquests: Starting Horses moved to Syria and captured all cities there (had to declare war on Pontus, then Antigonid, then Rome...). Next I moved towards Cappadocia but Seleucos beat me to the coastal city. I nevertheless captured Ankara then made peace with everyone. Seleucos was my friend so didn't want to declare war on them, just waited a few turns as they became unstable and then captured the indy coastal Cappadocia city. Then my veteran troops + Catapult captured indy Caucasus city. All these done by 125 BC or so.

UHV1: As above. In 51 BC I stacked up 8 Horses by the Parthian border, and in 50 BC declared war on them and captured Ekbatana (the only city in Media province). They immediately showed up with a massive stack of HAs so I decided to retreat and gifted the city to Antigonids (gifting a city doesn't count as "losing a city").
UHV2: In 30 AD I declared war on Judea and attacked with a big stack of Horses + a Catapult, and captured Jerusalem. I immediately switched to State Religion/Christianity, which triggered my GA, then 5 turns later switched back to Paganism given the very diverse set of religions across my cities.
UHV3: The 2 northern Caucasus cities should build Walls and have 4-5 defenders to fend of the occasional barbs, otherwise this is an easy condition.

Stability: Unstable for most of the game except for GAs. Apart from the UHV GA I started 2 more with GPs.

 

[Andrrew]

Byzantion

UHV1: Control/Vassalize Justinian's Empire by 540 AD
UHV2: At least 5 Catholic civs and zero non-Catholic Christian civs in 600 AD
UHV3: Constantinople #1 in pop and culture in 700 AD

Civics: Empire, Bureaucracy, Slavery, Market Economy (debatable as Military Economy also nice), State Religion. Powerful combo as gives +2 stability, good economy/expansion stability boost, and tons of Slaves to whip stuff.
Techs: The most useful is the Heavy Cavalry tech (Chain Mail, Stirrup), although it is possible to win without. Other useful techs are health-related (Sanitation, Medicine), Fortification (Castles for defense), Stern Rudder (Great Galleys). Otherwise I emphasized the free GP techs to start GAs.
Cities: In the early game, cities should build Market, Taxation, or Barracks/Swordsmen, until UHV1 is done. Later on the usual science/commerce buildings, Courthouse, etc.. Constantinople should build all culture and health buildings, as well as at least 2 Cathedrals early on. I settled a couple of Slaves in the best production cities to boost production (Rome, Singidunum, Hadrianopolis, etc.). Cities should also try to build Walls/Castle for defense. Later on the best production cities should just continuously build military (Swordsmen, Lancer, Heavy Cavalry) given all the attackers.
Conquests: Hadrianopolis and Athens didn't flip to me at the start for some reason (maybe b/c they were barbs and not Roman) hence I captured it; otherwise did not conquer anything for a while. Around 380 AD I built up a couple of Galleys with Catapults and Swordsmen, and declared war on Rome, unloading them near Roma. This is debatable but I prefer accomplishing UHV1 with this early blitz as opposed to let the various other civs establish themselves. Rome had a lot of Legions and I had to cease fire a few times to heal, but ultimately I conquered all the required territories by 408 AD, then made peace.
Defense vs barbs/Huns/Avars/Arabs: The key chokepoint is Hadrianopolis for the barbs; I kept a big stack of Swordsmen on the Iron hill. The Huns hit twice (430 AD - Dacia, Moesia; 445 AD - Thrace, Northern Italy), the Avars once (559 AD; Dacia, Illyricum), and the Arabs between 650-670 AD (Egypt, then Libya, then Africa). These are all "conquerors" events where the attacking units just appead next to each city of yours within the target province. I believe the size of the attacking stack is dynamic, and correlates to the size of the city garrison in each target city. I only realized that at the Arab attacks and as such had some insanely large stacks attack me and I was only able to defend and in fact sometimes temporarily lost 1-2 cities here and there. A good idea is to move the garrison out of the target cities (e.g. 2 tiles away) just before the attacking stack appears; this works well if you are pursuing "active defense" aiming to kill the stack before they can move. If you don't have enough troops and have to go for "passive defense" then maybe you want to stay in your garrison so that you don't lose your fortify bonus. Technically for the UHV you could even let go of some of these regions / cities, but for the heck of it I decided to keep pretty much everything from UHV1 (except for Southern Spain region).

UHV1: As above.
UHV2: Candidates are Vandals, Visigoths, Franks, Ostrogoths, Lombards. I eliminated the last 2 as I didn't feel like giving up the Northern Italy cities (both of them flips N Italy so moved out my garrison just before the flip, then reconquered - same approach when Arabia flips the Levant). I let the Visigoths keep Southern Spain. Franks, Visigoths, Vandals all friendly-vassalized to me. Same goes for the Meroe. I spread around Catholicism to all of my 4 vassals' cities, hence I got the 5 required. With Arianic Visigoths/Lombards eliminated there were no non-Catholic civs in 600 AD. Note that the game is buggy as it didn't register my UHV2 fulfilment even though I had the "green ticks" on the screen; it continued to say "Not Yet" after 600 AD.
UHV3: Easy with the above build order. I traded with China for some nice health and happiness resources, but possible to win without that. I was at pop 13 and won comfortably.

Stability: Stable for most of the time given strong civics plus UP of Byzantion I presume.

Stats:
- Built: 60 Swordsmen, 40 Heavy Cavalry
- Killed: 160 Heavy Horse Archers, 100 Swordsmen, 50 Legions, 50 Heavy Spearmen, 40 Marksmen...

 

[Andrrew]

Lombards

UHV1: Settle 1 Great Saint in Rome by 700 AD
UHV2: Build the National Epic by 790 AD
UHV3: Celebrate "We Love the King Day" in at least 1 city by 750 AD

Civics: Initially I used Monarchy, Paganism, Tribal Levy, Vassalage, Market Economy. When my happiness was in a slightly better place I switched to Slavery to capture a ton of Slaves at Singidunum. Later on switched to Tyranny to maximize happiness for UHV3.
Techs: Early on you can trade techs usually with Byzantion (don't declare war on them for a while). I got Sailing, Mathematics, Bridge Building, Naval Warfare, Bulk Trade, Cartography via tech trades early on. Otherwise priority is Literature (Theatre, National Epic) and Engineering (Aqueducts).
Cities: Early on I had 2-3 Christianities in each of my N Italian cities so I had to build all Temples asap. Afterwards just built Work Boats, 4 War Galleys for defense, Market, Library, Walls, Wealth.
Conquests: I captured Rome, Marseille, and the 2 Illyricum cities with my starting troops. Then I paused as didn't want to declare war on Byzantion just yet.

UHV1: I picked Ravenna as my Priest city as it had 3 religions. I ran 2-3 priest specialists and fairly quickly generated a Great Priest.
UHV2: I used Milan as my Great Artist city, built Library and Theatre ASAP, and ran 2 artist specialists + 1-2 other specialists, and generated the GA to build the National Epic quite early on.
UHV3: To get the celebration event, you need to have 8+ pop cities with no unhealthiness/unhappiness. I built 2 Settlers and dropped it on top of the Dacia Deer, and the Germany Pig. In addition I declared war on Byzantion and captured Sicily and Sardinia (Citrus, Salt). Happiness resources are less important as you can just built a big stack of Spearmen to ensure your cities are happy via Tyranny. I was also able to trade 3-4 health resources with others esp the Arabs. At ~720 AD I had all my cities at pop 8-10 with no unhealthiness/unhappiness, but I had to wait patiently until 743 AD when I finally got a celebration event and won!

Stability: Unstable once started to expand to Orange provinces.

 

[Andrrew]

Ostrogoths

UHV1: Palace and Great Mausoleum in Rome by 520 AD
UHV2: Control Italy, Illyricum, Dacia, Sicily by 600 AD
UHV3: Have Friendly relations with 3 Christian civs without changing your state religion by 650 AD

Civics: Initially I used Monarchy, Paganism, Slavery, Vassalage, Market Economy. Later on switched to Empire and Military Economy to appease Byzantium.
Techs: Early on I got ~ 12-14 techs via trade. I organically tech'ed Literature, Military Drill, Stern Rudder. Also helpful to run a couple turns of 0% tech so that you can upgrade Lancers to Heavy Cavalry.
Cities: Capital and Ravenna quickly built 1 Catapult each to break down Rome's +100% defense. All other cities should build Walls, Market, then Settlers and Swordsmen. Mausoleum also needs 4 Monuments across your cities which should be first priority.
Conquests: Starting units captured S Italy city, Illyricum and Dacia from Huns, indy Marseille, then finally Rome once the walls were broken down. Later on also captured indy Sicily.


UHV1: Rome should be quick to build the Palace, Monument and Mausoleum esp. if 5-6 Slaves can help rush it. Note that the game is buggy as it didn't register my UHV1 fulfilment, in fact it registered a Fail event even though I built the Palace and Royal Mausoleum buildings well ahead of the deadline.
UHV2: As above, done by 510 AD or so.
UHV3: This is the tricky one as I can't switch to State Religion. Usual suspects are Franks, Vandals, Visigoths, Byzantion. Made peace with everyone asap, then OB'd, gifted techs, and also gifted 1 excess resource for free. In addition, Built 10+ Settlers and founded cities in their core, which they usually accept for Liberation immediately (+1 permanent rel'p modifier). This worked well for Franks and Visigoths who have large unclaimed areas in their core (NW France and NW Spain) where I can found 4-5 cities for each. Vandals and Byzantion however were unwilling to accept cities for liberation (I guess they won't accept it if they are above a certain # of cities?), so I just had to wait a bit and agree to any claim they had (gifting a tech, etc.); also, adopting Empire/Military Economy in the last turn was a big boost with Byzantion, thereby achieving victory in 569 AD!

Stability: Unstable given founding a lot of cities all over the place.

 

[Andrrew]

Visigoths

UHV1: Discover Jurisprudence by 650 AD
UHV2: Control Italy, Iberia, North Africa in 600 AD
UHV3: Have 5k culture and be stable in 650 AD

Civics: Monarchy, State Religion, Tyranny (needed for happiness), Market Economy. Slavery helpful to whip key buildings out quickly.
Techs: Early on I got a ton of techs via trade. Otherwise beelined for Jurisprudence and got it in 506 AD.
Cities: Founded capital 1S of starting tile. All cities should build 1-2 Spearmen for cheap happiness, Christian Church, Market, Library, Courthouse, Taxation. Top 3-4 cities with good production should build a ton of Swordsmen. I also built 4-5 Catapults early on as I was expecting Walls/Castles in Italy but didn't end up using them too much.
Conquests: Waited for Vandal spawn, them captured their 2 Southern Iberian cities, then made peace. Around 455 AD I declared war on Rome and captured the Portugal city and Marseille (helpful with Dye). Then around 480 AD, after building some galleys, declared war on Vandals and captured all their Numidian/African cities. I also managed to snatch up the S Italian city from indy, but Byzantion beat me to Roma. After Lombards spawned and flipped N Italy, I jumped on them with 20+ Swordsmen and captured their cities. Close to 600 AD I also had to declare war on Byzantion and capture Roma, making peace shortly after for some money.

UHV1: As above.
UHV2: As above.
UHV3: Some of the science buildings generate culture as well (Library, Monasteries etc.) so I didn't have to focus on building culture at all (organically generated ~20k culture…). I was Unstable for most of the game, but generated 3 GPs which was enough for 2 GAs. I timed the second GA to cover 650 AD to ensure I am stable in that year.

Note that – similar to some of the other late civs – the game is buggy as it didn't register any of my UHVs. UHV1 was initially marked as YES but after 650 AD flipped back to NO, while UHV2 and 3 remained "not yet" after 650 AD.