svett89
Chieftain
I tried a very unusual domination tactic today as Germany. I went for a carpet of doom, rather than the typical highly promoted elite force. This is quite a fun strategy to try, so I highly recommend giving it a shot. I'm also curious if something like this could be pulled off on Deity as this was played on Immortal difficulty.
I re-rolled until I got a nice production spot for my capital. I then went tradition to start off, and did not settle any second city. I sped through tradition as fast as possible, all the while teching towards Civil Service after getting the initial techs for luxuries.
Once I got to Civil Service, I had been DoWed by two of my neighbors due to my lack of military units. However, this is where things took a turn for the awesome-sauce.
With my quick-growing capital (due to tradition), I had enough production to pump out 1 Landsknecht / turn on Standard speed. I had already gotten a Barracks and my Heroic Epic up in my capital, meaning I basically got Landsknechts with 1 free promotion and 15 % extra combat strength at a ridiculous rate. After about 20 turns I had already started taking out my neighbors' cities. I basically just rushed in without paying much attention to whether I'd be able to keep the units alive or not as I could replace them so easily.
While I was doing this I teched Iron Working and Mathematics, allowing me to supplement my Pike army with some Catapults. I also went into honor for quicker EXP and more happiness, and the instant heal-promotion was extremely useful. Since your units are basically cannon fodder, wasting promotions was never a huge deal.
This turned into a ridiculously easy domination game. I conquered the last capital on the Pangea (standard size) right after hitting Rifling. At one point, I had over 30 Landsknechts running around, basically just flooding the enemy territory, simply smashing their heads against the cities until they fell. If a city was simply too strong for the Landsknechts, a few catapults / trebuchets could provide support.
I re-rolled until I got a nice production spot for my capital. I then went tradition to start off, and did not settle any second city. I sped through tradition as fast as possible, all the while teching towards Civil Service after getting the initial techs for luxuries.
Once I got to Civil Service, I had been DoWed by two of my neighbors due to my lack of military units. However, this is where things took a turn for the awesome-sauce.
With my quick-growing capital (due to tradition), I had enough production to pump out 1 Landsknecht / turn on Standard speed. I had already gotten a Barracks and my Heroic Epic up in my capital, meaning I basically got Landsknechts with 1 free promotion and 15 % extra combat strength at a ridiculous rate. After about 20 turns I had already started taking out my neighbors' cities. I basically just rushed in without paying much attention to whether I'd be able to keep the units alive or not as I could replace them so easily.
While I was doing this I teched Iron Working and Mathematics, allowing me to supplement my Pike army with some Catapults. I also went into honor for quicker EXP and more happiness, and the instant heal-promotion was extremely useful. Since your units are basically cannon fodder, wasting promotions was never a huge deal.
This turned into a ridiculously easy domination game. I conquered the last capital on the Pangea (standard size) right after hitting Rifling. At one point, I had over 30 Landsknechts running around, basically just flooding the enemy territory, simply smashing their heads against the cities until they fell. If a city was simply too strong for the Landsknechts, a few catapults / trebuchets could provide support.