How to Conquer?

[Locki]

Hi everyone, I've been playing civ 4 since it came out and I play Monarch difficulty. I know the basics (city specialization, diplomacy, slingshots etc...), but lately I've been trying to get a hang of what I consider to be the most difficult victory style - Conquering

I've followed a lot of the all leader challenge stuff and I've gotten a lot of ideas about how to do it but I can never seem to keep my economy going as well as they can. This means I never expand quite as quickly via military because I spend too many turns "rebuilding"

I'm hoping for some tips for keeping my economy out of the red and for pushing conquest as hard as I can.

I play Epic speed, huge maps, hemispheres or terra, 18 civs. I like playing the world map, but I wish I could find a version where I can have diff leaders because it is becoming too predictable.

I've also been playing around with Toku for this kind of victory for the most part just cause I find the history of japan interesting.

 

[RichardMNixon]

I've never actually used him, but Toku seems to be renowned for having one of the worst economies in the game. Have you used other leaders also? If you're trying to conquer a really big map, maybe try someone organized.

Other than that, a switch to state property to ignore distance from capital maintenance, or other low cost civics to deal with your (I imagine) large number of cities might help. I always thought courthouses were pretty lame, but they do eventually become really important, so make sure you build plenty of those, that might be another 5-7 gold per city.

 

[Locki]

State property is getting late in the game though a good suggestion.
Simple things like court houses I already do.

I'm thinking of suggestions more along the lines of... going for the great lighthouse because it ends up providing a nice boost without having to divert production after its built.

Which techs/buildings should be priority is something else that might be important. especially once you get past the feudal age.

 

[Whiskey_Lord]

Anyone who has built a holy shrine should be a prime target. I often find myself capturing a shrine and spreading the religion around to gain more income for the sake of funding expansion. You can even convert to that religion and build the University of Sankore and the Spiral Minaret for even greater rewards. Tokugawa does have the worst economy in the game, but a savvy warmonger will find ways to use his superior military to conquer nice real estate and wonders rather than having to build them all.

When you get past the Medieval Age, the game should already be decided. You'll have conquered a couple neighbors and will have a strong economy to support a strong military. In the Renaissance Age, you're basically using Toku's riflemen to finish whatever his Samurai could not. No matter which leader I'm playing, the game usually ends around this time if my goal has been Domination all along. The eras following Medieval are the latter half of the game and it's really the earlier (earliest?) years that have the most impact on a game.