How to dominate?

[RaidandTrade]

I've never won on domination - let alone by mid-game but have read on here people dominating by mid-game so trying to figure out where I'm going wrong.

Playing China on standard size continents at King and started out next to Alex and Harald. Took them fairly early with Chuknukos and went and discovered the world before the warmonger tag could stick. Mongolia, England, the Celts and America on another continent and the Netherlands enjoyed isolation on their small continent. Mongolia took Washington and I took London and Edinburgh but by turn 450 I had 3 capitals still to take. Nukes were flying (I had the science lead) buts I ended up accidentally winning diplomatically.

One question which may be key: how long do people usually go between major wars to consolidate?

I've reloaded a bunch of saves to try and accelerate warfare but find myself mired in unhappiness or spiralling into debt. I already made the mistake of neglecting culture and having to change ideology!

Going to try again with a different Civ but appreciate any tips to help me along the path to accelerated warfare!

 

[HerrDoktor]

Continents is the hardest map for domination. Early domination can only happen in Pangaea maps. In archipelago, you can dominate once you have frigates and privateers. Continents, only after you have artillery, maybe planes as well.

Remember that you only need the capitals. Raze every city which doesn't have a luxury you didn't already have. Ideology helps with unhappiness, but you'll need to be wary of culture leaders picking different ideologies - so kill them first and to the last city.

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

It's a little tougher than it used to be considering how hard it is to have a good economy and warmonger early on but I find that using Tradition in conjunction with honor works pretty good. Oligarchy, legalism and monarchy all really help your gpt stay in the green. I like to go tradition opener-honor opener-Oligarchy-legalism-monarchy-finish honor-finish tradition. The honor finisher and professional army make it possible to upgrade and the money policies from tradition keep you from going too far into the red.

Like HerrDoktor said raze any city that isn't really valuable. Generally I only keep ones that have wonders. Sometimes I keep the ones with unique luxuries too but most of the time I'd rather bring my own settlers and expand on my own because courthouse maintenance is too hard to absorb anymore. This will generally make happiness less of an issue so you can keep the war machine rolling.

China was a good choice, the papermakers are great for early economies and the CKNs are fantastic units. Some other really good domination civs to try are:

Germany- the increased barb conversion rate and better barb units make their UA a lot better than it used to be. Their new UB is like having a second factory in your cities making building units a breeze. Despite what some people have said the reduced maintenance Germany gets is actually better than the Zulu's because the majority of most armies is made of ranged units which the Zulu UA doesn't touch.

Zulu- Make sure you have an ikanda asap and go for civil service asap. The impis can clear out any enemy army fast but aren't great against cities so you'll need some crossbows and trebuchets to cap cities. If you have iron I'd recommend building a couple longswords before researching gunpowder since they can get buffalo promotions too and can upgrade to musketmen which will help a lot while working on getting to rifling. Shaka's UA is awesome with military tradition.

The Huns- Great early production bonus. I like to get a barracks up before building my horse archers so they can start with accuracy II that way it's not too hard to get logistics which gives them the ability to attack and retreat like Keshiks.

Arabia- Camel archers are great because of the ability to attack and retreat and the bazaar is like free money early on while you still have some positive relations. Double oil later on is great for your modern army.

Mongolia- The UA is borderline useless but the Keshiks are awesome. Beeline logistics with them and you'll be saying "Cho-Ku-who?" A lot of people say their dominance ends with Keshiks going obsolete but the double healing from the Kahns can win a battle (people always seem to forget that part of the Kahn's ability) plus their increased movement makes it real easy to set up offensive citadels to help sack a city faster. I'd take a Kahn over a Chinese general any day of the week.

 

[joshua43214]

On King you should be able to take over your continent before the AI on the other continent gets Astronomy.

the basic tech path is like a science path but get archery early, and build a bunch of archers while researching philosophy, get the NC, head to construction, get education, head to x-bows or astronomy depending on how the war is going, then onto artillery and up to biology and down to flight.

You are probably trying to build up too much army, just take your starting warrior and 4 archers and go conquer.

Edit: I find that a 2 city empire with tradition seems to work best now, though going liberty for the pyramids is also viable

 

[CrispyCritter]

Lots of good advice above. Playing immortal, I find I need a civ edge to have any hope of an early or mid-game domination victory; I can't use a random civ. I've had good luck with very early wars with Germany (go after barbs with a vengence early, upgrade the archers you get for free to Composite Bowmen, and then go after the rest of the world. The Mongols are a bit later war; I go full honor and train up logistic CBs on a city state (not conquering it!), and start my attack just a bit before Keshiks.

I attack one enemy at a time, and try to conquer only 2-3 cities per civ, including the capital. That way I can stay reasonably friendly with the world I haven't attacked yet.

 

[RaidandTrade]

Thanks for the tips. Started again as China to try some of this out. Started next to jungle with plains so a 50/50 if ever there was one. Found Monty in the jungle and Shaka on the plains and landlocked between them... Retired from that with my tail between my legs!

 

[katfish]

On Emperor and bellow the easiest way is to take Arabs or mongols, ignore everything and try to got Great Library, freetech Philosophy and build NC and Oracle(you dont even need 2nd city most of the time). Try to get HG and every +GM wonder. After tradition fill commerce asap. Then beeline to Camel archer while try to spawn Great Merchant. With him buy bunch of Camels and start total war. With 7-8 camels, gold and allies from Trade Missions and Happines from commerce you will be able take the whole world.
On immortal it will work a bit different and depends on luck, but still doable.

 

[ObadiahtheSlim]

It's been my experience that continents war mongering works best with a slower speed. I've always run into the problem with someone hitting astronomy and discovering me before I finish wiping out everyone on my side of the world. Then it just leads to chain denouncements and DoWs. With a slower speed there is that extra time to conquer my side of the world while the others remain ignorant of my warmongering tendencies.

 

[Dralix]

How to dominate ...

1) Pick Assyria
2) Build siege towers
3) The end