Policies for domination

sanderman

Chieftain
Joined
Jul 18, 2018
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2
So I picked up VP around half a week ago, and so far I've really enjoyed it. It actually adds alot more to the game, and makes it fun and attractive to me once more, similiar to how when I got the DLC-s, the new addons were rather interesting.

But, since it's rather complicated, I've been having fun playing on lower difficulties so I don't get outsmarted by the now-smart(er? I'm not sure, that's just what the modpack says) AI.
Nonetheless, I haven't been able to figure out, what goes well with a Domination type game when it comes to policies? Bear in mind I like to play Sweden and England mainly (more Sweden tho).

I'm not the smartest guy when it comes to Civ V, I've sank around 150 hours into this game. I'd say about 25 hours of that time I've legitemately tried to play on Immortal or Deity and win, but I've failed at it, cause I haven't put my time into it. So, you smarter people of the CBP forums, help me with this simple (but kinda lame I guess) question.

PS: Cheating gold and stuff with cheat engine is pretty fun.
 
You seem to really like late-game warmongers with really late-blooming Uniques.

For Sweden:

Without question, the only good answer for starting policy on Sweden is Authority:
  • The consistent +1:c5production: from the scaler is very useful in every city to get your feet under you, especially if you are on an aggressive, crowded continent.
  • :c5culture:/:c5science:/Heal on kill from Dominance and the opener allows you to capitalize on your UA's higher risk bonus on attacks
  • +10% CS on all units is very flexible for a civ who is most geared towards a domination victory
  • Most importantly the finisher allows you to purchase Great Generals with Faith.
    • This gives Sweden a "heal the entire army and give everyone 15XP" button that you can use 3-4 times in a game
    • This one policy alone makes authority the best pick for Sweden, you can eliminate downtime on a big conquer push for healing, or make a complete reversal on a pitched battle. This gives Sweden a level of strategic control that no other civ can match.
For second policy tree, the choice is between Fealty and Statecraft
- If you managed to found a religion then Fealty could be a strong pick. It has some strong options for shoring up defenses, and general boosts to infrastructure. In general, however, the tree doesn't offer much focus for Sweden.
- Statecraft can be surprisingly nice if you are in a position to take advantage of city-state diplomacy. In my opinion, it has the best scaler of all the medieval policy trees, and the bonuses to strategic resources from city states can be very important for Sweden, since later era siege units require strategics. In general, I think warmongers can do really well with Statecraft, if they can spare the attention to maintain CS allies.
- Artistry has little to offer a warmonger like Sweden. You probably won't be focusing too much on great people, great works, guilds, or world wonders if you are building a war machine.

For third policy tree, The most obvious choice is Imperialism, but there's an argument to be made for Rationalism as well. The biggest determining factor is how big your empire is at Industrial. If you have already knocked out 2-3 other civs, then Imperialism is your boy. If you have been on the defensive, and you're still relatively small, Rationalism might be a stronger choice.
Imperialism:
  • A huge bonus to unit production and much cheaper unit upgrades are very good options for Sweden
  • +1:c5happy: from constabularies pairs well with the +3:c5science: from Statecraft.
  • If you have already managed to conquer quite a bit, Colonialism and Exploitation really help consolidate your gains. These two policies probably tile happiness more than any other policies in the game, since they put the more constant yields onto the map than any other policies.
  • Lastly, Regimental tradition puts your GG boost to +40%, with a radius of 3 tiles, and you can get +33% to GG production. This is HUGE for your UA.
Rationalism is less obviously useful, but it has a deceptive amount of synergy with Sweden
  • First, Sweden's Skola generates incredible amounts of :c5science: and :c5culture:, but depends heavilly on your cities' :c5citizen:populations to get those yields. Rationalism's finisher, and the Enlightenment policy, both give hefty bonuses to :c5food: growth, which pairs very well with your UB.
  • The scaler is a % modifier on :c5science: science generation, which further compounds the impact of your Skolas to help pull you ahead of the pack for science. If you haven't been doing well with conquests, but have managed to keep up in techs up until now, Rationalism has a lot of tools to help you pull ahead in tech, and either ravage the world with high-tech units, or go for a science victory instead.

For ideologies, I'm going to be a bit controversial and say that I actually favor Order a bit over Autocracy. It might come down to personal preference between those two, but I think you can safely ignore Freedom
  • Autocracy has a lot of straight steroids to your unit production and unit power, but Order provides the infrastructure for a massive war machine. To me, picking Autocracy on Sweden is a bit of overcommitment. You've already got some of the strongest, most dangerous units with your GG boosts and your +20% on attack. What you need now is economic supremacy to either sustain your lead, or go to SPAAAAAAACE.
  • Most importantly, Order allows you to default to your second-best victory option: Science Victory. Autocracy offers virtually nothing to help you clinch a spaceship.
  • Some greatest hits with Order tenets:
    • synergies with Sweden's Skola, with "Peace, Land, Bread" and "People's Army". Worker's Faculties capitalizes further on sweden's huge :c5science: generation with the +10%:c5science: on factories.
    • a lot of wide production and happiness management with tenets like "Five Year Plan" and "Party Leadership"
    • If you've been sanctioned by the world congress at this point, "Iron Curtain" and "Nationalization" have you covered.
    • "Great Leap Forward", "Academy of Sciences" and "Spaceflight Pioneers" all help you clinch a science victory way better than anything that Autocracy offers.
 
If you managed to found a religion then Fealty could be a strong pick. It has some strong options for shoring up defenses, and general boosts to infrastructure. In general, however, the tree doesn't offer much focus for Sweden.
I would say that you don't need to found a religion to make Fealty a strong pick. The best scenario is when you conquer a holy city with unenchanted religion, because you can enchant it the way you like with your first Great Prophet, not much more expensive second one. The best beliefs to boost your wars are Orders (+XP for trained units) and Zealotry (Buying units with faith with all XP bonuses from buildings). If you don't conquer a city before enchantments, you will still get a religion and even if you don't like it, you can conquer a city with religion you desire (with Orders or Zealotry) and spread it to your entire empire.
For me Statecraft is only better than Fealthy if you really focus on Diplomacy with CS (when playing Germany or Greece), but the more you focus on it, the less you have production for infrastructure and units. And you need the former to stay happy, which might be challenging as warmonger, because of more cities and worse deals with other civs when they dislike you for your conquest.

Imperialism:
  • A huge bonus to unit production and much cheaper unit upgrades are very good options for Sweden
  • +1:c5happy: from constabularies pairs well with the +3:c5science: from Statecraft.
  • If you have already managed to conquer quite a bit, Colonialism and Exploitation really help consolidate your gains. These two policies probably tile happiness more than any other policies in the game, since they put the more constant yields onto the map than any other policies.
  • Lastly, Regimental tradition puts your GG boost to +40%, with a radius of 3 tiles, and you can get +33% to GG production. This is HUGE for your UA.
In addition to that, the last policy gives you huge amount of gold (about 5k lategame at standard speed) which helps with unit upgrades and infrastructure. Also conquered cities have a boost to building production, which is very important.
I would only consider Rationalism if I'm behind and struggling with conquering cities.

Autocracy has a lot of straight steroids to your unit production and unit power, but Order provides the infrastructure for a massive war machine. To me, picking Autocracy on Sweden is a bit of overcommitment. You've already got some of the strongest, most dangerous units with your GG boosts and your +20% on attack. What you need now is economic supremacy to either sustain your lead, or go to SPAAAAAAACE.
Air Supremacy from Autocracy is a real deal breaker. It gives you free Airport in every city (10 planes for each city, instead of 6) long before you unlock it by tech and boost planes production. With that cities fall even easier, so you economy is easily cover with 5k gold per city from Imperialism. You are likely to win by domination way sooner than by science (At least for Standard Size and Standard Pace on Emperor; the more the map is and the quicker the pace is, the later domination victory comes).
 
For ideologies, I'm going to be a bit controversial and say that I actually favor Order a bit over Autocracy. It might come down to personal preference between those two, but I think you can safely ignore Freedom
I'll also note that while Order can get you to space, Autocracy can get you to diplo victory. DV or DV, Autocracy has you covered. :p

Not saying that Order is bad, just that I'd probably pick Autocracy in 7/10 games as Sweden.
 
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