Sword of Islam: Domination thread

[AnotherPacifist]

*=done:

Easy (all late civs, of course):
Ottoman
*Ayyubids (Mansa Musa, but as long as the Ottomans are dispatched post-haste, it's easy)
*Mamluk (see succession game)
*Rum (no Ottomans to deal with)
*Seljuks (tech is probably more important than land as long as you survive the Mongols, finish early before Safavids show up)

Moderately easy:
Safavid (destroy the Ottomans first)
Ak Koyunlu (just need to kill the Mamluks and Safavids early, and at least put up a decent surprise attack against the Ottomans)
Byzantines (once you survive the Ottomans, it's just expansion towards the east and south)
Mughal (need to capture Constantinople?)
Timurids (survive Bukhara and you'll have all the time to expand into India and Persia)
*Fatimids (As long as you're solid in 1250, Mamluks won't show up. But beware of Mansa Musa!)
*Georgia (just get Constantinople and Anatolia)
*Abbasids (just spawn great people for golden ages! but win early)
*Armenia (just bide your time in capturing Constantinople)

Moderately hard:
*Ajmer/Chauhan (trying to avoid later Indian respawns is really hard)
*Khwarezmids (can't usually finish before the Timurids, but they can be vassalized)
*Ghaznavids (Mongols and later civs to deal with)
Ghorids (not much time before the Mughals show up)
*Yemen
*KoJ
PoA
*Gujarat (small stable core lands and have to deal with the Delhi Sultanate and other Indian respawns)
*Samanids

Near impossible:
Sindh
Oman
Makuria (would be nice if one can keep Egypt--question: if there were no Ayyubids or Islam/slavery in Cairo, would there even be Mamluks?)

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Anybody interested in a succession game with an "easy" civ like Mamluks for domination? (Doesn't have to be Mamluks, Ottomans might be easier)

 

[MessageMan]

Anybody interested in a succession game with an "easy" civ like Mamluks for domination? (Doesn't have to be Mamluks, Ottomans might be easier)

I think Ottomans would be easier. The western portion of the map is one big border province to them while Mamluks are limited to Africa + Levant + Hejaz.

Would Anatolia + Levant + Hejaz + Mesopotamia + Caucasus without Georgia + Shahanshah + Mamluks as vassal work?

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Easier isn't better for a domination game though.
Mamluks conquering Persia, vassalizing Ottomans and Ak Koyunlu makes it much more challenging.

 

[MessageMan]

Easier isn't better for a domination game though.
Mamluks conquering Persia, vassalizing Ottomans and Ak Koyunlu makes it much more challenging.

That's true. Toassins are pretty fun to use as well.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

OK, so I started a thread in the SG subforum.
Require also becoming Shahanshah, Roman Emperor, Sharif of Hejaz, AND Defender of the Faith. This is going to be a little harder than just domination.

 

[MessageMan]

It's Commander of the Faithful. Defender of the Faith is Catholics vs. Protestants.

Fatamids don't have to deal with Mamluks if their stability is good. It's a cool civ because you get to see how the West plays out.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Whoops, sorry about the Catholic error.

 

[Jusos2108]

I wouldn't say that PoA or KoJ are nearly impossible, since they can both crab the Roman Emperor title pretty easily. For instance I would say Sindh and Gujarat are much harder.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Did the Fatimids on Sultan in 1552. I stupidly conquered Yemen and it eventually respawned. Should have never been there.

Roman Emperor means you can let stability go to hell, i.e. no need to liberate cities to vassals (which made my land requirement go up since they only count as half the land). (my stability was -166 with -366 in expansion and -46 in foreign) 25% is really hard when you can't found cities in desert--I had all kinds of CITY WITH NO NAMES pop up in Bulgaria, Africa and 1 on the coast south of Mecca.

The hardest part was the Mansa Musa event which killed my economy (every city means 10% less science).

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Did Rum, just won in 1500 (thankfully, otherwise the Safavids would have taken a lot of my vassal Ak Koyunlu's lands). Key is obvious to madly rush the last 7% or so from super solid (70) down to collapsing (-53) within 20 years but before you actually collapse (impossible since I'm Roman Emperor, but a respawn of the Byzantines was theoretically possible). Vassalized Zengids who coexisted with Ak Koyunlu after I reconquered Zengi's lands for him and left Ak Koyunlu to expand in Kurdistan, did Mamluks early on (didn't want to incur the instability of occupying their lands). Vassalized Yemen late (and liberated cities to him to make him solid). Last few cities were Tabuk, Bulgaria, one named "City" on the Hejaz, Soba, a couple in Lesser Armenia, and one west of the Caspian Sea, and one just east of Hamadan. Was about to conquer Shiraz when I won...not a moment too soon.

 

[Theodorick]

I am curious as to why Yemen is 'near impossible'. I actually got my first domination victory playing as them.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

I am curious as to why Yemen is 'near impossible'. I actually got my first domination victory playing as them.

Wow, if that's true please elucidate how you did it in Sultan. I suspect you conquered Egypt first, then either some combination of Constantinople + Baghdad and lots of vassals.

 

[Theodorick]

Wow, if that's true please elucidate how you did it in Sultan. I suspect you conquered Egypt first, then either some combination of Constantinople + Baghdad and lots of vassals.

You summarized it well. It was actually a very epic and lengthy game, and tricky as heck. I had to restart a few times. It's not near impossible. I'd up it to Moderately hard though. You actually have decent access to most of the crucial areas needed to win a domination victory. I isn't like Yemen where Egypt and Constantinople is so difficult to get to and maintain control over.

The latest one I did were the Ghaznavids. I might give PoA a shot soon, and will try and post screenshots.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Georgians are fairly easy. Kill Armenia, defend against Abbasids and Seljuks, attack Rum when the Mongols have done their job, and capture Constantinople when the Ottomans spawn. Then it's defending against Ayyubids/Mamluks until you are strong enough to conquer the Levant and Egypt. Ak Koyunlu should be killed rather than vassalized. Be ready for the Safavids and vassalize them--they help quite a bit in absorbing Persia.

Found some border cities in the Caucasus and Iraq that you've never heard of, plus the obligatory Bulgarian city.

 

[Olaf_The_Great]

Why near impossible with Samanids? They have a lot of time and +stability from conquering. Balkh doesn't flip to anyone and can't you just stack tons of defenders in the cities that do flip?
I'll give it a try sometime

 

[Jusos2108]

Fun game! I was way ahead of everyone in techs and I built about 15 wonders in Baghdad, which spawned great people at an incredible speed, which then translated into a 60 turn golden age.

Mamluks just respawned, because of a plague and the temporary instability it gave. At that point I was at 24,78% in land. Otherwise I would've won much sooner. Makuria, Rúm and Yemen were my vassals.

Spoiler :

 

[MessageMan]

What were your civics Jusos?

 

[AnotherPacifist]

How come you didn't squeeze the borders of your empire for land? E.g. a city in Bulgaria is worth 6 more tiles in just 1 move (with culture dial turned all the way up). A city on the west of Samarra and Baghdad and maybe another one in Azerbaijan would have pushed your land up by 0.5% at least.

 

[Jusos2108]

What were your civics Jusos?

As soon as these were available, I used Empire, Religious Law, Free Labor, Agrarianism and Organized Religion. Free labor and agrarianism are an excellent combo!

How come you didn't squeeze the borders of your empire for land? E.g. a city in Bulgaria is worth 6 more tiles in just 1 move (with culture dial turned all the way up). A city on the west of Samarra and Baghdad and maybe another one in Azerbaijan would have pushed your land up by 0.5% at least.

Yeah I could've done it, but didn't feel the need for in the end and I was fun to roll over weak civs. However, by doing so, I would've probably won before Mamluks respawned.