Domination Victory T 96
Like the kid in the candy store… I knew I shouldn’t have had that third city.. but I hoped to remedy the situation faster than I did, and I was kinda curious how it would play out.
Having 2 rams and a scout so early was quite something, city captures were ludicrously easy, but they are essentially non combat troops outside of city take downs. I took 3 cities, crashed my economy, and built an army out of my capital with -75% food and minus production . And I couldn’t take on barbs for my usual culture gains. I built zero infrastructure, not even monuments in the end, only 1 worker, then troops and 1 work boat (bought another work boat).
However, at this difficulty level with the Huns, domination is still remarkably easy, even with no economy and no tech. Its a decent way to learn the game as it is so forgiving, those rams are broken. No military strategy needed, no unit upgrades needed, but a few AI game plays are worth knowing. I believe all players, of any experience could manage this domination victory with the start I had, playing well or badly.
I was unhappy for more than half the game, had terrible production penalties and still won easily. I didnt lose a unit!
I had no scouts to sacrifice during city take downs in this game, but it didn’t matter if I was careful to keep spears away from the HAs. AI units prefer to capture workers than attack my troops. I played the game blind too, attacking into FOW, first time I have done that, my usual 2 scout opener reveals most of the map, even if they should really be looking to steal workers.
My opening turns are in the opening play thread. After turn 50 I went for Rome, whilst building the second army. I decided to take the Romans out completely (one more city to raze, partly for the xp) and take on the CS quest for the ally, that cost me 7 turns, and probably wasn't worth the effort for a pantheon. It was too late to matter, so I looked at the culture for pastures pantheon but went for the lazy option of God King. It was irrelevant.
After Rome rather than Carthage I went East and took Venice. Venice was a joke, I just walked in. It was just on a whim I went to Venice, Carthage would have been much harder to take from the north, as I discovered later.
The second army, built in the capital, took out Genghis and then army marched to Rio.
From Venice the troops went south to join forces with the other army against Rio.
I decided to throw everything at Rio, expecting some losses, and had none. Never underestimate the stupidity of the AI in city defence.
I lost a worker I had out for bait, but it took 2 turns with one ram and HAs, the other 2 rams waiting behind in case they were needed. I managed a couple of decent HA promotions, one with range and another with logistics. They will be handy for Carthage. Not taking the first 2 cities with HAs is starting to show now, I would have expected all to be at logistics and most at range for an easy final city take down. As it was I think I had 1 ranged unit? And a couple with logistics.
The Brazilians wouldn't surrender so I took Sao Paulo and then, finally Dido. One of her satellite cities and then the win on T96.
So a win under 100 turns with no economy, no happiness. no tech, no infrastructure, no grand military strategy. Anyone with a basic game understanding can manage this. It's a different story at higher difficulty levels of course.
I might replay this, I think a really early win is possible from my start position, certainly before turn 80. Instead of capturing 2 cities early, take one, or none, until the luxuries have been built by the AI.
During this time build HA. With 2 HA and a ram, there is an easy early city capture, so the 2 initial rams will explore, settle close to a city to await 2 HAs. Then take it, if I can handle the happiness easily.
With the economy in good shape that starting location is epic. I would make use of that to build more troops, faster, and have the army on 2 or 3 or more fronts.
I will only take cities when I have HAs, purely for the xp. the rams will make the capture. It’s just as easy to take early cities with 2HA and a ram as it is with 2 rams and a scout.
I should have built up at the start. Then while my army was away I would have had the infrastructure and the economy to construct other large armies. I would have won the game much faster, maybe 20 turns sooner or more. Maybe. It took me a week and more to play this, not through difficulty, but for real life time to manage it.
I wondered whether anyone would manage sub T100 and you did, well done! I should still finish my own game. Already at T100, but still three capitals to go (and I did build all the stuff I threatened to in the Announcement, even if I did not rush the infrastructure this time).
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