Domination victory turn 154.
I got so much wrong, but my game is picking up, the weak part is still civ 5 mechanics and tricks.. in this game I couldn’t work out why my unit had a mountain altitude training promotion.. it was only half way through the game that I learned about the properties of Mt. Killi. Hehe. However, on reflection, it would have been a few turns detour and I am unsure if it would be worth the loss of turns for the faster mountain movement later in the game.
My strategy was weak. I marched my army west to Stockholm, only to bring it back east to Amsterdam, by which time it was looking a tad weak (and no Mt Killi bonuses). I had to rely on xbows for Spain and India, and got them on turn 120. There was a lot of marching in this game. There was no need for the NC , those resources would have been better spent on the army. Very little infrastructure was required to win this game. I built too much.
With hindsight, I think Amsterdam would have been an easy first target, Portugal would roll over and Spain would be easier early in the game.. then to Gandhi, who can defend, so maybe he would be a better first target? Then onto Sweden.
With a secondary army being built in the capital (and no NC) a win before crossbows is possible, T100-120, but if not wait until xbows on T120 and finish somewhere between T120 and 130.
I have reinforced my notion that the NC is only needed for Dom victories on Deity level or Immortal standard size maps and bigger (unless you want to play with more fun troop units).
Anyway, that’s what might have been.
What I actually did was open Liberty, opened Honor, then citizenship for the worker then worked through Honor, double xp a priority. I wasnt going to build science but I got Writing from a ruin and decided to go for the NC (which I got at T93). Early game was beeline to comp bows and Stockholm fell on T75, NC built T93.
Tired and lazy game play saw 3 units lost for the capture of Amsterdam on T107, but they were all sacrifices I made, 1 cb, 1 scout and 1 warrior. This is a game cheat / exploit really, utilizing bad AI code, this strategy would never work vs a real opponent.
The problem was I attacked Amsterdam from the north, mainly, and met his troops, who reinforced every other turn, It was actually the archers in the south who did most of the city take down, and the whole army would have had an easier time from the south. I took a city for peace, next to Delhi, but decided to raze it and go for Portugal.
Portugal rolled over T119, as she always does.
Heal and xbow upgrades T120 and north to Spain. I got my economy into shape, decided to take representation for the golden age, rather than complete the Honor tree at T128. Madrid was captured after a satellite city on T140. Finished Honor tree around this time.
Built a secondary army for defence and CS quests for the final takedown of Delhi.
My army was ridiculous after the conquest of Spain, another indication of wasted resources and effort. But why not have some fun? I declared war on Gandhi to give him 10 turns or so to prepare. I had to go through Cahokia (ally to India) to reach Delhi, while my assembled secondary army harassed the Indian troops. Cahokia T147. 1 turn for optics, that’s where the NC comes in handy. Delhi T154. Left with an army to take on the world, except there's no one left to conquer.
Barbarians were a pain but good xp and culture. My CS were mainly culture gifts, I had no faith through the game until I captured Amsterdam and Lisbon, ended up with a stack of useless wonders, but I did build statue of Zeus. In the later game I had 40+ faith per turn and was building mosques every 4 turns. I never had chance to found a pantheon or religion. My first faith points came after all the religion slots were already taken.
That was a lot of troop marching for what was supposed to be a small map. I don’t like building monuments early, its scout scout archers. Then monument, maybe.
I like the Tradition open then Honor, but early workers is an issue, its a slow start to build an army and the army captures the real estate from your hard working neighbours. This game worked well with Liberty opening but the low city expansion is a factor for all sorts of reasons.
In future I might consider, 1. open Liberty, 2. open Honor, 3.open Tradition or Citizenship or Warrior code, depending on game, worker steals etc) then towards Military tradition, and then maybe even pick up opening Tradition if it didn’t happen on the third policy.