What civs are winnable in Emperor?

[AnotherPacifist]

I got the 2/3 Khmer UHV but I'm like 2 eras behind everybody. Just played nice and hopefully I'll get there eventually...
Anyway, besides the Khmer, which civs are winnable in Emperor?

addendum: Germany launched its rocket in 1910. Impossible to win (I only have 27% Buddhism at this time). Also, after 1910 it seems that "old" techs become really cheap so I was able to catch up to about 7 place.

 

[Rod]

Egypt for sure
I am trying Russia and tried Inca, looks difficult

 

[Depravo]

Of all the civs I've tried in Monarch, Russia's UHV seems the most doable, what with its easy-to-meet date thresholds and with no need to reach any particular tech before Apollo Program. It would be a good candidate for Emperor victory if only you could stay abreast of tech.

 

[Wessel V1]

Greece is an easy one, Portugal seems possible and I almost won with Carthage. Egypt could be a good one too.

 

[Depravo]

Greece easy? I can't win with Greece on Monarch because of the punishing wonder requirement.

 

[musicfreak]

Egypt is easy. Japan looks fairly easy, it's not hard on Monarch and it shouldn't be much worse on Emperor, although I haven't tried it. You should be fine as long as you get a good start and don't screw up anywhere.

 

[Grishnash]

I've only done it on the easy mode, but Maya should be easy, your frist two UHVs come so easy you have to be nuts not to get them(Okay, so first time I didn't get the second one..) And then losing no cities should be easy if you only have two, which on the small place you start is about All you can have. Just don't get to close to the Aztecs so your cities don't join them, then they should become your vassal turn if they start "cuz your wayyyy more advanced by that time and should have a good size army, and aslong as you have like two men on every tile the euros shouldn't be able to take any cities. So it should be easy. But then I did that on the easy mode not Emperor...

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Finally did it in Khmer in the 1860's. I had to restart and fine tune my strategy for Emperor (see the wiki).
Note Portugal is dead which helps me a lot to get a foot hold in Porta Delgada and Brazil.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

I've only done it on the easy mode, but Maya should be easy, your frist two UHVs come so easy you have to be nuts not to get them(Okay, so first time I didn't get the second one..) And then losing no cities should be easy if you only have two, which on the small place you start is about All you can have. Just don't get to close to the Aztecs so your cities don't join them, then they should become your vassal turn if they start "cuz your wayyyy more advanced by that time and should have a good size army, and aslong as you have like two men on every tile the euros shouldn't be able to take any cities. So it should be easy. But then I did that on the easy mode not Emperor...

In Emperor the temple will be built even before you get Calendar. It's impossible.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Yay, I got Netherlands in 1700 (with a Henry VIII score at 7800)! (could have been sooner if I didn't have to declare war on France to get my last spice)

I think Khmer and Netherlands are the only ones which can be won by any reasonably competent player because they do not need to be first in anything nor conquer anybody. Nor do they rely on the goodwill of other people (like Portuguese who can't open borders with Spain despite a 4+ attitude) or the belligerence of the AI (e.g. Germany against Russia).
I think Carthage and Inca are possible but very hard (especially since Hammurabi likes to conquer the 2 coastal cities and they usually have bowman). Rome will need the whipping exploit for sure and a lot of luck getting construction soon. Maybe I'll try them next.

 

[wr4th]

just finished rome on emperor. including whipping exploit, you can't even get construction in time, because of the lack of science.
took athens then carthage right away. built the lighthouse in athens. traded with babylon for monarchy and agriculture. waited for the towns in france to pop. everything else was simple. just spam prets to defend from the barbarians (no construction = no great wall), especially athens gets hit really hard.
After that its easy. let all cities flip and turtle. i took france back, had small wars with spain and england without exchange of cities and then later took egypt during a plague. hit the uhv just before taking mecca

 

[yakami]

England not very hard
India just impossible...I lost Judaism every time.
Mongol not very hard. use your UP in turkey, russia and germany! I got 4 cities flipped to me after taking Berlin..

China nearly mpossible if you play from 3000bc, you will almost definitely lost confucianism.Perhaps need more luck? And the 600ad start is hard but winnable.

German an easy one. At the beginning dont build any city in two turns and Maniz will be your capital, which is much more productive than Berlin, and protect the city against french and dutch culture. Send a settler to found Kiev after Russia is born(so it wont flip), and their economy will be crap. Start your invasion the late the better, as it will drag on your reseach. But an early war with Russia is good to destory their economy. Raze some city.

Russia is easy since you got enough time, which is always the most difficult part.
American depends on the situation. most of the time German or England would be too advanced for American to win. But if an early war and/or plague destory their economy, there may be a chance.
Greek very difficult, but winnable.
Egypt difficult but winnable.
Netherland and Portugal is not too hard i think? Never played on emperor.

 

[wr4th]

you actually managed to win all those yakami?
all those uhv which are based on conquest and only few techs i can imagine to be winable, but all which are based on getting wonders/techs in time seem to be impossible because the ai tech speed is so insane.
Greece for example. Whenever i tried the oracle gets built within the next few turns after i start. even before i get to priesthood. That's where i stopped playing plus you have three more wonders and techs to get before the ai does it...

 

[yakami]

No actually I didnt.. I didnt finish my Greece game. But I did get the Oracle, Pathenon Temple of Artemis and Colossus and these three techs in time. Then a plague destoryed my courage to go on..
Here's my sav file after I finished Oracle and Temple of Artemis.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/111848/Pericles_Iron_Age_Turn_95.CivBeyondSwordSave

I tried about 5 times to achieve this, really need luck.
You can see I already made a mistake, I choose Iron Working as the free tech oracle give, which turn out to be nearly useless..just understimate my production. Maybe I should try again when I have time...

And as for the American, I played them only twice, lost both. But I think there is a possibility to win. Because once I played England, I saw German France and Russia fighting each other a long time, which caused a slow progress in reseach. And when the Americans spawns, they dont have Democracy, Assemble line etc. But again it need a lot more luck even more than the greek one.......
Of course you can choose to play German first, reduce france,england and russia into ashes, dont do any reseach, and switch to America once they come into play...sounds crazy

 

[Wessel V1]

No actually I didnt.. I didnt finish my Greece game. But I did get the Oracle, Pathenon Temple of Artemis and Colossus and these three techs in time. Then a plague destoryed my courage to go on..
Here's my sav file after I finished Oracle and Temple of Artemis.

That is the lucky part. You still have to circumnavigate, Carthage will do the same. Good luck finishing it
This is my game when I won, I was sick of waiting until I could build all of them so I "cheated" (not really of course) a bit.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

England not very hard

German an easy one. At the beginning dont build any city in two turns and Maniz will be your capital, which is much more productive than Berlin, and protect the city against french and dutch culture. Send a settler to found Kiev after Russia is born(so it wont flip), and their economy will be crap. Start your invasion the late the better, as it will drag on your reseach. But an early war with Russia is good to destory their economy. Raze some city.

I'm trying a Germany emperor game. Well on my way with conquering (already have Rome, France and Greece in 1500) but Russians are way ahead of me in science (they even have engineering while I'm 12 moves to guilds). How do you stay ahead of tech (ditto for England--how to get to industrial and modern age first)?
I'm building markets and libraries and cottaging all the way. I know about the large empire penalty, but France declared war on me and so I had no choice but to eliminate them.

 

[Tweakee]

Sneak attack their capitol and raze it. That will wound them greatly, with a decent chance of causing a complete collapse.

That's the trick with many of the seemingly peaceful competitive UHVs: they may not directly require war, but it sure is the best way to throw a monkey wrench into your rival's plans...

 

[yakami]

I'm trying a Germany emperor game. Well on my way with conquering (already have Rome, France and Greece in 1500) but Russians are way ahead of me in science (they even have engineering while I'm 12 moves to guilds). How do you stay ahead of tech (ditto for England--how to get to industrial and modern age first)?
I'm building markets and libraries and cottaging all the way. I know about the large empire penalty, but France declared war on me and so I had no choice but to eliminate them.

I built 2 cities on St.Peterburg and Kiev after russia spawn, so they lost two important reseach cities. I think that helps alot.

Most of the time Mainz has a courthouse, I tend to generate a great ninja with it... With him and some spies you can easily steal 4 to 5 techs from Netherland or France. Build reseach in these productive german cities is helpful too.

About the size of my empire, I always raze Marseille Bordaux and Rennes and leave Paris alone. They just dont give me more land area, and I'm glad to be a tyrant...Same trick on Spain and Viking.

England strategy is the same, I would like to expand later. So I build a lot of settlers and leave them where I want to build cities until 1730. Only develop north american colonies as cottage farm to boost my reseach. Use GS to bulb Education, reseach Nationalism, then Liberalism, then Constitution, then go straight for Radio. Bribe Spain to attack France and Germany against Russia...But under emperor things arent so easy, mostly I cant finish reseaching radio before 1730, and after I built so many useless colonies, it takes forever to get radio.. so after the Triumphal Arch is built, give my colonies away to keep a healthy 10 cities empire.

 

[yakami]

That is the lucky part. You still have to circumnavigate, Carthage will do the same. Good luck finishing it
This is my game when I won, I was sick of waiting until I could build all of them so I "cheated" (not really of course) a bit.

You are right. I cant beat the Carthagians in circumnavigate competation...If I choose Machinery before I would have some chance...
And I cant open your sav file..seems we dont share the same version

 

[AnotherPacifist]

* indicates what I've won so far

Easy (if anything is easy for Emperor):
*Netherlands (land grab)
*Khmer (patience)
*Germany (thank God for the Internet--beeline computers)
*England (really need to get pacifism early for great scientists and merchants--all bulbs and hope you don't get a great spy by mistake)
*Russia (had a completely peaceful game with Germany as my friend! and thank God for the $1 cost research for a lot of earlier techs)
*Rome (need lots of military to defend against barbarians)
*Mongolia (building lots and lots settlers)
*France (capture Milan and Rome straight away, beeline for Engineering, Democracy and Radio; plant some great spies in civs with these techs to sabotage their production; give all your American cities to America)
*Spain (Compass-Optics-Calendar-Astronomy; capture Rome; collapse France early: the rest is history. Make sure you have enough troops in Incan and Aztec land towards the end in case they revolt and crush them)
*Inca (don't go for Optics but cap research at 0% after calendar)
*Viking (found city by whipping an Incan city for a settler, capture Rome ASAP and build lots of caravels)
*Japan (600AD) (Keijo, Hangzhou and Guangzhou need to be captured before anything else is done; need 1-2 vassals, circumnavigation and liberalism; then it's turtle time)
*Portugal (3000BC start) (just keep Spain happy)

Possible but hard and need luck and perseverance:
Portugal (600 AD) (opening borders is very hard in emperor and 11 civs in 600 AD is almost impossible compared to 3000BC)
*Egypt (really need luck, have tried 12 times, each time beat by AI for Great Library until Greece decided to go for the Parthenon instead)
*Carthage (collapse Egypt first, then Greece, then Babylon; build Great Lighthouse and Colossus to take care of economy)
*Arabia (can't get to gunpowder in time for cannons, you'll get gunpowder just around 1250 when Spain should have been collapsed already; tons of barbarians)
*Aztec (land grab)
*China (600AD) (chop and whip, and build 2 cathedrals in Beijing, 1 in Hancheng, and one in Guiyang)
*Turkey (Arabia is very advanced when you spawn; the 3000BC start is doable, having more vassals to choose from)

Impossible starting without cheating (because of tech requirements):
*Greece (with the Indian genocide/Babylonian migration technique)
*Persia (can't get to math and currency in time, no great wall; but you can cheat starting with Hammy)
*Ethiopia (unless you happen to have a great Egyptian prophet flip in your territory--see my cheat method below starting as Egypt first)
*Mali (the population is so much unhappier to whip, and nobody will freaking open borders!! 1900 gold, which used to be enough for Monarch, is no longer enough for the 1st criteria, even 3500 gold isn't enough. However, since France is first in gold usually, you can cheat by starting as France and capturing Rome ASAP)
*Japan (3000BC) (China is too powerful when you spawn, and no free cities in Korea and on the coast; Rome will still be alive in 1500 most likely, though India and Babylon are likely to be dead and not of concern; however, starting as China and sending 2 settlers to Japan to jump start is doable; need to not overbuild cities to avoid 0% science, and Colossus, Moai Statues and Great Lighthouse need to be built ASAP)
America (riflemen just don't do well against infantry in 1740, and democracy is so damn expensive; most likely the Statue, UN and Pentagon are already built by China or another advanced Western civ like France; Usi's idea is to kill all Eurasian civs with Arabia and then give everything to America, including all your productive European cities)

Impossible (with or without cheating):
India (founding 2 religions is lucky, 5 is impossible)
Babylon (no Oracle so no free tech, you get beat to writing by China every time)
China (3000BC) (cannot found religions)
Maya (the Temple of impossibility, since the computer favors military wonders like Great Wall, Colosseum and Temple of Kukulkan, almost always built by China or Rome around 300-400 AD; getting to Calendar in 600AD is scientifically impossible currently (best I did was 3 moves short))

Did I miss anything?