What's was your earliest conquest victory?

[Divaythsarmour]

I've been wanting to try this for awhile.

I just finished a game on Prince difficutly, Marathon speed, Tiny balanced map, playing as Boudica. I was able to wipe out all of the other civilizations by 150 BC.

I didn't do a typical early rush. I took the time to build barracks in the first two cities, Stonehenge, the Great Wall and the Oracle (for COL). Then I started building Gallic Warriors, Axemen and chariots at a normal rate (not chopping and only whipping to maintain happiness). I never built or used any siege equipment.

I picked my closest neighbor, Shaka, for the first war. I took his capitol and one good coastal city. After a brief period of peace, I took one more city and razed 3 others. That was it for the Zulus.

Next, I went after Gilgamesh. The first city had founded Hinduism. I kept it and razed all of the others.

I basically tried to keep an army moving with around 4 Gallic Warriors, 3 axemen and 2 chariots. I used captured workmen to build roads to the constantly moving front lines (with axemen escort of course).

It was really fun to not have to worry about the future. The only goal was to kill them as quickly as possible.

Boudica's aggressive and charismatic traits make a great combination for such a game. Units seem to be eligible for promotion following every combat situation.

I was thinking of sticking with this style of play for awhile and tweaking it for other game parameters, i.e. speeds, map sizes, difficulty levels etc.

I would imagine that other people have had much earlier conquest victories. I would be interested in knowing how they did it?

 

[Divaythsarmour]

I've been wanting to try this for awhile.

I just finished a game on Prince difficutly, Marathon speed, Tiny balanced map, playing as Boudica. I was able to wipe out all of the other civilizations by 150 BC.

I didn't do a typical early rush. I took the time to build barracks in the first two cities, Stonehenge, the Great Wall and the Oracle (for COL). Then I started building Gallic Warriors, Axemen and chariots at a normal rate (not chopping and only whipping to maintain happiness). I never built or used any siege equipment.

I picked my closest neighbor, Shaka, for the first war. I took his capitol and one good coastal city. After a brief period of peace, I took one more city and razed 3 others. That was it for the Zulus.

Next, I went after Gilgamesh. The first city had founded Hinduism. I kept it and razed all of the others.

I basically tried to keep an army moving with around 4 Gallic Warriors, 3 axemen and 2 chariots. I used captured workmen to build roads to the constantly moving front lines (with axemen escort of course).

It was really fun to not have to worry about the future. The only goal was to kill them as quickly as possible.

Boudica's aggressive and charismatic traits make a great combination for such a game. Units seem to be eligible for promotion following every combat situation.

I was thinking of sticking with this style of play for awhile and tweaking it for other game parameters, i.e. speeds, map sizes, difficulty levels etc.

I would imagine that other people have had much earlier conquest victories. I would be interested in knowing how they did it?

Edit: The second civilization was Darius, not Gilgamesh. And the date of victory was 180 BC.

 

[Harbourboy]

Many people around here have achieved the earliest possible conquest date of 3835 BC. This is achieved by sending your first warrior / quechua straight to the nearest enemy and taking their only city in the first attack.

Clearly this only works where you have just one opponent. The earliest conquest date in the Hall of Fame for the huge map size is a mind boggling 2425 BC with 11 opponents (although that was on Settler difficulty)

 

[Kennigit]

Theres a lotta luck in it too for real early ones- if you send a warrior out to attack an archer with some 3% odds and win, then it'll really help.

As for me, I'm more of a peaceful CE spacey guy, so I don't know what my fastest conquest is or would be (if I even have one). I usually play continents, so conquest isn't possible until astronomy.

PS- you can edit without quoting yourself

 

[Blaarg]

I got one about 200 AD once, but I purposely played the Romans on Pangea with only 2 opponents to beat my wife's score. She was bragging.

 

[Slobadog]

My earliest conquest victory was sometime around 4000 BC. The fact that the computer glitched up and didn't place down any rivals probably had something to do with it though.

 

[vicawoo]

3000 BC deity, warlords. I was, uh, the guy with the golden jewelry.

 

[Indiansmoke]

10AD Monarch, marathon speed, normal size map, great plains map with Ramses (war chariots!!!)

 

[Bluetooth]

Usually I’m not interested in an early victory but when I saw Native Americas UU, the Dog Soldier I just had to try.

Settings: Prince difficulty, Marathon speed, Tiny map.
Victory: Conquest 2775 BC.

I must say Native America is outstanding when it comes to early victories on tiny maps. It’s almost too easy.

The strategy is very simple and almost never fails on Prince level / Tiny map. On Monarch I believe the AI gets an Archer so this strategy won’t work.

This strategy is all about fast city growth, fast scouting and best possible early hammer production. Perfect starting conditions are a coastal city with at least one fish, crab or clam. If possible build your city on Hills / Plains. It’s also great if you have one or two Hills / Forest / Plains within your city radius.

Build a Fishing boat while your city grows to size 2. Start research Mining / Bronze Working. Scout your neighbourhood with your Warrior.

When you’ve researched BW start building Dog Soldiers and send them to take your neighbour's capitals. One Dog Soldier can take out three Warriors in three turns without healing.

As you understand speed is the key, you must reach your foes before they can build Archers or this strategy will probably fail.

 

[Cookie Crumbs]

Prince, Marathon, Standard size map, Pangaea
Cyrus
820 BC
Horses in fat cross, took my army of captured workers to build roads towards my enemies.