Which victories are better?

[Minor Annoyance]

I recently won with a religious victory which required about 95% of a conquest victory to achieve, and I got way fewer points than I would have from the conquest victory. I continued playing and found out that I could easily win with conquest even though I would be against the Infernals and as the Sheaim so any unit I lost would be their gain.
I assume religious victory is the least valuable because I've heard you can win very early be being the first to get a religion and then give everyone the technology. So what's the point difference between the different victory types?

 

[Grey Fox]

What kind of victory doesn't matter when it comes to points.

It's all Territory+Population+Techs+Wonders and how quick you win.

So I guess a quick domination victory would yield the most points.

 

[westamastaflash]

I rarely look at points, because on the higher difficulties, the only way to get a super high score is through conquest. Altar Victory gives much less points than conquest, because you have to go all the way to Omniscience to get it...

 

[Marnok]

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!

 

[·Imhotep·]

I particularly like the Altar Victory as the Altars give a nice boost to the city you build them in. And the XP for your disciple units are neat too. I mostly go for Altar victories when I play the Elohim as it fits so perfectly - though that doesn't mean I'm all peaceful in these games (Chalid Astrakein and Paladins are awesome...) ...

Imhotep

 

[clut]

If you're playing for score, conquest is generally the way to go. A few good early rushes will help you get a quick victory. However, if you're playing a game like civ, which can take hours or days to finish a game, reducing it to a matter of score seems cheap. It should be the game that's important, not the score.

 

[Kasdar]

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!

Someone watched Conan to many times.

...... Maybe me since I know where the quote comes from ....

 

[Alzara]

Someone watched Conan to many times.

...... Maybe me since I know where the quote comes from ....

Same

Al

 

[Ringtailed]

Yeah I don't really pay attention to points either. A win is a win. Playing for score means your best choice is an early conquest victory, which is often less satisfying (for me at least).

 

[A_Hamster]

Someone watched Conan to many times.

...... Maybe me since I know where the quote comes from ....

The original quote is attributed to Genghis Khan:

"The greatest happiness is to vanquish your enemies, to chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth, to see those dear to them bathed in tears, to clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters."

 

[thewyrm]

Genghis had issues.