JUST A TOUCH OF CITIES
The reverse is true if you are the aggressor and you can hold off the retaliating forces. This is clearly a strategy worth exploiting to the nth degree. if you are two ages ahead of another player, for example, you'll be able to smash them; if you're one age ahead, there is a trade-off between numbers and quality where the latter requires more time to complete due to increased resource costs
Along with this is the 'Sudden Death' variance where even if you lose your capital for any fleeting moment in time you're automatically ejected from gameplay or, if you're in the mood to be a real stinker, you'll select 'Total Sudden Death' from the game setting menus where any city lost to an enemy garners you a free get-out-of-the-game card. Charming and lethal. Totally.
I'D RATHER THE VICTORY BE MINE
In a normal game, you win either by conquering all, knocking out each opponents' capital for a given period of time or achieve a diplomatic/territorial victory by controlling 70% of the world's territory. This is the default setting, but it can be adjusted. Further note that this 70% or whatever you set it at is cumulative if you are allied with someone. Therefore, with the said percentage if you control 55% and a lesser nation controls 15% of global terrain, you may want to think about approaching them to pledge mutual allegiance.
Don't be so quick with a dance on the faces of your opponents, however: once this magic number is achieved by whatever means a timer will start, counting down the time that you must control this territory either one your own or collectively to win the game. Needless to say your opponents can do the same to you, so if this is the mounting strategy you had best get there first. To brush up on alliances or to read up on them if you missed the earlier discussion, see Part 4. Victory condition types don't end here, though. It is prudent to provide some background information here before being more specific. RoN has, not counting the Ancient Age – the default setting – seven wonders to progress to and all but the last to pass through. In each one of these Ages there are two 'Wonders of The World' that can be constructed. The Pyramids that increase commerce limit, city limit, and improve food and timber gather rates, and the Colossus that raises incoming gold amounts and allows you to buy goods at the market now have an added use. The kinds of Wonders later on are even more appealing and as such more difficult to see to the end. The Kremlin caps your commerce limit to the maximum 999 of each resource type. The Space Program doubles the range, as a percentage increase, of all your air units, its combat strength and speed in which you make them. These are what the BHG President refers to as carrying "game closure powers". Unlike Civilization III, there is no concept of 'Great' and 'Small' Wonders: once one is built in a game, it cannot be replicated elsewhere. If you're worried that pursing this feat will leave you with a lot of deadwood during the game, you can let your guard down.
"I've always found [Wonder effects expiry] artificial", admits Reynolds. It also produces a kind of 'gaining the system' mentality where people try to intentionally not advance in technology so something does not expire, and that is not very historical. So, what we do instead is the early Wonders, e.g. Pyramids have fixed benefits that are not percentages but straight numbers, e.g. +50, which is significant number if economy is only around 100 as opposed to later on when it may reach 1,000 or more".
Each of these wonders has a special unique power accompanied by a special bonus. These hit-points are incrementally worth 1, 2, 4, and 8 'Wonder' points each. The latter the Wonder type, the higher the point count. There is a point total by which you can obtain a "Wonder of The World" win; there is no reason to give you an exact number because like with many game settings this is adjustable to your liking. If becoming the most glorious civilization on the planet is not your cup of conquest, there are other variants to experiment with.
Rise Up: Reynolds On RoN 
