Type of win

[Konquest02]

I'd like to know what kind of victory you want to achieve most often. What is the easiest one to do? The most interresting?

--Kon--

[HazieDaVampire]

militery is total control of earth right?

[DrFell]

Destruction of all other civs, without necessarily controlling their land.

[nbarclay]

For a long time, I usually went for space race victories, but lately, I've tended more toward domination. Since I hate razing, it's next to impossible to conquer the entire world without hitting the domination threshold, although I've pulled it off once.

Nathan

[Sean]

I find that all victory conditions (with the possible exception of a quick military victorary) are available around the same time. The time it takes to get the required number of culture, usually means you are close to building the spaceship, have the UN, or fall over a domination victorary.

[Coracle]

Originally posted by nbarclay
For a long time, I usually went for space race victories, but lately, I've tended more toward domination. Since I hate razing, it's next to impossible to conquer the entire world without hitting the domination threshold, although I've pulled it off once.

Nathan

I used to try Space Race but quit on it. Why?

I was finishing my spaceship when all of a sudden I was told the game was over - the Chinese had launched. Surprise, surprise. I had no idea.

I had tried repeatedly to plant spies everywhere, and most of the time they failed, ruined my rep, once started a war, and cost me a ton of money. I tried five times to get a spy in Beijing. Because Espionage is such a farce I gave up on Space Race.

[MOHonor]

Originally posted by Coracle


I used to try Space Race but quit on it. Why?

I was finishing my spaceship when all of a sudden I was told the game was over - the Chinese had launched. Surprise, surprise. I had no idea.

I had tried repeatedly to plant spies everywhere, and most of the time they failed, ruined my rep, once started a war, and cost me a ton of money. I tried five times to get a spy in Beijing. Because Espionage is such a farce I gave up on Space Race.

Wow it finally becomes clear to me. You spew because you suck at the game. Someone call the pope.

[Solver]

Yeah, right . Now we all know Coracle sucks .

[candybo]

Main difference here for me is the difference between the victory I want, and the victory I get. I usually end up getting either Space Race or Diplo victory, by default. By that time, I'm usually anxious to start a new game. I know I can turn them off, but I like to keep them as an "out", in case another civ might have a couple more points than me.
I wish there was a compelling reason to reach for the end of the tech tree. Maybe one last SS component, or a useless but cool wonder, or a serious "Know-it-all" bonus. I, for one, have never seen a radar artillery unit. Never had a reason to go for it...

[vondrack]

Originally posted by Coracle
I was finishing my spaceship when all of a sudden I was told the game was over - the Chinese had launched. Surprise, surprise. I had no idea.

I had tried repeatedly to plant spies everywhere, and most of the time they failed, ruined my rep, once started a war, and cost me a ton of money. I tried five times to get a spy in Beijing. Because Espionage is such a farce I gave up on Space Race.

As I have written in another thread, I am really missing Coracle when he is banned. Sometimes, his posts are simply amusing...

I know I am wasting my time, but...

First: I always do my best to plant spies while at war anyway (even if "just for sure") - that way, my rep does not suffer in case the attempt fails.

Second: As long as you are the only one having The Laser, you are safe (in my games, The Laser tends to be the last necessary technology to be invented in the SS race). As soon as one of the AIs gets it, you should quickly finish the ship and launch.

Third: I would try planting a spy with a civ I am not at war with only if my cultury is much higher than theirs or if starting a war would be beneficial for me. Otherwise, it is too much of a risk, that's right.

In my recent game, Russia (me) was the world superpower, with only Persia and Japan left... I was so safe I was aiming for the SS victory, as the game was no longer a viable challenge. But, hell, how could I leave my people with no Longevity and no Cure for Cancel? Constructing these two wonders, I kept my most productive city idle as a backup (it was able to finish the last SS part in two turns). And it was the right thing to do. Periodically checking my spies, I have found out that the Japanese were all of a sudden 6(4)/10! Yep, that was two turns before I launched. They had absolutely no chance to surprise me. But you have to plan ahead... planting spies not when you need them, but when it is easy/safe...

Now on topic: most of my victorious games end up either with my SS heading for AC or with me having the best score. I achieved a diplomatic victory only once... and that was the most weird game I have ever played. As Germans, I started on a relatively small continent (well, it was just an island, in fact) and was unable to expand to the nearby continent (because of being constantly behind in tech, thus having no effective assault forces). However, being sort of isolated, I managed to avoid every single war... that was the only game in my whole Civ life that I weighted no war at all, winning through the UN Vote in 1900). Dunno if the others play such games often, but for me, this was really a unique experience. And... for the record... I do not think I deserved to win that game... The diplo victory should be redone, if not completely cancelled. But right after winning the vote, I felt very fine, yes, I really did...

I would support adjusting the tech-tree so that it delays the SS completion. I have seen radar artillery around only once or twice so far... I agree that the SS victory comes little bit too early.

And as for the diplomatic victory... well, I spent one whole night trying to think up a scheme that would be logical (i.e. one that might justifiably lead to winning the game without breaking the laws of logic). I must have given up eventually... it seems that there is no way at all to implement it in such a way, that winning through it would be both logical and possible. I think being the UN Secretary General should just make achieving one of the other victory conditions easier (big science boost, big commercial boost or whatever... no idea, really). For now, I will probably put up with the fact that it is the victory condition you are going for if there is no other way to win the game. Thinking of it in this way... it may not be such a bad thing after all... as I've said, I felt fine after winning that hopeless game...

[Solver]

Re: not fighting wars. I remember having an amusing game where I didn't lose a single unit all the way up to very end of Industrial Age (Tanks and Bombers). Then I got in war and lost a tank, then more came .

[Franses]

I generally switch off diplomatic as well as SS. I agree with Vondrack that a diplomatic victory is usefull only when you have more or less lost the game (I prefer loosing in such a case) or if you are way ahead of the others and want to end the game (I do not need a diplo victory for that. I just quit the game). SS is similar in my opinion. So I generally end up winning by domination. I would like to win a cultural victory but generally domination is achieved long before a cultural victory. Of course, the fact that the game gets boring in the end does not help me either in achieving a cultural victory. I just do not want to continue that long.

[Theseus]

Other.

Although I have finished a number of games (split between domination and space), in the vast majority I have reached UP and started a new game.

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Coracle


I used to try Space Race but quit on it. Why?

I was finishing my spaceship when all of a sudden I was told the game was over - the Chinese had launched. Surprise, surprise. I had no idea.

I had tried repeatedly to plant spies everywhere, and most of the time they failed, ruined my rep, once started a war, and cost me a ton of money. I tried five times to get a spy in Beijing. Because Espionage is such a farce I gave up on Space Race.

What form of government were you in? Under communism, spy operations have better odds. Try switching into communism to plant spies and to initiate acts of espionage. Religious civs make this much easier.

I voted for s/s because, to me, it signifies the ultimate victory for a civilization. It encompasses the importance of technology and military might (to protect interests, to secure resources, and to dictate diplomacy).

[nbarclay]

I've had one game where a diplomatic victory made absolutely perfect sense. I had conquered my half of the world, but got along fine with the remaining civs. I had no real use for their land since I already had as much as I could rule efficiently. So why not leverage my position to lead the world into a new era where cooperation replaces competition and warfare?

Further, in that situation, it made sense for the other nations to want to join up. My Germany was already the world leader in science and production, and by a pretty good margin. Joining in a new cooperative relationship would give the other nations immediate access to the latest German technology, and would avoid wasting resources on maintaining large military forces.

The thing that makes diplomatic victory so cheap most of the time is that you don't HAVE to do anything that would give the rest of the world a reason to want you for its leader. Essentially, all you have to do is build the U.N. and be less offensive than the other candidate(s). Why, after thousands of years of independence, would nations place themselves under a leader whose only real virtue is that he's less offensive than one or two other would-be world leaders?

Nathan