When do you take over the world?

[NeoStar]

Just curoius about this-say you're on a large/huge map on the upper difficulties and playing for the kill: when do you !start! your global rampage?

I find there are three places:

1)the knights/cavalry age...
>Your first mobile,reliable attackers.

2)the tank age...
>Nothing more needs to be said

3)the MA age...
>Modern Armour coupled with nukes/radar artillery

Note Im not talking about eating into a civ here or there (that happens alot) but full fledged global conquest. I have gone for it with horses before (sometimes to disasterous results) but generally wait till I have tanks and infantry for the blitz effect. There really is no defense from tanks besides offense.

I almost never wait for modern weapons though. I'll upgrade to MA during the rampage but usually near the middle point/end. I'm anti nuclear though, never used them (never needed to)

Where do most regent-deity players begin the charge...this'll become an issue with MP

[trickey]

Right from the start. I usually play try to get control of my continent asap. Then , i wait. I biuld up an army of horsemen, upgrade em to Knights/ cavalry, depending on the year. i go in for the kill.

[Theseus]

At any time I reach significant relative strength.

On the home continent, this is first achieved through number of units, with any roadblocks cleared away upon reaching Sword-level units (which add relative strength at the unit level).

On larger home continents, where distance becomes a factor in maintaining relative strength in the theatre of battle, the speed of Knights and Cavs becomes important.

Intercontinental conquest is typically dependent on logistics capabilities, and thus I usually don;t get going until I have Galleons. Relative strength at the unit level is first achieved with Arty and Cavs, then with Tanks.

[NeoStar]

Originally posted by Theseus
...Intercontinental conquest is typically dependent on logistics capabilities, and thus I usually don;t get going until I have Galleons...

That's one thing I forgot to mention. You can't get going without those things, unless on Pangea of course.

That's where Civ's weak navy comes to haunt it...Ive rarely lost an invasions force. The AI wont ever mount a England vs the Spanish Armada defense so when your cavalary/tanks set foot on land...

[Zachriel]

Rarely. There are many other, often better ways to win.

[Lord Merciless]

You should start chipping away at your rivals once you have the Archer. If you play Aztecs, you have to attack right away.

[Iskandar Reza]

I usually go straight for horsemen. After that, I start churning them out like mad and go on to conquer the continent I am on, eventually upgrading to knights during battle, and later on cavalry. By the time tanks are available, the continent's already mine without having to build a single tank. (Note I usually play on archipelago type maps.)

[Lord Merciless]

Horsemen require Horses, a resource I don't always have right away. I usually begin combined Horsemen/Swordsmen rush in late Ancient Age.

[NeoStar]

Originally posted by Iskandar Reza
I usually go straight for horsemen. After that, I start churning them out like mad and go on to conquer the continent I am on, eventually upgrading to knights during battle, and later on cavalry. By the time tanks are available, the continent's already mine without having to build a single tank. (Note I usually play on archipelago type maps.)

Archipelago, eh? That would change things. I never play on those-but seeing they're the smallest land masses I suppose you could also use slower units effectively in an invasion...

And a heap of ships of course.

BTW I realise taking the continent is essential before taking on the rest-but when I say 'world' I really mean other landmasses.

[The Pioneer]

I usually play Pangea and I am a builder so I go for a late war. That's why my games stretch to a few weeks . Although in my last game I tried an early attack succesfully against the French that actually paid off on the later stages by giving me Lebensraum and resources that I would otherwise have to trade for.

So long...

[GhengisFarb™]

IA, gotta love those Panzers.....

[candybo]

When do I go for it? Simple: As soon as it's apparent I'll win even if I do nothing. At that point, I get bored and want to start again, so I use my favorite "trait": Berserker... Ha!Ha! AArgh!!!

[buiz]

Start up building 4-5 cities (that should give you access to horses, otherwise use warriors to conquer nearest city with horses). THEN build horsemen like a maniac and take your continent. Do it quickly, forget about anything else than building those horsemen. Build a temple and you have lost valuable time, possibly enough for your enemy to have built up a proper defense. Don't forget to stop every now and then and negotiate peace to pump your enemies of all their techs, gold and possibly smaller cities. THEN comes the consolidation time where you build up your production cities and secure the entire landmass by strategically placed cities with temples. Send out ships to discover the world and establish contacts for trading of techs. Stay on your home continent, though, until you have... ze panzer (for us playing germans, tanks for lessor people). Build up a kick a$$ invasion force (I tend to go for 24 tanks + 8 infantry) and ship them off with transports sufficiently guarded by destroyers. If you have timed it well, before your d-day fleet reaches the other continent you have developed flight. Take a beachhead on the other continent, and stay there. As soon as resistance has stopped cash-rush an airport. Meanwhile you have cash-rushed 8-10 airports back home, and now you hammer through tanks+infantry to your beachhead and the rest of the game is just a matter of how quickly your enemies will be squaches by ze germanz.

[candybo]

Sounds good, buiz... but, DANG! I could've saved 60 bucks if I'd known that's all there is to the game