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The player needs to put a lot of effort into making a domination victory work, but there are a few tips and ways to make it a whole lot easier. The battle is never a breeze, but it is probably one of the most fun and satisfying ways to win, so grab some armor, a spear, and get to work!
Updated on December 3rd, 2021 by Ashely Claudino: Civilization 6 is an ever-changing game, not only due to the amount of DLC and add-on it has received since its release, but also given the number of patches that have been added to the games and all the tweaks that have been made over the past few months. To better improve this article, it’s been updated with information regarding more recent features such as governors and emergency policies, as well as some complementary information about older features like city-states. With all this information in mind, players should have no trouble scoring themselves a Domination Victory.
15 Pick The Right Civilization
Even the best players in the game don’t try to win domination victories with any random civilization. Yes, they will be participants in battle when their specialized units are strongest, but pro players know that some civilizations are just plain not likely to win via combat.
If domination is the goal, by all means, pick a civilization that is good at it. Scythia is great early, the USA is great late, and anything that helps to avoid the Warmonger penalty is a plus.
14 Capture Cities Instead Of Building Cities
Building a city costs time and resources for infrastructure. Each new city has to start with the basic buildings before moving on to advanced structures. Going through this journey virtually ensures that players won’t have what they need for domination.
When it comes to the heavy lifting, make other cities do this work instead. Let a leader shooting for a cultural victory build up a city and then rip that city away from them. It’s far cheaper to make more units and tactfully siege a new city than to start from scratch.
13 Target The Right Wonders
Players gunning for a domination victory can’t be bogged down with making loads of world wonders. There just isn’t any time. All metals and special resources need to go towards improving the military.
So what little can be spared should be spent build toward building wonders that pump up army units and happiness. Players should consider the Statue of Zeus, the Pentagon, the Brandenburg Gate, etc. And if somebody else builds them first, which is entirely likely, send the troops in and take the city that built it.
12 See The Entire Map
Sending units to all the corners of the world might feel like a tactic for getting a diplomatic victory, but it’s even more important for a domination victory. It’s unrealistic on a normal map to keep every city defended; it only eats up resources, and offense must have priority.
Build units that have a huge vision, and station them in friendly or protected areas. Knowing the location of enemy armies is superior to having a gigantic army. Gamers with this advantage will know where to attack and when to drop back and defend.
11 Strike Early
The early phase of the game is the best time for players to make a move against other civilizations if they’re aiming for domination. This is when every civilization is at its weakest, and since most of them will focus on building up their first city, settlers or scouts, they will probably stay in this state for a while.
This means that it is the perfect opportunity for a civilization that wants a domination victory to build up some units and take advantage of the situation, taking out some nearby nations. Don’t be afraid to exploit the enemy’s weakness.
10 Be Ready
This should go without saying, but in order to achieve a domination victory, the player is going to need to have their offensive and defensive capabilities on point. Players need to be prepared to charge into battle, and to defend themselves should their foes strike back.
This means that the civilization needs to work on building up defensive buildings, like having walls that are up to date and having encampments that can give bonuses to units built in that city. This also means researching the technologies that boost your military first.
9 Focus On Training Units
Building off of the last entry, one of the most important things that a player who wants a domination victory needs is a lot of units. This is why setting up encampments is so important, as they will provide the player’s army with boosts when they are spawned.
Having a large number of units will not only help in offensive endeavors, but will also help in the defense of cities. It is good to have as much variety in the units as possible, to be ready for anything.
8 Build Armadas & Armies Around Promoted Units
This is a small detail that might not cross most players’ minds, but it makes a lot of sense when one stops to consider it. The idea behind armies and armadas in the game is to stack units into one group, vastly increasing their power.
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A good thing to do when building armies and armadas is to build them off of promoted and experienced units. This way, the bonuses that those units have will remain with the army or armada, stacking those bonuses on top of the added power.
7 Pillage Like It’s Going Out Of Style
When a civilization is attacking another civilization’s city, the attacking civilization will have the option to pillage the defending city’s tile improvements. This will net the pillaging unit some health and maybe even some gold for their civilization.
However, those are only the surface level, immediate benefits. If a defending civilization has its tile improvements destroyed, it will lower the overall defense of that city, making it easier to destroy and take over.
6 Make A Religion
While a religious victory in Civilization 6 takes a very different kind of gameplay, having one’s own religion allows the player to pick the tenets and bonuses that it gives. Even when gunning for a Domination victory rather than a religious one, this still a massive bonus to any civilization.
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The right combination of tenets and bonuses that one can choose when making a religion can provide massive boosts to a civilization’s military power, as long as that religion is widespread. After all, real-world history shows that religion is a powerful tool when it comes to conquering.
5 Make The Right Policy Changes
Somewhat similar to the last entry, if a player chooses the right policies at the right time when they are available, this will make every aspect of the domination victory easier.
If a civilization that wants a domination victory isn’t at war, then they should choose certain policies that will benefit unit building, as well as overall production. Meanwhile, when at war, choosing the right combat-based policies can greatly increase one’s chance of victory.
4 Be Smart With Nukes
When civilizations enter the atomic era and finally gain access to the all-powerful nukes that the game has to offer. It can be fairly easy for a civilization looking for a domination victory to just build up a bunch of nuclear weapons and then drop them on every target that they can but this isn’t the best strategy.
Nuclear weapons leave radiation on tiles for 20 turns that will damage units when they are in them. This can seriously hinder war efforts and cut off access to enemies.
3 Build Cities In Hard To Attack Areas
Defense is often overlooked among players going for a domination victory. The placement of cities is very important, as the player wants it to have access to an abundant amount of resources but the placement of a city is important in terms of its defense as well.
Placing cities inside mountain ranges and with some distance from water is a great way to limit the number of units that can attack it. Conquering is all well and good, but players should make sure their own civilization is protected from outside forces.
2 Spend Envoys On The Right City-States
There are different types of City-States in Civilization 6, and spending Influence Points on a specific City-State will grant a certain bonus depending on its type. Different bonuses apply better to different play styles.
MilitaristicCity-States are the most beneficial for domination victories, since investing Influence Points on them will give a civilization production boosts for building Encampments, Stables, Armories, or Barracks, for example. This is a fundamental part of the game when aiming for world domination.
1 Pick A Governor
Governors were first introduced in the Rise And Fall DLC, and they come in quite handy when aiming for a domination victory. There are two Governors, Pingala and Victor, that can be given a promotion that can influence offensive gameplay greatly: the Arms Race Proponent promotion that increases 30% of Production to all nuclear armament projects in a city.
Considering one’s style of gameplay and all Governors and their promotions is an essential part of a Civ game. Diplomacy-related Governors are also a good choice for this type of gameplay, given that Emergency Policies might be taken against a dominance-inclined civilization.
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