'Conquest of the World' achievement - tips/strategies?

[Keakealani]

I am attempting the achievement 'Conquest of the World' that requires you to play as Alexander and beat every known player before the year 350 BC. I am wondering if anyone has tips or strategies that make this achievement a bit easier. I am concerned with balancing the number of civilizations (a high number of civs means a higher likelihood of meeting, and therefore being obligated to dominate, before the time limit, but too few means I may not meet any before the time limit or otherwise be too far away to effectively wage war) and the map type (islands or small continents might limit the number of civilizations met before the time limit due to the tech requirements of sea travel to meet a civ on another landmass). Hopefully someone can offer other suggestions on what would be ideal, as well as any tips or pointers for this achievement. I am playing G&K but don't have BNW, if that matters.

Thanks!

[Tar]

I'm assuming you want to play a rewarding game, rather than just setting up a Duel map on the easiest difficulty and rushing to victory.

In any case, you'd probably want to go with a smaller map (less people to conquer overall), and something like continents (so that you're guarenteed to only know half of the civs by 350 BC). Small continents is riskier, I think, since they might be connected by shallow oceans and you could have faraway civs meeting you unintentionally.

And you're definitely going to want to play on Epic or Marathon, so your troops can do more conquering in a shorter amount of in-game time.

[Burbot]

Duel is about the only way to make it a sure thing. The AI explores heavily, so meeting other civs before that date is almost guaranteed.

I play at a minimum of King to keep achievement hunts challanging for myself, but I allow myself to adjust other settings like map size.

On King I barely accomplished it, sadly that was during the period that achievments were not working for everyone.

[eXistenZ]

Duel pangea map on settler difficulty :p

[CTHOMP]

I think you can get that achievement by doing one of the tutorials? I remember getting some achievements doing them including maybe that one.

[Mr Plow]

Originally posted by clthomps:

I think you can get that achievement by doing one of the tutorials? I remember getting some achievements doing them including maybe that one.

I can confirm

[back2c]

I'm gonna need some help here. I wanted to earn that achievement without taking to much time. So I chose Alexander on dual, chose a couple of allies and then went to war quite quickly.

I took Gandhi's capital (their last city) in turn 98 (so 2 turns before 350 BC) but didn't have the achievement. Is it because of the allies ? I earned some victories achievement that way, made it faster for civs I didn't want to play to much with and seemed to work for victories achievement. Or has it been working for others ?

[trepwn]

Originally posted by back2c:

I'm gonna need some help here. I wanted to earn that achievement without taking to much time. So I chose Alexander on dual, chose a couple of allies and then went to war quite quickly.

I took Gandhi's capital (their last city) in turn 98 (so 2 turns before 350 BC) but didn't have the achievement. Is it because of the allies ? I earned some victories achievement that way, made it faster for civs I didn't want to play to much with and seemed to work for victories achievement. Or has it been working for others ?

I think its because you had allies, and so maybe the game recognizes them as known civilizations that you didn't conquer, even if they are friendly towards you.

[leandrombraz]

Originally posted by clthomps:

I think you can get that achievement by doing one of the tutorials? I remember getting some achievements doing them including maybe that one.

I think the tutorial that you destroy a city will unlock it. I got there too...

[back2c]

Originally posted by trepwn:

Originally posted by back2c:

I'm gonna need some help here. I wanted to earn that achievement without taking to much time. So I chose Alexander on dual, chose a couple of allies and then went to war quite quickly.

I took Gandhi's capital (their last city) in turn 98 (so 2 turns before 350 BC) but didn't have the achievement. Is it because of the allies ? I earned some victories achievement that way, made it faster for civs I didn't want to play to much with and seemed to work for victories achievement. Or has it been working for others ?

I think its because you had allies, and so maybe the game recognizes them as known civilizations that you didn't conquer, even if they are friendly towards you.

Actually, it seemed to be the problem. Played again later without allies and that worked.

[zxcvbob]

I usually play long games where I win in the information age. So I thought I would try for this achievement just to shake up my routine. If the clock doesn't slow down pretty soon, I don't see how this is possible unless you play settler level on a tiny or duel map.

I'm doing a mix of Tradition and Honor. Small pangaea map with 3 or 4 civs and raging barbs, Prince level, epic speed. I've build 1 wonder (temple of artemis) while researching the techs for companion cavalry, and I've been fighting barbarians. Everything is going okay, but the clock is ticking fast. I've only met one other civ so far. And I haven't settled a 2nd city yet (and I might not)

I have 1 each: scout, warrior, hoplite, horseman (a gift from a CS), and companion cavalry. That should be enough to take a 9 or 10 strength city pretty easily... but probably not 4 or 5 of them. And I don't even know where the others are. It is 1050 B.C. already.

[TheGaleRider]

Awww, you don't have BNW. I was going to suggest that you set City-States to 0 (seems counter-intuitive, right?) so you could set Venice as your enemy, but that's off the table.

I suggest dropping the difficulty down (I did it on Chieftain) and do a Duel map on Pangaea. Maybe set the time length to Epic or Marathon, but Normal is still possible. Immediately beeline Bronze Working. You'll pick up Mining along the way, helping production. Hopefully you get some Ancient Ruins that help with tech or Culture (you'll need Honor for a Great General and that 15% combat bonus for units with an adjacent friendly unit). Spam Hoplites and Archers and all that good stuff. Move them into place. Horseback Riding is preferable because having Companion Cavalry is really helpful. You'll need Hoplites to take the hits while the Archers whittle down the City (you'll want to strike early if you want to win faster because having a second city to deal with is a pain, but it's doable. Three cities might be too much). Swordsmen are really handy if you can make them, but Warriors will do fine for now. Don't go gungho, play it smart. Near the end, you should have Companion Cavalry. Move in if you haven't already and FINISH HIM (or her).

It's been more than a year since I've done this (without expansions), so I'm trying to go off memory here.

Originally posted by zxcvbob:

I usually play long games where I win in the information age. So I thought I would try for this achievement just to shake up my routine. If the clock doesn't slow down pretty soon, I don't see how this is possible unless you play settler level on a tiny or duel map.

It's possible on Chieftain, I can confirm. I won right on the the 350 BC mark too. I even fit in the Great Library into Athens, I believe. I might have to check my saves (I have a save of just about every game I have, but there are some that I do delete mostly through ragequit). I did it without expansions, so it actually might be easier (due to the 10 HP system and full health promotions).

[back2c]

Well, I did it on King difficulty so it is possible. I think it depends on the difficulty you're used to play more than the difficulty in itself.

I think TheGaleRider pretty sum it up :
- build only military units that you pack around their capital,
- search for military tech first (didn't use the cavalry personnaly, went for steel instead so you have more resilient units)
- most of all : do NOT let them build a second city. Instead, attack them when they send their first colon(ist ? ) that'll make you a free worker. Having 100 turns to capture a city is makeable but the more thay have, the most difficult it is.
- do not fear loosing many units. The key is to have enough so you can do the maximum damages each turn to a city. That may imply keeping up your gold greedily because in the end, your income might well be negative.

[zxcvbob]

I have BNW and G&K.

So I have to conquer everybody by 350 BC, or just everybody I have discovered? (Dido has already built a 2nd city) I never found any ancient ruins even tho' I built a scout before a monument or shrine; I might have them disabled.

I like the idea of attacking their 1st settler. BTW, I have horses but no iron.

ETA: I just checked, and the "no ancient ruins" box is checked in the advanced setup. I don't remember doing that. Might be leftover from my last game. I have companion cavalry right now; I just built my first one.

[zxcvbob]

I don't remember what happened in the game I posted about last year, but obviously I didn't get the achievement; about to try again. And I want it to be a fun game, not playing on "settler". I played around with it for an hour last night at king level on epic speed. Found out that chariot archers are great for killing barbarians and terrible for taking cities. I thought the city would target my fortified hoplites, but they targeted the CA's and a 19-strong city can almost one-shot them. I also took mostly Honor and a little bit of Tradition, but I think I should be opening Liberty instead for the eventual free settler. Then Honor. I want to take the left side of Honor before the right for the free GG and the extra XP.

Should I disable BNW and play on G&K instead? That way I can get at least some gold from the map and not have to mess with trade routes (which don't yield much in the early eras anyway) I should also play it on a standard-sized continents map with high sea levels, and disable the Polynesia DLC (the rest will be random) That way I should never meet half of the civs until well past 350 BC -- and they'll wonder why such a peaceable guy has a whole continent to himself ;)

And I think I need to rush Construction or Iron Working instead of Horseback Riding after I get my library built and at least one luxury hooked up. I need comp bows and/or swords to take cities. (I have no idea how Seoul got to 19 strength so fast) The nearest AI will get at least one settler out before I'm ready to attack; I figure if I don't manage to capture the settler, I can puppet that city -- it should have at least one luxury) -- and when I get my free settler, I'll burn down Puppet City and settle New Puppet City on top of the ashes because it should be a good location and the tiles already improved.

[Tavern Games]

I did a tiny earth map with two players. The trick was finding them before the year 350 game to pass! Was quite easy though. I can't see one pulling it off with multiple Civs and a larger then tiny map.