Civilization Revolution/Strategy/Achievements

There are other pages on the internet that list strategies for the different achievements. There are a few good tips to keep in mind, too. What I'll list here is what I would suggest to use against the hardest to complete.

win by domination on the hardest difficulty
I've seen other people suggest strategies for winning this, but I think this can be done easier than anything I've read online.

Basically, you only need to take the capitol cities. That's only 4 cities. They're also almost always coastal. If this is played on the Beta Centauri scenario, you don't need to worry about scientific advancement. This is where the computer players really have an edge (time). I like Aztecs because they are never wounded (unless you retreat).

The gist is:
Develop an inexhaustible economy

Focus on money at first. Expand to just a few close cities. Build Market and Bank.

Scale-up an effectively unlimited manufacturing potential

Once the cashflow is established, invest in production. Also, food and culture.

Assemble a single strike force and conquer each capitol

Load up a dozen Modern Infantry armies and a few dozen Artillery armies (and maybe a whole mess of spies for fun) on a fleet of Battleships and head for the first city. Take a fleet escort or two if you want. At each city, park your Battleship unit and its payload both on adjacent squares and pound the city until it falls. Should only take a few turns. Pick up all but an MI or two (to occupy) and move on to the next.

Win the game, gain the achievement

Take the rest of the day off.

A few tips:
(1) Part of it is staying away from neighbors. They will tend not to bug you if they don't know you're there. It may even be worthwhile to keep your cities a little bit back from the water so a curious boat won't make introductions.

(2) Encountering one early might not be a dealbreaker. But keep them boxed up if you can, until you're ready to push them aside. On Beta Centauri, the barbarians can even serve to separate them from you. If you do meet stay friendly early.

(3) If you are getting harassed before you're ready to move out, pay others to go to war. Hopefully, it won't come to that. This might happen after you've knocked a couple of guys out already, and its obvious you want to take over the world. You can still pay them off to go to war to stall until you wipe them all out.

(4) Of course, this is all assuming you do keep up the normal defenses. Modern Infantry are great. Also keep Fighters. This includes the captured cities; rush new MI every turn. If you already have the funds, this should be no problem, even if everyone is on you, which might not even happen. Keep up the borders. Of course, everything is armies and wings and fleets, because you should have the production lines to support it.

(5) These aren't absolute rules; be a little flexible. If you plop your city down in a ring of hills, build a workshop before the bank. If spies are blowing stuff up, set up some spies at home. And if someone threatens to nuke you, build the SDI(?) defense.

what not to do:
(1) Take other cities. I don't know why other people insist on carefully seizing every city along the way to the capitol. You don't win any different; only the capitols count. Supply lines? They're on a boat. No supply lines. It doesn't hurt, but it's time consuming and a distraction. There may be a strategic reason to take a few, but it's not the objective.

(2) Tanks. Tanks are cool, but they don't have the offensive capability of Artillery or the defensive capability of Modern Infantry. They are mobile, but in this plan your units shouldn't be moving except on or off the boat. In a normal game they can be very useful but not so much here.

(3) Bombers. Great offensive power, but they probably won't be effective against all 4 cities (because you won't have the supply lines, ie, other cities). The same production into Artillery would go a lot further. The attack should be fast and hard. Don't sprinkling a few bombs overhead before the fleet arrives thinking you'll soften them up. You'll more likely give them enough warning and info about your offenses to let them harden their defenses. Bombing a city after the ships are ashore isn't bad if it didn't take away from building the original stack.

(4) Expand all over. You need money, and that should be no problem once you're attacking cities. Expanding doesn't really get you much more. It doesn't hurt, but it's another distraction if you're trying to beat this scenario.