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. Here will be listed some of the best strategies.
Win the game by year 1000 AD on King difficulty or higher
This is definitely one of the hardest in the game. Here is a tactic that sometimes works, but note that the position of everyone is everything. It can decide if you finish before 2000BC or even meet the target 1000AD. scenario: it's money that matters.
Civilization: Arabs (due to fundamentalism, they get +1 to attack which is helpful, but if you REALLY don't want to use this civilization, I recommend any other war based civilization or the Aztecs with instant healing, but I do recommend Arabs.)
Difficulty: king obviously, but some people find this a good way of getting the deity domination achievement, but I would recommend one or the other.
Turn 1: begin by converting your main city to produce as much science as possible. a good coastal town does save you a turn or two, considering you only have approx 49 turns to win. Immediately research horseback riding.
NOTE: every turn, you must use the mass of gold you have to immediately complete a warrior, until you get horseback riding. Then do the same with horsemen. Using the warriors you produce, send them out in random directions looking for other civs and barbarians but do not get noticed by these civs where possible (they don’t explore much) and do not attack the barbarians (you will see why later).
After a few turns you will have horseback riding. Now, keep rushing these until you have an army. Looking at where the other civs are and the barbarians, make this horsemen army attack barbarians to get it to at least elite status (6 battles) and produce another horsemen army at this time. Getting scouting and infiltration are helpful upgrades. if you can get them, try to. They will help.
Your next research should be towards mathematics. This means you will need to research the alphabet, pottery, writing,masonry and then mathematics. Mathematics will give you catapults. So once you get mathematics, start producing catapults instead of horsemen.
Head off to the first Civ and hopefully using a few (3 is good) horsemen armies, you will beat them. You will earn all their gold as well. Build a road, and then repeat for the next civ. if you can pick up any catapults now, it is helpful. Now attempt at the second civ, and you will have 3 capitals. When I did this, two were on the same continent as me and two were on island. If you are lucky, they will all be within close proximity of one another and if not (e.g. they are all on islands or you are on an island) id recommend restarting.
By building up lots and lots of catapults and horsemen, you should be able to annihilate any capitals.
- TIPS
- Spies are very useful for lowering defense of capitals, especially the last one. A spy ring is more hopeful, as it is less likely to be combated by another spy.
- Navigation may be useful to research after you have got mathematics, you won’t have time for the next major unit upgrade before 1000AD.
- You must complete the game BEFORE 1000AD, so you can't complete it on that day.
- Often, if you come in contact with the 3rd civ you are conquering, the likelihood is they will know the 4th. A good thing to do is accept their offer of peace and then see if you can arrange a meeting. There you go! You now know where the last civ is.
Remember, this will not always work. A good starting point is critical. Often if you can conquer the first civ, it will work. Remember to save after every conquer and you should do fine after a few tries. Good luck!
Alternate method
Another way that you can do this is with the German civilization. Rush Bronze Working and acquire three cities, each with a barracks. Each warrior and only warriors will automatically be elite. Give three different abilities and their abilities will transfer over to the army. After bronze working, research should be slowed from the two settlers built. Go for Iron Working next even if it takes a while. During the time between bronze and iron working, pump out as many warriors as you can. Because of the Germans' ability, when an elite unit is obsolete it becomes upgraded to the new tech, your warriors will not be wasted. After iron working, research Feudalism for the knights and work on conquering other civilizations. Two to three legion armies is enough to beat an archer army and on king mode the enemy should only have one. Even so, they might have single units. Use five to seven legions with a mix of infiltration and blitz before attacking a capital. Units with march should be used for farther civilizations or scouting. Once you have knights, these can be split up into smaller groups if you need to attack more than one civilization at a time to win by 1000 A.D.
Win a Domination Victory
There have been many suggested 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). The Aztecs are a good choice 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 a Market and a Bank.
- Scale-up an effectively unlimited manufacturing potential.
Once the cash flow 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Bombers. Great offensive power, but they probably won't be effective against all 4 cities (because you won't have the supply lines, i.e., 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.
- 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.
Techniques:
A technique that often works is using the Mongols on the beta centauri scenario. Because of their ability to capture barbarian villages and convert them, you will often have around 10 towns while your opponents still have one.
NOTE: Leave at least 1 barbarian village.
So, select deity on beta centauri and use the Mongols. You will begin with one modern infantry which you will leave in your base. Change your city to produce gold and then once you have completed your second modern infantry, send them out after barbarian camps. Every time you take one you will get a town with a new modern infantry. Send them out far and wide, but avoid contact with other people. By doing this you can accumulate many cities. The thing to do then is to ignore all other civs until your cities have grown a bit. Try and get temples, markets and granaries and in your most attacked cities by the remaining barbarians that are too far away or too close to enemies, make an army of modern infantry.
You will notice that once a unit has achieved 21 or 24 victories, it will have all the upgrades and as an army, is virtually invincible behind city walls. This means enemies cannot easily capture your cities. your cities will grow extremely slow, but if you can get a workshop/factory/iron mine, this will speed things up.
Your next objective is to produce an artillery or artillery army. Send this out by a barbarian village and hunt until you have upgraded it to have every upgrade. Then make it into an army (if you haven’t already).
Now is the time to begin conquest. Possibly producing a bomber army will help, but if you get one of your completely upgraded modern infantries and keep it with your upgraded artillery, you can wipe out any of the capitals. Normally two of them will be very easy, but the final two will have done what you did and strengthen themselves with the barbarians. Here is the time to build a barracks, try and find another barbarian village and repeat the process with the artillery until you have several. If there are none easily accessible, practice on enemy towns. Some of the towns will only have a defense of 50, which is quite easy to destroy. Get your experience up by doing these and then get all the capitals.
Note: remember to use naval support. try and get your ships near the battle to provide a large number of points which can sway the tide of battle. Spies are useful, but if the opposing team has a general in their town it can be near impossible to infiltrate. If you can get a general with one of your units, remember that they benefit every unit on the space. Use generals wisely.
Win a Technology victory on Deity difficulty
Techniques:
This is probably the easiest of the lot. You will need to go on lightning round and the civilization I used was the Japanese. Their ability to grow quickly is perfect for this. They also begin with ceremonial burial.
On your first turn, make it so you get extra science in your cities, but don’t run yourself out of production and food. Additionally, if you are the Japanese you will often start on islands with all coastal cities. If you don't, then I advise restarting.
Remember to always research the technologies that take less time first. Only use production when you are producing libraries (you wont really get chance to build universities) and possibly something that will benefit city growth, but apart from that make sure your cities are focused on science production.
Another tactic which may help is a tactic known as "paying it forward". If you build some settlers, take them to an island and settle them there. In this new city, rush some more settlers and repeat. you can end up with quite a few settlers, although I did this with only 4 cities which were the 3 I started with and 1 more. Just remember to research the quickest one.
Another helpful addition is finding artifacts. The school of confucious, seven cities of gold and atlantis are very helpful.
Finally, there are some technologies you may want to get first. Irrigation will bring you +1 population in each city if you get it first, which is very helpful. Adding to that is literacy, which will give you plus 1 science in each city. Have a look through the achievements and look which ones give you benefits to science or population.
Hopefully you can avoid wasting time building armies in your cities. If you can avoid other civs and you are on islands, you should have no problem and you can focus on building a library or something else that is useful.
Win a Cultural victory on Deity difficulty
Techniques:
The English, French, Greeks and Romans are all helpful. The best I find is the Romans on beta centauri. Convert to monarchy as soon as possible, and build a temple, cathedral, magna carta and courthouse. Now great people will be flooding in. Your new focus will be to build wonders, which because you are roman are half price, as well as lots of great people. The secret is to stay out of everyone's way and just build new cities every now and then and make cultural buildings.
Don't forget to make your city produce gold. it is a good idea to produce the wonders that are less than the magna carta in production cost, as these will not take long and dedicate your city to production. Make sure you start in a place with good production. If not, start over.
Once you have produced a lot of the cheap ones, get a workshop/iron mine/factory in any combination to get you as close (if not past) production 50. Now, wonders will be easy pickings. You will have approx 10 wonders, and then it is down to great people.
If you suffer from having too many of one kind of person, produce a new group of settlers and then settle the new great person there
NOTE: great people that you choose not to settle will not contribute to the 20 great items you require. Settle always!
Just keep producing towns when you need them and rush temples, cathedrals and courthouses in them (by now, you should be loaded). The others will be so far behind, it is unimaginable. The only thing you must watch for is them taking an economic victory. If you produce towns and make them produce culture though, this should be easy.
Win an Economic victory on Deity difficulty
Techniques:
The best way to do this is exactly as mentioned above. The continuous stream of great people have the chance of giving you 400 gold a time. Great builders will finish important structures. Great thinkers/artists when settled will give you more culture and quicker great people. Settling scientists is useful for building culture. Just follow the steps as before, but don't rush stuff so much.
A useful hint is to get the internet. If you get a great builder, use him to get the internet. This will double your economy.
After beginning, you will have switched to a monarchy, you will want to build in your capital a temple, market, cathedral and then bank. There is no problem with building a workshop or an iron mine to improve construction and then get buildings quicker. Before you begin on wonders, build settlers and then make a new city. Follow exactly the same process. Once you have built a courthouse, bank and cathedral make a new bunch of settlers in the new town and repeat. Remember to set them to gold. It should be easy if you are getting the odd 400 gold boost and your cities will thrive with people and wonders.
Unlock all famous persons
techniques:
- The first technique is as mentioned above. Play as the Greeks on beta centauri, switch immediately to monarchy and produce a temple, cathedral, magna carta and then buildings that improve growth. Once this is done, set it to pure gold and the town should have 0 production (this makes it quicker, as you are not being nagged every turn to make it build something). Now just wait as the people flood in. settle people wherever possible and if you can't, then use them for special effects. If you can't do that either, just leave them in your town. You will gain approximately 20 people per game, but this does not always get the ones you want. This technique is best if you still have quite a few to do.
A good thing to do is save the game right after you begin and when great people become scarce or not so often, reload at the beginning.
- The above technique is not suitable for the "secret bunch" of great people. This includes Gilgamesh, Cheops, Aesop, Sargon, Agamemnon, Nebuchadnezzar, etc. All the ones with early game techs (like horseback riding, pottery or ironworking) will not appear so easily with the first technique where all techs are researched. If you know the tech of the last one or two you need, the second method is highly advised. Start the "golden age" scenario as the English. It is VERY useful to have an island town, but not necessary. You will begin with monarchy and you should keep it with monarchy. Research the tech that is required for your person (for example, my problems were with gilgamesh, so I researched horseback riding first) if you research their tech, they become more likely to appear. Therefore if you only research their tech, they are quite likely to appear. Once you have researched their tech, research pottery, the alphabet, ceremonial burial and religion. Doing this will allow you to get temples and cathedrals. Build these in your starting town. Once you have these, switch to gold and wait for the people. This may take several tries, but it can be successful on the first try.
Note: do not research any other technologies unless you have to get to the tech related to your great person you need to find. To check which great person you need, go to the hall of glory in the main menu through extras. If you do not know which ones you are missing, search online for a list and find the ones you don't have. Although if you have several missing or their techs are later on, the first method is advised. Only use this one when there are one or two continuously slipping your grasp.
Conditional play/victory achievements
Win with only one city on at least King difficulty
This is quite simple. Most people misread this and believe that you must not have more than one city, but that is incorrect. You are simply not allowed to make a city using settlers. Therefore, the Mongols are useful for someone who likes using a lot of cities.
- Use the Mongols on king difficulty and then hunt barbarian villages. Whenever you get settlers, do not settle them as a new city, make them join an existing one. Then, once you have a few cities a non domination victory is quite simple on an easy difficulty. NOTE: you can still go for a domination victory, although it is seen as easier to go for a non domination victory.
- If you use the same method which is used in this walkthrough to win a cultural victory on deity, just go on a lower difficulty and don't make another city, that will work too. Going for a cultural victory on beta centauri with the Romans/Greeks is quite simple to achieve.
Win without changing governments on King difficulty or higher
This is self explanatory. Do not change from despotism. It has been said that it is impossible to get this achievement using a civilization that starts with a government other than despotism. Either way, start with a civilization that starts with despotism and keep it until the end.
Win 20 battles with one unit
go on king or higher and then go on beta centauri. Just sit back and watch the barbarians swarm your single modern infantry and lose every time... 20 battles seems a lot quicker.
Win as a ??? civilization
Choose the civilization and go lightning round. Research 24 techs and dedicate your towns entirely to science. This will be 30 to 40 minutes per game I’d say, which is pretty quick. Plus it requires minimal labor.
Develop a city to produce 200 culture per turn
Use the Greeks on beta centauri. Build a temple, cathedral, magna carta, and then build anything that will increase population growth. After a while, you will hit 200 culture. Don’t forget to change to monarchy. another way to do this (which is also very easy) is to produce a town with the Greeks and follow the same steps, but if you can't do it on beta centauri with monarchy on as well, then you can go on single player (no scenario) and do the same thing, researching the required technologies quickly and then build a Shakespeare theatre.
Develop a city to produce 200 resources per turn
The Americans are a favorite for this. Build a town in the midst of mountains and trees. Produce iron mines, workshops and factories. By now, you will be well on your way to 200. Switch to communism if you have to, and then just wait for the population to increase to tip you over the 200 marks. All of these combined will definitely get you the 200.
Producing 200 science/gold production
NOTE: I put these in the same category because the method is interchangeable. Build an island city. Make a library and university (or market and bank if you are going for the 200 gold), a courthouse and any wonders that improve trade. Then set it to maximize either gold or science, whichever you require. if you need to change governments, you can change to a government that provides extra science/gold production, but you should find it quite easy to do with just increasing population.