Bribing the world

[ramses II.]

In my last game (deity, 7 civs, raging, no restart, other Parameters medium) my Romans managed to erase the Persians and the Sioux about 2000 B.C. I had a good start - 10 techs. The first tech to research: Monarchy.
So we were 5 - Romans, Zulus, Spanish, Vikings and Carthaginans who struggled for reaching AC. I was (as usually) the most powerful nation on earth and built nearly all wonders (except Colossus, Copernicus and the Great Wall). My two wonder building cities, Veii and Rome, had 4 Specials each, among them coal and iron. On the "wings" of my empire (West: Little Big Horn, east: Persepolis) were size-4 cities producing tons of settlers. (Note: the continent had the shape of the greek Omega).
(Note: Perhaps I destroyed the key civ - Sioux?) So the research was very slow - and my swarming horses, chariots and elephants had found lots of techs - invention in 2500 B.C.!)
The Zulus, my direct neighbours in the east, sat on a midlle-sized continent next to mine. I bribed 3 of their cities, then the rest of their 10-cities-empire. Zimbabwe was taken by some dragoons.
The remaining civs were on a huge continent west of mine, and I managed to bribe about 50 (!) cities during the centuries. Only some cities (the capitals) were nuked and taken by my paratroopers. Madrid, a size 19-city, was poisoned to death until it had size 1, then it was destroyed by my artillerx.
Money wasn't the problem. Lots of my cities had airpots to send freights all over the world. Nearly all my cities celebrated "we love"-days (luxury rate 30-50%). In the last years of the game there was a global warming - my vet spies nuked a little bit too much ( ). But my empire grew.
I finished the game with a new personal record of about 500 % (yes, I am nuts ...), bribing the last remaining AI city on earth, Jorvik, in 2017.
So my final question:
How do you conquer the world? Do you produce tons of military units? Or do you prefer to bribe like me?

[Mr. President]

Lots of military units. I just find it more fun. I like sweping civilizations away with bombers and tanks, blockading their coasts with ships, and sending cruise missiles streaking over their terrified populace.

[Scouse Gits]

I prefer the early kill, Crooks & Clads (& Dips of course) -- in answer to your question I probably bribe 30% of the cities - my favourite is to take the capital and then bribe the now half price core cities - then the Crooks tidy up the rest...

SG[1]

[rah]

In all my years playing, I've probably bribed less than a handfull of cities. It's just too easy and takes most of the fun out of it. I consider it my gift handicap to the AI. (it needs all the help it can get)

RAH

[Marquis de Sodaq]

My world conquests (non-scenario or comparison games, anyway) almost always involve retaliating to punish the AI so many times that I end up conquering everything. I'll sack a few cities, offer peace, get sneak attacked, sack some more, etc etc etc. I prefer to focus on economy and science, and building all those bad guys hampers my caravan production. So I'll sack some more cities to vent.

I prefer to conquer with mighty bad guys - early ironclads are my favorite units. On land, I'll take whatever 2 move unit is available. Just a few barracks in high production cities is usually enough. For the rest, I like to earn my veteran status (that's my AI handicap) in the field. If terrain is rough, I don't mind crawling a musketeer and cannon force toward a new real estate acquisition.

Bribing is reserved for those tough nuts - the walled city on a rivered hill, for instance. I tend to invade with economy, those cities call for too many units for my liking. If I'm going to tear down the walls, I might as well just buy the damn place, anyway - then I have walls.

[War4ever]

i too rarely build vets agains the ai....i like the upgrade to veteran status through conquest

i don't bribe alot of cities...but i will bribe a couple after the capital has fallen....just to strengthen my foothold....


i like early conquest via knights, legions and puts...laying siege is alot of fun....later i add crooks, muskets, calvalry and iron clads.....

i also enjoy lettng a peacenik get huge (babs, egypt, chinese) and then after all the nasty boyz are dead, i break my alliance and wipe em out...

if my rep doesn't say despicable, i have not had a good game , nor has it been any fun.....besides, i always build the eiffel tower

[kmad]

If you were on deity with raging, and you conquered the world so fast, you would get much more than 500%

[geofelt]

I bribe everything I can. For capitols and democracies, I use cannon or artillery. My games rarely get to howitzers. My handicap to the ai is to stay spotless, and never destroy city walls.

[debeest]

Originally posted by kmad
If you were on deity with raging, and you conquered the world so fast, you would get much more than 500%

Fast? 2017!?

Actually, although the manual states that you get a bonus for early conquering, it's not true (at least not with 2.42). In fact, if you completely conquer, you don't get a score at all. If you allow one AI city to survive, what you get from early conquering is an opportunity to build your score for the rest of the game, without petty distractions. Like Shade has been doing. Not something most people would take on.

[ramses II.]

This discussion reminds me of a satiric joke I read in the seventies:
Why do the Vietnamese refuse to surrender? A group of German and Japanese bankers should convince them easily what it means to lose a war against the USA ...
Civ is like real life:
You can rule the world with superior technology or with superior economy.
I like dips and spies. I love bribing.
And, from the econmical point of view:
How many shields do you spend to take a size-19 city with city-walls an 8 defenders (riflemen, cavalry) in it?

[Ming]

Originally posted by ramses II.
And, from the econmical point of view:
How many shields do you spend to take a size-19 city with city-walls an 8 defenders (riflemen, cavalry) in it?

4 to 8 howies depending on whether you used a movement point to get there, and one other unit to actually take the city. Repeat process at next city

I agree with rah... (no surprise) Bribing just seems to be no fun. And I feel the same way about waiting till howies... too easy.

As war4ever suggests, it's more fun to take cities with whatever units you have available... whether vet crusaders... cats... legions... and whatever comes later.

Plus, the game ends a lot quicker

And another point. The bonus for conquering the world cuts off at a certain date. And I'm too lazy to look up what that year is

[La Fayette]

Frenchmen...and Ming can be named 'froggies'.

(and vet spies are so versatile that you don't need to allow them to bribe cities: peeping, stealing, poisoning, sabotaging and planting nukes are much more fun)