Unus Mundus; Unum Imperii

Finally managed to get a Conquest victory in Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword. The key is you have to disable all other possible victories.

Chieftain difficulty, Tectonics map, Ancient start, Epic speed. Here's the starting map:



I'm the purple dot at top left. Augustus Caesar of Rome. My victims fellow leaders are were:

• Ramses II of Egypt. (yellow) Civilization destroyed in 3775 BCE. My initial Warrior found his border after only about six turns. I gambled that his Warrior was out scouting, and attacked. I razed Thebes and left the ruins as a warning to others. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!


• Mansa Musa of the Malinese. (light brown) I quickly expanded east to hem Mansa Musa in. He's dangerous if allowed to expand. I waited until I had access to Iron, built a good sized army of Praetorians, and rolled in on his three cities. Finished the job in 595 CE.


• Huayna Capac of the Incans. (yellow-orange) He annoyed me and was sitting on resources I needed. Plus I had this big, well-trained army just sitting there? Last city falls under the heels of my Macemen in 1150 CE.

At this point I took a breather, both the rebuild my forces and let my War Weariness drop. Also took the chance to work on all those non-military projects I had been neglecting. Built a ton of forums, temples, libraries, and courthouses. But then it was time for a grudge match:

• Justinian of Byzantium. (gray) Look, bub, there's only room for one Roman Empire on this planet, and it's not going to be you, got it? My investments in research were paying off, for I had Riflemen and was close to getting cannon while most of my rivals were still in the swords and bows era.. The only surprise was that before I finally took his final few cities, Justinian went crying to the Ethiopians for help. Two front war? No problem! Dispatched the last Byzantine in 1605 CE.


• Zara Yaqob of the Ethiopian Empire (green) went down with a whimper. I had destroyed what amounted to about 2/3rds of the combat power in a single battle when my army moving south from Constantinople ran into his invading force. After that it was just a matter of taking the cities one by one, while my Cavalry harassed and captured Workers and destroyed resources points. Ceased to be a problem in 1720 CE.


• Which left Boudica of the Celtic Empire. (tan) Again, I held back until I could upgrade my force to Infantry, Artillery, and the first few Tanks. Also took time to colonize that minor continent and collection of islands to the right of the map. When the hammer fell, it was a three pronged invasion. She had no real defense, and my Bellumfulgur attack quickly ended all resistance.

As of 1856 CE ( 2509 AUC) the world is Roman! Rejoice!

( I also finally got to see this victory video )