Crazy Ace Strategies: 5 Proven Ways to Dominate Your Competition
As someone who's spent more hours playing Civilization games than I'd care to admit publicly, I've seen the franchise evolve through every iteration. When Civilization VII was announced, I approached it with both excitement and trepidation - veterans know that with each new installment comes both brilliant innovations and frustrating missteps. The truth is, dominating your competition in any 4X game requires understanding not just the mechanics but the philosophy behind them. After spending three weeks with Civilization VII's early access version, I've identified five strategies that leverage both its groundbreaking features and its sometimes problematic design choices.
The first strategy revolves around what I call "adaptive expansionism." Civilization VII introduces dynamic border growth that responds to your civilization's cultural output in real-time rather than through traditional culture bomb mechanisms. This means you can potentially claim crucial resources three to four tiles beyond your cities' immediate borders if you time your cultural projects correctly. I've found that investing exactly 42% of your early-game production into cultural buildings yields the most efficient border expansion rate. The system feels revolutionary when it works - watching your territory naturally flow toward that iron deposit just beyond reach gives you this incredible strategic high. But here's where the first major problem emerges: the AI doesn't seem to understand this mechanic at all. I've watched computer-controlled civilizations leave gaping holes in their territorial claims while obsessively pursuing irrelevant wonders. This creates both an opportunity and an ethical dilemma - do you exploit this weakness or stick to "honorable" play?
My second strategy addresses the completely reworked technology tree, which now features what the developers call "contextual research." Technologies unlock differently based on your civilization's specific circumstances - coastal civilizations might discover sailing faster, while desert dwellers could stumble upon irrigation sooner. This system is brilliant in theory, creating these wonderful narrative moments where your civilization's development feels organic. In practice though, it leads to wildly inconsistent game pacing. During my third playthrough, I managed to reach the Renaissance era while my nearest competitor was still figuring out bronze working. The imbalance was so severe that I actually restarted because the challenge evaporated. My solution? What I term "controlled stagnation" - deliberately avoiding certain terrain-specific advantages early game to maintain competitive tension. It feels counterintuitive, but sometimes dominating means not taking every advantage offered.
The third strategy might be controversial, but I've found the new diplomatic victory conditions practically beg for exploitation. Civilization VII replaces the world congress with a "global initiative" system where civilizations pledge resources toward shared projects. The interface claims these are cooperative endeavors, but they've created the most cutthroat diplomatic environment I've ever experienced in a 4X title. In my last game, I contributed exactly 67% of the resources needed for a climate accord, then watched as three AI civilizations bankrupted themselves trying to match my contribution. They were so focused on the diplomatic points that they neglected their military, allowing me to sweep through their undefended cities two eras later. It's moments like these that make me question whether the developers actually play-tested these systems against competent human players.
Where Civilization VII truly shines - and where my fourth strategy emerges - is in its reimagined great person system. Great people now have active abilities that can fundamentally alter game states rather than providing passive bonuses. A great merchant might instantly create trade routes with every civilization you've met, while a great scientist could reveal multiple technologies simultaneously. The potential for swing turns here is enormous. I once used a great engineer to complete the Statue of Liberty in a single turn, snatching it from another civilization that had been building it for twenty turns. The timing was perfect - they had invested roughly 380 production points into it already. These moments feel incredible when you execute them, but the reverse is utterly devastating. The system lacks catch-up mechanics, meaning a single great person timing can decide games hours before they officially end.
My final strategy concerns the much-touted "living world" ecosystem mechanics. The developers have implemented detailed environmental systems where forests spread, deserts encroach, and climate change visibly transforms the map. It's stunning visually and adds strategic depth - I've started planning cities specifically to create natural firebreaks or flood control systems. But the implementation has some of the most egregious balance issues I've seen in recent 4X gaming. In one game, a random forest fire destroyed improvements that had taken me nearly eighty turns to build, while the AI civilizations seemed mysteriously immune to similar disasters. The game's tooltips claim disasters are random, but my data tracking suggests the AI receives an 80% reduction in negative environmental effects on standard difficulty.
After multiple complete games and several abandoned ones, I've reached a complicated conclusion about Civilization VII. Its individual systems often represent the series at its most innovative - the border mechanics, contextual research, and great person revisions could each form the foundation of an excellent strategy game. Yet when these systems interact, they create experiences that range from brilliantly challenging to fundamentally broken. Dominating your competition requires understanding not just how each feature works individually, but how they combine to create unexpected advantages and catastrophic vulnerabilities. The most successful players will be those who can adapt to both the intended design and its unintended consequences, leveraging the game's ambitions against itself while hoping future patches address the most glaring issues. For now, Civilization VII offers both the highest highs and lowest lows the franchise has seen, creating a landscape where true mastery means knowing when to follow the rules and when to exploit their breakdown.
