I spent a worryingly large amount of time playing this game during the 90's. Worryingly large! It just appealed to my turn-based strategy mind. Realistically, no two games ever turned out the same due to the random map generator and a host of customising options. That said, after more games than I care to remember, I did discover two sure-fire methods that would lead to victory, which I refer to as my "fry or buy" options.
The first is the sneaky "buy" approach. Build up trade with other nations, spread unrest and use spies to damage key facilities in the enemy cities that lead to an uprising. Then simply dip into your vast coffers and just buy the enemy city. Mostly bloodless, though the nation will not appreciate your "purchase". But by the time they get upset enough to do anything about it, you've assimilated most of their infrastructure and they aren't much of a threat.
The other "fry" option, as you might expect, involves nuking the opposition. Here, you move your army into position around the city (but not too close!) then glass it. Move the troops into the now undefended city and take over. Have plenty of settler units around to quickly clean up the radioactive fallout and there are no lasting effects.
Combine the two options allows you to rapidly take city after city and critically weaken the enemy. It's also useful to nuke rebellious cities in your own empire if required since nuking reduces the population and fewer people are automatically happier than more people. I've seen cities go from rebellion to happiness with a single nuke! All in all then, a great old game.
The first is the sneaky "buy" approach. Build up trade with other nations, spread unrest and use spies to damage key facilities in the enemy cities that lead to an uprising. Then simply dip into your vast coffers and just buy the enemy city. Mostly bloodless, though the nation will not appreciate your "purchase". But by the time they get upset enough to do anything about it, you've assimilated most of their infrastructure and they aren't much of a threat.
The other "fry" option, as you might expect, involves nuking the opposition. Here, you move your army into position around the city (but not too close!) then glass it. Move the troops into the now undefended city and take over. Have plenty of settler units around to quickly clean up the radioactive fallout and there are no lasting effects.
Combine the two options allows you to rapidly take city after city and critically weaken the enemy. It's also useful to nuke rebellious cities in your own empire if required since nuking reduces the population and fewer people are automatically happier than more people. I've seen cities go from rebellion to happiness with a single nuke! All in all then, a great old game.