I've played Shogun and Medieval 2 Total War games, and in Shogun the victory conditions were several, and if I remember correctly, one dealt with conquering the entire world, the other dealt with surviving your faction for a set number of years, another dealt with destroying all other factions, and the last was some sort of mix-and-mash sort of deal, but you get the idea, it was varied. In Medieval 2, the victories are, #1 control set number of provinces and specific provinces and #2 is control set number provinces and destroy set factions. Blah Blah Blah. Always control here and destroy him, especially the current game.
What if there are different kinds of victory, and this thought was aroused by the ability to establish and control trade in India which seems to me like a new aspect, like a new goal in the game, not to mention slavery, technology, politics, industrialism, economy, revolutions, and so forth!
Below are the types of possible victory conditions:
~Destroy X Faction(s)
~Successfully overthrow X faction's leader through proxy and support
~Establish trade in X amount of settlements
~Produce X amount of money in X amount of time
~Capture X amount of settlements
~Train a Priest to become Pope
~Supply X faction with X amount of X item or soldiers
You get the idea, come on, brainstorm with me, the game is still in development, lets shove our ideas down the throats of CA/SEGA!!!
The AI factions should also get similar missions.