The new Lord of the Rings board game is zero-sum. All players are working together as a team to defeat the game itself. There is one score for the entire team based on how far you get through the game and how many victory points the team collected.
There is a competitive aspect in that you can try and get a higher score than you did in previous games. But the actual game is zero-sum between the players.
There are a few empire based games I can think of that don't require total world domination:
1) Civilization (board game) You need a certain number of victory points but from what I recall you don't come anywhere near dominating the world. Also, conquest is very expensive for both sides.
2) Vinci In this game you are again going for victory points. This is done by creating a number of different civilizations throughout the game. The key is knowing when to abandon your current civilization and start an entirely new one. The way each civilization gathers victory points is randomly determined. No one civilization can come anywhere close to taking over the world.
3) Tigris and Euphrates This one has conquest involved but winning is tied to victory points, not world domination. And more specifically your score is the LOWEST total of the 4 kinds of points. So your goal is actually to achieve balance in various types of points, which is often not directly related to territorial control.
Slashdot Mirror
The new Lord of the Rings board game is zero-sum. All players are working together as a team to defeat the game itself. There is one score for the entire team based on how far you get through the game and how many victory points the team collected.
There is a competitive aspect in that you can try and get a higher score than you did in previous games. But the actual game is zero-sum between the players.
It also happens to be quite fun.
punchdrunk
There are a few empire based games I can think of that don't require total world domination:
1) Civilization (board game) You need a certain number of victory points but from what I recall you don't come anywhere near dominating the world. Also, conquest is very expensive for both sides.
2) Vinci In this game you are again going for victory points. This is done by creating a number of different civilizations throughout the game. The key is knowing when to abandon your current civilization and start an entirely new one. The way each civilization gathers victory points is randomly determined. No one civilization can come anywhere close to taking over the world.
3) Tigris and Euphrates This one has conquest involved but winning is tied to victory points, not world domination. And more specifically your score is the LOWEST total of the 4 kinds of points. So your goal is actually to achieve balance in various types of points, which is often not directly related to territorial control.
These games are all still zero-sum.
punchdrunk