Well, we don't actually have to play with victory points to consider capitals victory points.
I dislike the idea of having my capital marked from turn 1.
We already did a game like this "BEER", where the required amount of capitals was 7, but they were not marked, instead every nation had to keep a personal account of everyone's control of capitals, and watch out so nobody steals the game.
It worked out pretty good.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showt...highlight=beer