Best naval civ?

[nekom]

So I dusted off my copy of Civ IV and wanted to get a relatively easy game going as I am no doubt a bit rusty. I'm going with noble difficulty, and I'm going to try a tiny islands map. I always play marathon speed, huge map size. What civ, in your opinion, would be best suited for such a game to make it a bit easier? Any opinions would be appreciated. I have Warlords and BTS so expansion civs work just fine.

 

[TheMadFiddler]

Carthage [Hannibal]- More happiness [Char.], More money from the coast tiles which will be used on this map [Fin.] and more money from the UB which gives the extra trade route.

Note, this only applies if you do not play with mixed leaders/civs.

 

[elmurcis]

Dutch... Archipelago map king.. my favorite CIV/map type combo for fun games
CRE on this map type works great - you want that ocean fish fast... and you want to get to next island through "ocean bridge" (tile that you can cross only if inside your borders).
FIN + coast now make real benefit (vs non-FIN leaders its +50% boost.. for entire game), and there will be many crab/clam on this map
East Indiaman.. propably strongest unit vs other that time units in the game.. You can sink 4 of 5 galleons with no fear, can load 4 units (4 settlers for example and settle 4 islands ), and don't worry about enemy borders, because can cross directly without open borders..
Dike.. comes late and sometimes really is tooo expensive.. but on Archip map type you can get heavy production cities.. specially with Burea capital + Moai + Dike + Heroic Epic + Military Academy.. And after you finish dike... every city above some size 6-7 now can build what it need by itself
/but thats just me.. I love Archip map type where you never know how many Ai you will contact before Astro and how fast world actually is teching... /
experts will help more

 

[nekom]

Great suggestions, I've actually never played a mismatched civ/leader, maybe that's worth a shot for this one. Van Oranje has always been one of my favorites in the whole series. The age of sail is really only worth it (in my opinion) on marathon games, which is what I'll be playing, otherwise it seems to come and go before I even get a substantial navy going. I just hope I haven't lost my touch. Well, it wouldn't be my first loss if I did.

 

[CivNoobie]

I'd vote for mongolia


okay tbh, besides oranje, DArius can also be very good

 

[DMOC]

The above mentioned civs/leaders seem reasonable (except Mongolia) but the more important thing is to get The Great Lighthouse.

 

[MarigoldRan]

Ragnar's fun.

 

[Gwynnja]

The above mentioned civs/leaders seem reasonable (except Mongolia) but the more important thing is to get The Great Lighthouse.

And the best leader for TGL is Roosevelt: starts with fishing, cheap lighthouses from ORG, and cheap wonders from IND.

 

[Tall German Joe]

a rundown:

good "water map" traits:

• financial: bonus commerce from coast
• industrious: cheaper GLH and cheaper moai
• organized: cheap lighthouses
• expansive: cheap granarys
• creative: fast border pops in production-poor environment
• charasmatic: extra happiness in a whip-heavy and resource-poor environment

particularly standout 'water map' leaders:

• wvo: fin/cre, becomes completely insane in the rennaissance / modern era with his uber UB and strong UU
• joao: fast granaries, uber UU allows superfast expansion overseas expansion, strong UB
• roosevelt: cheapest GLH (costs only 164 total hammers instead of 260)
• mehmed: expansive/organized gets you the cheapest "fishing village", getting you the LH and Granary up with two easy 1-pop whips. his UB also particularly shines on water maps where resources tend to be scarcer.
• hannibal: fin is always powerful on water maps, but his UB is particularly amazing here in conjunction with GLH. imagine a lvl 4 city on a 1-tile island pulling in 20-25 commerce from trade routes alone in the early AD years. pretty goddamned good.

 

[Htadus]

Space: Will
War: Ragnar
Terra Map: Joao

 

[Fippy]

Ind leaders are very strong on islands, cos wonders and cheaper forges for your often tiny production help much here.
Because he rarely gets mentioned, i will name Bismarck again
This guy can make cities shine so fast, and support with wonders too..

 

[Robert FIN]

Space: Will
War and Fun: Ragnar
Terra Map: Joao

Agreed with this. Listen to Htadus!

 

[Iranon]

Top Civ: Aztec, despite their atrocious techs. Common situation on water maps: Insufficient production, no good way of using up a natural food surplus. Being able to whip harder solves both.

Top Traits: ORG > IND >= FIN. Cheap lighthouses on top of an already strong economic bonus is nice.

Top Leaders: Roosevelt of Aztec (unrestricted). Huayna Capac (restricted), by a smidegon: Mehmed is as solid as always, Willem is decent with a sizable boost later on, Joao isn't as reliably good but has potential to be awesome.

 

[PIC16F84A]

Viking's Ragnar for me is the best for a naval game.

 

[enKage]

Too few votes for Ragnar.

Insane UB and great UU for all water maps. Ragnar's navy + circumnavigate bonus = teleport to GLH and take it for yourself.

And as it was said - EXP/ORG are probably the best traits for this game (lighthouses, harbours, granaries, courts = colony expenses!), followed by IND/FIN sometimes vreative

Anyway - type of landmass is very important here. Small islands vs sneaky continents.