You know whats even better then a scout archer or scarcher? A Shoshone Pathfinder Composite bowman. I didn't even have archery researched yet, every other civ on my continent only had warriors. That early in the game there is nothing that can touch a comp bowman that ignores terrain. I completely changed my plans, built a couple more warriors and went on an early game rampage. That one unit, the uber bowman allowed me to conquer the whole continent before any civ even hit the Classical era.
Back to England on Archipelago. Beeline Compass, build some Galleass. There will still be plenty of barb camps all over on isolated islands connected by coastal hexes. Sink barb boats, back off let them spawn another weak ship, sink it, repeat. Basically two free promotions. By the time they get upgraded to Ships Of The Line, with the extra movement and promotions, they are very tough. Go to war and take out coastal cities (pretty much every city on Archipelago) easily. If the game actually goes long enough to promote to Battleship, no city is safe.
I don't see anyway to lose as England on Archipelago. You don't even need an army, just bombard cities to zero and walk in with an old warrior. But yes on Continents Longbowman are great.
