Kadazzle
Emperor
Time for a little Spanish action, mon senior! (>.> French, Spanish?) Here I'll explain a little about the Spanish, what their bonus help for and what a good route would be to play as them as would be. I won't give you an exact guideline to follow, as adapting to situations would be perfectly up to you, but here's some tips that will help you achieve victory, while playing as the mighty Spanish!
Now, I'll explain a little about their bonuses, and what they are good for.
Starting: Begin with knowledge of Navigation.
Ancient: Doubled exploration cash.
Medieval: +1 Naval combat.
Industrial: +50% gold production.
Modern: +1 production from hills.
The Starting Bonus
The starting bonus for Spain is a big one! Starting with the knowledge of Navigation makes it so that:
a) You can utilize the whale resources.
b) You can build a Galleon while everyone else uses a Galley.
What does this mean? This means that you should always be the first to find most of the artifacts aswell as you can settle more islands cities, as they usually have whale nearby.
Generally you should always try to get all of the artifacts first, but some artifacts like the Ark of Covenent might be better if you wait untill you've expanded more to get this one.
Ancient Bonus
Exploration cash doubled baby! What does this mean? It means that once you find the gold filled El Dorado Hills, instead of getting a petty sum, you get double the gold! Normally in the beginning you get around 10-20 gold, but now you'll be getting 20-40 gold, which is very helpful early in the game to get yourself a free settler.
Medieval:
+1 Naval combat means that when attacking, you should always win
You can set up naval blockade around enemies' territories to stop their science, and if they come out of hiding, you can run over their water units, which is very helpful when you're trying to blockade an island, to stop their science and their ship production.
Industrial:
+50% gold production is often said to be one of the best traits, as gold essentially runs your civ. This means once your gold cities get started, and you just start building/finishing your banks, it means that you will be getting +50% more gold, which is very useful if you need to rush units quickly.
Modern:
+1 production from hills comes a tad late in the game, but makes hills a little more enjoyable to settle by. With a workshop, instead of generating 3 production, it produces 4 which is helpful if you want to get out units in 1 turn. (3 hill tiles = 9 production. 3 hill tiles with Spanish bonus = 12 production, meaning you can get your tanks out in 5 turns, instead of 6/7.)
What do I suggest you do? Like usual, build two warriors and send them off to explore. Try to get as many exploration tiles as possible, to get to the 100 gold quickly. Once you get your two warriors out keep production on 2 forests and start producing a Galleon. By the time you have your Galleon, you should have 100 gold to get a free settler, you have two choices.
1) You can settle mainland and use this city to help you somewhat in science, while mainly focusing on production of settlers.
2) Pop your settler on your Galleon and sail' her off to a far away island!
I'd normally put the settler on the Galleon and settler an island, but that's up to you. If you decide to take route one, settle near 2 grassland, 2 forest and atleast 2 waters tiles. Grow to 3 population, build a settler, rinse/repeat. If you take route two (Which I normally take) try to find an island with:
a) Lots of hills and water tiles!
b) Oak.
When I play I normally always find a 2 tile island with oak and a grassland on it. Settle on the grassland, and try to use the resources around you. You are almost guarenteed to have either whale or fish nearby, so use the whale or research bronze working as fast as possible to really get this city going. This city should be producing science for your civ.
Science route:
Bronze Working (If fish are needed for your island city) - Pottery - Masonry - Irrigation - Alphabet - Writing - Iron Working - Construction - Engineering - Code of Laws - Monarchy - Democracy - Invention - Steam Power.
Try to use a tech path somewhat like this, the beginning is good to get out archers to defend your newly expanding empire quickly, while getting the production bonuses that early in the game from Construction and Engineering will help you get those settlers and libraries done.
Keep using your capital to pop out settlers to settle mainland, while your island city should be producing only food/science production, use the 100+ gold you have to rush a Library in this city. If you only have 2 mainland cities, make sure your third city is an island city. Don't bother for defense on your island city, because it would require a Galleon or a Galley to defend it, so wait for Pikeman to defend it. Keep expanding by working forest/science tiles in all of your cities untill you have around 5 cities, or more if you still have room to expand. Try to get 2 archers in each of your outer cities, while keep your exploring warriors on choke points. Work on growth and science in all of your cities to try and get to Democracy as soon as possible. Try to make one of your last cities a gold city, as that helps. Switch to Democracy and tech quickly to:
Democracy - Invention - Steam Power - University - Metallurgy - Gunpower - Railroad - Combustion.
Get your tank armies out quick to conquer the world! It shouldn't take too long to reach Combustion, easily always before the 1700's. Afterwards research Communism as soon as possbile, switch and attack!
Good luck and have fun as playing as the mighty Spanish!
Now, I'll explain a little about their bonuses, and what they are good for.
Starting: Begin with knowledge of Navigation.
Ancient: Doubled exploration cash.
Medieval: +1 Naval combat.
Industrial: +50% gold production.
Modern: +1 production from hills.
The Starting Bonus
The starting bonus for Spain is a big one! Starting with the knowledge of Navigation makes it so that:
a) You can utilize the whale resources.
b) You can build a Galleon while everyone else uses a Galley.
What does this mean? This means that you should always be the first to find most of the artifacts aswell as you can settle more islands cities, as they usually have whale nearby.
Generally you should always try to get all of the artifacts first, but some artifacts like the Ark of Covenent might be better if you wait untill you've expanded more to get this one.
Ancient Bonus
Exploration cash doubled baby! What does this mean? It means that once you find the gold filled El Dorado Hills, instead of getting a petty sum, you get double the gold! Normally in the beginning you get around 10-20 gold, but now you'll be getting 20-40 gold, which is very helpful early in the game to get yourself a free settler.
Medieval:
+1 Naval combat means that when attacking, you should always win
You can set up naval blockade around enemies' territories to stop their science, and if they come out of hiding, you can run over their water units, which is very helpful when you're trying to blockade an island, to stop their science and their ship production.Industrial:
+50% gold production is often said to be one of the best traits, as gold essentially runs your civ. This means once your gold cities get started, and you just start building/finishing your banks, it means that you will be getting +50% more gold, which is very useful if you need to rush units quickly.
Modern:
+1 production from hills comes a tad late in the game, but makes hills a little more enjoyable to settle by. With a workshop, instead of generating 3 production, it produces 4 which is helpful if you want to get out units in 1 turn. (3 hill tiles = 9 production. 3 hill tiles with Spanish bonus = 12 production, meaning you can get your tanks out in 5 turns, instead of 6/7.)
What do I suggest you do? Like usual, build two warriors and send them off to explore. Try to get as many exploration tiles as possible, to get to the 100 gold quickly. Once you get your two warriors out keep production on 2 forests and start producing a Galleon. By the time you have your Galleon, you should have 100 gold to get a free settler, you have two choices.
1) You can settle mainland and use this city to help you somewhat in science, while mainly focusing on production of settlers.
2) Pop your settler on your Galleon and sail' her off to a far away island!
I'd normally put the settler on the Galleon and settler an island, but that's up to you. If you decide to take route one, settle near 2 grassland, 2 forest and atleast 2 waters tiles. Grow to 3 population, build a settler, rinse/repeat. If you take route two (Which I normally take) try to find an island with:
a) Lots of hills and water tiles!
b) Oak.
When I play I normally always find a 2 tile island with oak and a grassland on it. Settle on the grassland, and try to use the resources around you. You are almost guarenteed to have either whale or fish nearby, so use the whale or research bronze working as fast as possible to really get this city going. This city should be producing science for your civ.
Science route:
Bronze Working (If fish are needed for your island city) - Pottery - Masonry - Irrigation - Alphabet - Writing - Iron Working - Construction - Engineering - Code of Laws - Monarchy - Democracy - Invention - Steam Power.
Try to use a tech path somewhat like this, the beginning is good to get out archers to defend your newly expanding empire quickly, while getting the production bonuses that early in the game from Construction and Engineering will help you get those settlers and libraries done.
Keep using your capital to pop out settlers to settle mainland, while your island city should be producing only food/science production, use the 100+ gold you have to rush a Library in this city. If you only have 2 mainland cities, make sure your third city is an island city. Don't bother for defense on your island city, because it would require a Galleon or a Galley to defend it, so wait for Pikeman to defend it. Keep expanding by working forest/science tiles in all of your cities untill you have around 5 cities, or more if you still have room to expand. Try to get 2 archers in each of your outer cities, while keep your exploring warriors on choke points. Work on growth and science in all of your cities to try and get to Democracy as soon as possible. Try to make one of your last cities a gold city, as that helps. Switch to Democracy and tech quickly to:
Democracy - Invention - Steam Power - University - Metallurgy - Gunpower - Railroad - Combustion.
Get your tank armies out quick to conquer the world! It shouldn't take too long to reach Combustion, easily always before the 1700's. Afterwards research Communism as soon as possbile, switch and attack!
Good luck and have fun as playing as the mighty Spanish!
