SultanRedSnake
Warlord
This was my 5th try at the Dutch on monarch, and after rolling a lucky start and adjusting my strategy I was able to pull off an early victory.
First, starting situation: All of Europe is Catholic, with England discovering Printing Press on the next turn and being left alone to embrace Protestantism. Montezuma (vassal of Spain) traded me two slaves for Feudalism after a few turns, and Peru (vassal of Portugal) traded me one slave for the same tech. I sent my three settles to found Adriaanz Fort for 2 spices (slave plantations), Van Dyke in the West Indies for another (build a fort), and Madagascar (third slave). On the way around the Cape of Good Hope I met an alive-and-kicking Abbasid Caliphate (score leader) and traded for Liberalism.
With the first goal in mind, I switched to Scholastism and Republic and kept Amsterdam running 4 merchants and 1 engineer. First merchant bulbed Economics, settle the other three. NOTE: While its possible to run more specialists in Amsterdam, be reminded that a single failure to pop a GM will probably cost you the first goal, so play it safe, cap your growth and either work extra tiles or run citizens for a few hammers.
Next stroke of good luck: the HRE collapsed and granted me a Horse tile plus a town in Denmark, which shaved many turns off building the East India Company, which was began as soon as Economics completed.
In the meantime, a meeting with Iran (vassal of Russia) allowed for trade for a Fish for Spice (you don't need the extra health), van Dyke produced a settler that was sent toward Ceylon with an additional slave and worker in tow, and most of my military units were shipped from Amsterdam to Adriaanz for a coming showdown with the Portuguese, who had one colony a few tiles to the north and another to the south (Recife).
With 6 Muskets and 2 Bombards in Adriaanz, I seized the opportunity to DOW Portugal, razed the northern city (worthless) and held onto Recife. An Apostolic vote ended the war.
After settling Ceylon and building a slave plantation, I had 6 spice resources before the Trading Company was complete. I opted to buy the cities from Indonesia but, being a vassal of Arabia, they refused. Instead of a futile assault against Palambang, I shipped the units using East Indiamen I had waiting in Ceylon and took an undefended Makassar and a lightly defended Jakarta, for a total of 8 spices by the 1720s. About this time I settled my third GM in Amsterdam.
Golden Age! The AP-enforced truce with Portugal expired, my always-wandering caravels spoted two poorly defended cities in North Africa, troops landed and victory was won.
Luck isn't crucial to a Dutch victory, but it sure helped.
EDIT: After playing the Dutch numerous times in original RFC and the many versions of DOC, a few general rules for 1.10 became apparent. #1) Tech: For the UHV you need Economics for the Trading Company and Liberalism for Republic (which combines with Scholasticism). Economics you'll have to combo research and bulb, Liberalism has to be traded for to make the civic switch in time. #2) Production: That is, you won't have any, so don't bother with extra buildings or units. You can only reasonably produce settlers and workers, and of these you only need a few. Only Amsterdam has any production capacity and most of that will be going toward the Trading Company, though you'll want to slip in an extra East Indiaman or two. In previous versions, South Africa could be settled as a secondary production city, but the late start in 1.10 simply doesn't allow it. #3) Conquest: This is the one UHV that depends on luck, namely whether the Portuguese acquire enough colonies for the player to reach in time. I've seen situations in which the English and Spanish offer tempting targets, but their naval superiority (usually they discover Military Science) will make your other operations rather difficult if not impossible. French colonies are out of the question. #4) Civics: If you can get Liberalism early, the double switch to Scholasticism/Republic will guarantee the first UHV since you can run only merchants. If you can't, you'll have to roll the dice by running more specialists to increase GP points. If any but a GM pops, you lose.
First, starting situation: All of Europe is Catholic, with England discovering Printing Press on the next turn and being left alone to embrace Protestantism. Montezuma (vassal of Spain) traded me two slaves for Feudalism after a few turns, and Peru (vassal of Portugal) traded me one slave for the same tech. I sent my three settles to found Adriaanz Fort for 2 spices (slave plantations), Van Dyke in the West Indies for another (build a fort), and Madagascar (third slave). On the way around the Cape of Good Hope I met an alive-and-kicking Abbasid Caliphate (score leader) and traded for Liberalism.
With the first goal in mind, I switched to Scholastism and Republic and kept Amsterdam running 4 merchants and 1 engineer. First merchant bulbed Economics, settle the other three. NOTE: While its possible to run more specialists in Amsterdam, be reminded that a single failure to pop a GM will probably cost you the first goal, so play it safe, cap your growth and either work extra tiles or run citizens for a few hammers.
Next stroke of good luck: the HRE collapsed and granted me a Horse tile plus a town in Denmark, which shaved many turns off building the East India Company, which was began as soon as Economics completed.
In the meantime, a meeting with Iran (vassal of Russia) allowed for trade for a Fish for Spice (you don't need the extra health), van Dyke produced a settler that was sent toward Ceylon with an additional slave and worker in tow, and most of my military units were shipped from Amsterdam to Adriaanz for a coming showdown with the Portuguese, who had one colony a few tiles to the north and another to the south (Recife).
With 6 Muskets and 2 Bombards in Adriaanz, I seized the opportunity to DOW Portugal, razed the northern city (worthless) and held onto Recife. An Apostolic vote ended the war.
After settling Ceylon and building a slave plantation, I had 6 spice resources before the Trading Company was complete. I opted to buy the cities from Indonesia but, being a vassal of Arabia, they refused. Instead of a futile assault against Palambang, I shipped the units using East Indiamen I had waiting in Ceylon and took an undefended Makassar and a lightly defended Jakarta, for a total of 8 spices by the 1720s. About this time I settled my third GM in Amsterdam.
Golden Age! The AP-enforced truce with Portugal expired, my always-wandering caravels spoted two poorly defended cities in North Africa, troops landed and victory was won.
Luck isn't crucial to a Dutch victory, but it sure helped.
EDIT: After playing the Dutch numerous times in original RFC and the many versions of DOC, a few general rules for 1.10 became apparent. #1) Tech: For the UHV you need Economics for the Trading Company and Liberalism for Republic (which combines with Scholasticism). Economics you'll have to combo research and bulb, Liberalism has to be traded for to make the civic switch in time. #2) Production: That is, you won't have any, so don't bother with extra buildings or units. You can only reasonably produce settlers and workers, and of these you only need a few. Only Amsterdam has any production capacity and most of that will be going toward the Trading Company, though you'll want to slip in an extra East Indiaman or two. In previous versions, South Africa could be settled as a secondary production city, but the late start in 1.10 simply doesn't allow it. #3) Conquest: This is the one UHV that depends on luck, namely whether the Portuguese acquire enough colonies for the player to reach in time. I've seen situations in which the English and Spanish offer tempting targets, but their naval superiority (usually they discover Military Science) will make your other operations rather difficult if not impossible. French colonies are out of the question. #4) Civics: If you can get Liberalism early, the double switch to Scholasticism/Republic will guarantee the first UHV since you can run only merchants. If you can't, you'll have to roll the dice by running more specialists to increase GP points. If any but a GM pops, you lose.