Archipelago Maps on Monarch?

[orgonebox]

All right, lately, for fun, I've been trying to play various archipelago maps as Hannibal on Monarch, size: huge, speed: epic. More often than not, it seems like a futile exercise: most civs get way ahead in tech, have more land, better resources, and declare war on me at the drop of a hat.

I've done better in some games than others. The most recent, though, was particularly frustrating. I had tokie and Whining Crapsac as neighbors; both declared war on me around 0 AD, attempted one invasion, and then persisted in raiding my workboats, so I couldn't get any seafood. I replied in kind; however, by the time I was able to mount a moderately successful invasion force, they both had longbows and were eight or nine techs ahead - I had just finished researching construction by 900ad. I gave it up - yeah, I could have sent axeman-numidian cav pairs over to raid, but what's the point when you're playing catch-up with only horses and a recently-discovered iron? Need I mention that I was ahead in score of one other civ, who was still six techs ahead?

Therefore, any strategic advice on Archipelago maps?

 

[InvisibleStalke]

Archipelago are generally easier than other maps - the AI can't fight at sea very well.

Key wonders - Great Lighthouse and Collosus. Get these two with Hannibal and you will be unstoppable. You can expand at will from that point on as you will generate so much coastal income you won't even need courthouses. Just settle a city anywhere you have a food special and always settle on the coast. You UB enhances trade so beeline to it as soon as possible.

You will need a navy to protect your fishing sites - and it pays to have spare workboats to recover from pillaging too.

 

[InvisibleStalke]

And forget horseback riding - it is of no use on this map. Much better to go for catapults. The nice thing about this map is that an invasion force of 4 galleys carrying six catapults and a couple of units to protect them, plus a couple of trimere's can take pretty much any city the AI has as it can't easily reinforce them. You on the other hand can concentrate your forces.

Land on a hill or forest, blast away the defense. Kill all defenders. Rinse, repeat.

 

[orgonebox]

Aye, the Great Lighthouse + Temple of Artemis seems obvious; the issue with the last game lay in that I got beat to the Great Lighthouse, barely got the pyramid, and then watched as the colossus, ToA, Parth, etc. got built in rapid succession. Then war was declared on me and I had barely begun to go for iron working. As it was, I had to rapidly build a number of settlers to avoid my little island being settled.

 

[DrewBledsoe]

Good advice from Stalker...a few points from me if you will...

I always play Monarch/ Huge maps/ all random often get arch type. My main point is don't ever give up just because you're a handfull of techs behind. Current game its 1630 AD(Im Celts), and I'm still about 7 techs behind the leaders. BUT I know that eventually I will catch up. The game is all about land. Given that all land (on average) is equal, then the more land you have, the more science you can generate. And after a good percentage of your cities have banks, then the no of cities penalty starts to fade into insignificance.

Back to the current game example, I've just been invaded by the Vikings who shock me by suddenly punting two 20+ each stacks of Cavalry and trebs on my border. I don't have Cavalry, but I've beelined for Rifles, which I've just got, and by selling my map, all techs to the lower rung civs, I manage to generate 6230 gold in one turn(marathon speed btw). Which is quite a shock for the Vikings when they are suddenly greeted by a mass of upgraded vet rifles instead of muskets.

And because I've around 27 cities at this time, even though the max science I can run and break even is barely 60%, at 0% for a few turns I can make over 1250 gold per turn, so when those stacks are gone, the rifle upgrades will pour into Vikingland and have a field day against the Viking muskets, which I know is their best defender.

My point is grow as large as you can, as quick as you can, while making sure you have a least one current military tech. 20% science might not sound much in the late middle ages, but if thats from 20+ cities, then thats generally quite a lot, plus the fact that you can make far more military than most nations. If you're base half dozen cities have excellent land, then you can get away with staying small being smart and outeching the AI, but the higher in lvl you go, then the more land you generaly need.

Sorry for this ramble, but when you said you were giving up because you were behind by 6 techs in 900AD it got me going. I think I was once 15 techs behind in 1250AD and the tech leader in 1700AD, land is all, get it by hook or by crook, then you will almost always catch up in tech

 

[acidsatyr]

archipelago is harder than other maps