Best civ for building naval units on islands?

[Khshayarsha]

I haven't tried playing on an archipelago yet, but it's obvious that if you start on a little island, you'd better build ships faster and better than anyone else if you're going to get anywhere.

So if Expansionist works best on a big Pangaea, which Civ is optimized for island play?

 

[Stenchilada]

The English, perhaps? As their UU is the only nautical specialty unit for a civ.

 

[JollyRoger]

With the English, you start with Alphabet and Pottery and are only two techs from map-making. This would give you the early jump in meeting civs and could allow you to be a potential tech broker while the other civs are still island-bound and can't meet each other.

Any commercial civ (that starts with Alphabet as a tech) is a good second choice, since pottery is usually a cheap tech to obtain. I might take the Romans as a second choice. The military trait gives faster promotions and the Legionary seems like a good unit for ancient-era island invasions (assuming you are lucky enough to have a source of Iron).

 

[andrewgprv]

English by far the best for Archapelago. They are only two techs away from mapmaking while other Civs are three of four away from mapmaking. And on an Archapelago First to get to mapmaking has a huge advantage, you can get a head start on the Great Lighthouse and your the first to have galleys. Also English has the only naval UU.