The G&K update really improved England tremendously. Not only do longbowmen become ranged Gatling guns and machine guns of doom (I've taken out Battleships with a couple machine guns), but a concentrated navy can now absolutely tear up your competition.
Playing an archipelago map, England was already an obvious powerhouse. I lost the race to the Great Lighthouse, but after invading Stockholm with SotLs and Privateers I gained possession of its effects.
When I saw that Egypt was heading for a cultural victory soon with 24 social policies already, I regrouped my navy, brought some infantry, and simply sliced through their cities like butter. I was able to take Cairo, then largest city in the game, prior to even landing any troops. Newly upgraded ironclads and SotLs hit it from every side at once.
Egypt was a somewhat backward civ though, so my tech advantage really made the take over easy. But had I commanded any other civ with the same tech advantage, I know the war wouldn't have been nearly as easily fought.
My last main competitor and ex-Ally was Greece. They were always ahead of me scientifically and monetarily. In fact, on our huge map, Alexander was the only opposing superpower. It felt very much like the cold war, with Chairwoman Lizzy trying to use her extra spy to steal as much tech as she could from the Greeks, and the Greeks beating us to the Apollo Program. It got to the point where the Greeks were close to victory even. My spies told me they were building all the SS components when I went into a panic and started beelining for fusion power. I had to reorganize my navy though, which had to literally travel the world because they were on the wrong side of a continent with no way to get around it without open borders. But I've been warmongering, so most civs wouldn't even discuss it.
I built three A-bombs by the time my navy reached London again, and I stole the Greek techs for the nuclear subs & missiles in time to purchase them. Greece had just completed half of the SS when I launched my nuclear strike at their heart. Athens fell from a population of 27 to 4, and the rest of their cities were halved and irradiated. While nukes are devastating for every civ, they're exceptionally dangerous when my subs have 10 movement, my battleships have 8 and my destroyer can simply slip in and take over Athens.
Make no mistake, England is a warmongerer. Build that navy and dominate the seas. Destroy the cities in your path, heal your navy in your new colony, rinse and repeat.
Elizabeth
