Colonies, one-man's-land and effective expansions

[Warlord Mike]

Hiya

I've tried to search for these, but my searchy-fu must be getting weak because I've come up dry. A beginner needs help, basically. I'll go ahead and ask now. First the two "real" questions:

1. Colonies
By colonies I mean building a galleon, showing in a settler or two and a warrior of some kind and setting off towards greener pastures ('nuther continent). However, in Fratcal and Continents maps (which I usually play) almost no matter how I beeline to the New World it's already 100% settled, maybe a little patch in the middle of a desert is free. With what kind of strategy or on what kind of map is colonization easier? I imagine Archipelago is one, but I'm not that water-happy.

2. Effective expansion
Basically, what's a good way of getting more than four cities early on without warmongering? I pretty much always run into my neighbours or get sidetracked (and thus eventually run into my neighbours) at four cities, and it seems that if I dedicate all four cities to expanding the empire I get ransacked by enemies (Barbarians or Shaka, usually) within a few turns. Any smart ideas to help me out? Playing Warlord difficulty here (yes, I do suck at the moment)

And then the more or less "dumb question":

One-Man's-Land
Basically, the idea is having a whole island/continent to your pretty little self. This has happened to the AI on a few occasions on Fractal, but not to me, so I imagine that the easiest way to go about this without reducing the amount of rivals dramatically would be to WorldBuilder-edit my settler onto a lone continent and edit any rivals out of it. Does this affect the game somehow? Eg. do I still get a normal Hall of Fame entry (normal being Ethelred the Unready...)? Also, has anyone done anything similar? What were your feelings on the matter?

All replies will be appreciated.

Regards, Mikey

 

[Joshua368]

1. Colonies
By colonies I mean building a galleon, showing in a settler or two and a warrior of some kind and setting off towards greener pastures ('nuther continent). However, in Fratcal and Continents maps (which I usually play) almost no matter how I beeline to the New World it's already 100% settled, maybe a little patch in the middle of a desert is free. With what kind of strategy or on what kind of map is colonization easier? I imagine Archipelago is one, but I'm not that water-happy.

In those maps the "New World" isn't some place open up to expansion, any island with an AI starting on it will get filled up by the AIs, just focus on your own lands.

Now sometimes there will be an island with no AIs locked away until Astronomy, or you can use the Terra map script which leaves an entire continent to barbarians. In this case, it's a race there between you and the AIs, and you'll want to be first to Astronomy to get there earlier. The best way to do this is probably take Astronomy off of Liberalism, which is fairly easy. Or play Joao II, who gets a unique unit which lets you transfer settlers at Optics.

2. Effective expansion
Basically, what's a good way of getting more than four cities early on without warmongering? I pretty much always run into my neighbours or get sidetracked (and thus eventually run into my neighbours) at four cities, and it seems that if I dedicate all four cities to expanding the empire I get ransacked by enemies (Barbarians or Shaka, usually) within a few turns. Any smart ideas to help me out? Playing Warlord difficulty here (yes, I do suck at the moment)

Settlers and workers, settlers and workers. Build them, chop them, whip them. (not non-stop though, make sure your cities can grow) Try to expand to 6 - 8 cities by 1 AD, unless the map is set to abnormal settings (extra AIs or something) there should be room to expand if you get out there early enough. The important thing is not to waste time with founding early religions or worthless wonders, keep your wonders to a small number and make sure they help you with whatever it is you want to do!

One-Man's-Land
Basically, the idea is having a whole island/continent to your pretty little self. This has happened to the AI on a few occasions on Fractal, but not to me, so I imagine that the easiest way to go about this without reducing the amount of rivals dramatically would be to WorldBuilder-edit my settler onto a lone continent and edit any rivals out of it. Does this affect the game somehow? Eg. do I still get a normal Hall of Fame entry (normal being Ethelred the Unready...)? Also, has anyone done anything similar? What were your feelings on the matter?

Those are called Isolated Starts and they are certainly an interesting variation to the game. You don't have to worry about defense or beating AIs to city spots, but lack of trading partners will usually make you fall behind in tech until you discover the other lands at Optics.

If you want more info on them, there's a whole series in the Strategy & Tips section on them.

 

[Warlord Mike]

Thanks a lot. I'll try that about the expansion and check the S&T section (makes me embarrassed that I didn't notice them earlier...)

EDIT: OK, I read the great "You, yourself and your shadow"-guide and got a grasp of what it's like. I'll play a few games and see what it's like. I'll probably remove Tech Trading so I don't handicap myself, what with those share-happy AI. I'll see how it pans out. Again, thanks a lot

 

[KingLoraxII]

One-Man's-Land
Basically, the idea is having a whole island/continent to your pretty little self. This has happened to the AI on a few occasions on Fractal, but not to me, so I imagine that the easiest way to go about this without reducing the amount of rivals dramatically would be to WorldBuilder-edit my settler onto a lone continent and edit any rivals out of it. Does this affect the game somehow? Eg. do I still get a normal Hall of Fame entry (normal being Ethelred the Unready...)? Also, has anyone done anything similar? What were your feelings on the matter?

All replies will be appreciated.

Regards, Mikey

You can choose "Custom Continents" and choose "1 per team" for ensuring an isolated start - there are a few options that can have you do that - if thats what you like.