Dutch Strategy

[AJ22PIZZA]

**NOTE** I only play in King mode because above that it takes too much effort to play and under it it takes too little effort to play. In my humble opinion.

There could be 3 victory types to go for as the Dutch. Science, domination, and diplomacy is in the middle of it. I will go with my favorite, Science.

Similar to (from what I've read) is most of this website, I prefer to build tall and go science. The Dutch are one of the best at that. Compared to the Inca (which is the most similar Civ to the Dutch, High food UI) the Dutch are much more flexible. If you have low amounts of Polders, you can still back it up with grassland farms (the Dutch have a Plains start bias, and grassland tiles aren't too far away). And also put The Hanging Gardens up on the top of your wonder list, with the exclusion of Petra if its possible to build. For religion Tithe (odd choice, I know), and economically and happiness wise just don't over expand, building the other 3 cities on the same turn. On turn 50. Hopefully you try this and it works smoothly.

 

[anthropophage]

A half dozen Sea Beggars built from a city with an armoury can deliver 12 strength 40 attacks (coastal raider 3 and logistics) to a coastal city. The Dutch can usually cap most coastal capitals during the renaissance.

 

[JonnasN]

The Dutch are curious to play as.

-Trading away your last resource tends to be better than it looks. 20 turns after you trade away your last Sugar, there's a city or city-state demanding Sugar, just gotta wait 10 more turns and you have it back. They wouldn't ask for Sugar if you still had some.

-The Dutch Sea Beggars are also immensely useful. As was mentioned, building them with an Armory gives them Logistics, on top of the Supply and Coastal Raider III. You can attack coastal cities, retreat and heal. A small fleet takes any city with a few attacks. And the best part is, they make a lot of money doing so. When playing as the Dutch, you can be losing 50 gold per turn, but it doesn't matter: you're making more than 200 with a single turn of Sea Beggar attacks!

-All of this considered, the Polders are just a sweet bonus (as you can't exactly rely on starting near swamps), even if a really good one. It can be tricky, securing spots with swamp/flood plains and Luxuries at the same time.

Definitely a more Diplomatic-oriented civ, but also quite versatile.

 

[tetley]

Now you've got me wanting to play Dutch.

 

[Uzael36]

-Trading away your last resource tends to be better than it looks. 20 turns after you trade away your last Sugar, there's a city or city-state demanding Sugar, just gotta wait 10 more turns and you have it back. They wouldn't ask for Sugar if you still had some.

I'd think that was a plus, rather than a minus. So often you are asked to get a resource you can't get, at least this increases the odds to get something you can within 10 turns.

 

[S.O.T MAHak]

-Trading away your last resource tends to be better than it looks. 20 turns after you trade away your last Sugar, there's a city or city-state demanding Sugar, just gotta wait 10 more turns and you have it back. They wouldn't ask for Sugar if you still had some.

This can also make your cities want your traded away resources for the next "We love the King day" so you just have to wait for the trade to expires, instead of buying them overpriced from grumpy AIs.

The bad thing about Polders is that if a another Civ settles a swampy area, that you had in mind for future settlement, you either have to to conquer it quick or say goodbye to Polders paradise forever.

I've even seen the Dutch AI clearing marshes before polders came online, I'm strongly in favor for not letting the Dutch be able to clear marshes at all, to prevent the AI from doing this.

In the end I would like the Polder to be changed so it can only be built on coast adjacent grassland, marshes or floodplains, a bit similar to the Polynesian Maui UI.

 

[JonnasN]

I'd think that was a plus, rather than a minus. So often you are asked to get a resource you can't get, at least this increases the odds to get something you can within 10 turns.

Oh yes, it is a plus, sorry for not making that clear!

As was said, it also applies for the "We Love the King Day"

I've even seen the Dutch AI clearing marshes before polders came online, I'm strongly in favor for not letting the Dutch be able to clear marshes at all, to prevent the AI from doing this.

While I see the point of making such a change, what if there's Sugar in marshes?

 

[S.O.T MAHak]

hhmm yeah, that might be a problem.