I really like England, they are great for any win (especially when you conquer most the world). I think more people should try them out, and I suspect they will really like them. Here's why:
They start the game with Monarchy, which is key for three reasons:
1) The most obvious benefit, is the extra culture, which means you get great people faster (and you generally get the first great person in the game).
2) Feudalism is an all important tech if you plan to conquer the AI. And Feudalism only has 2 prerequisites, Horseback riding (which is easy to discover) and Monarchy (which you start the game with). So all you need to do for Knights is research 2 techs. I'd recommend getting Alphabet to build libraries first before you bee line for Feudalism.
Or if your extremely lucky, it's possible that the great person you receive early on (from note 1 above) is a great scientist. Excellent! Research horseback riding, then start on feudalism, and have the scientist automatically research it for you.
Even without a great scientist, if you go Alphabet -> Horseback Riding - > Feudalism you'll get powerful Knights when the AI still only has archers (and not many archers at this point, either.)
3) Monarchy provides you with the ability to build the Samurai Castle wonder from the very beginning. I'd recommend that while your researching Feudalism you build this wonder. It will add +1 to your attack. Which means that not only will you get knights very early, they will have attack strength of 5.
And again, if you get lucky and get a great builder you can quick-build this wonder. The bonuses of this wonder will last a long time when you get it this early.
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Monarchy is an excellent bonus to start the game, but that's not the only reason why the English are great at domination. The era bonuses they receive are good for this victory as well.
Ancient - Longbow archer defense increases by 1, to make 3.
So this means that if you do get picked on early, you NEVER have to give into the computer, because the computer will have to send an awful lot of legions to kill your archers. Your archers will provide defense for a long time.
Medieval - Naval attack increases by one.
This is useful to give your galleys / galleons an early edge in combat, and becomes really useful in the modern era.
Industrial - Hills receive +1 production.
This is great for the extra production. It might not seem like much, but if you build a production city surrounded by a couple hills, it will factor in. Any extra production is great to pump out important wonders, and military units.
Modern - Naval support is doubled.
This is great for taking over opponents in the late stages of the game, especially if they are on another island. Your naval ships already have extra attack, so you have an easier time controlling the sea's. Factor in the doubled naval support and you'll steamroll the opponent.
Usually for me the navy bonuses don't seem to kick in until later in the game when I've already won. I generally conquer most, if not all, of my continent, which means with that many cities I can go for any win I want.
I know a lot of people say domination is easy and or lazy, but its always fun (and sometimes frustrating). Plus if you really are striving for another kind of victory, domination is useful to take out an opposing civ that is causing you headaches. All you have to do is specialize your numerous cities to the victory you want (science for tech victory, production and culture for cultural victory, and gold for economic victory).
-- Below is a recount of my recent victory on emperor as the English. It makes this post a long read, so don't feel obligated to do so
I tried the English the very first time I played Revolution, and I won on king. I conquered the world to the point where I could do any victory I wanted, easily.
So after beating king on all victory types I moved to emperor, where I played my first game as the English. I think that game went better than my victory on king.
I teched Alphabet -> HBR - > Feudalism. The great person I received early was a Great Leader, which is nice for rushing with Knights, because my knight armies received an automatic promotion.
I also got spies from huts which I put on my galleys and stole great people from the AI (I also explain using this strategy more in depth in the short tips/tricks thread). I used one of the great people to quick build the Samurai Wonder for extra attack on my knights.
Also, I declared war on the nearest civ (Egyptians, who were actually far away considering how small the maps are) with 2 knight armies. This early on she only had 2 archer armies in her capital. I used one of my spies to steal the great artist from Egypt's capital, Thebes, and put him on my galley. Next turn I took their capital with my knights, and on the following turn I used that same great artist to convert their 2nd city (and only other city). I eliminated them using culture, which was a first for me. I continued with knights to eliminate the Spanish nearly as quickly as I eliminated the Egyptians. When I started war on the Spanish I only used 3 knight armies. Next were the Romans on the north part of my continent.
By this time my knights were starting to get out-dated, and the Romans had the best economy, and riflemen (not sure how they got them so fast, that or I just wasn't used to seeing them by this point). I still attacked with knights, cause they were so heavily promoted, and I took a choke point city that split their empire in two. Then I teched like mad for tanks and was 2 turns from Leo's workshop. I'm not sure if knights upgrade to tanks (haven't looked into it). Also, in my cities I had set up 2 archers and 1 pike man (defense wasn't too important when I was fighting in distant lands with strong armies). Leo's would have made it 3 rifleman for an army, which is what I was going for. But guess who got Leo's workshop 1 turn before me? The Romans. Oh well, guess now they have loads of riflemen. What to do with all that production going into Leo's? Well, I built tanks. In fact, I built 6 Tanks in one turn cause of all the extra production. The Romans had 5 cities left, and I took them all in 4 turns (1 city by cultural flip, without using a great artist). So in retrospect, maybe those extra tank armies were really helpful
At that point I had so many cities, some already were specialized, and I could win anyway I wanted. Romans still had some island cities but were no longer a threat, and the Arabs were so far behind in technology it was a joke (The capitals I took over were all geared for science, and I had London and another city specialized for science, so I caught up and surpassed the AI fast in tech). I decided to have fun and nuke them anyways, and I attacked from my battleships to take their capital (I didn't think you can amphibious assault, but you can, at a penalty of 1/2 of your attack strength, but whats that matter if you just nuked the city) After I took their capital they asked for peace, which I gave them. I now controlled all 5 capitals, and was at peace with the two remaining civ's. Getting peace after you take all capitals is an easy way to ensure you get the domination victory.
Anyways, if you read my story on my emperor victory, hopefully you picked up a thing or two (and yes I was lucky to get spies and the great leader, but how I used them is what made my victory easier). Or hopefully you have advice for me! I am always trying to learn new things in Civ (both for BTS and Rev, but lately it's all about Rev
).
They start the game with Monarchy, which is key for three reasons:
1) The most obvious benefit, is the extra culture, which means you get great people faster (and you generally get the first great person in the game).
2) Feudalism is an all important tech if you plan to conquer the AI. And Feudalism only has 2 prerequisites, Horseback riding (which is easy to discover) and Monarchy (which you start the game with). So all you need to do for Knights is research 2 techs. I'd recommend getting Alphabet to build libraries first before you bee line for Feudalism.
Or if your extremely lucky, it's possible that the great person you receive early on (from note 1 above) is a great scientist. Excellent! Research horseback riding, then start on feudalism, and have the scientist automatically research it for you.
Even without a great scientist, if you go Alphabet -> Horseback Riding - > Feudalism you'll get powerful Knights when the AI still only has archers (and not many archers at this point, either.)
3) Monarchy provides you with the ability to build the Samurai Castle wonder from the very beginning. I'd recommend that while your researching Feudalism you build this wonder. It will add +1 to your attack. Which means that not only will you get knights very early, they will have attack strength of 5.
And again, if you get lucky and get a great builder you can quick-build this wonder. The bonuses of this wonder will last a long time when you get it this early.
--
Monarchy is an excellent bonus to start the game, but that's not the only reason why the English are great at domination. The era bonuses they receive are good for this victory as well.
Ancient - Longbow archer defense increases by 1, to make 3.
So this means that if you do get picked on early, you NEVER have to give into the computer, because the computer will have to send an awful lot of legions to kill your archers. Your archers will provide defense for a long time.
Medieval - Naval attack increases by one.
This is useful to give your galleys / galleons an early edge in combat, and becomes really useful in the modern era.
Industrial - Hills receive +1 production.
This is great for the extra production. It might not seem like much, but if you build a production city surrounded by a couple hills, it will factor in. Any extra production is great to pump out important wonders, and military units.
Modern - Naval support is doubled.
This is great for taking over opponents in the late stages of the game, especially if they are on another island. Your naval ships already have extra attack, so you have an easier time controlling the sea's. Factor in the doubled naval support and you'll steamroll the opponent.
Usually for me the navy bonuses don't seem to kick in until later in the game when I've already won. I generally conquer most, if not all, of my continent, which means with that many cities I can go for any win I want.
I know a lot of people say domination is easy and or lazy, but its always fun (and sometimes frustrating). Plus if you really are striving for another kind of victory, domination is useful to take out an opposing civ that is causing you headaches. All you have to do is specialize your numerous cities to the victory you want (science for tech victory, production and culture for cultural victory, and gold for economic victory).
-- Below is a recount of my recent victory on emperor as the English. It makes this post a long read, so don't feel obligated to do so
I tried the English the very first time I played Revolution, and I won on king. I conquered the world to the point where I could do any victory I wanted, easily.
So after beating king on all victory types I moved to emperor, where I played my first game as the English. I think that game went better than my victory on king.
I teched Alphabet -> HBR - > Feudalism. The great person I received early was a Great Leader, which is nice for rushing with Knights, because my knight armies received an automatic promotion.
I also got spies from huts which I put on my galleys and stole great people from the AI (I also explain using this strategy more in depth in the short tips/tricks thread). I used one of the great people to quick build the Samurai Wonder for extra attack on my knights.
Also, I declared war on the nearest civ (Egyptians, who were actually far away considering how small the maps are) with 2 knight armies. This early on she only had 2 archer armies in her capital. I used one of my spies to steal the great artist from Egypt's capital, Thebes, and put him on my galley. Next turn I took their capital with my knights, and on the following turn I used that same great artist to convert their 2nd city (and only other city). I eliminated them using culture, which was a first for me. I continued with knights to eliminate the Spanish nearly as quickly as I eliminated the Egyptians. When I started war on the Spanish I only used 3 knight armies. Next were the Romans on the north part of my continent.
By this time my knights were starting to get out-dated, and the Romans had the best economy, and riflemen (not sure how they got them so fast, that or I just wasn't used to seeing them by this point). I still attacked with knights, cause they were so heavily promoted, and I took a choke point city that split their empire in two. Then I teched like mad for tanks and was 2 turns from Leo's workshop. I'm not sure if knights upgrade to tanks (haven't looked into it). Also, in my cities I had set up 2 archers and 1 pike man (defense wasn't too important when I was fighting in distant lands with strong armies). Leo's would have made it 3 rifleman for an army, which is what I was going for. But guess who got Leo's workshop 1 turn before me? The Romans. Oh well, guess now they have loads of riflemen. What to do with all that production going into Leo's? Well, I built tanks. In fact, I built 6 Tanks in one turn cause of all the extra production. The Romans had 5 cities left, and I took them all in 4 turns (1 city by cultural flip, without using a great artist). So in retrospect, maybe those extra tank armies were really helpful
At that point I had so many cities, some already were specialized, and I could win anyway I wanted. Romans still had some island cities but were no longer a threat, and the Arabs were so far behind in technology it was a joke (The capitals I took over were all geared for science, and I had London and another city specialized for science, so I caught up and surpassed the AI fast in tech). I decided to have fun and nuke them anyways, and I attacked from my battleships to take their capital (I didn't think you can amphibious assault, but you can, at a penalty of 1/2 of your attack strength, but whats that matter if you just nuked the city
) After I took their capital they asked for peace, which I gave them. I now controlled all 5 capitals, and was at peace with the two remaining civ's. Getting peace after you take all capitals is an easy way to ensure you get the domination victory.Anyways, if you read my story on my emperor victory, hopefully you picked up a thing or two (and yes I was lucky to get spies and the great leader, but how I used them is what made my victory easier). Or hopefully you have advice for me! I am always trying to learn new things in Civ (both for BTS and Rev, but lately it's all about Rev
).
