It takes SOOO long to get off your island

[cAPS lOCK]

After a couple of games on regular continent maps, I played one on archipelago. My starting island only had room for three cities, but they had great resources. I figured I'd out-tech everyone and start settling the empty ones first. My first galley circled the island and discovered that there were no other islands that weren't seperated by ocean. It was then that I realized I was stuck until I got to Astronomy!

My question is this; did I just get unlucky or have other people had this problem? It seems absurd to be so isolated for so long.

I guess I should mention that I was still able to win a space race victory (5 turns before the time limit). The only other cities I got were in the Tundra at the north pole to get some resources that didn't pop up on my island.

 

[Taralax]

Hear Ye, hear Ye!

I just wanted to start a very similar thread. I ran into the same problem today. I played a MP game on an "island" map. Unlucky me landed on an island that was half desert and had no other continents in reach. So I ended up with 5 cities. From the scores it was clear that the other players (and the AI) had either bigger islands or could make contact with each other (both turned out to be true later).

I was basically doomed from the very start, since I had no way to leave my island, and thus not building more cities or making contact with other civs at least.

Does anybody have a viable strategy/idea on what to do/try in such cases?

 

[eewallace]

I quit a custom game last night where I showed up on a fairly small island that was half tundra. I stuck it out long enough to discover that there was no iron there, then decided it was simply unwinnable. Lesson from this--if playing a customized world, don't set the sea level to high...

 

[petey]

Does anybody have a viable strategy/idea on what to do/try in such cases?

Quit and start a new game. Sometimes you're just screwed and can't do anything about it.

 

[Cyberian]

Sirians Map Script Guide is very useful when choosing such maps.

For Example ist says about islands:

Islands
=======

Global Map: World Wrap left to right
Oceanic Map: 84 plots wide, 52 plots tall, at "Standard" map size
Balanced Terrain: Each player starts with their own "large island", roughly equivalent
Coastal Start: All players guaranteed to start along the coast

NUMBER OF LARGE ISLANDS - Choose whether there will be minimum large islands, or extras.
* "Random" - Randomly picks one of the options.
* "1 Per Player" - DEFAULT - Each player has their own large island. No extras.
* "Extras" - One or more "extra" islands. Players are put on the best islands,
leaving the lowest quality "large" islands as uninhabited.
* "Several Extras" - More extras. (Still less than two large islands per player, though!)

NUMBER OF TINY ISLANDS - Tiny islands act as "water bridges" that open coastal-water pathways.
* "Random" - Randomly picks one of the options.
* "No Tiny Islands" - No extra tiny islands. Large islands will be isolated until Astronomy!
* "Few Tiny Islands" - Not many! Maybe some crossings from island to island, but unreliable.
* "Various Tiny Islands" DEFAULT - Enough tiny islands to ensure some early crossings.
* "Many Tiny Islands" - Plenty of crossings, almost like "Archipelago with Large Islands too"

So if you don't want to be isolated don't choose the "no tiny islands" option. The Map Guide can be downloaded on this site.

If you are truely isolated max out every single piece of land of your island and then go all research for leaving and possibly securing some extra space before the others do.

 

[Dr. Feh]

Two solutions:

One, you can sail galleys and workboats onto Ocean spaces provided your culture boundaries extend over them. In fact, you may not even have to... if your seaside culture boundaries bump up against those of a civ across the waters, it'll put you in diplomatic contact with that leader.

This doesn't help if you're /really/ isolated, but sometimes another land mass is just one or two ocean spaces separated from yours. In my game I bridged a one-space gap naturally without even having to use a culture bomb.

The second solution: Beeline for Optics, which is a lot earlier and cheaper to grab than Astronomy. Caravels can cross ocean squares, although what they can carry is limited (no Settlers yet, for instance). But they can get you in contact with everyone, spread your religion through Missionaries, and if you're focused towards Optics as a priority, dedicate one caravel to circumnavigating the globe first, thus giving your naval units +1 movement for the rest of the game(!). Theoretically you could even use a stack of caravels and explorers to try to take over an enemy city and give yourself a foothold elsewhere--not terribly efficient, but on Noble I got to Optics fast enough I saw cities still defended by archers and spearmen, and a Strength 4 explorer might be able to do some damage there in sufficient numbers. Holding onto the city could be tricky unless you can sue for peace, though.

You can continue shooting for Astronomy as you tech trade with your new contacts (you won't be able to trade resources yet). By the time you reach it you'll hopefully have +1 naval movement and also have found some untouched islands to ship those settlers out to. With the AI in Civ4 as blind and limited as you are, unclaimed islands actually /do/ exist centuries into the A.D. period. Needless to say, giving out your world map early would be a seriously bad idea.

Anyhow, I can't vouch for how well this works on higher difficulty levels, but on noble it worked like a charm. I was horribly isolated on my island, unsure if I was ahead or behind. The 'hands across the ocean' culture trick got me in touch with Victoria, who alas proved to be just as isolated as me, but the caravels worked just as I'd hoped. Be ready to spam missionaries out on them if you founded a religion, though, since a mainland religion will have likely taken hold much more thoroughly. It seems to be a waste of time to convert people who founded religions since they just convert back again soon after, but anyone who didn't found a religion is fair game as soon as you've gotten your religion spread to a majority of their cities. And even nations that decry you as heathen will trade techs to you sometimes when you've just arrived on their shores

 

[dh_epic]

If your cultural borders extend far enough, your galleys can navigate through them across oceans. That's why it's important to build coastal cities, so your borders will bridge those gaps sooner.

Also, you'd be surprised just how powerful you can be with just 3 cities. And when you're trapped on an island all alone, that can be a blessing: no military maintainance, since you don't have to worry about an invasion for a long time.

Rather than growing by expansion, think about growing upwards -- buildings, wonders, cottages, city specialists, great people... founding a religion. These all get you money without expansion.

 

[Eyemaze]

explorers can only defend and not attack afaik.

 

[joethreeblah]

I hate islands.

 

[Dr. Feh]

explorers can only defend and not attack afaik.

Ah, you're absolutely right, forget about taking any cities 'across the pond' until Astronomy, then, unless you can get the culture bridge going.

But as was just mentioned, being surrounded by ocean can be a blessing in that, except for barbarians/animals, you are 100% secure from attack until another civ develops Astronomy. And the barbarians/animals issue disappears as soon as you've claimed all the territory on the island.

So yes, build up, not out. I'd still grab for Optics, personally, but anything else that helps out your infrastructure is good. The Great Lighthouse, for instance, is cheap, long-lasting, and gives a nice commerce bump to all your coastal cities... and if you're on an island, you should have /all/ your cities coastal unless you have a really, really good reason otherwise.

At least on Noble difficulty, when I finally managed to get in contact with others I had the highest game score. I was low on power, but paying out the gold for any more than the military you need to keep barbarians at bay is just stupid if you've got an Ocean barrier. Take advantage of the strengths of your isolation and remember that in Civ4 a few big cities can kick ass.