Ankh-f-n-Khonsu
forth-speaker of Mentu
Admittedly, it was in the background of my mind, but part of my strategy in my second game at prince level was to ignore the ocean. I had only a single coastal city with any production value, and aside from churning out a few galleons at astronomy, I didn't pay much attention to it. Besides, two of my three enemies were on my own continent.
So Rameses took me rather by surprise when he sent a galleon to the north of my Malinese empire and unloaded a few cavalry into Djenne, my research center. I knocked him out of there in no time, and took my city back, but I may as well have let him have it at that point. Compare:
The bastard annihilated my infrastructure; Djenne is a research center no more. I was doing pretty well, managing to more or less keep up with my scientific rivals, but at this point I think the game is over. The only infrastructure I really had in place was heading me toward a space race victory, and that surely ain't gonna happen now. (Truth is, I doubt it would have happened at all, but this was my second prince game, and win or lose I was feeling pretty good about it until this tragedy.)
So, avoid these strategies:
1. Ignore the ocean.
2. Leave your most important cities in the industrial era garrisoned by medieval units.
3. Assume that enemies sharing your continent will only attack from a land-based front.
So Rameses took me rather by surprise when he sent a galleon to the north of my Malinese empire and unloaded a few cavalry into Djenne, my research center. I knocked him out of there in no time, and took my city back, but I may as well have let him have it at that point. Compare:
The bastard annihilated my infrastructure; Djenne is a research center no more. I was doing pretty well, managing to more or less keep up with my scientific rivals, but at this point I think the game is over. The only infrastructure I really had in place was heading me toward a space race victory, and that surely ain't gonna happen now. (Truth is, I doubt it would have happened at all, but this was my second prince game, and win or lose I was feeling pretty good about it until this tragedy.)
So, avoid these strategies:
1. Ignore the ocean.
2. Leave your most important cities in the industrial era garrisoned by medieval units.
3. Assume that enemies sharing your continent will only attack from a land-based front.