Polynesia strategy/guide?

Cosmos1985

Cosmos1985

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So I was just trying my first Polynesia game, and I really have NO idea what I'm doing - has there been any thread dedicated to discussing it after it was implemented? I may be blind or stupid, but I can only find old posts and threads from before it was made part of the game. Can anybody help me out here? :) For one I don't have a clue as to when my Wakas can go where, I couldn't really figure out the "system" in it. Where to settle, what to research... any help and tips much appreciated :lol:
 
research: your goal is to build the Moaui statues, so you need to research towards them.
you dont need anything else. On the lower difficulty levels you might be able to research some more, but they're all unnecessary.

your wakas can go to ocean tiles in your culture or to any coastal tile. However there are many "cape" tiles that look like coast, these are impassable unless they are in your culture.

you can settle on any island that has only 1 tile even if there is jungle on it.

your goals are to reach Hawaii (far north) and the easter islands (far east), as well as new zealand (south-west), and another island group east then north from your start.

You need to produce lots of culture to get your borders to grow in order to reach those islands. every city should have an artist at work in it as soon as possible
Fortunately your UB is great for that - and pagan temples help.

you will have no trouble with barbs or other civs during your game, so no need to build many troops (1-2 warriors will be needed for happiness reasons) or to research combat techs (or alphabet).

the Polynesian game is more a puzzle than a real civ-game, so I won't tell you how to win, but only that reaching the easter island soon will help you (there is stone there which allows the city to build the statues very quickly).

(if you check the UHV-thread there are several victories posted there, but those would spoil a lot of the challenge)
 
Thanks a lot, that was exactly what I was looking for!

One further question: I can't for the love of my life figure out why I was able to sail through the cape tiles north of the banana/gold/marsh area (New Guinea?) way earlier in my first game than now on my second try. In my first game it opened up all of a sudden, enabling trade with the Asian civs, but in my current game I still can't pass it - my culture was no way near it in either game, and both tech-wise and with regards to the date, I'm way ahead in the game I'm in now compared to the first :confused: I finally was able to reach the Asian civs after my New Zealand city culture spread far enough to be able to reach Australia, but I can't really figure out how the cape tiles are supposed to work - anyone knows the logic behind that?
 
normally you shouldn't be able to sail towards Indonesia from your starting location (except with cities in New Zealand or so).

You could maybe pass that island if you have a city on one of the 1-tile-islands north-east of it, but honestly, unless you want to get a non-UHV-victory it is simply not worth it getting into contact with other civs.
Cape tiles have basically the same function as ocean tiles but with the food/commerce production of coast-tiles. They are in the game to block some waterways (for example you cant sail around Africa with galleys any more). Some of them disappear at later stages of the game, but that only influences civs like the Vikings, I think.

I remember that my first attempt with Polynesia also failed miserably, since I didn't know which way to go and how to make sense of it ;)
I on one of the lower to medium difficulties it might still be possible to win the game by the time your first UHV condition is due, if managed perfectly, if you want a challenge^^
(or try a harder difficulty, it will "only" affect your research speed and happiness)
 
How did you guys get Polynesia? Is there an update/new version I'm not seeing? And these islands thing how do I get this new version?
 
It is like a tutorial mini game. If it remains so, I suggest make it a stand-alone scenario, remove all other civs, you won't encounter them anyway (if you go for UHV).
 
"You never encounter anyone past Persia during the Babylonian UHV, make a new game where they are removed."
 
Leoreth said:
"You never encounter anyone past Persia during the Babylonian UHV, make a new game where they are removed."
Click to expand...

I mean, you can make a light version of DoC where there's only Polynisians, while the main 3000 BC scenario also keeps them. So if a player only wants to play the puzzle part, he can choose the light version and the game will be much faster.
 
in the BC-era the game is still quite fast, if there were a puzzle-only civ in the 1800s I'd agree with you, but this early in the game? It doesn't matter much.
Plus there might be people who want to play a non-UHV-game with Polynesia (though I think their modifiers+core make it hard to do anything)
 
Lots of additional effort for minimal gain.
 
Chep said:
Plus there might be people who want to play a non-UHV-game with Polynesia (though I think their modifiers+core make it hard to do anything)
Click to expand...

I'm having a blast playing Polynesia as non-UHV-game, and I can't be the only one! Tech rate is horrible yeah, but buildings are cheap, so your cities in NZ and Australia can really pump out a lot of stuff once they get going. And if you're lucky Greece+Rome+the other ancient civs collapse, enabling you to grab some of the nice wonders too - Great Cothon+Colossus+GL are obviously amazing to have as Polynesia. Anyway - long story short: I can only recommend trying it out as a non-UHV-game too, it's a different but fun experience :)
 
It is really calming and beautiful when you play an isolated civilization. No neighbours or even independents or barbarians. The closest I had been to that before Polynesia is Argentina, but there is some mandatory diplomacy there.

Anyway, as Polynesia I can't figure out how to win the UHV in time. Sooner or later I do, but I have not found the key to do it in time.
Does anyone have a guide? The first thing I do is to settle the three islands in my core, then build temples, Mala'es (For great artists), Harbors (to accelerate Settlers), but I still can't deliver in time. I use Masonry for slaves and build Pagan Temples and Mala'es ASAP, and also draft as many Settlers as I can. The only problem I have is when those borders do not expand fast enough.
Is there an order in what buildings or cities should I build?
 
Check citis' signature, he has a guide on Polynesia.
 
The guide to Polynesia is easy to do in these 12 easy steps (SPOILER ALERT!):
  1. Settle your capital at the start
  2. Settle second city North of it.
  3. Build settler in capital for the island NE of it (you need the 3 cities!!)
  4. Build everywhere Pagan Temples. Forget about military, except for 1 each city as soon pop > 4.
  5. Research Priesthood right away. You'll need the Mala'es. As soon you have this tech, build them first. Second the Pagan temple.
  6. When the Mala'e have been build => run an artist. This will expand the culture faster.
  7. You will have to do "island hopping" => build city, pump out culture, build settler in capital/island near start point, put them in the Waka, send them to the border. When the culture expand enough, ship to the next island. Build there your new city. Have your settler ready as soon as the border expands. You need to be fast. Focus on the North AND East.
  8. After Priesthood, research Masonry. Switch civics to Slavery and that Religion tech (increase of hapiness of Pagan temple). Use slave rush for producing settlers and Mala'es.
  9. New Sealand (to the South) is the easiest. Soon your capital will expand enough to send a Waka with settler to there.
  10. IMPORTANT: even with running an artist, it will be not enough culture to expand fast enough to the North. THE KEY = keep running artists in the 2/3 main islands of the start position. After a while you will get a Great Artist. Culture bomb the cities to the North for hopping further. Have your settler ready at the border as soon as your GA arrives. You need 2 GA for getting to Hawaii (far North) in time.
  11. Easter island = far East. Markees Islands first to the East (Tahiti) and then to the North.
  12. Build the Moai Statues right after founding your city at Easter Island (Rapa Nui, with the stone). It will be completed in about 26-30 turns.
It took me 3 games to complete the UHV. First game was: where are those islands?? How do I get there? Second: oh, I have to do the island hopping, easy! Oh, not culture enough?? Damn, again. Third: oh yeah, artsists rock!!!
 
You don't need 2 GA; can be done with only one. More important to have Settler ready before the borders pop which requires large number of Galleys rather than building pagan temples on every island
 
How exactly do galleys (you mean wakas, right?) replace the function of pagan temples? I thought it was the unique building that did the trick, next to PT if you must.
 
The Mala'e is enough culture; should expand far enough before pagan temple even finishes. You build a large number of wakas so you can load the Settler built in your capital and send it to the far reaches of your civ in one turn. Relieves some of the time pressure so you don't have to whip Settlers
 
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