Seafaring nations and tactics

[Ani]

Going to play a archipilago mp game tomorrow witch everyone starts on their own island. Anyone got a good sugestion for which nations/tactids to use, and whitch country/techpath is fastest to explore other continents?

 

[petey]

For techs, I'd say beeline to Optics to get Caravels and then send one out in each direction. This will get you contact with civs faster, allowing you to tech trade and get the lay of the land before anyone else does. Also, circumnavigating the globe first and getting the extra water movement point will be key.

I'd suggest playing the Americans for the Fin/Org traits. The Financial will help you get the research boost in the beginning to get the seafaring techs and the Organized will help you in the later game when you're taking over cities on other islands that are far away from your capitol. Also, they have a late UU and the early ones that will come about before you really meet anyone aren't going to be useful in this game.

 

[Ani]

Sounds like sound advice

 

[Wodan]

Romans get cheap Harbors AND cheap lighthouses. (I think... check the book.)

Wodan

 

[jazwana]

shoot for the great lighthouse and colossus wonders, especially colossus if you're financial. Both are great boosts for those sorts of maps. Grabbing resources may be an issue so going for resource-less units like longbowmen, musketmen etc will be better unless you have the resources in front of you.

 

[jazwana]

for mp too, depending how you play you'll probably see less tech-trading than sp games so having a stronger in-house economy will be better than trying to trade around for everything. Don't worry about cottages as much, you have the costal squares for trade, i'd use the land for grabbing as much food/production as you can spare.

 

[Thyrwyn]

The Americans are a good choice because the start with Fishing and Agriculture, which will let you work sea tiles early.

The English start with Fishing and Mining which is a good combo, too. Fishing + Financial = loads of commerce early (fast research). Washington is good for this, too.

Creative can be a useful trait in Archy maps - remember that galleys and workboats can only venture away from the coast IF they stay within cultural borders. Creative helps push borders out faster and makes island-hopping easier. It is interesting to note that none of the Creative leaders start with Fishing, so I would research that quickly. If sea level is set to Low, this is much less important. Catherine (Creative/Financial) would be good for this. Cyrus (Creative/Expansive) starts with Agricuture, so he would be a good early growth Creative option.

 

[jazwana]

I agree on the creative as well. It's a very nice leader trait for seaborne maps. Depending on map size you'll be mixing it up before you get to Navy Seals, so the American UU might be timed too late. All of the early UU's will probably fade before you get around to meeting other civs. Catherine's Cossacks or Elizabeth's Redcoats are good, the only caveat being you'll need to research fishing and acquire horses for Catherine vs building stonehenge for the British. Either one you're betting on the correct starting location.

 

[jkp1187]

I had great success with the Americans' Navy SEALs on a continents map in which I started alone on an island, but within galley range of most of the other civs. Toward the end of the game, my carrier battle groups and transports full of SEALs ruined quite a few enemy civs. I barely needed armor, in fact, although when trying to strike at some of Egypt's inland cities, my (comparatively) small army got a bad case of "land war in Asia". Ended up as a diplomatic win in the late game, not the highest score, but it was the game I've enjoyed the most so far.