So Civ III really hates me...

[CarthageFTW]

So as you all probablly know, I love the sea and using it to my advantage, so I fired up an Archipeligo map. However this time I went back to vanilla and started it with the Japanese. (Don't ask why, just wanted a challenge). So I started a game, regent, Japanese, 70% water, sedentary barbs. I got off to a very nice start, good position, not so much for my capital, but of other cities, and had no money problems. So this is where I was before the trouble

But then I explored a little further and found I was not in such a good position

Spoiler :

I was a first beelining for Rebuplic, but now I switched to Map Making. I got it about 2 turns ago and here is where I am now.

Spoiler :

Where do you all sugest I go with this one? I'll upload the save later as this is version 1.07f Vanillia and I need to upgrade it (I've been enjoying the 9999999 gold cheat a couple times in the past week ^^)

EDIT: Oh, and I got super lucky, the two goody huts on my island gave me Pottery and Warrior Code.

 

[vmxa]

I doubt that anyone could read a 1.07 save. You have to get patched. Forget the cheats, they will not help you learn.

Once you knew you were on an island, and you expected to be, and that it was small. You must pack in those towns. It looks like 6 tiles from Kyoto to Tokyo. You cannot afford that waste.

You may want to ICS the ice land. CxC no town more than CxxC and only in the grass area. Forget the granaries. You will not be making that many settlers and workers anyway.

Maximize towns on the coast.

 

[nerovats]

why settle 3 cities on the ice while you have great land up north?

 

[Optional]

Graneries boost the effect of surplus growth, as it takes less time to fill the foodbox. But they don't give more food as such, so towns like Satsuma and Kagoshima will still be stuck at size 2, with or without a granery (size 3 if they start to work coastal tiles without a harbor).
Harbors would have helped for Satsuma and Kagoshima, but I wouldn't build them yet in Edo and Osaka. I would switch to settlers here. Maybe 1 granery in Edo, to help building settlers for the south. As Vmxa suggested, build tight in the south, as tight as possible.
Try to research horizontally rather than vertically; a tech further up the tech tree will do you more good than Bronze Working. If you're falling behind in tech, maybe you have to build the Great Library. I would suggest that as an emergency measure only, though; normally you're better off without it.
Get a galley out as soon as possible. You need contacts, so it was a good idea to prioritize Map Making.

 

[Taras Bulba]

something I don't think was mentioned yet...

connect the ivory!

luxuries are a big help

 

[ecuwins]

Ouch, that sux. CxxC a tiny core and CxC the rest, LOL. If there wasn't that freshwater along with all those food bonuses then it would be a re-roll for me.

 

[CarthageFTW]

I think I might resettle my cities, because looking at the suggestions, I need to make some changes to positions. True, i expected an island, but not this small! lolz. But, what I am going to do, is resettle the cities closer to Kyoto. Now that I have Map making, shouldn't be long before I discover other civs, and islands to expand to.

 

[anaxagoras]

When you had two cities and a settler ready in one turn, you could see the two wheat. Why didn't you beeline for it? That's a freshwater lake and beaucoup food just CxxC from the capital. No BGs, but you have forests in range for at least a six-turn settler pump or solid worker farm.

In the second screenie, you have 5 coastal cities, have popped pottery from a GH, and there is land visible across coastal tiles, but still you haven't built a curragh. Get a boat out there and find out if that's a useless two-tile island or the tip of a major land mass.

 

[CarthageFTW]

This is a vanillia game, not C3C

 

[anaxagoras]

This is a vanillia game, not C3C

Ah, I missed that part.