Tiny Islands

[Zalsphere]

My brother is an English fanatic and always plays Tiny Islands where we do multiplayer. Generally we play on the same team on Warlord or Prince (I'm not that good at the game). He steam rolls straight for ironworking, then up the naval path to get ships of the line, settling cities as needed to grab up iron. From there he launches out "probing teams" to scout various other civs and picks out the one with a mid-level score that is reasonably close and once he has 7-8 SotL he embarks a few spearmen or whatever and uses them to take the cities his SotL's decimate.

My question in response to this is what Civ would play well with his (admittedly) overly aggressive tendencies? I usually us Polynesia so I can expand quickly, then I focus on production/science and build my defenses at present. I know that when teamed up the other person can learn your techs quicker than normal, so it usually helps him out because he tends to neglect those that aid in defense, happiness or culture.

I get tired of that role, though. Any suggestions on a civ that can reasonably keep up with his rapid jumps through the tech tree to grab iron, then the other techs for his SotL's? It's rare for our games to get past that era with more than 3 civs surviving, usually by then I have -some- military for offense, but again... by then he's usually running 20+ ships. lol

Also, we usually play on Standard, 3 Billion Years, Medium Sea Level, etc etc

 

[Silverfuturist]

My brother is an English fanatic and always plays Tiny Islands where we do multiplayer. Generally we play on the same team on Warlord or Prince (I'm not that good at the game). He steam rolls straight for ironworking, then up the naval path to get ships of the line, settling cities as needed to grab up iron. From there he launches out "probing teams" to scout various other civs and picks out the one with a mid-level score that is reasonably close and once he has 7-8 SotL he embarks a few spearmen or whatever and uses them to take the cities his SotL's decimate.

My question in response to this is what Civ would play well with his (admittedly) overly aggressive tendencies? I usually us Polynesia so I can expand quickly, then I focus on production/science and build my defenses at present. I know that when teamed up the other person can learn your techs quicker than normal, so it usually helps him out because he tends to neglect those that aid in defense, happiness or culture.

I get tired of that role, though. Any suggestions on a civ that can reasonably keep up with his rapid jumps through the tech tree to grab iron, then the other techs for his SotL's? It's rare for our games to get past that era with more than 3 civs surviving, usually by then I have -some- military for offense, but again... by then he's usually running 20+ ships. lol

Also, we usually play on Standard, 3 Billion Years, Medium Sea Level, etc etc

Polynesia would be my first choice (assuming ruins are on.) My build order is: scout-scout-scout-scout! I get between 20-25 ruins and rule the demographics screen. All of my scouts become super-archers as a nice bonus. If you want to take a gamble, pop the later ruins with pikeman and you might get a rifle upgrade! This is all game breaking IMHO, I have crushed every mutliplayer game where people let me play Polynesia on a water map. In addition: you meet most of the city-states first for an even bigger gold boost.

If you can't use the DLCs: I like Russia. Double iron = double frigates and extra production. Plus it encourages you to build their special barracks. To rule the seas, barracks/heroic epic/armory very very helpful.

Songhai has a nice gimmick: because embarked units can defend themselves, you can spam scouts and put them in the water around your cities. They will absorb 3 hits each!

 

[CYZ]

Have you considered Denmark?

I personally think on a tiny islands map that Polynesia is better (they were made for it). But if you can persuade your brother to try a normal islands or archipelago map you will want Denmark instead.

Where England is great at naval warfare, Denmark is awesome at naval invasions. Their units can disembark, move and attack, all in the same turn. Often it is better for them to attack from the sea than from land.

I'd suggest also going for iron working to get swords men asap. Use them to conquer your first cities if possible. Then tech for Berserkers. Combined with a strong navy you'll excell at conquest from the sea.

 

[Brichals]

Do you wan to help him or defeat him?

If you want to tech fast then Babylon are the fastest early game. If you want to compete navally then you are fighting an uphill battle vs England. I would think Great Lighthouse is important or they will outrun you so easily. Ottomans might be good because you can enslave barb galleys. Make a few triremes and then go hunting.

As said before, Polynesia, Songhai and Denmark are other good ones.

 

[Zalsphere]

Help him, neither of us are fond of playing against each other.

Thanks for the advice. Guess I'll have to reevaluate my own approach with Polynesia as opposed to looking for a different civ. I've been playing since Civ 2... but I never really got into 3 & 4, never completed a game on either of those. Far too used to the much more simplistic approach of 2, but I'll get the hang of it. ^_^

 

[Gucumatz]

Something I have discovered (I enjoy using Ships of the Line myself), if you meet a human player with Japan, his ships can crush English ships. Obviously you would need an armada still, but since a Frigate/Ship of the Line almost never one hit k.o.s a ship Japanese ships get a huge edge in naval warfare. A good player as Japan can beat England in naval battles (which in my opinion is just wrong) because of the ability. If you hit on of his ships first it no longer does full damage, but if he hits one of yours (as Japan) you still do full damage. This leads to a lopsided result. In fact Japanese Frigates can take out an armada of Destroyers.

This causes lopsided fights (as Japan) where a ship can fight several more rounds in a naval battle than your oponent before being forced to retreat a ship to heal. Japan's UA is incredibly powerful on sea.

 

[joncnunn]

Well, the tiny island map almost, but not completely negates the Polynesia UA.
(You can get to almost every other tiny island pre Astronomy anyway)

A human playing England would likely have the tech to open up land embankment before their ready for their second city anyway.

The best map for Polynesia would be island based, but would be one in which every civ needed to cross ocean tiles to get to any other landmass.