Tips for William

[Jelster]

I admit that although really enjoying this game, my exposure to many of the different Civs is limited. I tend to play as England, Babylon or The Maya, and more recently Ethiopia (what a strong Civ they can be!).

So I thought I would have a bash at a couple of others, and first on my list is The Netherlands. I'm looking for any tips around start location, and how to play with their UB.

My general approach to most games is an early NC start, keeping to 4-6 cities plus puppets, will that work here ?

 

[Loucypher]

It will work yes, but after you've done that you really want to beeline towards Guilds. Also ensure you grab your luxury techs. The beauty behind the Netherlands is that you can sell off luxuries even faster then other civs can without dipping into (too much) unhappiness. So delaying the NC beeline just a wee bit in order to snag up that Marble or such may not be a bad idea, as it allows more rush buys.
Once Guilds (and by extension Polders) get online, your cities will be enjoying a massive boost - even just 2 or 3 polders will do great things for you.
Marshes aren't detrimental to your start - well, early game they'll be somewhat annoying, but don't remove them and work other tiles until you can make them into Polders.
That said, the Netherlands are at their best when you manage to secure a few great Desert spots - not the ones you'd normally go for with Petra, but those with at least 6 Flood Plain tiles you can turn into Polders. Those become some of the best tiles you've ever seen (Rivalled only by Incan Terrace Farms IMO). A Desert start with the Netherlands basically means you're going to get a huge Amsterdam, no matter what.
Also, ensure you have at least one coastal city. The Sea Beggar is too good to ignore.

Puppets are amazing for Netherlands due to access to even more money and luxuries for sale. You'll want to be careful in your aggressions though as good diplomatic relationships are important in your selling luxes game. Fortunately, the huge cities you can get with Polders offset the lower amount of puppets one tends to have as the Dutch. Militaristically, the Dutch are also the ONLY civ without any bonuses on land military, so do keep that in mind.

...yeah, I play as the Dutch very often Have fun with them.

 

[docbud]

I finished a game last night as Netherlands, with the sandstorm map. I only had three cities, but they were huge! Amsterdam alone had 7 polders on flood plains, my second city had four or five polders, and my coastal city had three. And when you research that tech that increases the output of the polders (I forget which one), it's amazing.

I also had Desert Folklore and built Petra.

I ended up quitting the game because Japan was a jerk (as usual), and had gobbled everyone up, and I was at nonstop war with him. He had a ton of troops and was attacking all three of my cities at once. It was a slug-fest, and I couldn't make any headway. I was destroying wave after wave after wave of his troops and he never relented.

 

[Loucypher]

I finished a game last night as Netherlands, with the sandstorm map. I only had three cities, but they were huge! Amsterdam alone had 7 polders on flood plains, my second city had four or five polders, and my coastal city had three. And when you research that tech that increases the output of the polders (I forget which one), it's amazing.

That would've been Economics, which post-Education should be your next beeline. The production bonus you get from the Polders at that point are amazing.

 

[digrosz]

The Polder is extremely nice, yes. But don't forget the Sea Beggar. I consider it one of the better UUs. Because it starts with Coastal Raider II, you can get logistics right off the bat. Bunch of Frigates and a bunch of privateers will kick the AIs butt on any water map.

 

[Resipsa]

The Dutch can be played Tall with Puppets and Wide with or without puppets, its very versatile. First and foremost East Indie is the best UA in the game, use it! Get out there and scout meet the other civs and trade them your Luxuries you can finance all three settlers by t50 doing this using the Tradition route or finance your granaries, shrines, or archers/CBs using the Liberty SP. On maps that give you alot of Coastlines the Dutch really shine and allow you to play a Wide-Domination game utilizing Liberty and Commerce(yes, Commerce) to boost happiness and hammers in new cities. If you have the space you can have 20 cities with hammers from the Liberty and Commerce Tree to back the population growth you'll get from each city. In addition your Sea Beggars will have greater movement and be able to attack and pillage, attack again or get away or using logistics.