I've once mentioned using England's UA for Embarked units before in Vanilla CiV. Between the hate posts and the "lol, noob, you embark?!? durr," it apparently didn't get very far.
England's UA is absolutely fantastic for waging war in any situation where you can use water to get from one place to another. It doesn't have to be Archipelago, it doesn't have to even be ocean tiles. You can use Embarking to move any Ancient Era unit from one place to another at 4 move across water if you're England., even across a large inland lake. This includes Workers and Settlers, which kind of argues for England wanting to have a coastline-type setup.
It's useful to use Embarking for crossing water whenever there's a hostile Civ, blocking units and/or difficult terrain between where you are and where you want to be. I've used it several times (Embarking) to settle farway sites in the Ancient and Classical Eras when I was otherwise boxed in. Yes, I beeline teched Optics for movement; when I wasn't even England.
As England, any coastline city is yours for the taking after you get Armory and make Amphibious Units. Use Galleas/Ship of the Line and the occasional landed Longbowman for bombardment, then use Amphibious units (Elephants?) for the capture. A 4 move Pikeman is better than a 2 or 1 move Pikeman for taking cities because it doesn't take hits going in.
Moreover, any close-water cities are good for England as well. Hit one side of a Civ, draw their armies there, then Embark and hit the other side of the Civ, hopefully having Pillaged roads en route, or parking a nice multi-Drill Pikeman on a convenient hill.
Between their ability to exert armed might across water, and their ability to create naval supremacy to foster it, England's UA truly reflects the reality of their once mighty Empire. Of all the Civs, England is really the only one that can use the water as if it were Roads.
England's UA is absolutely fantastic for waging war in any situation where you can use water to get from one place to another. It doesn't have to be Archipelago, it doesn't have to even be ocean tiles. You can use Embarking to move any Ancient Era unit from one place to another at 4 move across water if you're England., even across a large inland lake. This includes Workers and Settlers, which kind of argues for England wanting to have a coastline-type setup.
It's useful to use Embarking for crossing water whenever there's a hostile Civ, blocking units and/or difficult terrain between where you are and where you want to be. I've used it several times (Embarking) to settle farway sites in the Ancient and Classical Eras when I was otherwise boxed in. Yes, I beeline teched Optics for movement; when I wasn't even England.
As England, any coastline city is yours for the taking after you get Armory and make Amphibious Units. Use Galleas/Ship of the Line and the occasional landed Longbowman for bombardment, then use Amphibious units (Elephants?) for the capture. A 4 move Pikeman is better than a 2 or 1 move Pikeman for taking cities because it doesn't take hits going in.
Moreover, any close-water cities are good for England as well. Hit one side of a Civ, draw their armies there, then Embark and hit the other side of the Civ, hopefully having Pillaged roads en route, or parking a nice multi-Drill Pikeman on a convenient hill.
Between their ability to exert armed might across water, and their ability to create naval supremacy to foster it, England's UA truly reflects the reality of their once mighty Empire. Of all the Civs, England is really the only one that can use the water as if it were Roads.
