Any tips for Island civs?

I'm in a mulitplayer game at the moment where I have 3 cities on a continent and 6 cities on surrounding islands. I just moved my capital onto to one of the islands because my neighbour is the largest human civ, with about 20 cities. My only option for expansion is further colonisation of surrounding islands. Any ideas how I can make this work?


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Chaos, panic and disorder - My work here is done.

[War4ever]

Evidently you should make naval superiority a priority and your greatest strength along with trade. I assume you are or are on you way to doing this already. Colonize as many islands as you can especially the single tile islands. Trade trade trade with that big neighbor..... but remember to keep colonizing those small islands. Sometimes a large land mass can be weakened by many different launching points which seems to be an option for you. I dont' know how far along you are in the game or what you and or your neighbors posses so its hard to give any more detailed of a strat than that at the moment

[jcarkey]

Pretty much waht War4Ever said. I would try and make peace with the enchroaching CIV first. Try retreat colonization. Go away from that big enemy, colonizing the entire way.

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Save the whales, collect the whole set!!

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[niteowl]

I have to say ditto & ditto. Don't know that I could add much more to what they have already said. Just a couple points (if you haven't considered it or haven't gone past this stage of the game)...

1) Get a couple of good wonders under your belt: Pyramids, Great Wall, & Magellan's would be very effective here.

2) Diplomats / Spies (not for destruction -- not yet) just for info & recon.



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Ya, its 1 AD.

The major problem is it will be difficult to manouevre an army. Defensively I'm very strong. The islands are all 1 city per.

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Chaos, panic and disorder - My work here is done.
[This message has been edited by Alexander's Horse (edited January 17, 2001).]

[Theben]

Don't know what your naval tech is right now but you should think about Magellan's (naturally) but also Lighthouse (if Magnetism is a ways off) and especially Sun Tzu. Lighthouse gives you vet ships and Sun Tzu helps twice: a victory at sea automatically produces vet ships, and because you're an island nation you can't easily build a "barracks" city for your empire. With frigates or better you should troll the coastlines (you should be good at trolling ) looking for easy kills to get vet status. Send in those caravans but when war is either looking good or inevitable mix in some vet city crackers; try to catch him off-guard. Don't worry too much about him re-taking those cities- you just want to sack his high production coastal cities. You may even try to feint with a small flotilla while your main force heads elsewhere- does he have a coastal city with 1 or more important wonders? Send your feint there, even if all you want to do is make him nervous! Kill off his ability to project power into the seas, and you'll control the terms of engagement.

[East Street Trader]

Plainly if you fail to achieve naval supremacy you are toast. So that is, and will remain, your number one priority. Magellans is a must have.

It is also absolutely vital that you change the name of your capital to London and announce your civ to be British and your leader to be Nelson the First.

And so to less important matters.

I take it the islands are small so that you are working mostly ocean squares. That means you will be arrow rich and shield poor.

Offshore platforms will transform your civ when they arrive so that deserves some consideration when directing your tech path (a rather long term point maybe, but this may well be a long game).

Maybe your early arrows and your trade will allow you to get rich enough, early enough simultaneously to bribe two or three of the bigger cities on the mainland? If so, ideally you want to be able immediately to occupy the cities with as many diplos as possible (and to be in a position to rush courthouses) in the hope of fending off the enemy diplos (bribe back being so cheap). Leaving a thousand or so in the bank post bribe would also help.

Might be a knock out punch.

If the mainland has any accessible mountain squares, then getting a mountain fortress ot two in place may open up wider tactical chances. If you could manage to threaten his settlers/engineers and to degrade his internal communications with judicious pillage that may let you widen a beachhead. But I imagine he already has excellent internal communications so I guess that may not be militarily feasible. Keep it in mind tho' in case a window opens when, say, you have riflemen before he has anything strong enough to displace them easily.

If you get naval superiority at least you should be able to blockade him in and enjoy sole rights to whatever exploration of the rest of the map reveals.

Got to say, though. Life will be much easier if you happen to find another sizeable landmass somewhere. His shield advantage will tell over time, internal communications make him a hard nut to crack and he won't sit back and leave you to control the seas without perpetual challenge.

If things ever look gloomy, however, reflect - Britain won out over the powers of continental Europe off the back of a pre-eminent navy time after time. It took Wellington a long time to fight his way through the Iberian peninsular and to topple Napoleon but he did it.

You'll need old Nelson to be on good form though. Each time the enemy gets his next fleet built it must be sunk or blockaded.

[weird god]

the lighthouse is a good idea since you can use it for discovering the whole map and hopefully finding new tribes and territory. plus your vet-ships give you some defence

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Yeah, thanks for the advice. I'm not at war with the big civ but he just buggered me up by taking an ai capital I had been besieging My original cities are on his continent in the V of a peninsula with his land mass, the major one, on one side and an ai civ on the other wing of V. His move there stopped me from getting at the rest of the ai cities and hemmed me in. So I've been going offshore.

The 6 islands I have colonised are all large enough for one city with mostly land tiles and they are all close together. All have specials, so things aren't that grim either defensivly or in terms of development.

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Chaos, panic and disorder - My work here is done.

[Smokey tha nuke man]

the plan you should follow can be sumed up in a few words. :ships, harbors, offshore platforms, coastle fortresses, portfacilities. personaly, i rather like a map with maybe 2 medium sized continents and a ton of 3 or 4 squre islands .

[Theben]

Hmmm, okay I didn't catch the part where you said your original 3 cities were on the same continent as the big guy. Continued expansion elsewhere is vital. You'll need to stay on his good side unless you've got some GREAT defensive chokepoints (hills/mts/forest+river & fortress) on that continent. COnsider that feint just to keep him guessing. He probably knows he's pissed you off with taking that city; load up 2 ships with 1 unit each- the newer the better, since he doesn't know how full they'll be. I'd use:

1 warrior on each (if very early game) or,
1 diplomat on each (possibly bribe his navy!) or,
1 explorer on each (drop off for 2 moves on his land for recon for possible future missions, then hop back on boat, repeat each turn) or,
Load 'em up with caravans. Send them all to only 1 of his cities, of course. But wait to drop them off until he acts nervous.

If you have spies make sure you have 1 of each of those on board (veteran-> cheaper bribes). You can do recon on his cities at no loss and also jump off ship, get 2 space recon on land, and jump back on board.

I think you'll have to play a shrewd diplomatic game with the other human players as well. Build alliance carefully, maybe tip off another player as to the where abouts of the remaining cities of the AI civ w/o capital? Then your problem could be someone else's problem, and common problems call for united solutions, yes?

[East Street Trader]

His advantages. Internal communications for good defence and cities closer together for less corruption.

Your advantage must be good opportunities for trade.

Tactically I think he also faces/faced a dilemma. He must know you are committed to going flat out for dominance of the sea. If he builds/built few coastal cities he can't support many naval units and will be easily blockaded; if he puts down as many cities on the coast as he can, and you get to be the top dog at sea, naval bombardment will represent a constant thorn in his side.

Got to say I rate his chances higher. Short term I guess you'll do well to keep those cities on his continent.

But the trading advantage is worth having - early on especially. He probably has to resolve the city location dilemma by putting down coastal cities (else, long term, how does he win?) so if you use the trade benefit to get the super ironclad well before he gets his coastal defences up to snuff - especially if you can back up the ironclads with some diplos with deep pockets - well you may well be able to plan a really crushing blow.

But, I suppose you lost some time when you had to switch offshore so maybe the timing is wrong.

Interested to see an update after the week end.

Remember to tell your matelots what is expected of them before each engagement. And a pint of rum a day helps the fighting spirit no end.

[Theben]

So what happened, horsie?

Well the big bad civ went to beat up another civ on the same continent. I moved my capital offshore and am concentrating on expansion. I don't think I have ever colonised so many one city size islands. One thing the big civ did probably to stuff me up was build Magellans.


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Chaos, panic and disorder - My work here is done.
[This message has been edited by Alexander's Horse (edited January 28, 2001).]

[Smash]

well you can forget the king of the seas thing then.Controlling the seas is only important in the age of triremes.Aside from early ironclads,wars in civ are won and lost by ground units.Maybe air units later but mostly ground.I would still keep a good navy of vessels though.
I would have gone perfectionist and built temples,markets,trade routes,harbors.Go Repub and celebrate to 7 ASAP.Then more caravans.Colliseums,aquaducts.Then banks and libraries.
Defending these islands is fairly simple before "modern" units and there isn't much land to improve so resources can all go to trade and infastructure.

one problem-just when you have your high quality cities runniing nicely,someone sends a mess of dips and tears it all down in 2 or 3 turns.

[East Street Trader]

Don't agree, Smash. Horse must keep control of the sea at all times. Look at your own point. Those dips/spies have got to be in boats and if Horse commands the sea he has a chance to intercept them.

Agree, though, that this is mere defence. An offensive strategy is also vital and that must be conducted on land.

Might turn out to be kind of your neighbour, in a way, to build Magellan's for you. You have probably needed such shields as you've got for caravan building.

Depending on where he put it you might make that city your primary target. If it's also his capital and it's coastal then getting that city after a succesful bombardment (hope its got city walls), then immediately expanding the beach head with two or three diplos bribing his next best cities might see you convert sea power to dominance in a very few moves.

If your arrows have given you a tech lead, that is, and made you rich.

By the by, don't those one square island cities just grow! Sometimes I establish one early and next time I look the thing is outstripping my capital in population.

[Cyclotron]

Hmmm... since you probably have a lot of trade from ocean squares, I recommend getting a lot of cash and getting developed quickly, w/ harbors, coastal fortresses, and city walls. If he currently has naval superiority, and you don't have a lot of production, use boarding parties: stash a diplomat or two on a caravel or frigate and wait in your city. When AI ships come near, dash out of the city, bribe the ships, and quickly dash back into your city with your new navy. I use this quite often at sea, these "boarding vessels" can be quite valuable if you are low on production!

Thanks for all the advice to date, which I think has been interesting to others as well as helpful to me. Since I moved my capital offshore I feel much more secure and this civ is an interesting case study in maritime strategy and trade. I'm at peace with the big civ and I have a strat but unfortunately I can't share with it you because my fellow players in the game also read here.

One of the greatest things about this game is you are always learning something. One thing I'm learning in this game is the value of Ocean squares for trade, and also of harbors for the development of that trade. Fortunately I also have lots of whales squares - my favorite special


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Chaos, panic and disorder - My work here is done.
[This message has been edited by Alexander's Horse (edited January 29, 2001).]

[klesh]

Are you able to hit the Magellans city from your current bridgehead on the island?

I agree that it needs to be your primary military target if it is feasable.

Are you finding any good whales out there or mainly just fish. I would worry mostly about support shields for your Navy.

Where are you and others as far as techs go? Any allies?
Perhaps you can agree with your ally to make a combined strike at the Big civ at the same time. Maybe you get Magellans and he gets the Capital. Just a pre-emptive strike to put the Big Civ in his place.