The Valuable Ocean: A spanish Strat:).

[Manistyle]

Civ Strats;

The Valuable Ocean; Spanish Strat:
I have in some months worked with a Spanish Strat. I got the idea by reading Garmeths Japaneses strat to use the Sea. I did unfortunaly find a similar tactic made by Freilander but mine has some few but important difference like;

2 Mainland Cities (A Hammer City to produce army’s and Wonders)
It is easier defendable.
And we don't expand the same way

Cities:
• Capital: It’s going to be a Science City, and is the city which will spawn almost all Settlers.
• Science City/ies: I usually only have 1 massive Science city, but 2 will most likely be preferable.
• Gold Cities: Remember to Rush Markets, Banks, Harbours and Courthouses.
• Hammer City: The Hammer City to build armies and build Cathedrals, wonders and so on.



Overall Strat:
• You want to expand fast.
• You only want to build cities with either Whales, Fishes or Harbours.
• You want to Control the Sea.


How to start:
• Start by pump 2 warriors with 4 hammers

• Explore while increasing Pop with 4 Food.

• Put the workers on 4 science and 2 Foods while waiting for 100 GP.

• When getting the free settler; rush another 1 and a Galleon to settle them on Islands (Geografic demands to early gold cities; A least 4 Foods on the watertiles). 1 city is going to be a gold city, while the other would be a science city. In all your islands cities are you going to put your workers on the watertiles.

• When you Pop in you capital is on 3-4 are you going to Rush 2 settlers and settle them on Islands as well. Now you have 5 cities, our goal is to have 7 cities before we are receiving Code of Laws.

• The next 2 cities are going to be randomly produced (after you wish) in randomly cities (In my opinion; produce the in you Capital). One of the cities is going to be an Island but the other a Mainland City (with a lot of Hammers probably Hills). You don’t need whale or fishes now, just build you new (and future) cities near your already existents (Easier to defend cause you cities ain’t spread overall the world) just rush the Harbours.

• When receiving Code of Laws switch government and make a least 2 more cities.

• Switch to democracy


Tech Order:
• Bronze Working
• Pottery
• Masonry
• Irrigation
• Alphabet
• Literacy
• Code of Laws
• Democracy
• Monarchy

Important:
• Resources: Whales, Fishes and Dyes.
• Tech: Irrigation, Code of Laws and Democracy.
• Units: Galleons and Settlers.
• Misc: The Sea.
• Buildings: Harbour, Markets, East India Company, Banks and Courthouses.

GP:
• Explore: Settle in Gold Cities (most massive).
• Sciencetist: Settle in Science cities.
• Humantarian: Add 1 Pop in all cities.
• Artist: Flip a City.
• GreatBuilder: Rush East India Company or settler in Hammer City.

Advices:
• Rush a lot before moving in eras, because of the increasing prizes.
• Instead of protect you city with fortified units; rush Galleons.

Bonuses:
• Start with: Navigation
Wow, this is a really nice bonus. Remember to use all its options like Galleons, Whalestiles and East India Company. +remember to explore a lot with this bonus and find some artefacts.
• Ancient: Explore cash doubled
Is a nice bonus and will help you to get; Your 100 GP settler faster.
• Mediaval: +1 Naval combat
It will really helps us controlling the sea against others.
• Industrial: +50% gold production.
Nice! It will really boost our Economic. Try to get as fast to Industrial as possible so we receive this bonus.
• Modern: +1 Hammer on Hills
It is an okay bonus, which will allow us to build the world bank (and other buildings faster)

Sorry if the strat is written badly. I am living in Denmark and it is midnight.. The strat ain’t completely finished so I will Edit some tomorrow but any comments on my first strat?:)

[IceCube]

yes to add 1 thing try to settle cities next to the big fish thats really good bonus.
and how you gonna defend all those cities ?lets say you achieve all those things that you wrote you will be in lead and other people will teamup against you .
how to defend such a big empire ?
how to protect early on capital ? cause spanish civ is tempting for rushers :)
dont you have any goals wen you start playing as to DOMINATE ?
galleons are awesome for support they could even odds with most powerfull civs .
maybe try warrior army + galleon rush ? instead of going for expansion spend gold on rush try to take any capitals ?hmmm going to test this :)

[IML Owl]

Just a couple points:

-I wouldn't settle exclusively on whales and fish. You'd be neglecting a ton of other aspects that make a city worthwhile to build. Not to mention you'd be sending your settlers out into the great unknown trying to find these resources.

-Having 1 mainland city, expanding to the ocean, then filling is suicide. You are already going to have a major advantage in terms of time spent alone with navigation. Send out a galleon to scout out good spots before you commit a settler or more. Build at least 3 mainland cities for production/protection purposes. Ideally, I'd like 5 mainland cities and 5 ocean cities before adding flipped or conquered cities.

You can have 4 beastly tech cities on the ocean and 1 gold city, then 2 of your mainland cities can produce gold as well.

-The Spanish are a late game civ. It's important to note that you aren't going to keep up in tech early or bum rush any cities unless you're playing someone that has no clue. But if you can settle some good islands, get the East India Co. grab a couple artifacts, and keep pace up to 0 AD, there's no reason you can't pass the Japanese or Chinese.

[Frelinder]

Just a couple points:

-I wouldn't settle exclusively on whales and fish. You'd be neglecting a ton of other aspects that make a city worthwhile to build. Not to mention you'd be sending your settlers out into the great unknown trying to find these resources.

-Having 1 mainland city, expanding to the ocean, then filling is suicide. You are already going to have a major advantage in terms of time spent alone with navigation. Send out a galleon to scout out good spots before you commit a settler or more. Build at least 3 mainland cities for production/protection purposes. Ideally, I'd like 5 mainland cities and 5 ocean cities before adding flipped or conquered cities.

You can have 4 beastly tech cities on the ocean and 1 gold city, then 2 of your mainland cities can produce gold as well.

-The Spanish are a late game civ. It's important to note that you aren't going to keep up in tech early or bum rush any cities unless you're playing someone that has no clue. But if you can settle some good islands, get the East India Co. grab a couple artifacts, and keep pace up to 0 AD, there's no reason you can't pass the Japanese or Chinese.

I don't agree that Spanish are a late game civ.

If using their bonuses right you can surely keep up or stay ahead in the tech race.

Getting acces to whale from the start is like having the Zulus rapid city growth-bonus. And you can tech and grow in all your early cities at the same time.

Spanish don't need hammers so what other reasourcers are you missing out if you have them on whale and fish. All Spanish need is food and trade..

Yestarday I decided to play a map from the start again that I had already played before. I did this because i wan'ted to see how fast I could adwance with Spanish if I knew what the map look like.

I reached modern area 500 BC and 900 AD I finished world bank and won an economic wictory. This was on Deity SP regular mode. Yes I know I wan't be this fast on a map that I haven't played before. But non the less Spain is a techmosnter civ.... If i knew the map and tried this with other civs I doubt that I could be this fast..

If you get massonary first and get the free wall, reasearch BW as the first tech and put a few archers in capital you wan't have any trouble defending from rushers either. Especially if you have naval support.

And if scouting with your galleon first and then get back to pick up settlers you are loosing many, many turns.. just head out and you will find islands...

Not to mention Spain get 50% goldproduction already in Industrial and that will happen very fast scince they 90% of the time get atlantis realy quick.

So no.. I realy must disagree that they are a late civ...

Also you can rush another opponent with Spain. Warrior veteranarmy with galleon naval support in 2500 BC is not something most can defending from. Or veteran legionarmies a little later and with an veteran galleon fleet(with the Spanish +1 naval attack) as support. can an archer army defend against that? NO.. I think not.. And this early they wan't have any better protection then archers..

[Manistyle]

yes to add 1 thing try to settle cities next to the big fish thats really good bonus.
and how you gonna defend all those cities ?lets say you achieve all those things that you wrote you will be in lead and other people will teamup against you .
how to defend such a big empire

First of all: My first 5 island cities are going to be near Whales and Fishes, while the others are going to be nearby so it seems easier defend able, and as written do i Rush a lot of Galleons and Cruisers.

[Phantom11392]

First of all: My first 5 island cities are going to be near Whales and Fishes, while the others are going to be nearby so it seems easier defend able, and as written do i Rush a lot of Galleons and Cruisers.

Your strategy is needs every island to have fish and whales wich isnt always going to happen. To be honest you could realy do this strategy basicly with any civ except without the whales. The key to the spanish is exploring early and hope you find some artifacts.

[Manistyle]

Your strategy is needs every island to have fish and whales wich isnt always going to happen. To be honest you could realy do this strategy basicly with any civ except without the whales. The key to the spanish is exploring early and hope you find some artifacts.

4 cities are there going to be whales or fishes, else are you going to rush harbours.. I havent played a game yet without 4 islands with whales or fishes but if it is to difficult a Coastal city seems okay:).. Any way it really seems to work! It beat diety easily and going in a 10-3 Online with the strat:).

[Phantom11392]

4 cities are there going to be whales or fishes, else are you going to rush harbours.. I havent played a game yet without 4 islands with whales or fishes but if it is to difficult a Coastal city seems okay:).. Any way it really seems to work! It beat diety easily and going in a 10-3 Online with the strat:).

wow if your finding that many islands with fish and whales your lucky. Your strategy is would be better off with japan. If you can get island cities with harbors with japan your cities will grow very quickly. Your strategy doesnt take advantage of spains bonuses.

[IML Owl]

It also should be mentioned part of your strategy can't be "just rush harbors." That completely ignores the fact that at any stage of the game,especially early game where they do the most good, harbors are very, very, very expensive. And even if you rush one, you won't be able to afford another.

Hey Morte, for 100 hammers in the early game, would you rather have 1 harbor or two horseman armies or 10 legions? I think I know the answer. He'll back me up.