Rhye's and Fall of Civilization - Dutch strategy
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Dutch UHV (monarch and emperor)
by Pacifist
This is truly one of the easier UHVs. As long as you play it safe (i.e. not declare war on any neighbors and be friendly to everybody), you will achieve this. The first 1/3 of the game you're essentially playing a one-city challenge with Amsterdam. Eventually, your score may differ depending on how large your empire is and how much you devote to your science. (I won in 1650 with a Herbert Hoover score only, but with Emperor I won in 1700 and got Henry VIII).
Goals
- Have the most extended map of the world in 1600 AD (this is really easy, just explore away both land and sea)
- Be the first to found a city in Australia (again, nobody will even go near Australia until 1700 or thereafter so you have all the time in the world for this, but you want to get it before 1600 to get your triumphal arch)
- Secure or get by trade 7 spices resources by 1775 AD (this is the semi-tough part)
Starting moves
If you start in the tip of Denmark then you must restart (otherwise after your spawn period is gone the historic Netherlands will go to Germany which usually founds Hamburg right at your doorstep. You have 4 pikemen, 4 crossbowmen, 2 settlers, 2 workboats and 2 galleys. Found Amsterdam. Pack a settler and 3 crossbowmen onto your galleys and head straight for South Africa (good historic stepping point for the spices in Southeast Asia, and usually Arabia will not open borders with you so you can't really get to Southeast Asia in the beginning). With your 2 extra crossbowmen you want to capture either Quelimane or Zimbabwe.
Switch to hereditary rule and slavery before your first move is over. Now the next step is to open borders with France, Germany and Spain. You may have to give them some money or even a tech (usually you're 3 techs ahead of them, I chose Divine Right which doesn't not lead to world wonders or new units). You must do this to send your troops in either direction to explore the continents (otherwise you may not have enough map revealed in time). Also the more Asia you reveal, the less your caravel will need to travel to circumnavigate. Send 2 pikemen eastward and 1 westward to explore. (Obviously when you reach Russia open borders with them).
You'll have 3 workers and after they're done with their pasturing and stone quarrying, I chose cottages rather than workshops (anticipating the drain on my economy from overseas colonies). Then they did nothing except build for the French and German some roads to maximize my trade.
Eventually Christianity will spread to you (somehow in my game it took almost 150 years before it got to me, so I was able to open borders with the Mongols and Chinese before their religion forbade it). You want to switch to Organized Religion then for the building productivity.
Exploration
While you're building stuff at home, your ships should be exploring at all times. I'm not sure how much territory you have to reveal to get the second criteria, but in my game the Portuguese were really weak and were Germany's vassals, so they didn't do any exploration that matches mine. I have close to 80% of the world revealed in 1600 (the only blank spaces were central Africa, Arabian lands and the Himalayas). DO NOT TRADE YOUR MAP TO ANYBODY until 1605, when you can sell your maps to everybody for close to 1500-2000 gold (important for the science).
Science and Wonderbuilding
Techwise you have to get civil service ASAP (since you'll be working with 1 city you have to maximize its productivity). Compass, Optics and Astronomy are next. The rest doesn't really matter--keep an eye on when other people get gunpowder. You want to use your first great engineer to build Notre Dame (probably the only wonder you need); I built it in 1200. (obviously do not trade Engineering to anybody until then). The only other wonder I built was the Leaning tower (quick and easy, and your great men will come in droves together with Pacifism). I wasn't really keen into building other wonders in order not to piss the Germans or French off with my culture, and in any case, multicity wonders such as the Sistine Chapel you can't use with all your overseas possessions.
Politics
I had almost every Christian nation either pleased or friendly with me (both Germany and France were friendly, since they didn't declare war on each other to pull me apart). I did declare war on Russia after Germany asked me to, but I never saw a single Russian troop near my territories. The only active war (besides the nagging impi and dog soldiers) I had was with the Vikings, because I founded a city in northern Denmark ('Graves-something) after I flipped Hamburg, and since Oslo was already founded, I had to culture bomb my living space with a great artist. Eventually Oslo flipped and this provoked the Vikings towards the end of my game to a war I couldn't win; they had grenadiers. Doesn't matter anyway... since they can't get to the mainland with my super galleons protecting the gulf.
In Emperor, unfortunately since the Shwedagon Paya is now in Pagan, and liberalism is so darn expensive, you will not have the option to open borders with non-Christian countries because you will not get to free religion in time. (of course you can switch back to no state religion but it hurts a lot). Use spies to explore their territories. The international conferences were really a boon to me since other than the Arabs and Japanese, everybody abstained or voted for me; I got Zimbabwe and Tikal for free.
The Khmer were interesting. They have 3 spices and I debated whether to conquer them or just accept their vassalization. I chose the latter (being the Pacifist that I am) and they gave me 2 spices for copper and stone. (of course if you play emperor they'll be as advanced (if not more) than you.
Resettlement and the Spice trade
Once you get optics, build 2 caravels and send them to the Americas. I reached them in 1400 and captured both the Aztecs' and Incans' lands. (There is a spice in Tultan). You may want be tempted to just vassalize the Incans since their cities will always be small and a drain on your economy, but I found the copper, cotton and gold to be a boon to my economy. (No such luck in Emperor; either Spain or France will beat you to them).
Once you get Astronomy, build your East Dutchmen which are really powerful (lots of room for cargo and can explore rival territory, even isolationist Japan). Switch to Resettlement once you have your settlers close to where you want them. Now the trick is to capture the spices with as few settlers as possible, so the more desirable (and historically correct) places are:
- Northern Brazil (not quite in Suriname) (2 spices with one city)
- Papua New Guinea (found your city below the mountain and you'll capture 2 spices)
- Southeastern India (1 spice) (the Indians should not have spawned)
- Madagascar (1 spice) (closest to your mini empire in Southeastern Africa)
- Jayakarta (the island just south of Borneo) (1 spice)
- Jakarta (the main Indonesian island; usually Singapore will encompass this spice so it's iffy)
- Havana (the Spanish beat me to it) (1 spice)
The Persians may eventually spawn and you might get a spice from them if you're lazy or lucky.
If you're playing Emperor, you will have to beat the Spanish, Portuguese and even the French for the spices. Do not build plantations on your spices since if do, you won't be able to trade for them from the other civs. The order you should do it should be:
- Brazil (to beat the Portuguese)
- Havana (and the neighboring island with a worker to develop the spice)
- Jayakarta (although the Khmer will usually build it; if you're lucky you may be able to get this from a conference)
- Madagascar (France likes this location)
- Southern India AFTER they have spawned
- Papua New Guinea (England likes this but usually doesn't build Port Moresby until after 1700)
Build theaters to enclose the spices quickly before a neighboring civ does it first. If you have room sometimes bringing a Christian missionary will help.
If you're unlucky enough to miss 1-2 spices, you'll have to declare war on your neighbors to get their cities. Spain is usually an easier target due to their lack of riflemen, but in my game I just got Cayenne which was defended by 1 diseased cavalry. Be sure you're able to defend your capital for at least 5-6 turns of anarchy after you do your surprise strike on these spice cities.
Now "control" doesn't seem to mean you actually have to have a plantation. You just need to get it from trade, control the area that has the spice (i.e. have them in your cultural area) or yes, build a plantation on them. Since the 2nd option is viable, and by this time your science will be close to nil if you have to maintain a vast international empire, I chose to get my settlers right next to where they are, and then found all of them at once and win the 3rd UHV criteria in 1 move.
Final comments
If you're a war mongerer you can either conquer the French or Germans and build a continental empire. But then you'll have the Russians and Spanish to deal with and they can be a real drain on your true interests, which are financial and exploration. I could have won even closer to 1600 if I didn't try to get a high science score and building troops to defend Oslo.
(By Blueraider)
In my game I declared war on England and took it over. It helped with science and with troop creation for defense. Interestingly, the Portuguese and the French offered themselves as Vassal states.
Dutch UHV for AD 600 starts
by Mxzs
Overview
The Dutch spawn after the Vikings, Spanish, French, Germans, and English, but before the Portuguese. They appear with a few techs that will be new to their neighbors, but they will not have much room to expand on the continent itself. This can put them at a somewhat of a disadvantage later in the game, after the French, English, et al, begin leveraging their larger empires into faster research speeds.
But that's okay. When going for a Historical Victory, the key is to expand overseas, not in Europe, and to do that you only need a few key techs up front.
The Dutch UHV conditions:
1. Have the most extended map of the world in 1600.
2. Be the first to found a city in Australia.
3. Secure or get by trade 7 Spices resources by 1775.
It is most important to note the manner in which the third condition is calculated. To meet it, you do not need to actually draw Spices from the resources you "secure." This means you do not need to build roads and plantations on those Spice resources. It is enough to put a city on the same landmass as the resource and bring it within your cultural borders.
Because the Dutch goals require you to found several settlements in widely dispersed corners of the globe and to have a large map, you need to prioritize getting Optics (for Caravels) and Astronomy (for East Indiamen). After that, it is little more than a race to explore and settle the world by the time limits indicated. This is not difficult.
There are many tactics to use in going for a Dutch Historical victory. In what follows I will lay out the basics while noting places where different tactics can be employed. Most of the alternatives are drawn from the RFC subforum at civfanatics.com
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is a rich location—with a Fish, a Clam, a Wheat, and a Cattle square within its fat cross, it has the potential to grow very large. Health and happiness, not food, will put a limit on how large you let your capital grow. But it is not necessary to absolutely max it out in population. A size of 13 or 14 can be quite sufficient for winning a Historical victory.
To offset Amsterdam's production weaknesses, you can build Workshops on available land tiles and then run Caste System and Bureaucracy as Civics. (The former is available at the start, but you will have to research Civil Service to get the latter.) Alternately, you can ramp up food production even further with Farms and generate Great People who, as super-specialists, can provide hammers and other benefits.
Your continental base is very small: you will probably be squeezed in closely by Hamburg. There is a chance that Hamburg will flip to you early on; there is also the chance of conquering it early with your starting Crossbowmen. (There's also the chance that it will not have been built.) If you take Hamburg early, you can use it for extra gold and production; if you take it late, you can raze it so as to give Amsterdam maximal room. You also have an early Settler that you might put in Denmark. That second city will add land to your European base, secure a Pig resource, and put greater cultural pressure on Hamburg.
Against these possibilities, you need to consider the tension with Germany that would result from a war for Hamburg, and the cultural tension with the Vikings that would come from settling in Denmark. While it is certainly possible to survive and even win wars against your neighbors, such wars at the very least can be a major distraction from reaching the Historical goals. Moreover, it is quite easy to get a Historical Victory without ever taking Hamburg or settling in Denmark.
That's because Amsterdam itself is remarkably powerful. It will quickly grow to size 12 or larger, and when you bump up against the health and happiness ceilings, you can turn off growth by hiring specialists. This means that the city is a terrific Great Person farm that you can run in whatever manner suits you. Each player has his or her own preferred GP style, and Amsterdam is a lovely playground to indulge yourself.
Going for Wonders in Amsterdam is a debatable strategy. There is much to be said for getting Notre Dame and maybe one or two other Wonders early on. Against that, though, is the opportunity cost of adding smaller, non-Wonder buildings. Also, if you like to plan your GP production you may not like unwanted Wonder modifiers interfering with the odds of generating the GP you are aiming for. In any case, it is quite easy to win a Historical Victory without building a single Wonder.
Do remember that a Castle can generate an extra trade route.
The Empire
After Amsterdam is up and running (which will hardly take any time at all), you will need to turn your attention to getting your empire going.
Besides Optics (and its prerequisite Compass) and Astronomy, there are a number of techs that will be highly useful: Civil Service will enable the highly efficient Bureaucracy civic; Gunpowder will give your cities more protection and help deter aggressors; Paper will enable map-trading; Chemistry can improve the output of Workshops. Beyond these, it is probably best to tailor your research as circumstances require. You are unlikely to get Steam Power and Dikes, though, long before you win the Historical Victory.
As the Netherlands is small, it is generally a good idea to stay on good terms with your neighbors. This primarily means the French, Germans, English and Vikings. A little judicious tech gifting early on can earn you points. You can also win points by staying on top of tech developments in other countries and trading for what you need and what they want. A strong defense will deter them from treating you badly. If you're willing to pay the price, an early conversion to Theocracy can help keep the ever-aggressive Isabella off your back and keep your defenses strong.
When you spawn you will have two Settlers. One will found Amsterdam. What to do with the other one? If you don't use it for a city in Denmark, you can send it to Australia, build a city in Africa, or do an early settle near a Spice resource.
The last is probably the least good idea, unless you build in India as a staging area for attacking the Khmer later in the game. There will be time to grab Spices later in the game, after you have Astronomy. If you send the Settler to Africa, you have two good locations. On the northeast coast, you will find Iron, Ivory, Wine, Horse, and Sheep (though the latter run some risk of falling under Spanish control later in the game). In the southeast, near Madagascar, you can find Sugar, Gold, Gems, and Iron. This location, however, is close to Native cities. The units these produce can be useful for generating a Great General if you have good protective units properly stationed, but they are a nuisance or a danger otherwise.
If you send the Settler to Australia (which you can reach with your Galley), you again have the choice of settling on the northwest or southeast coasts. In the northwest you can find Gold and Fish, along with two Iron and two Gem resources; in the southeast you can find Silver and some very fertile countryside.
Settling in Australia (especially the northwest) will give you some badly needed resources and meet one of your UHV goals; it will also act as a happy staging ground for settling in the Spice islands of Indonesia. Africa, however, will provide a quicker return of resources. Probably there isn't a wrong answer to the question of which you should settle.
(There are also two Spices and several other resources that can be found in southern Persia. You can try taking these, if you don't mind having Saladin as a neighbor.)
Once you have Optics, you shouldn't miss the chance to visit the Aztecs to try to get the Adventurers spawn. You can use that army to conquer the Aztecs (and thus secure a Spice resource); you can transport it off for use elsewhere (in southern Africa, for instance); or you can gift it to the Aztecs for use against your European rivals when they show up in the Americas.
Once you have Astronomy, don't forget to switch to Resettlement.
UHV Conditions
1. Australia: This might seem the most dodgy condition to try to meet, as you have no way of knowing if or when one of your rivals might blunder onto and settle Australia while you're distracted elsewhere. Often, though, the other civs are slow to find and settle Australia. While you shouldn't let this goal slide too long, you don't have to lunge for it right away. If you don't use one of your starting Settlers to colonize Australia, you should probably wait until after you have secured some of the more important Spice locations before sending a Settler down under.
2. Map Quest: This is probably the easiest goal to meet. After getting Optics, you can build between two and four Caravel-Explorer pairs and send them off to sweep out the various continents and oceans. (Be sure to pop every goodie hut you come across.) Before you start exploring in earnest, you can trade your map for that of your rivals so that you are not exploring redundant space, but after that you should guard your map jealously. Instead, you can add to what you know by buying maps from your rivals for between 5 and 50 gold coins at a pop. It is an especially good idea to make one final round of map purchases on the turn before this condition is to be met. That way, you will have much of what your rivals will have discovered, plus the discoveries you've made and not shared.
3. Spices: Spices are mostly clustered in the East Indies and the West Indies. The first is an arc stretching from Indochina through Sumatra and Java to New Guinea; the second is an arc stretching from northern Mexico through Cuba and down to the northeast coast of South America. In addition, there are Spices in Madagascar, southeastern India, and southern Persia.
The greatest priority should probably be on the Spices in South America. There are two there, and the Portuguese will try to take both almost as soon as they get Optics. If you do go for those Spices it is probably a good idea to plant two cities down there instead of one (though both resources can be grasped in one city's fat cross)—one of your rivals might try snagging one of your Spices by building a city right next to it. Cuba's Spice is also easy to get, provided you get there before Chichen Itza's cultural boundaries expand to take in the island's one buildable spot. (Ignore the one other Caribbean spice; it's impossible to get that one before Biology.)
If you dawdle, the Khmer will slowly expand to take the Spices in the east. The great prize in that region is New Guinea, which has two Spices that can be taken with one city. Java is also fairly easy to get, provided you move more quickly than the Khmer.
The above locations will give you six of the seven Spices you need. For the last one, you can simply take whatever locations are still free. The Spice condition will probably be the last goal you reach, and building the last city next to a Spice will likely trigger the Historical Victory.
In order to meet this third condition, you should probably count on needing at least three East Indiamen. These are cheap to upgrade from Galleys, so you can anticipate the acquisition of Astronomy by saving your two starting Galleys and building a third.
If you have doubts about getting all seven Spices, you can hedge your bets by trading for one of the Spices you need. If you do, be sure to trade for it before you get access to your own Spice by building a plantation on your resource(s). (Again, it is not necessary to build a plantation on your Spices in order to meet the third Victory condition, but you can work them anyway for the benefits they bring.) You can pick up extra Spices from other civs, though, if you vassalize them first.
You also shouldn't overly worry about fighting a war to get a seventh Spice. If the city you conquer is right next to the seventh resource you need, it will fall inside your cultural boundaries as soon as the city exits disorder. Depending on the city size, then, you will win the game only a few turns after going to war, which will likely not be enough time for your enemy to regroup and strike back.
Corms Tips
The above are both good strategies so this is only for additional information not to replace anything said above.
Make sure your Gallies are no where near Portugals Spawn radius when they are due to spawn or you will loose them. Bitter experience here and it seems obvious but 2 or 3 turns of messing around with your boats instead of sending them straight to Australia or S Africa will cost you them.
You can make great use of a Great Spies if you build and slave rush a Courthouse first then spawn 1 GS to build Interpol and a 2nd to use as an espionage booster to either France or Germany whichever is more advanced. In my last couple of Dutch games its always been France and with Interpol Bonus, weighting espionage towards either France or Germany and the 2nd GS you can get anything from 3 - 6 techs from stealing. Well worth it if you do this early. The best thing is it speeds up your UHV achievement rather than regressing it. Generally you wont face war because of it.
Beeline Optics and send a whipped caravel with a whipped explorer straight to the Aztecs then in a round about fashion to the Incas (avoiding going over the coast or near to S America so that you dont meet their fishing boat) and get the conquerors spawn that way for both Civs.
Spain generally attacks you at some point or another in most games but with your initial units minus whatever you sent in your boats you'll have no problem defending.
Whip whip and whip again. You have that much food you would be foolish not too and you will still hit GP with some minor micro management (as above for the spies)
Dont bother with Wonders if your going for the UHV you wont ever need them.
Settling Australia at the NW coast (fish, 2 iron, gems) will allow you to knock out a Workboat and then Worker within 10 turns of settling there and about 20 after you should be able to send a whipped settler and defensive unit (although thats not necessary at first) to settle Java and expand over the Spices in the Dutch East Indies fast thanks to Javas massive food potential (whipped work boats from GF De Welts land).
Finally as said above DONT EVER TRADE YOUR MAP. The reverse doesnt hold though. If you buy world maps from any Civ you can as soon as you can you will be able to rebuy their maps once they are exploring with Caravels for between 5 - 50gp max which isnt much for the amount of coverage youll gain from doing it every 20 - 30 turns.
