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Japanese Strategy
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After looking at the Japanese strategies on different boards, I found none that really take advantage of their all their abilities. Most of them have some of the advantages in there, but most leave out some important things. I will try to write up a more refined strategy for them here.
Bonuses:
Start: Knowledge of Ceremonial Burial
Ancient: +1 Food from sea regions
Medieval: +1 Samurai Knight attack
Industrial: Cities not affected by Anarchy
Modern: Defensive units receive loyalty upgrade (+50% defense in home territory)
-Start with workers on 2 forests, producing 2 warriors in 5 turns. I usually rush another warrior once I hit 20 gold, which usually allows me to get 100g settler a lot faster. An early 3rd warrior rushed with gold usually pays for itself in those first 5-10 turns of the game.
- set both workers to science, research Bronze Working. A lot of guides will have you get alphabet first, because they hope to rush libraries early, which is a mistake on many different levels. Get Bronze working, so you can defend against rushers. Libraries don't get built until well after Ancient Era, except in very rare cases.
-if there are rushers coming, spend 5 turns getting 2 archers in your cap, but if you are safe, spend 2 turns on grass. You should have 10 food amassed from researching Bronze on two sea squares, so you just need 10 more food to get your cap up to 3 pop. So spend two turns on grass (8 food) and 1 turn on 2 sea (2 food), and you'll have your 3 pop by 2700 BC or so, with bronze working and some more science to boot.
- By now you should be getting your 100 gold settler. Look for a spot with at least 1 forest 1 grass and lots of sea. 2 forests is way better, because you'll be hammering out settlers from this spot, and you need defenses in you early cities as well.
- Also keep an eye out for fish (goes without saying). fish provide +3 food for the japanese. So working on 1 fish one normal sea will be equivalent to working on 2 grass 2 sea. So in five turns you'll be able to grow in your city from 2 to 3 pop, while getting 20 science in the process.
- Before rushing a settler in Kyoto, get at least 8 food banked there before getting that settler, this way your cap will grow back to 2 pop the next turn.
- Settle your next city much like your 2nd: find some forests and lots of sea.
- Make sure your defenses are sound, produce archers in your cities, and consider sending some of them out to choke points. You should have your warriors in choke points or lookouts by now if they are done exploring.
- Start hammering out settlers or rushing them with gold.
- Once you have your next settler, look to see if there is a favorable spot to settle more on the mainland. If there is a spot with fish, more forest+ lots of sea, or anything else useful, settle it there. You still wanna grab a strong foot hold for the time being on the mainland.
- Load some settlers up on a galley, and start settling islands, of course looking for whales and dye. 1 tile islands are great for defensive reasons, and will grow into trade powerhouses as the game goes on. I just like to have as much of the useful mainland for myself so others won't claim it, and it's easier to get settlers from the mainland than it is from islands (because you can work on hammers, and you're not relying on keeping a boat in the area for when the settler on an island is finished).
teching
You need bronze first, as mentioned above. After that you need to either decide for irrigation or code of laws. If it looks like you'll waste time racing others to irrigation (pottery, masonary, irrigation) then just tech to code of laws (alphabet, writing, code of laws).
If you don't know whether or not you wanna go for irrigation, I recommend getting alphabet after bronze working, then try to see if irrigation is feasible, if it's not, then you are already on your way to code of laws.
- after code of laws, see if you can get currency first. If you can, the turn before you get currency, switch the city that you want the free market in to gold, that way you'll have a good gold base established.
- If you are in danger, getting iron working should always be considered, so you can produce legions to counter attack.
- After code of laws or currency, get navigation (math+writing, you have writing already, so just tech math--->navigation.
back to more strategy talk
Once you get to republic, start producing as many settlers as you can, either load them up on a galley, or settle them on the mainland. If you are close to getting navigation first, just stockpile a few settlers then load them up on a galleon.
- now you wanna look for whales, this will give you +5 food from a sea square. this will make great trade cities and settler farms. I like to find an island with a whale and two forests first. This way, you can hammer out settlers and actually grow in the city.
- This is the point in the game where I would consider starting to build or rush libraries. After about 10 cities, and you've got a city that's producing decent trade and you know you won't be getting any more settlers from that city. However, you should still have a settler farm going somewhere, pretty much throughout the game. You can use every single island if you want, and it's worth it.
What your really building up to:
beeline to feudalism (monarchy+horseback riding). in the medieval, knights get +1 attack. this is where you wanna end the game, or really exert your force. BUT NOT SO FAST! You've gotta have a plan:
Just a knights army with +1 attack is not going to do much for you, and probably won't be as swift as you need them to be. You want a force that will kill archers with ease, not just close odds. Also, you wanna have good attack against pikemen. You should be able to get knights before they tech up to democracy and get them built. You should be able to beat them with your super knights if they already have pikes, but most imporantly, all 4 other civs on the map won't have pikes by this time. So you should have some easy caps, and you still should be able to kill pikes.
What you need:
-A barracks in your highest production city (glad you settled by those forest now aren't you??) You'll hopefully have the barracks a few techs before you get to Feudalism.
- After your barracks in built, hammer bank in that city by setting your production to a wonder. You'll cash in these hammers for knights later.
- After you get Feudalism, tech up next to Religion (you have the prereqs of monarchy and ceremonial burial already).
The rush
Now you have knights with +3 attack!!!
From here spam as many knights armies as you can, you should have your first one pretty quickly if not right away (from hammer banking, free knight from 1st to research).
- Set all your cities to gold for a few turns and produce as many knights as possible. This works a lot better if you get knights before advancing to industrial, where you'll have to pay a little more to rush them with gold.
- If you are in the industrial, and do have fundamentalism, and you're done with producing your knights, and you have libraries, at the end of each turn, switch out of fundamentalism to anarachy. This way your libaries will still work, and you'll be able to select fundementalism at the beginning of the next turn again. Just don't do this if you need to attack someone as soon as the next turn begins, because it will slow you down selecting the government again.
rest of the game
You should be able to pick up most or all cities on the map. Regardless, you should have an overwhelming lead. You've got a powerful attack force, captured cities (hopefully), and a lot of island cities.
If the game is not over with knights, tech up to democracy, expand more if you need to, and resume the tech race. Your cities should be some of the largest on the map and it shouldn't be complicated as long as you have expanded like I said, had a somewhat successful knights rush, and have not been left in the dust in the tech race.
If you are behind, switch back to code of laws, switch cities to gold, get a lot of settlers and use every single island and shore if you have to.
In the modern era, make sure to build some new defensive units in your cities if you are threatened, because they receive the loyalty upgrade.
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After looking at the Japanese strategies on different boards, I found none that really take advantage of their all their abilities. Most of them have some of the advantages in there, but most leave out some important things. I will try to write up a more refined strategy for them here.
Bonuses:
Start: Knowledge of Ceremonial Burial
Ancient: +1 Food from sea regions
Medieval: +1 Samurai Knight attack
Industrial: Cities not affected by Anarchy
Modern: Defensive units receive loyalty upgrade (+50% defense in home territory)
-Start with workers on 2 forests, producing 2 warriors in 5 turns. I usually rush another warrior once I hit 20 gold, which usually allows me to get 100g settler a lot faster. An early 3rd warrior rushed with gold usually pays for itself in those first 5-10 turns of the game.
- set both workers to science, research Bronze Working. A lot of guides will have you get alphabet first, because they hope to rush libraries early, which is a mistake on many different levels. Get Bronze working, so you can defend against rushers. Libraries don't get built until well after Ancient Era, except in very rare cases.
-if there are rushers coming, spend 5 turns getting 2 archers in your cap, but if you are safe, spend 2 turns on grass. You should have 10 food amassed from researching Bronze on two sea squares, so you just need 10 more food to get your cap up to 3 pop. So spend two turns on grass (8 food) and 1 turn on 2 sea (2 food), and you'll have your 3 pop by 2700 BC or so, with bronze working and some more science to boot.
- By now you should be getting your 100 gold settler. Look for a spot with at least 1 forest 1 grass and lots of sea. 2 forests is way better, because you'll be hammering out settlers from this spot, and you need defenses in you early cities as well.
- Also keep an eye out for fish (goes without saying). fish provide +3 food for the japanese. So working on 1 fish one normal sea will be equivalent to working on 2 grass 2 sea. So in five turns you'll be able to grow in your city from 2 to 3 pop, while getting 20 science in the process.
- Before rushing a settler in Kyoto, get at least 8 food banked there before getting that settler, this way your cap will grow back to 2 pop the next turn.
- Settle your next city much like your 2nd: find some forests and lots of sea.
- Make sure your defenses are sound, produce archers in your cities, and consider sending some of them out to choke points. You should have your warriors in choke points or lookouts by now if they are done exploring.
- Start hammering out settlers or rushing them with gold.
- Once you have your next settler, look to see if there is a favorable spot to settle more on the mainland. If there is a spot with fish, more forest+ lots of sea, or anything else useful, settle it there. You still wanna grab a strong foot hold for the time being on the mainland.
- Load some settlers up on a galley, and start settling islands, of course looking for whales and dye. 1 tile islands are great for defensive reasons, and will grow into trade powerhouses as the game goes on. I just like to have as much of the useful mainland for myself so others won't claim it, and it's easier to get settlers from the mainland than it is from islands (because you can work on hammers, and you're not relying on keeping a boat in the area for when the settler on an island is finished).
teching
You need bronze first, as mentioned above. After that you need to either decide for irrigation or code of laws. If it looks like you'll waste time racing others to irrigation (pottery, masonary, irrigation) then just tech to code of laws (alphabet, writing, code of laws).
If you don't know whether or not you wanna go for irrigation, I recommend getting alphabet after bronze working, then try to see if irrigation is feasible, if it's not, then you are already on your way to code of laws.
- after code of laws, see if you can get currency first. If you can, the turn before you get currency, switch the city that you want the free market in to gold, that way you'll have a good gold base established.
- If you are in danger, getting iron working should always be considered, so you can produce legions to counter attack.
- After code of laws or currency, get navigation (math+writing, you have writing already, so just tech math--->navigation.
back to more strategy talk
Once you get to republic, start producing as many settlers as you can, either load them up on a galley, or settle them on the mainland. If you are close to getting navigation first, just stockpile a few settlers then load them up on a galleon.
- now you wanna look for whales, this will give you +5 food from a sea square. this will make great trade cities and settler farms. I like to find an island with a whale and two forests first. This way, you can hammer out settlers and actually grow in the city.
- This is the point in the game where I would consider starting to build or rush libraries. After about 10 cities, and you've got a city that's producing decent trade and you know you won't be getting any more settlers from that city. However, you should still have a settler farm going somewhere, pretty much throughout the game. You can use every single island if you want, and it's worth it.
What your really building up to:
beeline to feudalism (monarchy+horseback riding). in the medieval, knights get +1 attack. this is where you wanna end the game, or really exert your force. BUT NOT SO FAST! You've gotta have a plan:
Just a knights army with +1 attack is not going to do much for you, and probably won't be as swift as you need them to be. You want a force that will kill archers with ease, not just close odds. Also, you wanna have good attack against pikemen. You should be able to get knights before they tech up to democracy and get them built. You should be able to beat them with your super knights if they already have pikes, but most imporantly, all 4 other civs on the map won't have pikes by this time. So you should have some easy caps, and you still should be able to kill pikes.
What you need:
-A barracks in your highest production city (glad you settled by those forest now aren't you??) You'll hopefully have the barracks a few techs before you get to Feudalism.
- After your barracks in built, hammer bank in that city by setting your production to a wonder. You'll cash in these hammers for knights later.
- After you get Feudalism, tech up next to Religion (you have the prereqs of monarchy and ceremonial burial already).
The rush
Now you have knights with +3 attack!!!
From here spam as many knights armies as you can, you should have your first one pretty quickly if not right away (from hammer banking, free knight from 1st to research).
- Set all your cities to gold for a few turns and produce as many knights as possible. This works a lot better if you get knights before advancing to industrial, where you'll have to pay a little more to rush them with gold.
- If you are in the industrial, and do have fundamentalism, and you're done with producing your knights, and you have libraries, at the end of each turn, switch out of fundamentalism to anarachy. This way your libaries will still work, and you'll be able to select fundementalism at the beginning of the next turn again. Just don't do this if you need to attack someone as soon as the next turn begins, because it will slow you down selecting the government again.
rest of the game
You should be able to pick up most or all cities on the map. Regardless, you should have an overwhelming lead. You've got a powerful attack force, captured cities (hopefully), and a lot of island cities.
If the game is not over with knights, tech up to democracy, expand more if you need to, and resume the tech race. Your cities should be some of the largest on the map and it shouldn't be complicated as long as you have expanded like I said, had a somewhat successful knights rush, and have not been left in the dust in the tech race.
If you are behind, switch back to code of laws, switch cities to gold, get a lot of settlers and use every single island and shore if you have to.
In the modern era, make sure to build some new defensive units in your cities if you are threatened, because they receive the loyalty upgrade.