Buccaneers: Seafaring
Privateers: no starting techs
Spain: Catholicism
England: Political Ambition, Protestantism
France: Political Ambition, Catholicism
Netherlands: Protestantism
Portugal: Seafaring, Catholicism
America: no starting techs
 

SCENARIO SETTINGS

-Random map. It is strongly recommended that you chose a "Pangaea" landmass. Smaller worlds result in shorter games but proportionally larger numbers of adjacent civs, resulting in more conflict. If you want less conflict, eliminate civs from the game by selecting the NONE option when clicking on the dropdown to choose your rivals.

-no shallow water rules: there are no deepwater squares. Every naval unit can travel in every type of water. Be advised--this results in significantly more naval battles.

-two plagues cycles roughly corresponding to the times of the major European outbreaks.

-no accelerated production

-barbarians: roaming

-cultural conversions are allowed

-map trading not allowed

-gold mines produce gold every 25 turns

-length: 540 turns in 540 years

-Victory conditions: you need 200,000 victory points or 150,000 culture points to win outright. You can also win by destroying all your opponents or by controlling 75% of the terrain and population.  You receive the most victory points by capturing cities. In this scenario, gold does not earn victory points. Because you are going for a win based on victory points, population size, territory size, and military strength are not the most important factors. Concentrate on activities that generate victory points.


IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS

A victory by one of your armies will launch a Golden Age. Note: because the Buccaneers and Privateers can not build armies, they can not experience Golden Ages.

The "Naval Empire" form of government has been replaced by "Land Empire". Land Empire becomes available with the discovery of Mounted Arms.

All naval units cost an average of +50% more, while core land units (musketmen, militiamen, grenadiers, riflemen, infantry, cavalry) cost -50% less. Be prepared for a large amount of land units in this game. Because of the large number of units, this scenario is not recommended for slower computers.

Ground units enjoy a 4 movement along roads (instead of 3), and scouting units move 4 squares per turn regardless of terrain.

In this scenario, Naval Leadership is optional for era advancement.

Gold earns no victory points.  However, gold is important to your economy because each unit of gold brought to your capitol adds 200 gold to your treasury.

Exploration is important in this scenario. Map trading is not allowed so you need to explore in order to discover new terrain.

Be advised: armies are very important in this game. If a neighboring civ gets them first, they will likely use them against you.