The British are primarily an economic powerhouse, though initially their economic advantage will be small. Playing British is most interesting because of the types of choices that need to be made. While it's true that if you are left alone your economy will be that of a roaring superpower, this is balanced by your need to invest into many more Citizens than other nations in order to attain those higher levels of income.

You'll also have to ensure that you don't get stuck defending and reacting to an aggressive opponent. Just because you can boom well doesn't mean you should - playing aggressively and causing your opponent to react to your strategy is an important aspect of any game. Time they spend dealing with your attacks is time they aren't spending devising their own attacks. Often players get into a defensive mindset, meaning they get so caught up in defending your attacks that when you stop attacking and suddenly increase your economy, they're still stuck building more Towers and Forts on defense and you're able to establish a large economic advantage. While you have great economic potential, you should strive not to allow your opponent to be the one who decides where the first battle happens. In short, don't play so defensively that you never attack.

A solid British army composition is Heavy Cavalry and Longbowmen. The advantage of this combo for the British is that they can survive on fewer Longbowmen than other nations need Archers. While it's true that the Wealth you spend on these unit types will reduce your ability to create more Scholars, you will probably do quite well on the battlefield and force your opponent to stop his teching in order to counter your attack. When using this combination, ensure that you mass Heavy Cavalry against anything your opponent throws at you except his Heavy Infantry, which will be shortly dealt with by your Longbowmen. If your opponent uses Heavy Cavalry against you, oftentimes you can simply outproduce him and beat him with numbers. However if he starts massing close to the numbers you're fielding it's generally a good idea to trickle some Heavy Infantry of your own.

+25% Commerce Cap

Why is it important?

At every stage of the game, you'll find your resources limited by Commerce Limit. Since the British have a significantly higher limit, you can have a much larger economy before you need to research more Commerce technologies. The catch here is that it will cost a lot of resources to get your income levels high enough to use your advantage. This means you'll always want to keep your Food income very high so you can afford the extra Citizens you'll need. While it's true that you'll also need more Timber for Farms and Mines, those resources usually fall right into place - whereas Food is a resource British players will want to make a concerted effort at gathering quickly.

How do I maximize this nation power?

• Keep food income high: You'll need more citizens to utilize the higher Commerce Limit, so be sure to keep your food income higher than you do with other nations. Keep spending the Food on Citizens. It's always a bad idea to have resources sitting around doing nothing for you, but it's especially bad in the case of the British.
  
  
• Research Commerce techs only as needed: You might get into a pattern of researching Commerce techs at a certain point with other nations, but be sure you're not spending resources on these techs earlier than you have to as British.

Receive double income from taxation.


Why is it important?

It increases the importance of researching Taxation and adds to an already great economy by generating additional Wealth. Unless your territory is relatively small, researching Taxation allows your nation to produce a fair amount of extra Wealth.

How do I maximize this nation power?

• Research Taxation: You have to research Taxation at the Temple in order to gain the benefit of this power.
  
  
• Expand your territory: Taxation is based on the percentage of the territory you own, so increasing your territory will increase the amount of wealth generated. However, researching Civic techs or constructing Forts solely to increase income from Taxation is an inefficient way of gathering Wealth. It's too expensive for the minor wealth returns you'll gain. But that doesn't mean this bonus or Taxation in general is without merit. You can easily exert a solid territorial push without breaking the bank, and this will result in some nice Wealth returns (particularly after the 2nd Taxation tech). Perhaps instead of "expand your territory" it would be clearer to say, "don't get pushed into a tiny ball of territory, and make extra territory pushes where you can".

Ships created 33% faster


Why is it important?

On naval maps, 33% faster ship construction speeds can help reduce the need to build extra Docks (thus saving Timber for more ships). This includes Fishing Boats, allowing a small boost to your early economy provided you have enough Timber to afford them.

How do I maximize this nation power?

• Don't build too many Docks: You won't need as many Docks to construct a good sized armada with the British, though you'll probably still need more than a single Dock if you're planning on making a significant effort to control the seas.
  
  
• Build a Dock early and fish: Even your Fishing Boats are made faster, so this nation power helps you spread out and harvest the ocean's bounty quicker than other nations.

Receive Foot Archer upgrades for free.

Why is it important?

The British don't just have any old foot archers; they have the unique Longbowmen line, which gets a bonus against Heavy Infantry. Having this line upgraded for free saves time and resources and gives you an immediate edge in combat situations. The only time you'll have to worry about upgrading this line is when you reach Highlanders. Remember Archers cost Wealth, so making too many of them will cut into your ability to produce Scholars (and thus your Knowledge income will be hurt).

That brings up another important aspect of the Longbowmen line, which is that it continues to be a unique line of units up until Modern Age with Black Watch infantry. This means you won't have to worry about your investment into unique units turning back into a normal unit type after an upgrade - at least not until Modern Age. Quite a useful series of units!

How can I maximize this nation power?

• Use your unique unit Archer line: It's generally a good idea to use any unique unit and this nation power is even more reason to utilize the British Longbowmen unique line of archers. The added fact that they merge into Highlanders later in the game is even better. Remember that he probably knows you're British and he'll be likely to make the counters if he thinks you're training many Longbowmen. Also keep in mind that making Archers slows you technologically because Archers cost both Wealth and Timber. Both of these resources are important to increase Knowledge production, for training new Scholars and researching University upgrades respectively.

Forts and Towers +2 Range


Why is it important?

Defensively, against raiding units in particular, this bonus allows you to cover a larger area with your Towers and Forts. Offensively, this bonus allows you to place towers with fantastic range to cover your Siege and potentially to attack enemy buildings as well.

How can I maximize this nation power?

• Defensively: The bonus will automatically take effect for you defensively, allowing you to place towers as normal, but to cover a larger area with those towers. This will make it a little more painful to raid you.
  
  
• Offensively: Probably the best utilization of this bonus is for you to make offensive towers, built right at the edge of your border. In rare cases, you may be able to hit enemy buildings. Woodcutter camps are a particularly good target early in the game, if you can border push near the opponent's 2nd City and his 2nd Woodcutter's Camp happens to be in range. Most of the time, offensive towers are used in conjunction with an army and siege in order to secure a forward point. Towers are rather hard to kill when a supporting army is nearby and if your opponent's army is larger than yours, you can garrison and take very few casualties - while you build more units and your tower puts out a fair amount of damage.
  
  
• Upgrade Range at Forts: Research Fort upgrades (which also increase the range of Forts and Towers) to create Forts and Towers with some amazing range! Also remember that placing a General into a Fort, Tower, or City will increase that building's range by an additional +1.

Anti-aircraft units and buildings 25% cheaper and 33% quicker to build


Why is it important?

Once you reach Industrial Age, you have quicker, cheaper access to anti-aircraft capabilities. This makes it much more difficult for your enemies to use air units against you. This bonus often goes unnoticed, but is nevertheless a solid late game bonus.

How do I maximize this nation power?

• Build anti-air: There's not much trick to utilizing this bonus. Your units are cheaper and built more rapidly, so it's easier for you to counter air units.
  
  
• Last Minute AA Units: While it's generally advisable to create at least one anti-aircraft unit to take with your army, as the British you can create anti-air units much quicker and cheaply, so it's less necessary to immediately ramp up your anti-air defense immediately upon reaching Industrial Age. Just make sure to have one or two Factories available to produce your quick-building anti-aircraft guns if your enemy surprises you with a swarm of Bombers in Modern Age!

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