Yes, good to hear positive replies.
The game I played, since it was only against Hard AIs, I was owning. I set up a Town Center and a small farming village by the Great Bay on the West side of the Map, with my town on the East. I had around 20-25 fishing boats by the end, with 8 of them on Whales, I was getting tons of resources.
With the Carib settlements, too. A total of 5 or so, the one who controls all of those, controls the map. If you were smart, 50-60% of early economy is based on wood, you should be able to max out on blowgunners, that makes a 75 man army! WOW!
However, no enemy will give you all of these, so this makes the game longer, being locked in almost a stalemate over these sites.
I reject your reality, and substatute my own!