Boats fall into the "nice if it happens" category for me, you can plan a bit for them because it's not really that hard to do, but I tend to focus on making each individual island compat and have good coastal points and space for forests/mountains
Yeah from what I'm seeing in the screenshots, plump forest/mountain combos most reliably get hefty scores. I'll see if I can get boats to work in the next few goes, if not I'll just abandon them cus they seem wishy washy.
Today was quite boat friendly turns out haha. But any more than 2 boats seems hopeful. Unless the islands are real tiny or a single island with lakes. Keen to try a truly ocean heavy build next, waterworld style!