PC/CD Gamer UK 41/PCGAMER41.bin/walkthru/coloniz.txt

Text File | 1997-01-21 | 18KB | 252 lines

Colonization - A BeginnerÆs Guide

The very first thing to realise about Colonization is that it isnÆt Civilization. This
might sound obvious, but if youÆre a Civ fan, you will find the gameÆs main
interface familiar, allowing you to get to grips with the game very quickly.
However, donÆt be over-confident - youÆll just as quickly find that there are some
significant differences. Colonization is a far deeper game than its predecessor, and
requires a lot more thought to master. ItÆs also far more flexible. Civilization had
certain plans and techniques that were inherently more successful than others,
allowing definitive advice to be given about the game. One of the problems with a
guide to Colonization is that it is just that - a guide. There is nearly always more
than one way to go about things, and which way you choose comes down to
personal preference. So bear that in mind when reading this. The other problem is
that virtually everything in Colonization is inter-dependant. The various parts of
the game canÆt really be considered in a vacuum, so although this guide has been
split into sections, each will often contain references to others.

National Pride And Its Consequences
The first major choice you have to make in Colonization is that of your
nationality. As with so many things in the game this decision has a significant
effect on many other areas, and rather than being a matter of cosmetic appeal it
will actually have a major effect on your overall strategy. In Colonization there
are two broad ways to go about creating your new nation - conquest or settlement.
In a conquest game you actively carve out your new nationÆs boundaries by
attacking and pillaging native settlements. There are several advantages to this
approach. You donÆt have to worry about the positioning of native settlements
relative to your own, and wonÆt need to spend money buying land from the
Indians - youÆll just take it. Likewise, if a native settlement is occupying a perfect
location for a colony, you can just wipe it out and build on the now clear land.
Perhaps most importantly of all, the loot stolen from ravaged native settlements
provides you with a ready supply of cash, and thus you donÆt have to spend as
much time worrying about building a stable, profitable economy at the start of the
game. There are, of course, down sides to a conquest strategy, though. For every
native settlement thatÆs destroyed you lose points (the higher the difficulty level,
the more you lose), thus lowering your overall score. YouÆll need to strongly
defend all of your colonies as soon as theyÆre founded, to protect against
retaliatory raids from the justifiably upset natives, and the cost of building and
maintaining an effective army almost as soon as the game starts can be crippling.
You wonÆt be able to rely on aid from the natives, whether in the form of gifts,
training for colonists or trade for your colonies. Lastly, by the time youÆve dealt
with all the Indians you may find yourself lagging behind in the vital areas of
politics, religion and trade.
A settlement game, on the other hand, takes a more peaceful approach. The idea is
generally to live alongside the local native nations and coexist with them.
Basically, this is pretty much the opposite to a conquest strategy. It allows you to
concentrate on building up a strong, self-supporting network of colonies right
from the start of the game, developing them politically and religiously as well as
creating the stable trade thatÆs vital to success. It also means that you can get help
from the Indians in the form of gifts, trade, training and converts. You donÆt have
to spend so much time and money defending your colonies. And, of course, you
wonÆt lose any Colonization score from destroying native settlements. The
disadvantages are pretty much the same as the advantages for a conquest game -
you have to spend a lot of thought and worry keeping the natives happy with you,
and youÆll often find that their settlements occupy the exact spot on which you
wanted to build.
Of the possible nationalities the Spanish, with their 50% bonus when attacking
native settlements, are the most suitable for a conquest strategy - in fact, theyÆre
not really suited to anything else. The French, on the other hand, are the best
suited to a co-operative settlement style. Of the other two, the Dutch lie
somewhere in the middle, although to take the most advantage of their trade
bonuses they should concentrate on a settlement strategy, and only attack native
Americans when thereÆs a specific goal in mind. The English are the most flexible
nation - they donÆt have any specific advantages in either a settlement or conquest
game, there are just more people to work with.

Getting Started
ItÆs important to start your first colony as soon as possible, giving you a base of
operations from which to expand. However, itÆs also important to get a good
starting position, which often takes time. The ideal balance between these two
objectives is hard to define, but itÆs normally best to build your first colony as
soon as you can, then if you discover that thereÆs a better area later, you can
always just concentrate your efforts there.
Once youÆve got a base of operations you should then start to explore as much of
the New World as possible. Get an experienced scout and use him to explore the
land, and as soon as you can afford it buy a Privateer to explore the oceans and
find new areas (the Privateer is fast, allowing for rapid exploration, and a useful
ship to have later in the game). Your scout should enter every Indian village he
discovers. Although there is a risk, at the start of the game most native nations are
very friendly and you can often gain useful cash in this manner. Likewise, explore
all the ôrumoursö that you can find, for much the same reasons. It might also be
worth noting down the skills offered by nearby Indian settlements (this is always
let out in the form ...known for our blah blahsÆ when your scout enters a village).
That way youÆll know where to send unskilled colonists later.

Colonies And Colonists
While youÆre exploring, you should also be developing your first and subsequent
colonies. There are two aspects to this - the internal growth of each colony and the
external relationship between each of them.
On an individual level each colony needs to be developed to a ôminimum levelö
as soon as possible. This consists of a carpenter, lumberjack, statesman and priest,
preferably gained in that order. Of course, you also need to be providing enough
food for all of these people. If possible, itÆs a good idea for each colony to be
producing its own stock of tools as well, requiring a miner of some kind and a
blacksmith. Finally, the colony needs to be defended. A cannon and a soldier are
pretty much the bare minimum here - two cannons and two experienced dragoons
would be safer.
The first colonist in a newly founded colony should be put to work producing as
much food as possible. Large food reserves are the only way to produce ôhome-
grownö people, and its vital that you continue to provide as much food as
possible. The next immigrant should be put to work as a lumberjack, and once
heÆs filled the warehouse with lumber, switched to a career in carpentry and
started building things, then switch back to chopping down trees when the lumber
runs out, and so on. After this itÆs a matter of balancing food production with the
next requirement in line.
In a new colony itÆs often a good idea to make both the first and second colonists
pioneers. When the first one reaches a likely spot for building a new colony he
can then clear any forest on the square before starting the colony (increasing the
amount of food produced by the colony square itself), and when the colony starts,
his remaining tools will be placed in storage. The next colonist can then come
along and develop the land around the colony before joining it and becoming a
lumberjack (as above), picking up more tools from it if he runs out - remember,
though, to leave at least one forest square for producing lumber.
Providing that the colony is on the coast, the first structure to be built inside
should nearly always be a dock. As already stated, food production is vital to your
success and fishing has several advantages over land-based food production. The
ocean squares cannot be put to any other use, so youÆre not wasting land that can
be used to produce trade goods. Ocean squares cannot be blockaded as easily as
land squares, so even if the colony is put under siege by enemy troops, youÆll still
be producing food. Lastly, a coastal ocean square with a fishery icon being used
by an expert fisherman produces more food than any other single square - 12
units.
After the docks, the next few buildings are harder to prioritise, and will depend
largely on the position of the colony, both in terms of the immediate terrain and
on a larger scale. Colonies likely to be attacked should probably go for a
stockade, whereas less threatened ones should consider a warehouse.
As to the colonists themselves, itÆs always best if each one is a specialist in the job
theyÆre doing. If youÆre using an untrained or unsuited colonist, youÆre wasting
potential, so concentrate on getting the right type for the job. Some careers can be
ôhome-grownö virtually from the start, such as fishermen, who are common and
easily taught (requiring only a schoolhouse and existing fisherman). Others, such
as statesmen, are rarer (only one is normally needed per colony, at least in the
early and middle stages of the game) and harder to teach. With these itÆs often
worth the extra money to pay for a fully trained expert from the Royal College. As
a last resort, you can always leave a basic colonist doing the same job, in the hope
that heÆll spontaneously learn the skill, but this takes time and is uncommon.

Colonies And Colonists, Continued...
Although itÆs important, even vital, to develop each colony to the point discussed
last month (a carpenter, lumberjack, statesman and priest, together with enough
farmers and/or fisherman to produce an excess), while achieving this objective
you must decide whether to make self-sufficient colonies, or specialist ones that
work together. Self-sufficient colonies both produce and refine their own trade
goods, ready for export back to the Old World or trade with the natives or other
European powers. For example, harvesting tobacco and converting it to cigars.
Specialist colonies, on the other hand, concentrate on just one stage in the
process. For example, one colony produces tobacco, and another converts it into
cigars. Self-sufficient colonies should also produce their own tools, requiring a
blacksmith and some form of miner.
The advantages of this approach are obvious - each of your colonies is an
individual, and the loss of one will not drastically affect the others. Unfortunately,
the self-sufficient approach is also inefficient - a single colony will rarely be able
to produce enough food for both the harvesters and the craftsmen. For example,
imagine a colony surrounded by grasslands. If it must support a master
tobacconist or two, as well as tobacco harvesters, more of the grasslands will have
to be used for farming, lessening the amount of tobacco produced.
On the other hand, if the same colony concentrated simply on producing tobacco,
without the extra food needs of the tobacconists, it could use more land for
tobacco planting, and thus produce more. This is the advantage of the specialist
approach. The tobacco is then transported to another colony that uses its land to
produce food for the master tobacconists, who convert the tobacco to cigars. The
disadvantage of this is the direct opposite of the self-sufficient colony strategy -
that your colonies will be interdependent, and the loss of one will often cause
problems for the others. In addition, you will have to supply some form of
transport to move the raw materials from the producing colony to the refinery.

Inland Colonies
Building a colony on an inland site (one without direct access to the ocean) is
something of a risk. For a start, you canÆt transport supplies or colonists straight
to them from your ships, making their development slower. Likewise, to transport
their production back to the Old World requires a wagon train to first move the
goods to a port. Not only do wagon trains require building, but they are also ripe
targets for disgruntled natives or other European powers. As thereÆs no way to
ôlinkö a military unit with a wagon, moving them any distance can become a risky
proposition.
On the other hand, one of the general rules of Colonization is ôthe more colonies
the betterö. If thereÆs a great colony site inland, or youÆve run out of coastal sites
and still wish to expand, then itÆs often worth going for it. Just be aware of the
risks and difficulties.
As a rule, then, donÆt build any inland colonies at the start of the game, but wait
until youÆve got a good base of successful coastal sites. After that, think very
carefully about whether the advantages outweigh the problems.

Trade
Successful trading is one of the basic roots of success in Colonization, and is so
tied into almost every aspect of the game that several aspects of it have already
been touched upon in other sections. Luckily, trade is quite simple in
Colonization. As you donÆt have to pay for the production of raw materials, their
conversion into finished goods or transporting them, itÆs actually very easy to
make money. However, Colonization also places great strains on your cash
reserves, so you need to make a lot of money if you can. The best way to do this is
by variety. DonÆt concentrate on producing only one type of trade item, as
flooding the market will drive the price down. Try instead to create a steady
supply of all of them. Likewise, try to convert as much raw material as possible
into its refined version (furs into coats, cotton into cloth and so on) as the higher
price for these goods means more profit for you. Also, donÆt forget to trade with
the natives and other European powers (provided you have Jan de Witt in your
Congress). The native villages often offer far better prices than the Old World
later in the game, and this is worth the extra effort that trading with them involves.

Founding Fathers
One of the great advantages of having a statesman in every one of your colonies is
that the increased Liberty Bell production will result in your nation gaining more
Founding Fathers. These ôgreat mindsö have several incredibly useful powers,
performing in much the same way as the Wonders Of The World in Civilization.
However, depending on your current situation, some of them will be far more
useful than others, so care should be taken when choosing which one to get next.
At the start of the game, the most useful of all is William Brewster. Also very
handy are Hernando de Soto and Sieur de La Salle. In the mid-game a lot will
depend on your specific situation. Just remember that it takes quite a while to get
a Founding Father, so try to plan ahead for the problems youÆll be facing in the
future, rather than choosing a Founding Father whose power will have become
redundant by the time he or she arrives.
Towards the end of the game, the Founding Fathers become very useful indeed.
Nearly all of the Political Advisors, especially Simon Bolivar, are very useful
when trying to up the rebel feeling in your budding nation, and Peter Stuyvesant is
vital if you wish to continue trading during the War Of Independence. Lastly,
George Washington is the single most useful Military Advisor, and his presence
in your congress can swing the balance when the war is at its peak.

Independence
Although the details of beating the Royal Expeditionary forces and winning the
game are beyond this BeginnerÆs Guide, itÆs worth pointing out some of the
basics. Preparing for the War of Independence should be your main priority in the
last third or so of the game, and there are several separate areas in which you have
to do this:
1) Make sure that Sons Of Liberty membership in all your settlements is as high
as possible - the ideal level is 100%. The main way to do this is to have had at
least one Elder Statesman in each colony for as long as possible, but you should
also be sure to build printing presses and newspapers in all your towns, and get
hold of as many political Founding Fathers as possible.
2) Make sure that as many of your colonies as possible are producing tools and
have a gunsmith available to convert these to muskets, as well as having a full
capacity in storage.
3) Make sure that all your colonies are producing horses, and are at full
warehouse capacity for them.
4) The first (and often most important) stage of defence is the level of fortification
of your colonies. Ideally they should all have fortresses - the Royal Expeditionary
Force is very tough to beat.
5) Make sure that each colony has at least four or five cannons defending it.
6) Make sure you have as many experienced soldiers and Dragoons stationed in
your settlements as possible. When Independence is declared these troops will
convert to Colonial Army status, making them much more effective.
7) Once the war has started, move some Dragoons into the forests and mountains
around your colonies, to take advantage of your terrain bonus, and be prepared to
move forces to where they are needed.
8) There is one thing to bear in mind - when you declare independence, the Royal
force will attack. They do so en masse, concentrating on a single target until they
take it, then moving on to another. Man OÆWars will continue to ferry troops to
the site of the battle until they either win or you wipe them out. As you have no
way of knowing which city will be attacked, its important that you defend all of
them as well as possible.