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[shorbe]

Eagle: I prefer specialists.

Microprose Veteran: I think I'd rather do without them and just concentrate on getting the right specialists and training free colonists to be more efficient. I can envisage Indians throwing my well ordered colonies into disarray.

My way of playing is about achieving independence as my primary objective, but I have a set of mini-objectives that contribute to that. First, let me say that I always manage to get independence first. If it looks like another power is on the road to independence, I'll use a war to completely screw that up for him. That having been said, unless you're capturing a lot of other colonists or stopping someone else from going independent, wars (as in life) are generally a waste of resources. Instead of turning a colonist into a soldier, you could get him making some money for you instead.

In the meantime, I try to build up all of the different ways of getting points towards my Colonization Score. The first is to have a lot (a dozen or so) of large colonies (size fifteen or bigger) with only specialists in them, so I get the maximum possible score for my population (I think, from memory, you get one point for a servant, two for a free colonists, and four for a specialist, but I could be wrong on this). This also means that I'm going to have a pretty huge economy, so I'm usually bringing in somewhere between 3000 and 5000 gold per turn. Given that you get +1 point per year you achieve independence before a certain date, and you also get +1 point per 1000 gold in your treasury, if your income per turn is 2000 gold or more, it's best to hold off gaining independence for as long as possible as you'll get more points this way (several hundred more over the course of a couple of decades). All the other things like getting all the Founding Fathers and destroying as few Indian villages as possible should be standard, but it's the first two sub-objectives (especially the one about gold) that really make the difference for me. If you're going for maximum Colonization Score, why rush it?

My final push for independence happens fairly quickly once everything else is in place. It's pretty easy to build up the required elements to successfully wage a War of Independence if you have a dozen or so big colonies that are economic powerhouses. Incidentally, by the time all this happens, my colonies usually have 100% Sons of Liberty Membership (this contributes to your score also if I remember correctly).

[Microprose Veteran]

Christian IV, if you can, try to find the manual somewhere. It's loaded with details about colonial life and details the different native tribes that can be found in the new world.

What's a nice change also is that the makers take sides - for the natives. For example, the Incas are described as 'advanced.' According to the game designers the Incas were and still are second to none where agriculture is concerned. Steep slopes didn't stop them, that's why they invented terraces.

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Shorbe: are you sure you're playing at Viceroy level? At that level you only succeed if you wage colonial warfare a lot. The other nations won't just let you in peace to build up your empire. Also, to get colonies over size 15 requires a lot of labour and resources (food).

If you snuff out other nations' independence aspirations first as you claim to be doing, then you're actually playing it in military mode, like I advised to do.

Right now I'm fighting my War of Independence and everything is going as planned. I got 30,000 + in the bank and I need to knock out only 30 or more royal infantry. So I can't imagine what you need all the extra money for (tons). And yeah, I've reached max score repeatedly playing my way.

[Christian IV]

:bye: :bye:
Thanks Microprose Veteran, I will seek out the manual, I would
very much like to see what you describe, respect for those
remarkable original inhabitants, and yes the Incas have fascinating
history and culture, i browse in their history and archeology at
times and wish I had another life to learn more...for now we have
this remarkable game to experience what so many of our
ancestors and predicesors lived through.....thanks for your
encouragement and suggestion. I did find one site for
Colonization info and add ons, but only the main page worked and
some of the inner pages. I will keep learning from all of you.

[shorbe]

Microprose: I haven't played it on Viceroy. I'll have to give it a go one day. I haven't played in several months actually. I find it a bit "samey" after a while, which is why I didn't get anywhere near finishing my last game.

Actually, I'm finding it hard to find any game that doesn't end up getting really repetative after the first few times (except perhaps chess). There always seems to be a steep learning curve to understand the governing principles of the game, and then there's a critical point you pass, after which it's just a matter of doing X, Y and Z over and over and varying the degree to which you or the computer are handicapped in different games.

I'm finding UFO to be getting quite repetative now too. I seem to have passed the "getting my backside kicked" threshold and the tables have turned. However, I could tell if I went and started it on a harder level, if/when I could manage to get beyond that threshold, it would still be more of the same.

I went back and played Civ2 recently and found that to be more of the same too, even though I used to love that back in the day. Maybe I'm just really jaded, as Civ2 is supposed to be one of the greatest games ever, but I'm looking for something even more epic in scope.

[Microprose Veteran]

Well Shorbe, try playing it on Viceroy level and you'll get some more enjoyment out of it.

In strategy games, the most fun part is always the build-up, the trying-to-survive stage till you start to succeed. So yeah, after you've established your empire things tend to become rather boring.

You could also try Civ III. It's quite hard and complicated, much more realistic than Civ II. I haven't played it at hardest level yet.

Regarding Colonization: it's a nice little game that offers a lot to learn. But when you get the message that you've got too many units that's an indication of course you've beaten the game already at that level.

[shorbe]

Microprose Veteran: Yeah, one day I'll give it a go on Viceroy. I've actually just become re-absorbed by UFO, but I don't know how much longer this will last.

I really should spend less time playing computer games...

[caesar007]

well this is not the topic for civ 2 , but just wanted to react on what someone here said a few posts earlier ..... it's never repetitive ....... i played civ 1 alot and it was always fun , you just have to play at the higher levels , for civ 1 level 4 is good , 5 is too perfect , you can't afford one mistake that kind of sucks ..... civ 2 i think level 4 or 5 and you have the endless amount of maps ..... and you can play on a small map or large map and it requires a different strategy .... of course colonisation has less variety , and i think the economy is too boring and too important in this game and you have to go back and forth with those ships to sell stuff , but if you can wage war either against other colonies or the independence war that is fun and killing those indians can be fun too LOL

[Christian IV]

:bye: :bye:
Colonization seems to have its own qualities different from
Civ I and II, I am studying them both, and preparing to
learn them but havent had a chance to actually play either yet,
i hope to soon, do you know by the way, if there are mods
or scenarios for colonization like there are for Civ II, what a
fun chance that is to have variations. If you do know about
Civ II take a look at my last post in that topic if you have time,
I would appreciate any imput. I am also very interested in
colonization, and think it looks fun in its own way. thankc k:

Thanks for this game! It was one of my favorites back in the day. To spice things up a little, I’ve been playing on Viceroy with only one colony (no cheating!). It’s quite easy to win and lot’s of fun because of the limited amount of micro-management.

Winning as Viceroy with only One Colony

Starting out
Choose the Dutch.
The location of your only colony is obviously critical. The ideal square will:
1. Be on a good food producing square (e.g. plains). Don’t forget that you can clear forest and plough on the city square.
2. Have coastal access
3. Have a silver mine nearby (the mine is always in a mountain, which can be used for ore later in the game)
4. Have one additional ore square nearby (hill, mountain, or swamp+minerals)
5. Have two good timber squares nearby.
Any specials, particularly related to food (e.g. fishery or wheat) are very useful. Also. the closer the colony is to Europe the better.
You will probably have to restart a few times before finding a good starting square.

Founding Fathers
As soon as you build your colony, you’ll be asked to choose a founding father to join congress. These are the ones to choose, in order of importance (the ones not listed are not useful):
1. William Brewster. The best founding father in the game. Get him ASAP.
2. Thomas Jefferson. Also essential to get early.
3. Simon Bolivar. You might not be able to get him early in the game but keep a look out for him and make him join as soon as possible.
4. Pocahontas. If you’re close to aggressive Indians get Pocahontas soon. Also, if there’s some land from your colony belonging to the Indians, steal it just before Pocahontas joins congress.
5. Benjamin Franklin. Get him early, even if there’s no immediate danger from any European power. You never know when one will show up and you do NOT want to get involved in a costly war.
6. Thomas Paine. As soon as your tax rate approaches 10% it’s really worth getting him (and he only gets better with time).
7. William Penn. A nice addition once you’ve built a church and have a preacher or two inside.
8. Ferdinand Magellan. He can be helpful, especially if your colony is at some distance from the edge of the map.
9. Hernando de Soto. Much more useful in “regular” games since he dramatically increases the chances of finding fountains of youth (not so important in a one-colony game).
10. Jean Paul Jones. An extra Frigate is always nice. Useful to stockpile muskets before the war of independence.

Developing the land around your colony
Buy lots of tools at the beginning (they are cheap). Clear and plough the city square first, then build road on the silver mine, then clear/plough the food squares. Lastly, build roads on the forest and ore squares. Use petty criminals and indentured servants as pioneers, then as soldiers / scouts. Send a scout or two to visit with Indian chiefs as this can often lead to some cash gifts.

Colonists within the City
At the beginning you should have: a silver miner, a farmer, and a statesman. Then add a lumberjack (once you’ve built up a stock of lumber, switch him to carpenter and then back to lumberjack, etc.). As soon as you can, add a carpenter permanently. Your next priority is getting another 2 statesmen working which will require more farmers or fishermen. The next step is adding an ore miner and a blacksmith. Then add a second lumberjack and a second (and probably, third) carpenter. Next fill up your church / cathedral with preachers. Lastly, convert the silver miner into an ore miner (at this point silver prices are likely below 10 and tax rates exceed 30%, making the silver much less attractive), add another blacksmith as well as a gunsmith or two: time to start producing those muskets.
Only when rebel sentiment reaches 80%+ is there truly no more limit (except food) to the number of colonists that can work in within the city. The ultimate objective of course is to reach 100% with the associated production bonus -- easy to achieve quite early with Jefferson, (Bolivar), (Paine), printing press, newspaper and 3 (elder) statesmen.

Buildings within the City
Start with a lumber mill (city size needs to be 3). Build a printing press and newspaper next (make sure you’ve bought the necessary tools). Then you’ll need (in the approximately correct order): docks, schoolhouse, stables, warehouse, blacksmith’s shop, college, university, church, cathedral, armory, magazine, warehouse expansion, stockade, fort, fortress. After that, just crank out artilleries.

Experts
Use the cash from the silver to train the experts you need. Your first two purchases should be an expert silver miner and an elder statesman. Never buy more than one expert. Use a school/college/university to train the rest. High priorities are: getting expert farmers/fishermen on all your food producing squares and maximizing hammer production. The next important objective is training an additional 2 elder statesmen. Once you have experts everywhere, train veteran soldiers (put 3 into your university).

Getting enough colonists
The nice thing about having just one city is that you won’t have much trouble getting enough colonists. You’ll find you’ll have just enough or even too many throughout the game (even without finding any fountains of youth). Do make sure you build a church/cathedral and train 3 firebrand preachers near the end of your city’s development so that you can train lots of veteran soldiers.

Preparing for War
In Viceroy, the royal expeditionary force, by the time you’re ready to declare independence will consist of: ~60 soldiers, ~25 dragoons, ~25 artilleries for a total of ~110 units. That’s quite a tough army to face. Experience has taught me that you don’t quite need to match that force 1 to 1, but almost. My recommendation is:
At least 30 artilleries, at least 15 veteran dragoons, at least 25 veteran soldiers and 1000 muskets stockpiled (these are equivalent to another 20 veteran soldiers). With only one colony, you know exactly where the king is going to send his forces. The downside is that you have no hope of producing enough liberty bells for another power to intervene on your side. Nevertheless, do keep your statesmen working because you don’t want to lose that 100% rebel sentiment production bonus.

Veteran Soldiers: use your university to teach 40 free colonists the specialty. There’s no point in creating more. Stagger the teaching cycles so that not more than one free colonist becomes a veteran soldier per turn. Like this, you don’t need to have more than one free colonist, in your city at any point in time (thus maximizing your production and minimizing the use of food).

Artillery: Keep building these and make sure you don’t run out of tools (see muskets). It’s nice to be producing at least 39 hammers per turn allowing a build rate of 1 artillery every 5 turns. If you have some spare cash, the first 5 or so you buy in Europe are relatively good value.

Muskets: You need to be a little careful here and I’ll explain why with an example. Say you’re producing 28 tools per turn. You’re building an artillery unit every 5 turns. That means you need 8 tools (40/5) per turn for the artilleries. So don’t produce more than 20 muskets per turn or you’ll quickly run out of tools. Store excess muskets in the wagon train, or your ships.

Horses: The more horses you have, the quicker they breed (make sure you’ve built stables!). The limiting factor is almost always food. While your city is growing it’s difficult to keep enough food for the horses but do your best. Once you have enough colonists for your army, take the preachers out of your city. Also, when you are done training the veteran soldiers, take the 3 out of the university. This will free up food for a lot more horses per turn. Store excess horses (if any!) in the wagon train, or your ships.

Important note: before declaring independence move out / disband any units standing outside your city that are not a veteran soldiers or dragoons (unless of course you are using them as “musket storage”). This helps improve visibility for the remaining 70+ military units in the city. You can actually only see 40 units in the city at any point in time. Fortunately, the artilleries always get attacked and destroyed first, allowing you to easily re-equip the remaining 40 units with muskets or horses, as needed.

Fighting the War
Just fight a purely defensive war in your fortress. If you get lucky, some forces will land on flat, clear terrain next to your city. In that case it makes sense to attack with your dragoons (I don’t recommend attacking with artillery because then they’ll be unfortified for the next round).

When to declare Independence?
In a one city game, you’re not going to break any records of early independence so don’t even try. Also, given that with the above strategy you build up rebel sentiment very quickly, the other European powers will declare independence early (around 1660). It’s unlikely that you’ll be ready by then so just ignore them (you’re not playing for the score here anyhow). Just go when you're ready. As a rough guideline: in my last game I declared independence in 1689 and won in 1700. I had a little bit of margin at the end so I could probably have shaved off a few years but that’s always a gamble. Good luck!

Micropose Vet, I agree that in Colonization any starting position works. When you play with only one colony, however, the starting location is much more important, especially when you're new to that way of playing. I've won many times the "standard" way; that's why I wanted to try a different kind of challenge.

My inspiration came from the so called "One City Challenge" (OCC) in Civ II. Some years ago a bunch of die-hard Civ II players elevated OCC to somewhat of an art form. The basic rules: Deity difficulty level, no cheating, only ONE city, first to land on Alpha Centauri. At the beginning, most of these games were played on exceptional starting squares only (e.g. 4 whales or 2 whales + 2 silk, etc.) Later on, once the strategy was established, almost any starting square became playable. I played a number of such games myself and learnt a lot about the game. Believe it or not, some of these guys were able to build a spaceship and land in Alpha C. before 450A.D., something I previously wouldn't have thought possible, let alone with only one city. If you're interested in the history and strategy, check out http://members.home.nl/paulvdb/occ/occ.htm.

So to make a long story short: I wanted to see if OCC works in colonization and it does. I actually found it to be fun. I'm not saying that my strategy is perfect. Any suggestions for improvement are welcome but please try to play with one colony first as many things change relative to the "traditional" game.