This has nothing to do with the actual release of the game, but it should be a good day for you guys that are dying for more information on Civ 4 : Colonization. :)

This has nothing to do with the actual release of the game, ...Don't do that ever again in this forum, Okay?...

It's still a very important date though related to Civ 4 : Colonization. You'll see. :)

Care to explain to legitimize this thread?

I can't until the 15th, just stay tuned on that day.

How would know any of this? I mean, I trust you because why else would you say this, but it's somewhat...random. ;)

Are they gonna release the old Colonization on DOS Box like the PC gamer magazine had ? If this is what you are talking about, then don't hype things up for so little...

I hope it's the release of Apolyton's Colonization polycast...

Nope, it's not related to the re-release of the old Colonization. It is 100% related to the upcoming game.

I hope it's the release of Apolyton's Colonization polycast...Since he didn't deny this, it's this one. ;)

Nope that's not it either. :)

Nope that's not it either. :)You are such a tease...

We'll see then.

If it involves more information on the game, then it might be a preview article on some website. Perhaps HookedOnColonization or something. Just guessing. :p

Nope that's not it either. :)

Well, I'd be surprised something big might me released info-wise cause Leipzig is around the corner... next week...

Is it a demo?

Nope not a demo.

Is it a demo?
It's information-related, so that's unlikely from my point of view.

A bona fide IGN in details preview ''later this week'' so let's say friday...

Are you saying that IGN said that they've got a preview going live later this week? Well, I guess they did, I just found the link of the mini-preview which also seems to have new screenshots.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/898/898308p1.html

As far as I know, all sites were told not to mention the game and their previews / reviews until the 15th. So the secret is out of the bag thanks to IGN. There should be many p/reviews up this Friday. Once the 15th comes, I can do some Q&A with you guys if you'd like, but until then I can't say much.

Not sure does this information "help" me in anyway just makes me more anxious to get the game.

Not sure does this information "help" me in anyway just makes me more anxious to get the game.

Well, I see lots of questions about the game, but not as many answers. Soon that will change. :)

It looks like your flag doesn't change, as you still have an English flag, and I'm guessing the King's flag is the dark red one. The IGN preview had a yellow flag with crown, so that was probably the Spanish king. That's too bad, it was nice to get the American flag, hopefully this will be added before the game ships. You shouldn't declare indpendence and keep the same flag while having your home country adopt an imaginary one... that's kinda lame.

Also, "Israel Putnam dies in combat"? I guess some great people must be able to lead units?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Putnam

I'm most curious about how the shorter game length (300 turns) affects things.

Well, we can assume that Mystic got into colonial war with the French as he owns the town of Montréal. And then we see the Dutch that have established in the harsh and unhabitable region of northern Québec. I have a hard time to see the Spanish but I guess they are in the former Louisiana region.

On the other hand we see that the guy probably went the pacific way with the Indians as they are scattered around his territory.

Ha! An undercover beta tester! :D

The current IGN preview basically describes the original Colonization, with a few changes:

- Docks let you import and export more goods, as opposed to letting you work water tiles (which I assume you can now work without any special improvements).
- Your sovereign can make increasingly large demands of you. It's unknown whether or not he can also impose tax rates like in the original.
- There's Civ4-like borders, but instead of depending on city culture (which is apparently non-existent), they rely on the size of said cities.

Also, there are "treasure caches", which might be a different name for rumours, the goody huts of the original game. Unfortunately, there's no mention of a modifiable time scale, and TheMystic's screenshot doesn't shine more light into the matter. I'm used to Civ4's Epic and Marathon, and 300 turns is way too short for me. Hell, even Normal speed is 500 turns!

So, TheMystic, could you give us any information on this once you're able? If it's not changeable within the game, can it at least be modded through XML editing like in Civ4? :)

Even though IGN broke the embargo, I'm going to wait until Friday before answering questions. Hope you guys understand. :)

Hey guys, I have the game but I can't tell you anything about it. :)

So I'm just gonna post here so I can rub it in your faces. :)

Adding a smilie to the end of my lines takes all the malevolence out of them. :)

The point of the thread wasn't to reveal that I or anyone else had it, IGN had to ruin the surprise really. I'd love to talk about it, and I will be able to in two days. It's not that long.

I want the game now.

I want to know how diplomacy works now in regards to relations with other colonial empires, Indians and the Fatherland. It has been said it was improved a lot... And do we get leaderheads for the likes of Pieter Stuyvesant, Frontenac, Champlain and Bolivar ?

Let's try to keep this topic focused...currently it's degenerating into a "I have the game and know this ahead of time" type of posting. ;)

That said, the screenshot is cool. But how are you allowed to legally post it?!

IGN released 5 new screenshots, so I figured I'd release one. Lots more available on Friday.

IGN released 5 new screenshots, so I figured I'd release one. Lots more available on Friday.Beijing time?

Technically that would be Friday, so I suppose that would work!

This should be interesting.
Can't wait until you tell us, though.:mad:

More information would make the wait less bearable, if you think about it. :p

What jumped out at me from the screenie was the map, Weren't people worried that there would not be an accurate map? looks pretty accurate to me.

It's Friday in Beijing. :mischief:

Yes it's friday in Australia too so we want our Colonization fix ! :)

Been 15th here for over 10 hours already, and nothing! :p

Ok I'm here now, and I'm going through screenshots right now. Stay tuned.

It's not Friday in the Western hemisphere yet, don't jump the gun.

My sarcasm unit seems to be malfunctioning, however.

Ok here's what I've got for you guys so far, this is only a small batch of my screenshots, and I picked and chose them quickly. I've got company here for the next several hours, but after that I'll try to put some more up.

If you'd like me to answer questions, feel free to make another thread and I'll start answering when I have some time.

Also, I uploaded a short video clip of me getting my butt handed to me the first time I declared independence. I had no idea the king would ramp up his forces so quickly, and I ended up going against horrible odds. I was underprepared, and I was trying to pre-emptively attack instead of trying to defend since all of the kings forces had major bonuses against attacking settlements. I figured I'd take their bonus away from them by striking out first. Stack attack is still in, but I didn't want to use it in my first couple of games.

I've figured out much better tactics to use now, but be ready, independence is brutal! :)

http://www.invisibledream.com/images/colonization/

The video should be done uploading 11 minutes after this post goes up. I apologize for the resolution and quality, I had to downsize the resolution twice, and the quality ended up suffering slightly. You can still make out almost everything though.

Most people don't have stellar upload speeds, so the lack of quality can easily be forgiven.

ROFL you declared independance with only 5 soldiers? No wonder you were CREAMED! :D

Cool vid BTW. But it does show you VERY unprepared. ;)

Thanks a lot for these, TheMystic. :) To everyone: you can also see these images in the Colonization gallery (see the main page).

So if you go back one or two pages I had one question about diplomacy - if you could answer it : I want to know how diplomacy works now in regards to relations with other colonial empires, Indians and the Fatherland. It has been said it was improved a lot... And do we get leaderheads for the likes of Pieter Stuyvesant, Frontenac, Champlain and Bolivar ?

(If so can you post a pic of them) ? In fact what are the expanded options of diplomacy regarding these three parties ? Is the leaderhead for the French king different from the English king and the Dutch stathouder ? Thanks a lot for all this, I reaaaaaaally enjoy it !

Does the king still randomly demand a tax increase from 5% to 33%? I hated that.

Well, its been friday here for 3 minutes, so I'll ask my questions. How much Civ4 did they take out of the SDK? Is there still UnitInfos.xml and the like? Are there Techs? And I guess a good question would be, are we going to get the SDK for Col like we did for Civ4?

Batch #2 is up, same URL : http://www.invisibledream.com/images/colonization/

I've also included another mini-video I made of the Americas map, which is standard sized. There is a Huge version as well, but I've yet to play it. I can imagine that it'd be very very difficult to colonize all of america in 300 turns on that map! :)

Dale - I was hoping that by keeping my forces down artificially that the King would slow down his ramp-up of forces. I didn't provide the screenshot, but by the end of his rampup he had something like 247 soldiers and dragoons total. I had two cities pumping guns, but I had no hope to survive that onslaught that game. :)

Niptium, I'm still trying to figure out all the ins and outs of diplomacy. Obviously you can do things like gift units, goods, or even gold to tribes and other civs, and they really like when you fulfill their wants. You can get defensive pacts arranged with or against the indians, and vice versa. There's a lot of room for manipulation. I have yet been able to get indians to join with me against the king though. Actually, in my last game, the king seemed to have bribed out an indian tribe and they were trying to give me a hard time.

In the three full games I've played, each time I seem to get a little more familiar with how diplomacy works in Col, but I still need more time to figure out everything. Thus far, I've found myself wishing a little bit more that I could get some backup for independence, or see an AI go for it and turn all the indians against them. :)

Jerry - the increases are typically gradual, although they seem to vary depending on how well you're doing, and how often you're giving into the kings random demands. Sometimes he'll ask for cash for no reason, other times it's to fund his navy, etc. If you ever reject standard cash advances, he'll get pissed and raise taxes more often. So it really depends on a lot of factors. I've seen a lot of 1-2% increases, and some as high as 7-10%. My last game, I believe I was at 43% by the time I declared independence, but keep in mind that there are some great people that actually turn your tax rate into a big bonus.

Jeckel - how can I tell? I never did get involved in the mod scene, so I'm not sure what to look for. I did see some old CIV icons like BTS and Warlords, and there are also folders with tons of XML files. I haven't gone digging though. If you'd like me to look at something specific, let me know. It seems to me though that Col is made to be very moddable.

Dale - I was hoping that by keeping my forces down artificially that the King would slow down his ramp-up of forces. I didn't provide the screenshot, but by the end of his rampup he had something like 247 soldiers and dragoons total. I had two cities pumping guns, but I had no hope to survive that onslaught that game. :)

There is ways to influence that, but you'll have to find out by yourself. :)

Jeckel - how can I tell? I never did get involved in the mod scene, so I'm not sure what to look for. I did see some old CIV icons like BTS and Warlords, and there are also folders with tons of XML files. I haven't gone digging though. If you'd like me to look at something specific, let me know. It seems to me though that Col is made to be very moddable.

You would assume that since it's built on Civ4 engine that it has the same moddability as Civ4. ;)

You would assume that since it's built on Civ4 engine that it has the same moddability as Civ4. ;)

Ahh, well I know it has similar moddablity, I'm just wondering home much of the platform they rebuilt from scratch and how much they tweeked.

@TheMystic

If you not a modder I won't ask you to go digging in the guts of the game. If there is one thing I have its patience and I can wait to tear it apart myself. :goodjob:

Ahh, well I know it has similar moddablity, I'm just wondering home much of the platform they rebuilt from scratch and how much they tweeked.

@TheMystic

If you not a modder I won't ask you to go digging in the guts of the game. If there is one thing I have its patience and I can wait to tear it apart myself. :goodjob:

You won't be disappointed.

could you give me some info on the spanish leader bonuses?
How easy is it for the spanish to kill the natives?
Is it possible for spain to kill 1 tribe and settle that land and stay at peace with another native trading partner?
In colonization 1 it was very easy.

The leaderhead for the Kings (and statholder) is the same for every nation or not ?:)

Batch #2 is up, same URL : http://www.invisibledream.com/images/colonization/

I've also included another mini-video I made of the Americas map, which is standard sized. There is a Huge version as well, but I've yet to play it. I can imagine that it'd be very very difficult to colonize all of america in 300 turns on that map! :)

Dale - I was hoping that by keeping my forces down artificially that the King would slow down his ramp-up of forces. I didn't provide the screenshot, but by the end of his rampup he had something like 247 soldiers and dragoons total. I had two cities pumping guns, but I had no hope to survive that onslaught that game. :)

Niptium, I'm still trying to figure out all the ins and outs of diplomacy. Obviously you can do things like gift units, goods, or even gold to tribes and other civs, and they really like when you fulfill their wants. You can get defensive pacts arranged with or against the indians, and vice versa. There's a lot of room for manipulation. I have yet been able to get indians to join with me against the king though. Actually, in my last game, the king seemed to have bribed out an indian tribe and they were trying to give me a hard time.

In the three full games I've played, each time I seem to get a little more familiar with how diplomacy works in Col, but I still need more time to figure out everything. Thus far, I've found myself wishing a little bit more that I could get some backup for independence, or see an AI go for it and turn all the indians against them. :)

Jerry - the increases are typically gradual, although they seem to vary depending on how well you're doing, and how often you're giving into the kings random demands. Sometimes he'll ask for cash for no reason, other times it's to fund his navy, etc. If you ever reject standard cash advances, he'll get pissed and raise taxes more often. So it really depends on a lot of factors. I've seen a lot of 1-2% increases, and some as high as 7-10%. My last game, I believe I was at 43% by the time I declared independence, but keep in mind that there are some great people that actually turn your tax rate into a big bonus.

Jeckel - how can I tell? I never did get involved in the mod scene, so I'm not sure what to look for. I did see some old CIV icons like BTS and Warlords, and there are also folders with tons of XML files. I haven't gone digging though. If you'd like me to look at something specific, let me know. It seems to me though that Col is made to be very moddable.

When I download this file and try to play it, it says I do not have the right codec. Can anyone help me with this?

Thx
jonpfl

When I download this file and try to play it, it says I do not have the right codec. Can anyone help me with this?

Thx
jonpfl

The videos seem to use the DivX codec, which you can download here:

http://www.divx.com/

However, I prefer to use the excellent, free, open-source video player known as VLC:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

This video player can play just about anything you throw at it, and I use it on both my Windows and Mac computers all of the time.

TheMystic, thank you for your info, screens and videos!

I would like to know about the music. Is it similar to that of style of the original civ?
And also how aggressive natives and especially other nations are? Do they really offer challenge?

Also what are those "civics" that are thought about to give some bonuses?

EDIT: oh, quill18 already gave an answer already regarding the codec. :)

Awesome info and screenshots! :D

I humbly remind you of my question: are there Epic or Marathon-like time scale like in Civ4 or are we stuck with the 300-turn limit?

Also, an additional request: can we see a screenshot of San José de San Martín? It's the first time an Argentinian historical figure is given such an important role in a game. :p

You can set the speed parameters like you could in Civ 4 where a game can be "quick", which just modifies the timing of everything. In terms of turns, thus far I've only seen the option to play the standard 300, but the game does offer to allow you to continue playing after you hit the cap.

The 300 turn limit seems to be mostly sufficient for me, at least so far in my three full games. My last game took 9 hours of real playtime to finish, so you'll definitely get a lot of bang for your buck so to speak per game.

Regarding San Jose, I was just playing him but decided to restart my game. He really kicks butt when it comes to military, and I'm going to try to play him once again. I was playing the western hemisphere scenario in "huge" mode, and it was way way too big for me. It took me 11 turns just to find land, and each trip to and from europe was taking around 26 turns. I'm going to restart in standard mode.

http://www.invisibledream.com/images/colonization/sanjose.jpg

What would you say are the biggest changes from the original Colonization except the graphics ? A very big thank you for all your time Mystic !

You can set the speed parameters like you could in Civ 4 where a game can be "quick", which just modifies the timing of everything. In terms of turns, thus far I've only seen the option to play the standard 300, but the game does offer to allow you to continue playing after you hit the cap.

The 300 turn limit seems to be mostly sufficient for me, at least so far in my three full games. My last game took 9 hours of real playtime to finish, so you'll definitely get a lot of bang for your buck so to speak per game.

Regarding San Jose, I was just playing him but decided to restart my game. He really kicks butt when it comes to military, and I'm going to try to play him once again. I was playing the western hemisphere scenario in "huge" mode, and it was way way too big for me. It took me 11 turns just to find land, and each trip to and from europe was taking around 26 turns. I'm going to restart in standard mode.

http://www.invisibledream.com/images/colonization/sanjose.jpg
Awesome! Thanks! :goodjob:

However, I think the Conquistador trait (+25% against natives) isn't too accurate, as he didn't usually fight natives. Only in a few occasions did he have to, because the natives were allied to royalist Spanish forces. But that was pretty rare. Most of the time he fought regular Spanish armies.

The Resourceful trait (-50% XP needed for promotions), nevertheless, is spot-on! He really gave troop quality a lot of importance.

"De lo que mis granaderos son capaces, solo lo sé yo, quien los iguale habrá quien los exceda no."

Translation: "Of what my Granadiers (argentine soldiers) are capable, only I know, who matches them there will be, who exceeds them there won't."

I'm not sure if the translation's that good. Even in Spanish he used a pretty contrived sentence structure. :undecide:

Also, I'm an idiot, adding an extra 'San' at the start of the name. I just woke up but, being Argentinian, it's embarrassing. :blush:

nice military bonus to that spanish san jose leader.
I assume the 25% conquistador bonus versus the natives is common for both spanish leaders?
and the san jose specific bonus is 50% less xp needed for military promotions?
a par of really good military bonuses versus natives.
Well since natives have so many but weak units, you should get a few veteran units by the time the native wars are over.

Is there any use for gold, silver, cloth, cigars and rum beyond them being something to sell? For example, do they give any happiness or health bonuses?

It's San Martín! Damn my own mistake. :p

There is no use for the goods mentioned aside from trade / sale. I did find myself wishing that they do provide bonuses, but I suppose it'd be hard to really determine just how those goods would help. I mean, you could provide a bonus to happiness and maybe decrease the food threshold needed to get a new colonist, but what about the effects that using booze and smoking has on health?

I figured Firaxis went the safer route, otherwise there'd probably be endless ranting. Silver however could have been made into something like jewelery maybe?

Regarding changes from the original, I honestly have not played the original since 1995 or 1996 so it's hard for me to remember aside from seeing a lot of the updates made in Civ 4 cross over. I did play the original to death when it first came out though, and put it back on my computer a couple of times, but then as time went on I moved on and never really went back. There was the Master of Orion, Master of Magic, Alpha Centauri, and Civilization games that I was also hooked on at the time. :)

In regards to the music, I'm also having a hard time remembering which songs may have been updated. I know that I did have a soundcard back then, and some of the songs sound familiar, but that's about as far as I can go. When I looked in the music folder, I believe I saw something like 28-30 songs.

I think this is the full list of songs from the original Colonization...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/ShadowB/Misc/colmusic.gif

TheMystic, see if you can find those names in the new game's music folder! :D

Ok I was way off on the number of tracks. There are 117 mp3s in the soundtrack folder. Wow!

I put images of them in :

http://www.invisibledream.com/images/colonization/

I notice that sometimes you put cities next to each other or even that some colonies stretch over 3 tiles... is there a reason why ?

Ok I was way off on the number of tracks. There are 117 mp3s in the soundtrack folder. Wow!

I put images of them in :

http://www.invisibledream.com/images/colonization/
Ahhhh. There's some of the old tunes, a bunch of new ones and a lot of classical music. :eek:

I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on this game. From the screenshots, it looks awesome!!

Thanks for your answers TheMystic thus far.

I'm not sure has this already come up in some previews but are there pirates in the game?

Looks pretty awesome. The Founding Father heads look amazing.

I'm still disapointed that you keep the English flag after declaring independence. :( It seems like a simple thing to give you a new flag, but if they haven't done it it must be coded pretty deep.

I have not run into pirates yet, but it certainly would have been fun to. Privateers are about as close as you'll get it seems, as you are blind as to who they belong to. :)

I really am surprised there are no previews or other goodies up yet at other sites, today was the lift of the embargo. I suppose since this is a more complicated game, sites want to take their time with it.

It'd be nice if there were true pirates. As in privateer units that don't answer to anyone. 'Barbarian' ships amongst which you could easily hide your own privateers. In the original, it wasn't too difficult to find out where they were coming from ("Dutch Merchantman dodges English Privateer!") even with the X flag. They just allowed you to engage other nations' vessels without short-term repercussions. :p

Thanks the mystic!!!
So finally we'll get some real map right??

Damn, no demo for me? I was hoping... I put an appointment in Outlook to check here the 15th. :(

Hmm.

HookedOnColonization (http://www.hookedoncolonization.com/) snatched and posted most of the screenshots TheMystic provided, yet apparently specifically avoiding the ones that had his name on-screen, and without giving any proper credits to him. Same with the videos. They slapped their site's logo onto all the shots, and only thank the guy who snatched them, instead of TheMystic, the one who actually made the effort of getting everything in the first place.

Maybe I'm being too harsh, but it seems pretty rude to me. :hmm:

I think that's an easy mistake since they quote another guy - who probably sent those without specifying it came from this very thread, from TheMystic. The freaking videos are on youtube...

That was my mistake. I sent along the links that TheMystic shared in this thread without giving proper credit to him. I will notify the administrator at HookedOnColonization and correct this.

My thanks and apologies, TheMystic. :mischief:

mystic, can you tell us about some of the intresting founding fathers?
PS: could you add pictures similar to san jose martin and samuel de champlain for each of the other leaders as well?

PS in this game i will probably play san martin jose or, john adams or samuel the camplain.
french for his conversions, san jose martin for his ecellent military. and john adams for his bonuses to liberty bells. i like my 100% cities in the original colonization.

for the dutch, well i will wait and see. For most of my games though i will play the faction i win the easiest with. In colonization 1 that was the dutch.
Ocasionally i would play the spanish for his bonus versus natives.

could you add pictures similar to san jose martin and samuel de champlain for each of the other leaders as well?

I agree :)

TheMystic, could you please post the attributes of each of the leaders (and their effects)? I don't know whether Firaxis imposed a limit on how much you can reveal, though. :p

I've taken pictures of all the leaders for you guys, and I've also put up another set of screenshots. :)

http://www.invisibledream.com/images/colonization/thirdbatch/

Also I forgot to mention this, but the Dutch do start with a Merchanman instead of a Caravel. +2 transport spots right off the bat.

So cool, thanks TheMystic, the kings are different depending on your nationality.

So cool, thanks TheMystic, the kings are different depending on your nationality.

Yep, and they seem to animate differently as well. :)

Wonderful third batch! :D

Great screenshots. :goodjob: It looks like Civ4Col willl play pretty much like Civ4. (I dont talk about the rules and such just the .... feeling).

Anyway, I want to play that game now! :D

I'd love to see the French king and the Dutch statholder :)

Thanks a lot for these wonderful screenshots! :bounce:

I'm especially interested in leader traits and Founding Fathers. You already posted the leaders, but on one screenshot (leaders6) Louis de Frontenac has a little more to offer than visible. It would be great if you could tell us, what is written in the last line!

Thanks! :D

I'd love to see the French king and the Dutch statholder :)
The French king (http://www.hookedoncolonization.com/wp/wp-content/gallery/jeuxvideo-screens-august-14th/civcpc017.jpg) appears to be mostly Louis XIV's model. The animations might be different from Civ4's, though.

In the first colonization you coudl usually run a pretty solid empire with 5-8 cities. You could get everything you needed, it was easier to defend, less micromanagement etc etc. The bigger you got the harder it was to fully arm and defend everywhere and it was much more difficult to get your Sons of Liberty percentage up. It fact you could even do a 'one-city challenge' much more easily then you could in Civilization.

Is this still the case in Col2, or does it encourage larger empires?

In the first colonization you coudl usually run a pretty solid empire with 5-8 cities. You could get everything you needed, it was easier to defend, less micromanagement etc etc. The bigger you got the harder it was to fully arm and defend everywhere and it was much more difficult to get your Sons of Liberty percentage up. It fact you could even do a 'one-city challenge' much more easily then you could in Civilization.

Is this still the case in Col2, or does it encourage larger empires?

My experience thus far is that the king significantly begins to ramp up his military to epic proportions compared to yours as you reach towards the 50% mark, especially if you've been doing lots of trade with him, giving in to demands, and purchasing units / specialists off him. I had to give up my last game because there was no way possible for me to fend off against the King's odds, and I had already eliminated the other three colonizations so I would have won that way regardless.

I am playing on the 3rd level of difficulty, where it says no one has an advantage, and it does seem like 6-8 is optimal, but I'm still trying to figure out the best ways to maximize profit from good trades without boosting up the King. It seems like he gets cranky over just about anything, and by the time you're at 30-40% of your liberty rating you'll be seeing that the king has added to his army just about every 2-3 turns. It's pretty nuts.

My next game I'm going to see what happens if I focus solely on indian and colony trade with the other civs. Perhaps if I tell the King to go fly a kite every time he asks for something, he won't have as much of an ability to boost his armies so much. Rebel sentiment is great when you're using it for defense and production boosts, but the King has superior everything and he'll mow down your fortress defenses before you can blink, then you're sitting there pretty bare.

Also, it seems that the two instances where I have won an independence victory it came down to me retreating back to an in-land city after losing several others, and finally wearing down his final units. It is extremely nerve wracking going against 2:1 odds when he's got forces with better stats and upgrades usually. One thing I can say though, if you can get some of the military great people, they can help significantly with things like free upgrades.

I think still it's good news that the independency war might be challenging and interesting.

I still mourn there aren't any other ways to victory...can you get any help from other nations or natives etc.?

I've a question! What's the different Kings' colours, compared to the colonies'?

In the original Colonization, the King's colour was white, but it was the same King no matter which nation you chose. You didn't get to see the AIs' monarch since you lost if they managed to declare independence, if I remember correctly.

However, it seems now England's primary colour is white (like in Civ4), which I dislike since that should be the King's! I'm guessing the King of England's colour is red, Spain's is yellow (as opposed to gold), and the Dutch and French ones use lighter shades of orange and blue, respectively.

EDIT: Also...

- Is there only one King (yours) per game, or do you see other nations fighting for their independence eventually, against their own motherlands? I'm guessing the former, since only your King is present in the Foreign Advisor screen.
- The King appears to be a separate, off-map civ of sorts. Does he boosts his army according to the gold you provide to a secret treasury through his demands or the purchase of ships, goods and military units? Or is it something arbitrary?
- Or is the 'off-map civ' appearance just a means to gauge his relations with you and give his Royal Expeditionary Force an owner once it shows up?
- Finally, given he's on your Foreign Advisor screen, can you contact him or does it only work the other way round?

I have read the preview on Jeuxvideo.com - which is in French. Nothing new there, so no worries on missing anything. I like the screenshots though, it's great.

I had to use the urban dictionary to get to know what «go fly a kite means»... and it wasn't pretty let me tell you.

So I guess we now know every leaderheads for Indian and colonial nations. We only miss the animation for the Dutch statholder or Holland's great pensionnary depending on which one of the two they included.

It is much harder to get independence in an online game.
as none of the other players want to lose so they will gang up on the player declearing independence.
I belive since this can be played online, each player will have his own king, but none of the other players will interact with there enemies kings.

Also i suppose you just have to build up real fast. And only pick the founding fathers that benefit you the most. Consider gettng founding fathers that really complement a few aspects of your economy/army.

Just try and see if you can break the intended gameplay somehow by giveing you an unfair atvantage.

Here is something you can try out.
1. play samuel de camplain.
2. stack up on so many founding fathers that aid you in dealing with natives as possible.
Trade with natives and early on sell them weapons and horses, and whatever other goods they pay well for. Buy the weapons in europe.
Use the early profits to get some more ships/scouts and 3-4 colonists+ missionaries. Also trade with as many natives as it is practical to maximize your profits. Deny all requests for money, and accept the taxes.

Thank you, The Mystic, for sharing all of those wonderful screen shots. It's given me valuable insight into this game.

All the screen shots are nice, but if you could give us ones of all the Founding Fathers and their colonial improvements, I would really appreciate it.

I do have some additional technical questions:

* Do the "kings" demand goods or just gold?
* Does the REF land piecemeal (one ship at a time) or do they all land at once?
* What's the highest tax rate you've seen?
* Is there a separate Continental Army class of soldiers in this version?

Again, thank you for your time and effort.

well i am really intrested in whhat the different founding fathers do. so i second that.

I have questions as well:

1. Is it possible to get indian military units as well as the usual converts?

2. What happens when you create a military unit and give it promotions? Is it possible to remove his weapons and use him as a worker again? Does the promotions remain?

3. How does the buildings work? For example, in the original colonization you begain with a Blacksmith's House, then you could upgrade it to a Blacksmith's Shop and finally, Iron Works. Are the different stages the same?

4. Does the Drydock still exist? One of the cool features in Colonization was that you had to build a Drydock, otherwise all your ships would sink during the war of independence.

5. Does one European power still always leave the new world? Is it possible to annihalate another power? (In the original Colonization, it was impossible to kill the last boat).

Hey guys, unfortunately I'm going to have to cut back on the screenshots, so what's out there right now is just that. I should have a preview up sometime in the near future, followed by a review around launch. I'll link you guys when they go live.

Hope you enjoyed the screenshots and information provided thus far. Hopefully I'll see you all in retail when Civ4 : Col finally comes out. :)

I have questions as well:

1. Is it possible to get indian military units as well as the usual converts?

2. What happens when you create a military unit and give it promotions? Is it possible to remove his weapons and use him as a worker again? Does the promotions remain?

3. How does the buildings work? For example, in the original colonization you begain with a Blacksmith's House, then you could upgrade it to a Blacksmith's Shop and finally, Iron Works. Are the different stages the same?

4. Does the Drydock still exist? One of the cool features in Colonization was that you had to build a Drydock, otherwise all your ships would sink during the war of independence.

5. Does one European power still always leave the new world? Is it possible to annihalate another power? (In the original Colonization, it was impossible to kill the last boat).

1. I have yet to get indian military units, but they have provided training before.
2. You can turn infantry and dragoons back into colonists and vice versa. Yes they keep their promotions, so if they're called back into combat they'll still have the same bonuses.
3. There are still several levels of most buildings, although you have to build them independently. First you'd make a blacksmith house, then shop, then iron works. Each needs their own number of hammers, tools, etc.
4. There is a drydock, although I do not think your ships sink without one. I'd have to check.
5. I've seen new colonies show up from a power that I had wiped out, so it looks like they can keep coming, but they'll typically have no hope of making a come back. It's usually quite sad actually, and just an incentive to go and take over their new cities again. :)

I do have some additional technical questions:

* Do the "kings" demand goods or just gold?
* Does the REF land piecemeal (one ship at a time) or do they all land at once?
* What's the highest tax rate you've seen?
* Is there a separate Continental Army class of soldiers in this version?

Again, thank you for your time and effort.

1. So far all the King has asked me for is Gold, but he usually has a reason for asking.
2. The royal navy comes in waves, and you'll see them sail back as well when they're done bombarding you.
3. I think the highest I've hit was 62%
4. Your troops are outclassed by the homeland troops. They've got better infantry, dragoons, and artillery. Their ships are also superior. :)

Seems there was a limit to the amount of information you could disclose, but thanks a lot for all the screens and data you managed to reveal. :)

I think I can answer a couple of questions, using the information I got from the PolyCast...

3. How does the buildings work? For example, in the original colonization you begain with a Blacksmith's House, then you could upgrade it to a Blacksmith's Shop and finally, Iron Works. Are the different stages the same?
Instead of a chain of three buildings per resource, there seems to be three general chains that encompass several resources each. I don't remember the specifics, and they weren't too clear about it in the interview.

4. Does the Drydock still exist? One of the cool features in Colonization was that you had to build a Drydock, otherwise all your ships would sink during the war of independence.
If I remember correctly, ships have a certain escape probability on their own by default. The Drydock might increase the chances of a vessel being damaged instead of sunk (and/or make repairs quicker), but that's just my personal speculation.

I've taken pictures of all the leaders for you guys, and I've also put up another set of screenshots. :)

http://www.invisibledream.com/images/colonization/thirdbatch/

Also I forgot to mention this, but the Dutch do start with a Merchanman instead of a Caravel. +2 transport spots right off the bat.

Mystic,
just to confirm are all the leaderheads animated, including the natives? (the screenshots are down now)

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.

4. Your troops are outclassed by the homeland troops. They've got better infantry, dragoons, and artillery. Their ships are also superior. :)

Well, I KNEW that. Actually in Col Classic, their artillery was the same as the rebels, and their MOWs was also the same as the rebels could get with intervention, so if those are now different, that's good to know.

But that's not what I was asking. In Col Classic, there were four types of soldiers:

Plain
Veteran
Continental
Regular (REF only)

It's obvious that 1, 2, and 4 are still around in this version, but I was wondering if class #3 was still there, whether through a Civ IV upgrade or directly named.

Hope you enjoyed the screenshots and information provided thus far. Hopefully I'll see you all in retail when Civ4 : Col finally comes out. :)We have and thanks for all the information and screens you have provided.

It's also glad to see everything worked out for you. ;)

Screenshots are down

At least they can still be viewed in the Colonization Gallery.:yeah:

i didnt get to see all the leader screenshots he posted. did they include natives? are the posted elsewhere?

i didnt get to see all the leader screenshots he posted. did they include natives? are the posted elsewhere?

Did you try reading the post right above yours.

At least they can still be viewed in the Colonization Gallery.:yeah:

they arent there

There is already the French, English and Dutch leaderheads available on IGN : Kings and leaders. Next week the Spanish will be there too. TheMystic didn't upload screencaptures of AMerindian leaderheads.

they arent there

Every screenshot TheMystic uploaded is in the Colonization gallery, so if it's not there, he never posted that screenshot.

ok, when i say the page for the third patch it had a lor of files and I assumed it showed more natives. guess i'll have to wait a few weeks. thx

Ekmek, if modding Bolivar into regular Civ is possible, will you turn your Bolivar into Santa Anna?

Civ4Col uses shader technology Civ4 doesn't support. I don't know how much tinkering each model will need to be able to get implemented in Civ4. It might be possible, but pretty difficult.

I'm sure i can find a way to mod it. I'm planning on doing Santa Anna eventually anyways