First time playing Colonization but played civ4 for a year+. After playing colonization 3 times, I realized that I needed a better overall strategy.

The idea from civ4 of specialized cities came to mind. I thought about creating a settlement with whatever resources it has. (lets say, corn and tabacco) That settlement should strictly farm for food (for growth) and tabaccoo (obvious reasons). Then, it should create a trade route from this settlement to capital. The capital then should only create the 'special buildings' and use 'workers' (including master and expert) into creating the finished product, WHILE also having 8 'workers' (including the city itself, which is 9) farm for food to grow. So this then would allow the capital to produce the other important things, like churchs, school, etc. This of course would require more specialized settlements (SS?) for every type of resource => finished product.

In turn, getting 'workers' from Europe would be somewhat more cheaper, plus all the trading the capital ships to Europe, would allow the purchase of more 'worker's to continue grow the SS. which then leads to the important buildings (church, etc) to then lead to revolution.


I'm sure theres some holes in this idea. Its my first strategy, first time playing colonization. Any helpful imput would be great.

Also, post your strategies to help the rest who need some guildance. thanks!

Yeah, that's how I did it in 1, and how I've done it 19 of the past 24 hours... :)

My order usually goes.

1. two cities right away.
2. get to 5 cities asap.
3. Make sure you have a nice flow of raw materials going to your capital.
4. start adding Elders with the money from selling raw materials.
5. build farmers/fishermen.
6. start to manufacture the raw goods.
7. All fresh colonists get conscripted into the military.

Now a few things prevent it from working awesomely in this version - namely that you can have a population above 6 without disorder (Col1), and having 100% rebel sympathy is much harder to get, and not as worthwhile. In COL1 it was +2 of everything in every square I think? So you wanted to get that ASAP. With Jefferson and Bolivar and some others in #1 you could get 128 liberty bells per city, which rocked.

What helps me alot is to set up a colonist pump in the early game, a colony solely dedicated to produce food and thus so new colonists. Usually this will be a coastal city with 1 or if lucky 2 food sources. When the colony has grown abit I can pump out a new colonist every 6 or 7 turns.

The new colonists go off to the native village's to learn a job and then join a colony. This give's you a steady supply and you dont have to spent all of your bucks on new colonists from the docks.

As for city specialization :
Food city
Raw materials city
Processing raw materials city
Education city (Also the food city can later in the game be a good elder statesmen pump)
Army supply depot city

I have only really played about 1 hour of col2 so far, but I spent many a hour on col1, and the way I always did it was a bit different. I would have a food rich city site same as many of you guys suggested, but I did not typically transport raw materials to that location, instead I'd use it as a food supply/ bells/ crosses factory. If I founded a city near, as an example, good sugar land, I'd bring in the expert sugar planter and rum distiller and go from raw material to final product all in one place. I guess the concept was to have less intercity supply lines, and a less centralized european shipping. Its probably not the most efficient, but it just made more sense to me to produce the finished good in the same place as the raw materials...

@Taeryn : In col1 that used to be my favorite strategy also. But in col2 I have the feeling that I am getting less free colonists from the docks compared with col1, thats why my idea for a colonist pump.
And with centralized cities there's much less micro, you dont have to think everytime to which colony you have to sent a new colonist.
Biggest problem in col2 with centralized economy is that the raw ouput gets so massive late game that one export city isnt enough anymore and thats the point where the trade route hell begins.

@Taeryn : In col1 that used to be my favorite strategy also. But in col2 I have the feeling that I am getting less free colonists from the docks compared with col1, thats why my idea for a colonist pump.
And with centralized cities there's much less micro, you dont have to think everytime to which colony you have to sent a new colonist.
Biggest problem in col2 with centralized economy is that the raw ouput gets so massive late game that one export city isnt enough anymore and thats the point where the trade route hell begins.

You can still run one export city, just need a galleon chain gang. :)

5 settlements seems to be the popular number; seen it in several threads.

Is there a particular reason? I seem to have trouble settling more than about 3...I get too involved in developing/building stuff.

@Dale

Ah, no, thats not the problem. The problem is late game that Im producing massive amounts of raw material, way more than one "refinery" city can handle. This is mostly due to the bonuses, you get a % bonus for the raw resource output but not for a factory input. So a 6 fur field will be a 7 or 8 fur field late game but the factory will still only accept 6 furs as input. Result is a massive raw material overflow that needs to be split up over 2 instead of 1 "refining" cities.

5 settlements seems to be the popular number; seen it in several threads.

Is there a particular reason? I seem to have trouble settling more than about 3...I get too involved in developing/building stuff.

But how do you manage to produce tools&guns with just 3 ? I usually need at least 3 for raw materials, refining and education. So I need 2 more to produce tools/guns and also the occasional horse.

I didn't say I was good at this game! ;)

Actually, I just bought tools and guns early on; then when I picked up an expert blacksmith, I put him to work.

Just trying to learn the ropes, and get an understanding of the game mechanics.
I can say for sure that I am too wrapped up in building infrastructure instead of trading and turning those free colonists into soldiers.

I haven't completed a game yet, as I can see I will get waxed by the King's army.

@Dale

Ah, no, thats not the problem. The problem is late game that Im producing massive amounts of raw material, way more than one "refinery" city can handle. This is mostly due to the bonuses, you get a % bonus for the raw resource output but not for a factory input. So a 6 fur field will be a 7 or 8 fur field late game but the factory will still only accept 6 furs as input. Result is a massive raw material overflow that needs to be split up over 2 instead of 1 "refining" cities.

Ah, point taken. :) I thought you meant you accumulated processed goods ready for selling too quickly.

I see. I guess when it becomes to a point of having too much rawr resource, get another city.
I keep getting screwed with the civ4 BFC and the col SC (small cross, lol)
so you could fit a few number of cities quite close.
I guess overlapping should be avoided. I had that once and it ruined my production (well, food for growth)

I keep getting screwed with the civ4 BFC and the col SC (small cross, lol)
You're not alone! :lol:

So far ive found that only 1 processing or manufacturing city is not enough to process all the raw materials that come in. In my current 5+1 city game ive had to send a couple of master tobacconists/weavers/distillers/fur traders to the raw material cities. So i basically have 4 raw material/small time processing cities that send 2/3 raw material and 1/3 processed products to the main city where the processed 1/3 goes right on the ship while the remaining 2/3 raws gets processed there before going on the ship. Still i have a raw surplus.

PS: the "5+1" colnies is because i came upon a spot with 2x2 silver ore next to each other. Wasnt planning on a 6th city but but just had to send a couple of silver miners there. So the +1 colony is basically one big silver mine. :D

maybe i'm just slow, but what is the benefit of the centralization? Many people seem to be thinking the same way, but I haven't seen what the big advantage is. Granted, I also haven't won a game of Col2 yet either, so maybe that's why.

the benefit of being decentralized is you don't have to transport raw materials between cities. Each city is mostly self-sufficient, and if you want a central european shipping, you could move the finished goods to a central location that is most convenient for european shipping. The other advantage is because each settlement is self-sufficient from a trading standpoint, loosing a city, or an interuption in the supply lines won't cause the entire system to come to a halt. The drawbacks would be that you need higher end buildings in a lot of different places, and you'd probably need multiple ships running back and forth to europe from the various locations, which might not be as conveniently close to the euro waters.

Perhaps the best teacher is experience. I'll try a game playing centralized production and see if I'm more efficient.

First time playing Colonization but played civ4 for a year+. After playing colonization 3 times, I realized that I needed a better overall strategy.

The idea from civ4 of specialized cities came to mind. I thought about creating a settlement with whatever resources it has. (lets say, corn and tabacco) That settlement should strictly farm for food (for growth) and tabaccoo (obvious reasons). Then, it should create a trade route from this settlement to capital. The capital then should only create the 'special buildings' and use 'workers' (including master and expert) into creating the finished product, WHILE also having 8 'workers' (including the city itself, which is 9) farm for food to grow. So this then would allow the capital to produce the other important things, like churchs, school, etc. This of course would require more specialized settlements (SS?) for every type of resource => finished product.

In turn, getting 'workers' from Europe would be somewhat more cheaper, plus all the trading the capital ships to Europe, would allow the purchase of more 'worker's to continue grow the SS. which then leads to the important buildings (church, etc) to then lead to revolution.


I'm sure theres some holes in this idea. Its my first strategy, first time playing colonization. Any helpful imput would be great.

Also, post your strategies to help the rest who need some guildance. thanks!

I am in the same boat as you. I've been playing CIVs III and IV for years, but this is my first time with colonization. I also think specialization will play a big role and agree with you one hundred percent. It will also allow you to place specialists where they can have the greatest impact. This strategy implies that you will need quite a few settlements each with specific resources in mind, so this strategy should also allow you to pick you settlement sites with purpose instead of randomly. I tried with five settlements and buying colonists from the homeland to work within. Let specialists work to produce goods from your raw materials, which can be sold back to the homeland for significant bounty. I seemed to keep pace with the AI, but I was also playing at the lowest level.

Civsassin, yeah I started on the lowest level. Its a good place to start but shouldnt get comfortable with it. I think the captial should build chruches to raise crosses, therefore the immagrants arrive earlier. And then build the next building that increases crosses. Therefore, you can have a steady supply of workers coming in. I aslo think there should be a SS for a free colonist (or the free worker you get once you grow into the next level population), where you need to find a place that is packed with food resources farmed by expert farmers. Getting those 2 cities up and running in the early beggining would lead to easier development of other SS.

I see. I guess when it becomes to a point of having too much rawr resource, get another city.
I keep getting screwed with the civ4 BFC and the col SC (small cross, lol)
so you could fit a few number of cities quite close.
I guess overlapping should be avoided. I had that once and it ruined my production (well, food for growth)


Haha, I did that the first time too, I put down my capital thinking, cool, corn and iron in the BFC, only to find a completely food-deficient city 50 years down the line.

Also, might be a little off-topic, but are the "blue circles" any more intelligent in this game?

Civsassin, yeah I started on the lowest level. Its a good place to start but shouldnt get comfortable with it. I think the captial should build chruches to raise crosses, therefore the immagrants arrive earlier. And then build the next building that increases crosses. Therefore, you can have a steady supply of workers coming in. I aslo think there should be a SS for a free colonist (or the free worker you get once you grow into the next level population), where you need to find a place that is packed with food resources farmed by expert farmers. Getting those 2 cities up and running in the early beggining would lead to easier development of other SS.

Kevie: I only started on the lowest level to begin to learn game mechanics. I want to be able to play through and win one game at this level before I move on. By the time I am able to win one game, I should fundamentally understand the game mechanics, which is my initial objective.

I am playing at Explorer difficulty.

I am play the game till i get the idea where i screwed up and start over and ive never declared yet. So its basicly early-mid game.

I tried developing cities, trying to empasize future profits like a food paradise from the first city to get my own citizen, quickly gaining crosses to save money early, and using money on most important specialists who teach others. Slow and boring way imho, but good for learning.

I also tried spawning as many cities agressivly to block all ai, using all cities to gather food for more food and more people and more cities etc. also it is important to use missionaries on every village to spawn natives who build cities etc. When i block all i can i let my cities grow, while ship(s) from the mainland bring people steadily who settle at the starting position to develope trade/production and then slowly move further. The Dutch i think (with longer tax turns) are good for this. I suppose ai will get more agressive on higher difficulty but on settler they ended with 5 cities each max while i had > 15-20 for sure. Tax was roughly the same as i usually have with sane developement but turns take up to 1 hr each with thinking and staring at the monitor included =)

The best variant for me was to build 5 (i dont know why but everyone says 5 so i did it too) cities asap fairly close, starting to build future production/trade structure right away with 3-5 trains who cruise around cities and native villages for easy profit. I use missionaries on villages that are close by only because it feels like the cities influence has a strong effect on villages nearby producing native peoples. (I couldnt find any explanation on how it works anywhee :S.) I dont do much scouting > i dont think its good enough, but i usually use most treasures to scout for me and talk to village leaders nearby. Most important though - I use first population in my 5 small cities all working raw resources after making just enough trains who pile all of em in one city. The ship is sailing back and forth with whatever it can get, trying to fool villages on the way and bringing new colonists. I didnt go to mid/late game with this strat yet, but it allowed me to have 2x-3x points advantage early on.

I would love to read more about your early starts.

Also if someone would explain why the village asks for e.g. trade goods and then gives some very low price :S.

Also if someone would explain why the village asks for e.g. trade goods and then gives some very low price :S.

I just sold 200 guns for 2500+ gold to the natives who were fighting the english ;)

I just sold 200 guns for 2500+ gold to the natives who were fighting the english ;)

Just make sure they don't turn on you! ;)

The benefit to centralization is that you can get a steady stream of lumber and carpenters and quickly toss up a few factories to efficiently produce manufactured goods. It's sometimes hard to get your cities all close together but if you can pull it off you'll be rolling in cash. I think I had 25k just now in the game I played?

You could maybe have 2 production cities, like one for tools/guns and the other for cigars/cloth, etc or something too... It's hard to know. I've always just used one, and it's population was 26 I think? Yikes....

My first city is always built with as much sea as I can give it. Get some shipyards and expert fishermen and it'll support a huge population.

Dutch, always Dutch for me.

A good strategy is to:
Settle down with your soldier on the coast as fast as possible, and as near as you can to the European sailing zone, possibly within the first three turns. Alternatively take a couple of turns more to explore, since hitting a continent is very important, but don't waste more than ten turns. Be on the lookout for special resources, rivers, and heavy forests, but most importantly try to settle down at a spot with relatively similar terrain types so you can specialize said colony. From then on you should work towards maximizing its main resource output so you can trade manufactured goods at Europe.
Now you have two choices: if the land is relatively Indian free, by all means use your pioneer to build a second settlement. Otherwise, consider sending your pioneer to the nearest indian village to learn its special skill (unless you're French, which means you should start improving the land and establishing routes as soon as possible to facilitate future relationships and trades). You'll need money soon to buy the Indian lands for further expansion; furthermore, extra food you get by plowing can help you support an early statesman.
Explore the surrounding tiles with your ship. If the landmass turns out to be an island, start looking for a continent. Once you get a colonist at the European docks, it's time to head back to your motherland. Try to time your return with the exact arrival of said colonist at the docks. Specially important are Seasoned Scouts, so if you've got the doubloons rush them!
If you didn't find a Seasoned Scout right away, either equip one colonist with horses at the docks, or use him as is if you can't afford neither but you need to start exploring the inland right away for both coin and information. If you happen to get a lot of Treasure units, consider saving 3000 coins for a Galleon.
If you happen to find another European settlement next to your colonies, exploit this! Attack his towns right away and you'll profit from it immediately: you'll get extra settlers, extra resources, and possibly extra land.
Consider establishing Jesuit missions (particularly with indentured servants and petty criminals), and if you have surplus food building churches to get a couple of extra crosses underway: we want to get as many colonists as possible. Remember, however, that excess colonists make it harder to attain rebel sentiment. I can't figure an optimal ratio at the moment, but don't forget this game is all about independence!
Remember to buy a couple of tools from the European docks at one point or another. You'll need them for pioneers and advanced buildings.
Once you have established one or more "resource factories", it's time to expand. This is the most important part of the game, in my opinion. You should be doing this by the early-mid 1500s since by then you normally have enough cash to rush a couple of much-needed specialists. Specially important are alternate resources, so if you've been maximizing tobacco be on the lookout for plains and cotton. This will cushion price fluctuations at European markets, which means profit. Profit is good.
While expanding, continue emphasizing colonist specialization. Contact villages, establish roads to them, build schoolhouses, purchase important specialists, and so on.
When you can, establish a tools & muskets colony (5th or 6th city - it depends). Look for hills and mountains. A nearby food resource would be optimal, but not entirely necessary: you need to feed your blacksmiths!
Now you should begin exploiting your nation's bonus. If French, continue nurturing Indian relationships (arm them!). If Spanish, buy a Galleon and begin pillaging nearby Indian villages but only once you've gotten every possible expert office out of them (Fur, Tobbaco, Sugar, and Cotton gatherers) Prioritize the wealthy Inca and Aztec cities if you've got the manpower, otherwise gather up experience (specially if you're José de San Martín) and assault them later. If English, continue expanding. If Dutch, continue winning :p .
Aim for 9-12 colonies before declaring independence.
More to come later.

Feedback is appreciated: let's get a solid strategy guide going people!

I used Centralization on my last win because it's easier to have one city with awesome production than a bunch, but on my next game I'm going to try and have a bunch of cities with 3 carpenters each. If they run out of things to make I'll start kicking out the political points with production. I got quite a few FF's last game producing political points. It really helps out a ton. And with a few fishing villages working overtime you won't run out of villagers.

In Col1 you could train Veteran Soldiers with a university but i cant seem to train any in Col2. am i doing something wrong or is it not possible to train Vet soldiers? if you cant train then will standard militia gain Vet status from combat?

Vets just get XP double fast. And no, there isn't a way to train them up to veteran soldiers. Fortunately that's balanced by the fact that expert tobacco farmers can get combat promotions.

If you have the right founders as soon as you equip a musket on your guy he gets a few important free upgrades. 1 never had that.

For those who finished a game on easiest setting:

Approximately how many troops/ships did you have before declaring independence? How badly did the King out number you? And what was result - won/lost?

In my current game, I have about 4 dragoons, 4 militia, 3 vet soldiers, and a multi-XP scout on horse. I have heeded advice somewhere in the forum about delaying bell production to keep King from building up way before I'm ready.

It's around 1640, and I am just getting ready to start up the bells. Got 2 cities cranking out colonists at about 8 turns each, and another 2 cities are almost finished with the armory, so I'll be able to add some cannons.

Since I've restarted game 5-6 times, I have no idea how many troops/cannons/ships I will need to have reasonable chance at victory.

He had: 50i/20d/10c/40w (approximately)

I had: 15/30/2/1 about...

I quickly lost about 20 dragoons because I used them to defend a city and they didn't heal up quickly enough to withstand the assault. But to counter that after his troops landed I conscriped another 15 infantry or so out of my towns. I kept my infantry in the towns and won/lost about evenly. But after his stack would assault my city I'd send the dragoons in from an inland city to destroy the remainder of his forces then retreat back behind fort walls. That bought my troops enough time to heal up. They took 2 of my 6 towns, so once they were at full strength I marched them in and liberated my cities.

He still had 40 men of war at the end of it... yikes!

And it was on the 3rd setting, two higher than the easiest. I also fortified my units before declaring war, it gives you 5% strength per turn up to 25%. That extra bit helped out a LOT.

The key though was to mix up your forces and have LOTS of dragoons to wipe out his wounded victorious troops after a big battle. And to have enough riflemen to not lose the city.

And build roads everywhere you possible can, the Kings forces will be spread out on a wide front and destroy everything they walk over, if you have dragoons and roads you can strike and get back behind the city walls to heal.

Aim for 10-12 colonies before declaring independence.


10-12 seems like way too many. You only have 300 turns to win and you want to declare independence long before then. The more colonies you have, the longer it takes to get them all up and running efficiently. In the original colonization I would make 8 settlements tops, usually around 6. I've been doing about 5-6 colonies in this game and I find that's about all I can get to full efficiency with enough time for war preparation. As I get better at the game I'll probably be able to get more, but I think the colonists used to settle those extra colonies are better used improving a smaller number of existing colonies.

If you're having success with 10-12 though, I'd love to hear more detail.

Would placing some settlements as costal settlements for defensive purposes when warring with the motherland? The bonus of attacking across water (bad for attacker, good for defender)

How about some military suggestions?
Yes, build an army bigger than theirs. Any others?

persself, you should check out the military screen before you declare. It shows how many units you have vs the REF (king's units)

10-12 seems like way too many. You only have 300 turns to win and you want to declare independence long before then. The more colonies you have, the longer it takes to get them all up and running efficiently. In the original colonization I would make 8 settlements tops, usually around 6. I've been doing about 5-6 colonies in this game and I find that's about all I can get to full efficiency with enough time for war preparation. As I get better at the game I'll probably be able to get more, but I think the colonists used to settle those extra colonies are better used improving a smaller number of existing colonies.

If you're having success with 10-12 though, I'd love to hear more detail.
I'm playing at Explorer difficulty for now, then I'll move on. I've just won easily with 9 so I suppose that number is OK as well. Any less and I have difficulty fielding a large enough army, that's why I go for more cities.

What I do is build two colonies as soon as possible and harvest raw materials from the first one, sell them, purchase the specialist that makes the improved goods out of said material (unless I'm lucky and can rush him - or luckier still and is given for free), bring him home with someone else and send that extra guy to gather food. Then I repeat the same process again, but this time around I rush as many colonists as possible and begin expanding.

Meanwhile in the second settlement I'm either building a church so I can start getting crosses, or just harvesting extra resources.

I've also had fun experimenting and setting up an early Spanish assault force by buying (with all the extra cash) cannons and guns as soon as possible, and later equipping all those extra colonist on the mainland to save some bucks so as to lay siege to the surrounding villages. By the end of my campaign I owned about 12 colonies with lots of experts, a couple of generals, tens of veteran soldiers (gotta love San Martin), and tons of cash. It was early 1600 so I got bored and quit.

Would placing some settlements as costal settlements for defensive purposes when warring with the motherland? The bonus of attacking across water (bad for attacker, good for defender)

How about some military suggestions?
Yes, build an army bigger than theirs. Any others?
Build up your defenses.
Pick your promotions thinking ahead.
Try to fight them in your cities.
Get every ally you can to declare war on them.
Continue building rebel sentiments up for the "mercs" to arrive.

it's important to note I think, and another poster mentioned it in his strat., that Dragoons are far more effective in an attacking role. they get Bonuses to killing cannons, and the move fast. And the REF guys defend just as lousy as your own men. Plus if you can use the terrain to your advantage, with forest, hills, etc... oh and attacking doesn't matter if the Man-O-wars are destroying your colonies defensive bonuses.

I tried a more centralized approach to my production, and you guys had it right, its more efficient. My main city can focus on building structures and cranking out food to create more settlers. Secondary cities are founded by specialized colonists turn out raw materials. I found its key to be as close packed as possible, and to take advantage of indian training. I'm making good money on raw materials and once I get the manpower to convert that into finished goods, cash flow should skyrocket.

The only alarming thing is that I'm only 100 turns into the game and George Washington is cranking out liberty bells already. If he beats me to 50%, will he declare independance imediately? Do I then automatically loose, or does he have to win his war of independance? I've been cultivating good relations with GW and our native friends, in hopes of getting help on my eventual war of independance, but should I shake things up to try and force him away from what looks like a rush towards a DoI?

I dont do much scouting > i dont think its good enough

Heresy! Well, I really like scouting asap - ideally immediately, with a seasoned scout. You get better returns on ruins and talking to chiefs and can make first contact with more chiefs (first to each village is like a goodie hut). I usually make several 1000 gold this way on top of multiple treasures to send to europe (I alway save them til I can afford a galleon and the extra profit from doing this helps pay for the galleon).

The only alarming thing is that I'm only 100 turns into the game and George Washington is cranking out liberty bells already. If he beats me to 50%, will he declare independance imediately?

Seems like the worst that can happen is his borders will expand and push into you if you're near him. The AIs seem to be into generating bells early and setting themselves up for massacre by their homeland. They apparently never got the memo about how REF build up or basic size works.

you need scout asap many treasures awaits! you can sell them to the king, or you can transport them manualy but you need galeon, so think about it when selling raw materials, and be faster than opponent when exploring new world

btw.
can somebody tell me what ephasize is for ? how it works?

I've been building bells as well to hog the early wonders eh founding fathers, stop after you got 2-3 of the ones you want.

you need scout asap many treasures awaits! you can sell them to the king, or you can transport them manualy but you need galeon, so think about it when selling raw materials, and be faster than opponent when exploring new world

btw.
can somebody tell me what ephasize is for ? how it works?

Emphasize works with the automated colonist assignment/governor to determine what tile/slot to put each colonist.

Warning, it seems that if you emphasize crosses they will get worked over pretty much anything else. You only get 3 levels (normal, emphasize, de-emphasize) but the AI seems to have its own internal rankings as well (it doesn't balance all the emphasize items but assigns them in some order).

It works pretty well and worth setting them up for each colony, along with the trade routes.

I've seen a couple people complain about the time it takes them to find their first island. What I do in the very first turn is alternately go diagonal up one and diagonal down one. you "see" a fatter swath of ocean that way, while traveling just as far west as you otherwise would per turn. I'd say it's among the simplest ways to save yourself a turn or two when it counts.

If you assume you are going to take 3 turns regardless then going full diagonal each turn (not alternating) will get you the same distance west but cover twice as far south, then the third turn you'll cover the extra distance north.

There's nothing wrong about settling down on an island, just harvest raw materials so you can start trading with Europe, and don't invest much on it.

Emphasize works with the automated colonist assignment/governor to determine what tile/slot to put each colonist.

Warning, it seems that if you emphasize crosses they will get worked over pretty much anything else. You only get 3 levels (normal, emphasize, de-emphasize) but the AI seems to have its own internal rankings as well (it doesn't balance all the emphasize items but assigns them in some order).

It works pretty well and worth setting them up for each colony, along with the trade routes.

thx a lot for explain ^^

whats you people preffer to automate workers in town or maunal setting them up ? i'm setting them manualy, but i wonder about auto, but i have objections about it and worries that auto, taht i will loose cotrol over colony, because i will don't know what is what

can someone advice me? :) manual is very long ;)

I've seen a couple people complain about the time it takes them to find their first island. What I do in the very first turn is alternately go diagonal up one and diagonal down one. you "see" a fatter swath of ocean that way, while traveling just as far west as you otherwise would per turn. I'd say it's among the simplest ways to save yourself a turn or two when it counts.

You can also tell where land is by the shape of the border water region. If it's farther away on the horizontal plane to the north of your ship then you know that land will be closest up north and you should send your ship diagonally NW as the border is adjusted to the landmasses present.

These are questions i would like answered if anyone can help?

How you make tade goods ?
What controls that time it take to teach people in you schools ?
Is there anyway to win?
does it make sense to try to build a navy or just give up?


Help would be welcomed.

Its trivial to win on revolutionary vs the ai in single player. Thats why i play multiplayer 99% of the time, i only play single player when no one is available to play and i use the time to test out different tactics.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=300331

This is the best strategy i could come up with, its nearly impossible to beat unless peace is broken in the first 10 turns. And if you are planning on fighting from the beginning then you should sail back to europe turn 1 to turn your soldier into a dragoon before you search and destroy. But most multiplayer gamers prefer some duration of peace to prepare for war.

Please feel free to poke holes in it and suggest better ways of playing.

These are questions i would like answered if anyone can help?

How you make tade goods ?

Mine ore, build blacksmith shop, put blacksmith to work.

What controls that time it take to teach people in you schools ?

Each citizen of the same type takes longer.

Is there anyway to win?

Build a large army, stockpile guns and horses.

does it make sense to try to build a navy or just give up?

You'll need a much larger Navy than the REF, but the more you sink, the fewer you'll have to fight on land.

Help would be welcomed.

Welcome to the Forums Tronn78. :beer:

As far as I can tell, 'trade goods' can only be purchased in Europe. A blacksmith makes 'tools' if you set him to work. Tools can also be traded, but apparently there are some really special beads and trinkets made in Europe that no colonist would ever have the skill to create.

that is correct, you CANNOT make trade goods with a blacksmith.

trade goods are precisely that. Goods bought for the purpose of trading only (read trinkets, ornaments, whatever)

Buy in Europe to sell them to the indians at about 50-75% profit, or even higher if they are in demand at the village.

Yes. I mistook Trade Goods for Tools. :blush: