1) Don't overextend yourself, 4-5 MAX at start, then build more once your economy is stable. The reason for this is that colonist are cheap and fast coming at the start but much slower at mid-late game, leaving you with small useless settlement.

2) I find that guns are cheaps, Buy a bundle of gun at 6-8 each come rather cheap than hiring Vet Soldiers or even making them (I had 50 guns/turn as a max, but buying 150 guns (on epic) cost me a 1200$... extremly useful for a fast arming of the populace (before the WoL for exemple).

I usually dedicated a full settlement to the Ore/Tools/Guns chain, I don't know if it would be more effective to buy the guns and have a Wood/Ore/Tool settlement sending their goods to the cities that need them...

Any my own 2 cents... hope it help some newbies out there (Which I'm proud to be part of).

I try to always specialize a food/growth city and a weapons city. After that, my cities all turn into hybrids. The micromanaging becomes a huge issue for me though, I can't keep up with the small details.

The micromanaging becomes a huge issue for me though, I can't keep up with the small details.

This is the only game I have to keep a notebook beside me to remember what's going where, what I need from europ. This was also true of the old game.

This is the only game I have to keep a notebook beside me to remember what's going where, what I need from europ. This was also true of the old game.

In the old game, I always had to keep notes of what the various Indian settlements bought and sold, and which experts they could train. Of course, due to some bug, sometimes you sent a colonist on a long trek to train him to become a cotton farmer only to discover that now the village trained ore miners instead. :mad:

In old game the Indian converts lost hope and went home if you didn't put them right to work. That doesn't seem to be the case in this game. Am I correct?

an exploit in civ 4 col is to declear independence with only 1 small city, and colonize some other part of the map, with monarchy.

another exsploit is to save up money before the war, and instantly use that money to buy units.

the first exsploit is really bad!

In old game the Indian converts lost hope and went home if you didn't put them right to work. That doesn't seem to be the case in this game. Am I correct?

Oh man I bet you miss that mechanic.

Isn't the game over once the WoI is over?

another exsploit is to save up money before the war, and instantly use that money to buy units.

Where do you buy units after declaring independance?

In old game the Indian converts lost hope and went home if you didn't put them right to work. That doesn't seem to be the case in this game. Am I correct?

In the original Col, the Indian became desillsioned and returned home if you didn't put him to work within six turns. But if you put him on a ship to another colony, that didn't bother him. The turns spent om board apparently coumted as ouccupation.

By the way, is there some mechanism for assmilating natives in the new game? In the old one, it happened once, when you acquired Bartholomé de Las Casas; then all your Indian converts became ordinary colonists. However, there was no way to assmilate later converts.

Incidentally, Las Casas' standing as a humanitarian is somewhat marred by the fact that he proposed importing black slaves from Africa instead of enslaving the Indians. In the end, he had his way.

choose monarchy, and you can continue trade with europe instead of the also very good double founding father points.

By the way, is there some mechanism for assmilating natives in the new game? In the old one, it happened once, when you acquired Bartholomé de Las Casas; then all your Indian converts became ordinary colonists. However, there was no way to assmilate later converts.


Just set the new indian convert to 'live among the natives' as soon as he appears so you will get a more useful expert instead after waiting a bit.

Though sometimes a +1 all around outdoor work bonus is useful too if you have to shift between jobs..