Hey all,

Long time Civ4 player, and totally new to the whole Colonization game having never played the original.

I'm struggling to get through a game, I've read the manual, done a single player with tutorials on, read a lot from the civolopedia so I have a basic grasp of most of the concepts, but just after a certain point, my game becomes directionless and I'm just finding that I'm clicking the end turn button to what to see what happens. Eventually, I get discouraged, quit and start over, to find that I'm in the same rut.

Obviously, I'm doing something wrong, and missing out on some basic concepts.

Is there some sort of hand-holding tutorial out there or would anyone be able to hand-hold me through the first few dozen turns with thoughts and ideas about what I'm doing, what I'm supposed to be planning, and the like?

I really want to get into this game, having played Civ4 to death, but there's something I'm completely missing.. so just waiting for it to "click".

Well, thanks for reading...

Out of curiosity, what do you mean your game becomes directionless? Have you started planning for you WoI or making your colonies more efficient? I seem to never have enough turns to do 100% of what I am trying to get done.

Here's one way to view general strategy:

Phase 1: Get trade and population accumulation going. This can be accomplished in a number of ways but I find a food city or two with at least 2 food resources exclusively devoted to producing free colonists is stellar (experiment!). Get specialists for harvesting raw goods and food. As well as some carpenters and a few city refining specialists.

Phase 2: Transition from colony expansion and resource aquirement into stable bigger settlements that get some factories up and running for serious cash flow and are producing guns/horses/cannons/ships that you need for the war and utilizing education to fill up on city (non-field) specialists. The main danger is initiating this phase to late and not have time for phase 3 & 4:

Phase 3: Get as much war-material as possible while working to get rebel sentiment up to at least 50%. There's currently a problem where you need soldiers to work inside cities in order to get converted to rebels so you may need to have huge warehouses and wagons/ships filled with guns and horses ready for them when war breaks out.

Phase 4: Declare independence and fight of the king.

Here's one way to view general strategy:

Phase 1: Get trade and population accumulation going. This can be accomplished in a number of ways but I find a food city or two with at least 2 food resources exclusively devoted to producing free colonists is stellar (experiment!). Get specialists for harvesting raw goods and food. As well as some carpenters and a few city refining specialists.

Phase 2: Transition from colony expansion and resource aquirement into stable bigger settlements that get some factories up and running for serious cash flow and are producing guns/horses/cannons/ships that you need for the war and utilizing education to fill up on city (non-field) specialists. The main danger is initiating this phase to late and not have time for phase 3 & 4:

Phase 3: Get as much war-material as possible while working to get rebel sentiment up to at least 50%. There's currently a problem where you need soldiers to work inside cities in order to get converted to rebels so you may need to have huge warehouses and wagons/ships filled with guns and horses ready for them when war breaks out.

Phase 4: Declare independence and fight of the king.

I seem to be in the same situation that prompted this reply. I gathered this much from working through the initial phase of the game - I haven't much gotten past that - but approximately how many turns do each of these four phases require. For example:

Phase I = 100 turns
Phase II = 50 turns
Phase III = 50 turns
Phase IV = 100 turns

What say you?

I'm not sure but I think it can be done in something like:

100-150
50-75
50-75
50

But I'm the wrong person to ask as I've not yet fought the REF in col2! I just played the old colonization quite a bit and I recognize that the pattern in this game has definite similiarities to the original game.
I'll need more time with the new game though before getting a good feel for it.

I've got more experience with the game, so my 4 phases are:

1. 75 turns
2. 50 turns
3. 50 turns
4. 50 turns

In my games, the last phase don't take more than 10-15 turns, but I am exploiting the game mechanics a lot.

Thank you for the advice, I am going to start up my eighth game with your strategy in mind and see how it goes.

And what I meant by directionless is that after a while I have no idea what I *should* be doing. I'm just producing and building things willy-nilly without much concept of the final goal.

I appreciate the help... I am a little disconcerted that there is a number of turns formula, I guess that's something to get used to since this game definitely has phases and a goal, where in Civ your approach and overaching strategy seems more organic in comparison...

Cheers

Thank you for the advice, I am going to start up my eighth game with your strategy in mind and see how it goes.

And what I meant by directionless is that after a while I have no idea what I *should* be doing. I'm just producing and building things willy-nilly without much concept of the final goal.

I appreciate the help... I am a little disconcerted that there is a number of turns formula, I guess that's something to get used to since this game definitely has phases and a goal, where in Civ your approach and overaching strategy seems more organic in comparison...

Cheers

Well I would say it's very organic in colonization as well. It's just when you're asked to quantify something rather than qualify you gotta break out some numbers..

Phase 3: Get as much war-material as possible while working to get rebel sentiment up to at least 50%. There's currently a problem where you need soldiers to work inside cities in order to get converted to rebels so you may need to have huge warehouses and wagons/ships filled with guns and horses ready for them when war breaks out.


I think either you're confusing something or I'm confused. In the original game, when you declared independence, some/all of your Veteran soldiers got promoted to Continental if they were in settlements. In this version, they get bonuses based on overall Rebel sentiment, minus 50% (60% sentiment equals 10% bonus; 100% sentiment equals 50% bonus). If that's what you're talking about, I don't see where the soldiers would need to be working in a colony to receive the bonus.

Just color me confused.:confused:

I think either you're confusing something or I'm confused. In the original game, when you declared independence, some/all of your Veteran soldiers got promoted to Continental if they were in settlements. In this version, they get bonuses based on overall Rebel sentiment, minus 50% (60% sentiment equals 10% bonus; 100% sentiment equals 50% bonus). If that's what you're talking about, I don't see where the soldiers would need to be working in a colony to receive the bonus.

Just color me confused.:confused:

It's because you have to get your entire population "converted" into rebels, but you can only affect pops working inside your city, which means that there is a limit to how big a standing army you can have when pushing for independence.
Nothing to do with the bonus, though it does mean that you cannot get full bonus if you have any standing army.

I've been wondering whether you should have a standing army at all. Maybe you should convert your export economy workers to soldiers when you declare independence. Have lots of guns and horses in reserve for that time.

I've been wondering whether you should have a standing army at all. Maybe you should convert your export economy workers to soldiers when you declare independence. Have lots of guns and horses in reserve for that time.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=292798

Short answer: Yes

Andvare explained it nicely..

I'm feeling a bit like the topic starter. I have tried CIV 4 but with both CIV 4 and this one I feel clueless.
The original CIV 4 tutorial while nice only covers the very early steps. Now in Col2 there is even no clear tutorial so while I start a game it seems more or less easy but after some turns I'm lost with clicking build this and that, shipping goods to europe and knowing that I can't see what is important.
This is not a rant but today it should be easy to create a tutorial which will guide you through a game.

I'm reading a lot but still no clue :crazyeye:

Thank you for the advice, I am going to start up my eighth game with your strategy in mind and see how it goes.

And what I meant by directionless is that after a while I have no idea what I *should* be doing. I'm just producing and building things willy-nilly without much concept of the final goal.

I appreciate the help... I am a little disconcerted that there is a number of turns formula, I guess that's something to get used to since this game definitely has phases and a goal, where in Civ your approach and overaching strategy seems more organic in comparison...

Cheers

Dashor: I don't think the "number of turns" formula is hard and fast, but while learning the game, I think it helps to have some check points to see if you are on the right track. Once you fully understand the game, you should be able to set your own timeline that better fits your play style. I found the same thing with CIV IV. If you follow some general guidelines, it makes the learning process easier and more efficient.

I'm feeling a bit like the topic starter. I have tried CIV 4 but with both CIV 4 and this one I feel clueless.
The original CIV 4 tutorial while nice only covers the very early steps. Now in Col2 there is even no clear tutorial so while I start a game it seems more or less easy but after some turns I'm lost with clicking build this and that, shipping goods to europe and knowing that I can't see what is important.
This is not a rant but today it should be easy to create a tutorial which will guide you through a game.

I'm reading a lot but still no clue :crazyeye:

ditto on this. Anyone got a total noob's "Getting started" guide?