Gamespy, IGN Publish New Colonization Info

Gamespy has followed Gamespot and IGN's suit in posting a detailed hands-on preview for Civilization IV: Colonization. Their two page article, released yesterday, praises the game's "commodity-based strategizing" and "a nice sense of tension in the endgame."

It claimed there were "lots and lots of micromanagement necessary to win," something that they elaborate on later in the preview, especially focusing on relations with the natives and other European powers. Here they describe the delicate nature of revolting:

Trigger revolution too early and you won't be prepared for the King's counterattack. Trigger it too late and the King's forces will have built up to the point where there's no way to defeat them before 300 turns have elapsed. Have too many "goods parties" to protest rising taxes and your markets for those products in Europe get shut down. Have too few and the taxes cripple your ability to make money.

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IGN has published a fact sheet on the Dutch that contains a great deal of historical information about one of the four civilizations in Colonization. They wrote that they will preview the three remaining countries, one each week, as the release date grows nearer.

This article covers mostly Peter Stuyvesant and Adriaen van der Donck, the two Dutch leaders in the game, as well as some Dutch history from that time period. It is a good read for those seeking some context and historical background to Colonization.

So now you can actually form meaningful alliances with Indian tribes. I think that sounds great.

I also much prefer this depiction of William the Silent from the one in Civ IV.

The fact sheet is pretty bad.

The Dutch almost as rich as Spain and Portugal? What a joke. The Dutch Republic's wealth surpassed that of Spain and Portugal together. The 17th century was their golden age. They practicly did all the shipping in the whole of Europe. Amsterdam was the financial and trade capital of Europe.

Additionally they had one of the strongest fleets. Remember that in the 1670s the Dutch completely defeated the English fleet and humiliated the English king by towing his flagship down the thames.

Their great weakness was their relatively small population and their small land army. Thats why in 1672, France England and several German bishoprics all attacked the Republic at the same time.