A few questions

[Ai Shizuka]

If someons's still reading this forum, that is.

Anyway, I've finally decided to give it a try and, well, I like it. I don't really understand what's with the hate.
But I digress.
I'm playing my first games at Conquistador, standard/large maps, epic speed. I think I'm doing decently well, but I have some questions.

- Galleon. Is it really worth the early investment? I mean, if I rush-buy it I'm just wasting what I gain with full-price treasure. If I slow-build it takes forever in the early stages.

- Early priorities. I usually prioritize food, train a few expert fishermen/ farmers and build dock/drydock. Then whatever trade resource I have in my first city. Are hammers an early priority? We can easily rushbuy everything in this game.

- Founding Fathers. I can see two no-brainers: Minuit and Dom Pedro. The others seem so...optional. Hawthorne is nice, but is he really worth the crapload of points? I like the hammer-related FF, De Witt and Hamilton. In my last game at some point I wished John Paul Jones was still available, when some jerk parked a privateer right in front of my capital.
To sum it up, I'd like some tips beside the obvious Minuit and Dom Pedro.

- Crosses. I'm going to rush colonists with money (and Minuit) anyway, so why bother with churches at all? Makes sense if I get a preacher in the first few trips, but still.

- # of settlements. Am I missing something obvious or I need no more than 2-3 cities to win the game?

- The whole bells/REF business. If I understand things correctly, I should go out in a big burst when I'm ready, then start revolution and give everyone weapons to defend. In my first try I had 2 cities with huge food surplus, giving me new colonists every 8-10 turns. I was pumping out bells and arming all the new colonists at the same time. Revolution % quickly up to 30%, then it slowed down and stagnated around 40%.
So basically standing soldiers count as population but are not affected by the %. Correct?

- Natives. Do they ever declare war or can I go safely with no military at all until the revolution?
And is there any purpose at all to attack them? It feels like a waste when I roll S.Martin and don't fight anything until revolution.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the wall of text.

[dalgo]

Originally Posted by Ai Shizuka

- Galleon. Is it really worth the early investment? I mean, if I rush-buy it I'm just wasting what I gain with full-price treasure. If I slow-build it takes forever in the early stages.

Don't build your first Galleon, buy it from Europe. Fund it from Indian villages and Ancient Ruins.

- Early priorities. I usually prioritize food, train a few expert fishermen/ farmers and build dock/drydock. Then whatever trade resource I have in my first city. Are hammers an early priority? We can easily rushbuy everything in this game.

Yes food is an early priority. You can train farmers /fishermen for free at indian villages. Don't bother with a drydock as it confers no extra food benefit (in spite of it's description). Hammers are also a priority so employ a carpenter in each colony as soon as you can afford it.

- Founding Fathers. I can see two no-brainers: Minuit and Dom Pedro. The others seem so...optional. Hawthorne is nice, but is he really worth the crapload of points? I like the hammer-related FF, De Witt and Hamilton. In my last game at some point I wished John Paul Jones was still available, when some jerk parked a privateer right in front of my capital.
To sum it up, I'd like some tips beside the obvious Minuit and Dom Pedro.

Quite right, Minuit and Dom Pedro are the two standout FF in the game, but there are a lot of worthwhile assets between those two. I usually figure on taking just one FF before Minuit and my preference is for Cabral (faster trip to Europe). Then I like Winthrop (+1 crosses), de Cuellar and De Sepulveda (both offer free units when you are usually short of colonists), Baltimore (more crosses), Hooker (three missionaries), De Bermudez (faster trading ships, very important), Jan de Wit (less tools), Pocahontas (improved relations) as well as Franklin and Adams (increased bells). Later take anyone who increases the speed of your units, those which offer free promotions (except Pizarro) and any you can get who increase the production of liberty bells, crosses or production. I usually have 30 to 40 FF by the end of the game.

- Crosses. I'm going to rush colonists with money (and Minuit) anyway, so why bother with churches at all? Makes sense if I get a preacher in the first few trips, but still.

That would work, but I build churches anyway, and keep them staffed. Later I add a couple of cathedrals. It keeps a steady stream of free immigrants on the docks and later there are FF bonuses for those churches too.

- # of settlements. Am I missing something obvious or I need no more than 2-3 cities to win the game?

It depends on your playing style. If you prefer a short game you can win with only a few colonies but for a longer game with plenty of colony management you can extend it to a dozen.

- The whole bells/REF business. If I understand things correctly, I should go out in a big burst when I'm ready, then start revolution and give everyone weapons to defend. In my first try I had 2 cities with huge food surplus, giving me new colonists every 8-10 turns. I was pumping out bells and arming all the new colonists at the same time. Revolution % quickly up to 30%, then it slowed down and stagnated around 40%.
So basically standing soldiers count as population but are not affected by the %. Correct?

For myself I prefer to build liberty bells steadily throughout the game with a steep increase near the end. This means I can capture the majority of FF who in turn give me bonuses that ensure I can beat the bigger REF. The size of the standing army you can support is limited by the number of colonies you have, or more especially the number of town halls. If you have 3 elder statesmen in each town hall but still can't crack the 50% mark then you are probably trying to support too many troops. One way to increases your support level is to build small 'legislative' colonies with just 3 statesmen and a farmer. Those FF with bonuses on bells production come in handy in this situation too.

- Natives. Do they ever declare war or can I go safely with no military at all until the revolution?
And is there any purpose at all to attack them? It feels like a waste when I roll S.Martin and don't fight anything until revolution.

Indian tribes are stronger on bigger maps (more villages per tribe) and more aggressive at harder difficulty levels. An early war against the local tribe gives you more land to develop and your troops gain experience.

Have fun.

[Ai Shizuka]

Thanks for the answers.
30-40 FF is a lot. I think my best was something around 12 .
But then you say you start building bells from the start, keep churches staffed and build more cities. Do you build ff points via hammers as well or "passive" ff points only?

[dalgo]

I try not to use hammers for FF points as I prefer my colonies to be building something useful. However there are times when it is necessary to balance up the points needed for a particular FF. For instance if you are at peace there will be no military points coming in.

To amass a large congress you don't need to get them all at once, you just need to stay ahead of your competitors. I leave gaps by turning down unwanted FF and let the other Europeans waste their own FF points on them. The odd war or two helps as well.

The difference that having a lot of FF makes can be seen by an example of one of my colonies with 3 elder statesmen. They produce 18 liberty bells but with all the bonuses the colony itself produces a total of 100 bells.

[Ai Shizuka]

Alright, things are going better.

A couple more advanced questions. Early bells are indeed the best way to get more FF, but lead to a considerably bigger REF. And this brings the question: is actually possible to DEFEND the cities? Fortress, +25% defense from Nunez de Balboa, minuteman from Dom Pedro and they still get obliterated by artillery. So I tried another game with bigger REF, took Ethan Allen and De Maisonneuve for the extra promos, let them capture the capital and killed them in the field with around 4:1 ratio.
Defense is bombarded by Man-o-wars, so are stockades/forts/fortresses totally pointless?

What's the effect if I refuse to pay tribute to the king? I see he eventually becomes furious, so what? I declare independence whenever I damn well please anyway. Maybe something to do with those soldiers he "sells"?
Speaking of those, is there a # of turns before he accepts again?

[dalgo]

The REF get a huge advantage to their Settlement attack (for artillery it is + 150%) so defending your colonies is not a good option. The best defense is attack. Keep a stack of dragoons handy and mow down every unit that lands - every turn. Your own cannons also have settlement attack bonuses so some players allow their ports to be taken so they can counter-attack. Not my style.

Stockades and forts help against indian attacks but are of little use once the final war commences and I have not found any use for fortresses.

If you appease the king you can buy cheap military units off him and I believe it may delay his own military buildup. However those cheap units come with a hidden cost because they result in an increase in the REF anyway. I find it better to just turn down all his requests for gold.

[Wheldrake]

Frankly, the Vanilla version of this game is relatively easy to beat. If you go small, you can declare independence early and beat a small REF, but you'll have few FFs. If you go big, you'll have time to crush the competing colonial civs, grab nearly all the FFs, and defeat a much larger but far from unmanageable REF.

Instead, try Dale's AoD2 mod, it really makes this game into a whole new experience. It is what this game *should* have been, out of the box, if only the game developers had hired a clever jake like Dale.

Cheers, --- Wheldrake