Did I miss something in this game?

[Salamandre]

It is not about criticising: I love Firaxis games and I will always be a dedicated fan.

But for this one, maybe you can tell me if I missed something:


I built about 5 colonies, 2 with fur, one only for food/horses purpose, one for arms, and eventually another with cotton/cigars.

2 of them were coastal.

<Early game was great, very clear objectives, commerce, build army etc.

Then things start to complicate: colonies inland are building very fast goods, so you have to micromanage every turn unload/load chariots. There is no feature to automatic load so you have to put manually products in chariots then unload in the same way. Several times in a turn.

You have to bring weapons/horses from all colonies and unload them one by one, nice once, tedious 100 turns during.

I built some 50 dragoons (free colons) and sent them against some Iroquois towns. My dragoons were blown in about 4 turns by Iroquois with bows, and HUGE bonuses. The win ratio was about 5 dragoons vs 1 pesky Indian.

No possibility to have defensive units, no defending bonuses at all on any terrain, canons were ridiculous slow and inefficacy;

Overall impression: my fingers are blown after doing thousand of repetitive tasks, so much micromanagement killed the fun I had early game, and I didn't bother to wait the REF, I am tired about manage all goods every turn. No automation?

Did I miss something?

 

[Refar]

There is a possibility to automate goods transport. Set your cities Governeors to Import/Export what you need, Assign Wagons to trade routes. Isn't perfect bt far better than unloading 500 tonns of cotton per turn with your bare hands

Look at the description/stats of the units. Dragoon do have the highest raw . This does not mean they are the best in any and every situation.
They will get no Defensive Bonus for once - while fighting native units, who might actaully get offensive bonus in the terrain.... Foot soldeirs are better on defense and more versatile overall. Cannons are better at city attack.
Just look what the stats tell you.

Cannons are hugely effective offensive units. But indeed somewhat slow.
If you attack a remote location it might be smart to ship your units there, to overcome cannons slowines. Or perhaps send a hardy Pionneer Roading, if you can spare one. (Before starting the war, of course.)

On a side note - You don't need 50 Units to deal with the Natives. Take a few Veteran Soldiers instead (Make some on Foot some Dragoon - as you wish) and a few cannon. A dozen is enought to clena out the map. Tho it might be better to use a few more to get more promoted elites.
The thing with Vets is - they will get more XP out of the easy Native fights, providing you with elites troops for the later WoI (if you ever play it out so far )

 

[Salamandre]

Thank you, I indeed read right now the colozopedia and learned all about automate transport. I just gave a try without reading all the infos, obviously is the wrong way;

If I can automate now I will enjoy much more

 

[MrWhereItsAt]

Thank you, I indeed read right now the colozopedia and learned all about automate transport. I just gave a try without reading all the infos, obviously is the wrong way;

If I can automate now I will enjoy much more

The automation is better than nothing, but still somewhat frustrating. Be prepared for that. At least it will be better than what you've had so far.

 

[duende29]

I built about 5 colonies, 2 with fur, one only for food/horses purpose, one for arms, and eventually another with cotton/cigars.

Don't build cities for ore, tools, horses or guns. Buy those from Europe. You need too many, you make them too slow and you'll spend too much valuable time making the armories/magazines/stables/etc. to make them worth it. You don't need tools for buildings: buy them at the last turn. Build cities only for furs, cotton and tobacco and a single costal city with food.

Then things start to complicate: colonies inland are building very fast goods, so you have to micromanage every turn unload/load chariots. There is no feature to automatic load so you have to put manually products in chariots then unload in the same way. Several times in a turn.

Build a Trade Wagon in every city. Set to Export all the raw goods produced on the city. Import all the Raw Goods to a food coastal city where you'll have a big population and the buildings to process those goods and send them to Europe.

You have to bring weapons/horses from all colonies and unload them one by one, nice once, tedious 100 turns during.

If you buy them in bulk when you're on the road to Independence you don't need to bother micromanaging guns and horses.

I built some 50 dragoons (free colons) and sent them against some Iroquois towns...

What??? No! Don't take on natives unless you REALLY REALLY have to, as in there's no more room to expand and you really need that multi-resource spot. Cut them off, buy their lands, settle somewhere else. At the beginning of the game, take a scout and visit each and every village. They'll give you a LOT of gifts and tell you which speciality they can train your colonists on. FOR FREE. AND FAST. It's the only way to get the resource specialists. And having tons of Fishermen and Farmers is great.

No possibility to have defensive units, no defending bonuses at all on any terrain, canons were ridiculous slow and inefficacy

Cannons are as fast as soldiers and make quick work of any native village. Buy them (they're cheap) if you need an early native spot (I don't recommend it). 3 or 4 can take an early village fast. Soldiers are the only ones that get defense bonuses.

Overall impression: my fingers are blown after doing thousand of repetitive tasks, so much micromanagement killed the fun I had early game, and I didn't bother to wait the REF, I am tired about manage all goods every turn. No automation?

There's automation for all the trade, including to Europe (set your coastal to export goods and assign a boat to that specific trade route). Build a trade wagon on every city and assign them only the trade routes for that city. Saves a lot of time on menial tasks.