IMO this is what my early game focus should be on.
Ideally, you're gonna get a Scout, 2 carpenters, a lumberjack, farmer/fisherman, jesuit or turning a criminal into a jesuit (they're a good use of criminals early game if nothing else) and of course a statesmen are some of the most powerful early game units...and eventually a pioneer. SOme of these you can't train, you will be forced to buy or get a lucky recruit(s) on the docks, and that's expensive.
Let's be real, some of us get bad immigrants on the docks, much more mid-late guys, you're not gonna use a Whale Oil Cooker or a gunsmith for a while. And you're not gonna have factories cranking out rum/cigars/cloth as a steady source of income early on.
I think if you can get the money, ideally you got a couple scouts/citizens equipped with horses early on and started asking natives on the coast what do they want in trade? Eventually you come across ones who want horses. Horses are relatively cheap, and very profitable, in TAC possibly the most profitable good to trade with the natives, asides perhaps when you're awash in guns you produce yourself and no longer need to pay exorbitant European prices for... but that's late game anyways.
I'm focusing on loading up the very first 2nd/3rd ships I purchase in Europe with initally horses, and eventually buying a few guns from Europe, and shipping it to the Natives immediately in the vicinity of my European Rivals.
Now you're not just making good money, far more than the scant tobacco you might harvest and convert to cigars early game.,.you're slowing your European rivals down too, heavily I might add. It's the best of both worlds, and it ensures you're gonna come out on top with the combined rival slowdown + healthy income from early trade. Even if the natives lose the war, they probably will raze a settlement or two in the war with your rivals which is always a big setback for them. It's not long before the natives are pissed at your rapidly expansionist rivals in the game, so they're gonna need those horses and guns.
You may delay the building up of your first colony a bit not ...but you're gonna be heavily slowing down your rivals, so that more than makes up for it when you think of it that.
One last thing...after finished with the trade, you can buy food quite cheap from the natives. Buy a bunch of food, you can have extra colonists for pretty cheap created from natives food, and then immediately start training him to be whatever natives specialties are, or help out a bit around your first colonies until you can replace him with a professional.
Ideally, you're gonna get a Scout, 2 carpenters, a lumberjack, farmer/fisherman, jesuit or turning a criminal into a jesuit (they're a good use of criminals early game if nothing else) and of course a statesmen are some of the most powerful early game units...and eventually a pioneer. SOme of these you can't train, you will be forced to buy or get a lucky recruit(s) on the docks, and that's expensive.
Let's be real, some of us get bad immigrants on the docks, much more mid-late guys, you're not gonna use a Whale Oil Cooker or a gunsmith for a while. And you're not gonna have factories cranking out rum/cigars/cloth as a steady source of income early on.
I think if you can get the money, ideally you got a couple scouts/citizens equipped with horses early on and started asking natives on the coast what do they want in trade? Eventually you come across ones who want horses. Horses are relatively cheap, and very profitable, in TAC possibly the most profitable good to trade with the natives, asides perhaps when you're awash in guns you produce yourself and no longer need to pay exorbitant European prices for... but that's late game anyways.
I'm focusing on loading up the very first 2nd/3rd ships I purchase in Europe with initally horses, and eventually buying a few guns from Europe, and shipping it to the Natives immediately in the vicinity of my European Rivals.
Now you're not just making good money, far more than the scant tobacco you might harvest and convert to cigars early game.,.you're slowing your European rivals down too, heavily I might add. It's the best of both worlds, and it ensures you're gonna come out on top with the combined rival slowdown + healthy income from early trade. Even if the natives lose the war, they probably will raze a settlement or two in the war with your rivals which is always a big setback for them. It's not long before the natives are pissed at your rapidly expansionist rivals in the game, so they're gonna need those horses and guns.
You may delay the building up of your first colony a bit not ...but you're gonna be heavily slowing down your rivals, so that more than makes up for it when you think of it that.
One last thing...after finished with the trade, you can buy food quite cheap from the natives. Buy a bunch of food, you can have extra colonists for pretty cheap created from natives food, and then immediately start training him to be whatever natives specialties are, or help out a bit around your first colonies until you can replace him with a professional.
