Question on victory conditions

[Rusty Nail]

I just lost a game where the King stopped attacking my capital for about 15 moves with only about 10 groiund units left while I had overwhelming force, thus allowing another player to beat me to independence. I had allowed the Kng to take two minor unharmed settlemenmts far from the capital. My question is; was it necessary for me to take back those two colonies to win, i.e. do you have to eliminate the King cokmpletely from the New World map? If so, and if I had known that, I would have gifted my two colonies to the indians so he would have had to concentate on my capital. But apparently he stopped attacking and starting developing his own colonies, even founding a new one. This condition is stated nowhere in the documentation, but seems rather critical to one's strategy. Is there any other explanation for why he stopped attackingmy capital, and losing the WoI?

 

[dalgo]

You have to eliminate all the kings ground forces wherever they are. He will usually attack near your capital but as you have found out, he may launch an attack against an outlying colony. Yes you can gift it to another european power (but not an indian tribe) before the WOI starts.