8/15/2008 - Mark the date :)

Great screenshots. :goodjob: It looks like Civ4Col willl play pretty much like Civ4. (I dont talk about the rules and such just the .... feeling).

Anyway, I want to play that game now! :D
 
Thanks a lot for these wonderful screenshots! :bounce:

I'm especially interested in leader traits and Founding Fathers. You already posted the leaders, but on one screenshot (leaders6) Louis de Frontenac has a little more to offer than visible. It would be great if you could tell us, what is written in the last line!

Thanks! :D
 
In the first colonization you coudl usually run a pretty solid empire with 5-8 cities. You could get everything you needed, it was easier to defend, less micromanagement etc etc. The bigger you got the harder it was to fully arm and defend everywhere and it was much more difficult to get your Sons of Liberty percentage up. It fact you could even do a 'one-city challenge' much more easily then you could in Civilization.

Is this still the case in Col2, or does it encourage larger empires?
 
In the first colonization you coudl usually run a pretty solid empire with 5-8 cities. You could get everything you needed, it was easier to defend, less micromanagement etc etc. The bigger you got the harder it was to fully arm and defend everywhere and it was much more difficult to get your Sons of Liberty percentage up. It fact you could even do a 'one-city challenge' much more easily then you could in Civilization.

Is this still the case in Col2, or does it encourage larger empires?

My experience thus far is that the king significantly begins to ramp up his military to epic proportions compared to yours as you reach towards the 50% mark, especially if you've been doing lots of trade with him, giving in to demands, and purchasing units / specialists off him. I had to give up my last game because there was no way possible for me to fend off against the King's odds, and I had already eliminated the other three colonizations so I would have won that way regardless.

I am playing on the 3rd level of difficulty, where it says no one has an advantage, and it does seem like 6-8 is optimal, but I'm still trying to figure out the best ways to maximize profit from good trades without boosting up the King. It seems like he gets cranky over just about anything, and by the time you're at 30-40% of your liberty rating you'll be seeing that the king has added to his army just about every 2-3 turns. It's pretty nuts.

My next game I'm going to see what happens if I focus solely on indian and colony trade with the other civs. Perhaps if I tell the King to go fly a kite every time he asks for something, he won't have as much of an ability to boost his armies so much. Rebel sentiment is great when you're using it for defense and production boosts, but the King has superior everything and he'll mow down your fortress defenses before you can blink, then you're sitting there pretty bare.

Also, it seems that the two instances where I have won an independence victory it came down to me retreating back to an in-land city after losing several others, and finally wearing down his final units. It is extremely nerve wracking going against 2:1 odds when he's got forces with better stats and upgrades usually. One thing I can say though, if you can get some of the military great people, they can help significantly with things like free upgrades.
 
I think still it's good news that the independency war might be challenging and interesting.

I still mourn there aren't any other ways to victory...can you get any help from other nations or natives etc.?
 
I've a question! What's the different Kings' colours, compared to the colonies'?

In the original Colonization, the King's colour was white, but it was the same King no matter which nation you chose. You didn't get to see the AIs' monarch since you lost if they managed to declare independence, if I remember correctly.

However, it seems now England's primary colour is white (like in Civ4), which I dislike since that should be the King's! I'm guessing the King of England's colour is red, Spain's is yellow (as opposed to gold), and the Dutch and French ones use lighter shades of orange and blue, respectively.

EDIT: Also...

- Is there only one King (yours) per game, or do you see other nations fighting for their independence eventually, against their own motherlands? I'm guessing the former, since only your King is present in the Foreign Advisor screen.
- The King appears to be a separate, off-map civ of sorts. Does he boosts his army according to the gold you provide to a secret treasury through his demands or the purchase of ships, goods and military units? Or is it something arbitrary?
- Or is the 'off-map civ' appearance just a means to gauge his relations with you and give his Royal Expeditionary Force an owner once it shows up?
- Finally, given he's on your Foreign Advisor screen, can you contact him or does it only work the other way round?
 
I have read the preview on Jeuxvideo.com - which is in French. Nothing new there, so no worries on missing anything. I like the screenshots though, it's great.

I had to use the urban dictionary to get to know what «go fly a kite means»... and it wasn't pretty let me tell you.

So I guess we now know every leaderheads for Indian and colonial nations. We only miss the animation for the Dutch statholder or Holland's great pensionnary depending on which one of the two they included.
 
It is much harder to get independence in an online game.
as none of the other players want to lose so they will gang up on the player declearing independence.
I belive since this can be played online, each player will have his own king, but none of the other players will interact with there enemies kings.

Also i suppose you just have to build up real fast. And only pick the founding fathers that benefit you the most. Consider gettng founding fathers that really complement a few aspects of your economy/army.

Just try and see if you can break the intended gameplay somehow by giveing you an unfair atvantage.

Here is something you can try out.
1. play samuel de camplain.
2. stack up on so many founding fathers that aid you in dealing with natives as possible.
Trade with natives and early on sell them weapons and horses, and whatever other goods they pay well for. Buy the weapons in europe.
Use the early profits to get some more ships/scouts and 3-4 colonists+ missionaries. Also trade with as many natives as it is practical to maximize your profits. Deny all requests for money, and accept the taxes.
 
Thank you, The Mystic, for sharing all of those wonderful screen shots. It's given me valuable insight into this game.

All the screen shots are nice, but if you could give us ones of all the Founding Fathers and their colonial improvements, I would really appreciate it.

I do have some additional technical questions:

* Do the "kings" demand goods or just gold?
* Does the REF land piecemeal (one ship at a time) or do they all land at once?
* What's the highest tax rate you've seen?
* Is there a separate Continental Army class of soldiers in this version?

Again, thank you for your time and effort.
 
I have questions as well:

1. Is it possible to get indian military units as well as the usual converts?

2. What happens when you create a military unit and give it promotions? Is it possible to remove his weapons and use him as a worker again? Does the promotions remain?

3. How does the buildings work? For example, in the original colonization you begain with a Blacksmith's House, then you could upgrade it to a Blacksmith's Shop and finally, Iron Works. Are the different stages the same?

4. Does the Drydock still exist? One of the cool features in Colonization was that you had to build a Drydock, otherwise all your ships would sink during the war of independence.

5. Does one European power still always leave the new world? Is it possible to annihalate another power? (In the original Colonization, it was impossible to kill the last boat).
 
Hey guys, unfortunately I'm going to have to cut back on the screenshots, so what's out there right now is just that. I should have a preview up sometime in the near future, followed by a review around launch. I'll link you guys when they go live.

Hope you enjoyed the screenshots and information provided thus far. Hopefully I'll see you all in retail when Civ4 : Col finally comes out. :)

I have questions as well:

1. Is it possible to get indian military units as well as the usual converts?

2. What happens when you create a military unit and give it promotions? Is it possible to remove his weapons and use him as a worker again? Does the promotions remain?

3. How does the buildings work? For example, in the original colonization you begain with a Blacksmith's House, then you could upgrade it to a Blacksmith's Shop and finally, Iron Works. Are the different stages the same?

4. Does the Drydock still exist? One of the cool features in Colonization was that you had to build a Drydock, otherwise all your ships would sink during the war of independence.

5. Does one European power still always leave the new world? Is it possible to annihalate another power? (In the original Colonization, it was impossible to kill the last boat).

1. I have yet to get indian military units, but they have provided training before.
2. You can turn infantry and dragoons back into colonists and vice versa. Yes they keep their promotions, so if they're called back into combat they'll still have the same bonuses.
3. There are still several levels of most buildings, although you have to build them independently. First you'd make a blacksmith house, then shop, then iron works. Each needs their own number of hammers, tools, etc.
4. There is a drydock, although I do not think your ships sink without one. I'd have to check.
5. I've seen new colonies show up from a power that I had wiped out, so it looks like they can keep coming, but they'll typically have no hope of making a come back. It's usually quite sad actually, and just an incentive to go and take over their new cities again. :)

I do have some additional technical questions:

* Do the "kings" demand goods or just gold?
* Does the REF land piecemeal (one ship at a time) or do they all land at once?
* What's the highest tax rate you've seen?
* Is there a separate Continental Army class of soldiers in this version?

Again, thank you for your time and effort.

1. So far all the King has asked me for is Gold, but he usually has a reason for asking.
2. The royal navy comes in waves, and you'll see them sail back as well when they're done bombarding you.
3. I think the highest I've hit was 62%
4. Your troops are outclassed by the homeland troops. They've got better infantry, dragoons, and artillery. Their ships are also superior. :)
 
Seems there was a limit to the amount of information you could disclose, but thanks a lot for all the screens and data you managed to reveal. :)

I think I can answer a couple of questions, using the information I got from the PolyCast...

Bad Brett said:
3. How does the buildings work? For example, in the original colonization you begain with a Blacksmith's House, then you could upgrade it to a Blacksmith's Shop and finally, Iron Works. Are the different stages the same?
Instead of a chain of three buildings per resource, there seems to be three general chains that encompass several resources each. I don't remember the specifics, and they weren't too clear about it in the interview.

Bad Brett said:
4. Does the Drydock still exist? One of the cool features in Colonization was that you had to build a Drydock, otherwise all your ships would sink during the war of independence.
If I remember correctly, ships have a certain escape probability on their own by default. The Drydock might increase the chances of a vessel being damaged instead of sunk (and/or make repairs quicker), but that's just my personal speculation.
 
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