a simple guide for playing revolutionary

[Cristobal Colon]

A simple guide to win at Revolutionary level with the “vanilla” (1.00) version of the game.
All numbers are given here based on a Marathon speed game at Revolutionary level on a Huge map.
Colonization is a strategy game with different phases and it is important to focus on the right objectives at the right time. Nonetheless, there are important aspects you need to take into consideration during the whole game.
Management
Colonization is more about management then strategy. So at this level it is advisable to define and apply a set of standard procedures on the way you do things (e.g. organize settlements, start a new settlement, store guns and horses, setup transportation system, etc.). If you do not apply consistent processes in managing your 40 settlements it is unlikely you will cope with all the constraints coming upon you unless you enter in some very tedious micro-management gaming.
Balance
All over the game you will struggle with over-production of some items (and under-production of others). Do not panic, that is part of the game. It is not an issue to throw away some of your production as long as, within a couple of turns, you take appropriate measures that will work in the long term in order to prevent this to happen again. In order to minimize the occurrence of this situation, you can for instance send your producers in a consistent way to the New World. Bring a rancher with a farmer, a carpenter with a lumberjack, a gunsmith with a blacksmith and an ore-miner.
Politics
Production of Liberty Bells and rebel sentiment are key to your success. It is much more important that whatever money you may have in your treasury or even the number of military units to defend against the REF. Liberty Bells will give you Founding Fathers who in turn provide many bonuses and rebel sentiment which in turn gives extra-strength to your military units.
Statesmen and printing press/newspaper are you best friends in this game.
Good relationship with the Natives
Conquering the first settlements of your three European rivals will give you a head start; otherwise you do not really need to fight much before declaring Independence. Military units are expensive to equip and of little use when you are at peace. Your European rivals will not bother much anymore if you annihilate their first settlement and then manage not to let them re-spawn (scouts are enough for that).
Peace with the Natives is great, as you do not want to invest on military before Independence.
Good relationship makes it possible to incite Natives against the REF during the Independence War.
Commerce with the Natives makes the European marketplace less crucial. However it is almost impossible to trade only with them as, contrary to Europe, Natives treasury is not unlimited: The richest native nations (Aztecs and Incas) have around 40k and it will hardly replenish once empty.
Taxation
Never pay any money to the king at revolutionary level, yet you may let him increase your tax rate once you have sold all your ancient treasures. Consider that 4 Founding Fathers (Samuel Adams, Lord Baltimore, Thomas Paine, Marquis de La Fayette) will give you rate increase directly related to the tax rate on Liberty Bells, Crosses, Production and guns… So tax rate increase, providing you keep a balanced trade with both Europe and the Natives, is not so much of an issue.
Economy
To minimize price variations in the commodity market try to produce all possible finished goods in roughly the same quantity. You do not need more than one level 3 manufacturing building with three specialists for each export product and it will generally be located in your Capital processing the raw material produced in your hinterland.
Money is useful for (1) Buying specialists (2) Hurrying buildings. Once you have declared independence money becomes mostly useless. If you need to carry on trading with Europe you must choose Monarchy as the constitution stance. In that case, you can hire more specialists however all previous King’s boycotts and even taxes are still in place … (sic!)
Education
Education is a great way towards getting better production efficiency. Right from the beginning, send your unspecialized colonists or indentured servants (or even petty criminals) as scouts to the native villages. Then build schools, a college and a university and invest heavily on paying the graduation fees for elder statesmen it will cost you less than simply purchasing them from Europe.
However Education time rapidly increases; so do not use University for anything else but training elder statesmen. And always keep a minimum of 3 000 in cash for paying their graduation fees.
Founding Fathers (FF)
They all have their interest, the 52 of them.
However, unless you are playing for the maximum score, you do not necessarily need all of them.
Generally speaking all political and trade FF are useful for the style of game presented here whereas some of the military are not. For instance you will not use infantry to defeat the REF so you have no use of military FF who provide free promotions for Gunpowder units. You may thus wish to decline some of the military FF in order to get sooner to the one who provides the free promotion to the mounted units (Dom Pedro 1st).
Settlements size
Highest productivity levels are reached on two opposite kind of settlements:
(1) Big settlements (population=20+) with a lot of infrastructure and level 3 manufacturing buildings,
(2) One single person (generally a farmer) settlements that fully benefit from bonuses applied at settlement level by Founding Fathers John Winthrop (+1 cross), Ben Franklin (+3 bells), Patrick Henry (another +3 bells), James Madison (+3 guns), Betsy Ross (+3 cloth), Alexander Hamilton (+3 production). Towards the end of the game such 1 farmer settlement equipped with a only a printing press and a schoolhouse (100% rebel at 50% tax rate) will produce 19 bells, 8 production, 8 crosses, 5 tobacco (or sugar), 4 cloth, 6 guns … and 16 or 18 food!
European Power and Leader
All four European powers have their special interest (Immigration for English, Hardy pioneer and relationship with natives for French, Merchantman for Dutch and Veteran soldier for Spanish).
Considering that you will try to annihilate your European rivals in the first turns the Spanish, because of their initial military superiority, may have your preference. However you can actually win with any European power, really.
Simon Bolivar will also have your preference for the boost given by Liberty bells on rebel strength.
And remember you are not obliged to have bad behavior with Indians if you take the Spanish!
Map & Location
Prefer a not randomized map.
Western hemisphere scenario huge map is used in this guide as a reference.
Settling in NE Brazil right next to the sea-lane is great. Furthermore, there is always a European rival already installed there so it is only a matter of conquering his settlement in the very first turns. This should not be difficult because your foe will have no army and no stockade.
Concentrate all future production settlements in this continent and create no more than one single permanent harbor that will be your Capital. One port is easier to fortify and defend against the Royal Expeditionary Force (REF). For some reason, the REF will not leave that settlement they land next to until they have captured it. So you do not need to defend any other inland settlement nor other settlement you may have on the West Coast or in the Northern hemisphere.
Moreover one single location with good communication between Capital and your hinterland will greatly simplify your logistics using wagon train automation capabilities provided by the game.

 

[Cristobal Colon]

Beginning of the game: “Exploration Age” (1492 –1530)
During this period you will:
• Conquer your European rivals first settlements,
• Achieve discovery of the whole map by 1530. Your scouts must have visited all native settlements and, once you they are seasoned, all burial grounds. At the beginning of the game, you’ll get a much better return on your investment with exploration than through any production or trade means,
• Build enough trading points to get Founding Father Peter Minuit,
• Buy a galleon,
• It is also interesting to keep an eye on the Hurry Immigration list in Europe as it may be useful, when the price of passage is low, to pay a little money and choose who your next free immigrant will be.
Conquer your European rival first settlements
In 1492, go straight to North East Brazil. This will take you a couple of turns and in 1495 you should have conquered the European settlement installed here that will become your future capital. Put your pioneer to build a road towards the next native settlement. Use survivor(s) as statesmen to start producing Liberty Bells and set the settlement to producing a wagon train. It is important to start with a wagon train and not the usual warehouse/printing house combo as you will need to gather trading points in order to get Peter Minuit and you need to start trading both ways: with Europe and with the Natives. If you do not play Spanish it may be useful to first go back to Europe for a horse in order to attack with a dragoon.
Unless the other European powers are not settled right next door, you can be sure they are somewhere along the East coast. So send your soldier and caravel (or merchant man) to the North through the Caribbean and up to Canada, looking for the two other European settlements. Conquering them with your veteran soldier should not be any more difficult than for your Capital. You do not need to destroy the settlements and can keep them as secondary settlements. Just set the inhabitant(s) to produce liberty bells and the settlements to produce military points.
Don’t forget to bring back to your Capital the French hardy pioneer.
Horses for scouting is your second priority
Back in Europe you should pick up your first immigrant(s) waiting and as many horses as you can. Either by changing immigrants into scouts or by buying and loading directly horses in your caravel.
Remember that indentured servants are as good as free colonists for scouting. The only important aspect is to have them seasoned as fast as possible in order to be able to look into burial grounds without danger.
Also try to start exploration on both North and South America.
Scout promotions should be focused on getting surgeon skills level 1 and 2 for which you first need Veteran I. If you manage to get more promotions then choose exploration skills.
Managing relationship with the Natives
Frequently look up the mood of your local native chief (the tribe next to your Capital). You probably already have a red (negative) statement about “declaring war on our friends” (the European power you just conquered) so try not to get another for “threatening their way of life” and also try to compensate with a green statement of “years of peace have strengthened our relations“. If you interfere with their environment and do not compensate by paying for the land, trading with them and building a good relationship, native tribes are likely to declare war.
So as soon as your wagon train is ready go to the next Native village for trading. In case you do not already produce cigars buy horses in Europe (however at this stage try to minimize trade with Europe to prevent tax increase). Both sell well to the natives and you can also make profit at the beginning of the game with this. You can also buy raw material from the Natives to both increase the trade points and strengthen the relationship.
Very first Investments
Right after horses (and maybe hurrying a couple of first immigrants to make scouts), your first money from the visit of the native settlements should be invested in a galleon. As soon as you get 9 000 (or 6 750 if you manage to get Peter Minuit first), buy a galleon for bringing back to Europe those many treasures currently converging to your settlements.
You do not want to give half of it to the king, do you?
You can also choose to hurry production of the wagon train in your capital and then of a printing press as soon as you get your third colonist working in the town hall of your Capital.
Founding Fathers
Decline:
• Francisco Pizarro (M) as you need all your military points and will not loot and pillage much with this strategy.
• Giovanni da Verrazano (E) as you do not want to waste precious FF points for a miserable extra caravel that will be obsolete once you have a galleon.

 

[Cristobal Colon]

Second phase: “Build a metropolis” (1530 –1590)
During this period you will:
• Turn your Capital into the hub of your raising nation and a political and economic metropolis with a population of around +20. Even if their price in Europe is not too high at the moment, start building there a strong tool and gun manufacturing industry.
• Create a grid of 6 Main Settlements linked to the Capital by roads. They will be improved by pioneers but only for producing lumber and ore to be processed in the metropolis or an excess of food (+600 food = +1 colonist). Improvements focused on export raw materials will come later.
• Use the exploration money to purchase a limited number of specialists from the motherland who will be used in your capital to produce liberty bells or manufactured goods or lumberjacks and farmers to be sent in Main Settlements to produce lumber and food.
• Create a mission in native settlement each time a Jesuit missionary is available on the dock. Locate the mission far enough from your settlements so that the Native settlement does not get absorbed. You should get converts that can be turned into specialists.
<by the end of this phase you should have 7 settlements and a population of about 50>
Capital, future Main Settlements and Secondary Settlements
In the end you will create up to 40 settlements. Right from the beginning use the following grid pattern:
Main Settlements are those 6 settlements next to your Capital where you plan to develop war effort activity (horse breeding, gun and cannon production) during next phase. They are your most developed settlements after your Capital. On top of an armory, a schoolhouse and a church, they are equipped with a newspaper with 3 elder statesmen, a lumber mill and 3 carpenters, and a warehouse expansion. They also a level 3 manufacturing building (Iron Works or Ranch). Main settlements are separated by 2 tiles. All 8 tiles in the settlement radius are improved by pioneers with farm, lodge or mine.
Secondary settlements are all the other settlements that are just producing food with a population of one single farmer and are used as storage for guns and horses. They will be equipped with just a warehouse, printing press, schoolhouse, armory and church. Secondary settlements are separated by one single tile. Only one food tile in the settlement radius is improved with a farm by a pioneer.
No free space in between the settlements (except if a mountain is in the way).
Do not hesitate to found your own settlements next to a native settlement.
This implementation pattern when used in North East Brazil gives access to sufficient food, iron ore and lumber and to two exportation resources (Tobacco and Sugar).
For producing furs use a secondary separate settlement for instance somewhere in Canada or the Newfoundland.
Do not bother growing cotton, as you will get plenty of cloth once you have FF Betsy Ross.
Transportation Grid
Each settlement is one turn away from the next one when traveling on foot by road. So a wagon train can easily move required material from one settlement to the next.
The hub will first be in your Capital. The hub is the settlement where imports are on, whereas in all other settlements Governor Transportation options are turned on export.
Specialists from the Motherland
By 1535, money should be pouring in from treasures and you will select the following:
• Start first buying Hardy pioneers (4 500) even if you do already have one (from the French conquered settlement). These you’ll be constantly buying overtime until you get around 10 to 15.
• Tobacconists and distillers once you have trained tobacco and sugar planters with the natives and tobacco and sugar flow into your capital.
• Farmers (1 800) you’ll be constantly buying.
• Carpenters (2 250) and simultaneously Lumberjacks (1 800) once a first Lumber mill is built.
• Blacksmiths (2 250) and simultaneously Ore miners (1800) once ironworks are built.
• 3 elder statesman (4 500) for your Capital. During the next phases you will train 27 of them in your own university in order to reduce their unit cost down to 1500 (save 3000).
Settlement improvement suggested order
(Same order will apply first for *Capital and later for Main Settlements)
(*for Capital only, **not in secondary settlements);
• *Wagon train (you should already have one from phase 1).
• Warehouse
• Printing Press
• *Docks (as soon as you have one fisherman)
• *Level 2 manufacturing building (as soon as you have a Distiller or Tobacconist)
or ** Stable or Blacksmith’s Shop
• **Lumber mill
• **Warehouse Expansion (for Capital this comes before because being the hub it will trade the temporary surplus of goods stored at 50% of the sales price instead of just wasting them away)
• **Newspaper (once you have one elder statesman)Armory
• *Level 3 manufacturing building
or ** Ranch or Iron Works
• Church
• Armory
• Schoolhouse
• **Level 2 or Stable (as soon as you have a smith or rancher)
• **Level 3 Iron Works or Ranch
• ** College and Magazine
• (next phase: *University and Arsenal)
Dry dock and Shipyard are not useful at this stage unless you need to play a privateer strategy against your European rivals.
Using import/export and wagon train automation
Thanks to wagon train automation and unlike the former (’94) version of the game, you do not need each settlement to be strictly auto-sufficient. That is on each turn Outdoor workers of the settlement gather exactly enough resources in the settlement radius so that Indoor workers of the settlement get enough resources for their manufacturing use.
You can simply set your Hub settlement (initially your Capital) to import all raw goods and all the other settlements to export them. And then keep a couple of wagon trains at hand to move back to settlements the horses and guns in excess or the tools and raw material they need.
However the more you are going to manufacture out of your hub, the more time you will be spending in micro-management in order to supply missing raw material from your hub to the manufacturing settlements missing raw material, so try to more or less place in the same settlement the gathering and processing (e.g. do not install Iron Works in a settlement without one single mine).
The seasoned scout’s provisional retirement plan
Once exploration is finished assign a majority of your retired scouts to start new settlements within the grid pattern and turn them into statesmen. You’ll get Liberty bells and collect gifts from the Natives. Later those retired yet promoted scouts will become the elite units of your dragoon army and two of them your +++ surgeon (see “defeating the REF” chapter).
You should however keep a couple of scouts and dragoons patrolling along your coast in order to conquer any new European settlement showing up.
Founding Fathers
Decline:
Hernando de Soto (M) as you plan to fight the REF with dragoons (mounted units) only, not with gunpowder units (infantry)

 

[Cristobal Colon]

Third phase: “the Industrial age” (1590-1640)
During this period you will:
• Build a University in your Capital. Train new colonists brought by the abundance of food into statesmen for just 1500 (instead of 4500 if you buy them from Europe).
Total cost (elder statesmen) = 1500 x3 x6 = 27 000
• Improve your 6 Main Settlements just as you did for your Capital except that you only need to build one level 3 building per settlement. You need:
o 2 IronWorks in the settlements next to Capital (of which one will be transferred from Capital) with Arsenals that will produce around 190 guns per turn.
Total cost (Master Blacksmith+ Master Gunsmith) = 2250 x3 x2 x2= 27 000 )
o 5 Ranches to get your 180 horses per turn
Total Cost(Master Ranchers) = 2700 x3 x5 = 40 500
• Create up to 33 secondary settlements.
• Once you are up to speed (1620), Capital and Main Settlements should produce 150 to 180 guns and horses per turn which is enough to equip your dragoon’s army in 20 years.
There will be plenty of room to store the guns and horses in your settlements (remember the first building you build is the warehouse)
• Keep up in Capital with exportation productions (cigars and rum); sell them both to Europe and the natives and develop a flourishing commerce. It is unfortunately impossible to trade only with Natives because once empty their treasury takes a very long time to significantly replenish. The biggest money (around 40k) stands with the Aztecs (Montezuma) and Incas (Huayna Capac).
With the commerce money, bring from Europe more farmers and lumberjacks
<by the end of this phase you should have a population of about 180>
Production, Warehousing & Transport
Produce a fleet of wagon trains so each secondary settlement gets its raw materials regularly transported to the Hub and have a few dedicated non automated wagons to bring horses and guns for storage to the settlements and lumber and tools for their development.
Good warehousing capacity and plenty of wagon trains helps not losing any resource.
Building the warehouse expansion also helps to sell any extra resource instead of wasting it…
Do not hesitate to use a Galleon in Capital (or a wagon train in a secondary settlement) as a provisional or even permanent additional warehousing facility. Ideally when your Galleon is full, another Galleon comes back and you send the full galleon towards Europe or a Native settlement.
Founding Fathers
Decline:
Chief Powhatan (M), as you are not going to arm the native converts.
Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve (M), as you are not going to use infantry nor convert.
Ethan Allen (M), as you are not going to use infantry.
John Paul Jones (M) and his Frigate as you do not plan to fight any naval battle.
Eli Whitney (T) as you are not interested in the cotton production (and also you need Cyrus asap!)

 

[Cristobal Colon]

Fourth phase: Getting ready for Independence (1640-1645)
Before considering starting the Independence War, make sure of the following:
1. You have military FF Dom Pedro on board,
2. You are above 95% rebel sentiment (it will nosedive when your population will increase by 35% with 80 new indentured servants from the “all men are free” option),
3. You have 6 Main settlements and 33 secondary settlements linked by road to your Capital,
4. You have 300, guns and horses stored in each settlement (a total of more or less 12 000, check it with F3),
5. You have fortified your Capital, and for safety the two settlements next to it, with a Fort and then a Fortress.
During this short period you will:
• Complete your military defense by creating roads on all coastal tiles around your Capital and stationing cannons in Capital in case of amphibious attacks. Also create a road towards a coastal tile far enough from your Capital where you can safely disembark units sailing from other settlements (and Europe if you plan to choose Monarchy).
• In order to avoid any risk of a great General to spawn too far from your Capital, give away to any European Power all old secondary settlements you may have on the Northern East coast.
• Bring most of your hardy pioneers and all available seasoned scouts and veteran soldiers back towards your Capital.
• Spend all your money filling your galleons with horses or guns and/or your last specialists and start back to the New World. Money is of limited use after independence is declared.
Complete defense in your Capital
Put your carpenters at work in Capital and all Main Settlements and produce cannon then send those cannons to Capital that takes around 3 years. This is mainly in case of an amphibious attack. Also cannons can selectively attack the imperial Artillery.
Your hardy pioneers have already build roads in every single square inside your boundaries. Now, they should do it even a tile outside for the coastal tiles around your Capital. However do not cut down the forests. REF does not benefit from any defensive terrain bonus neither from forests nor from hills. And in case you plan to use infantry units, as they may get combat bonuses for fighting in woods, try to keep all existing trees on the coast.
Move the Hub out of your Capital
After declaring independence Setup Governor to Export option in all settlements (except for tools). Move your Hub from Capital to one of the main Settlements not close to the coast. Once the regulars are around, automatic transportation does not seem to work well, anymore. Set a fleet of wagon trains dedicated to trade routes that brings guns and horses to Capital; and also food in order that new colonists brought by the abundance of food show up directly where the equipment and fighting is.
Declare independence and choose the adequate constitutional options
Stance on Slavery: “All men are free” for the 2 free indentured servants per settlement (with your 40 settlements you should immediately get your army of 80 indentured servants!)
Stance on Election: “Elections” for the +100% FF points bonus that will round up your score. However you may also choose Monarchy if you absolutely need to bring additional stuff back from Europe.
Stance on Natives: “Native rights” to strengthen relations with natives as you may ask them for a little help against the REF.
Stance on Religion: “Separation of church and state” to get additional liberty bells from your churches.
Stance on Land Security”: “Controlled arms” in order to gain +50% liberty bells bonus in all settlements.

 

[Cristobal Colon]

Final phase: Defeating the Imperial REF (1645-1653)
REF is real huge and may be up to 1000 military units. However they rarely come in waves of more than 60 to 70 units. They also bombard your Capital right from the beginning and reduce it to resistance 0%. However you do not care as when they disembark, more or less always in the same area, you just annihilate them with your dragoons before they have time to do any real harm.
Conscription
Your army will be quickly made up from:
• The 2 free indentured servants per settlement you get when declaring independence and choose to abolish slavery (“all men are free” option). With your 40 settlements you instantly get 80 dragoons.
With FF Francisco de Coronado who provides +1 movement for dragoons, they will all be gathered in Capital before the REF shows up.
• 10 professional military units (veteran soldiers and/or seasoned scouts) scattered all over the map for coast control against European Rivals re-spawn (including the ++ surgeons).
• If needed the 10 or so hardy pioneers can stop their effort and go to the next settlement with a warehouse to leave their tools and pick up a gun and a horse.
• If required specialized professionals in your Capital and Main Settlements you used for producing export goods: Cotton, Sugar, Tobacco Planters, Fur Trappers, Silver Miners, Master Weaver, Distillers, Tobacconists, Fur Traders, and of course any student or unoccupied colonist.
War effort
During the whole Independence War you keep up producing in your 6 Main Settlements cannons, guns and horses. The only production you may stop is the activity related to export goods.
REF always disembark in front of your Capital
Your Capital acts as a magnet for the REF. The very place where you have all your dragoons garrisoned together with their +++ surgeons.
REF will not move to another Northern hemisphere settlement and even less a West coast settlement before they have defeated your Capital.
Combat and heal
• On each turn, let your full-health dragoons attack Regular Dragoons, then Regulars, then Artillery. Once all healthy dragoons have had their victory, send your healthy cannons on the remaining Artillery and ultimately if there is still Artillery showing up send your still injured dragoons providing that the odds for each combat are in your favor. Remember you must make all possible effort to prevent Artillery to attack you while you are defending a settlement. The Imperial artillery has strength of 4 and a devastating 150% attack settlement bonus…
• If a dragoon is really badly injured, demote him to civilian and have a civilian take his equipment and being promoted to Dragoon. Put the injured unit at work in your settlement (he will still heal while working normally) during the next two turns and renew the process if needed.
• The initial fighters should be back at 100% health in maximum 3 turns if there is a level +++ surgeon garrisoned with them who will provide +35% healing per turn. Plan to have 2 or 3 such +++ surgeons as you sometime need to go defend out of the Capital.
• The following waves are normally easier to handle than the 3 first ones with increased rebel sentiment, promoted units and Great Generals…
Be careful and do not stop the war effort even if your army is doing well: there is always a risk of a bigger wave of invasion. The King can come up in one turn with his remaining units, like for instance 150 units disembarking all at once. You probably can destroy one hundred but on the next turn you will suffer from heavy losses when the 50 Artilleries start attacking your cannons and dragoons because your fortress resistance has been reduced down to 0%.
Great generals and promotions
Use your 3 first great generals to promote your ++ surgeons to +++ surgeons.
For following promotions of all dragoons and cannons simply go up the veteran scale.

 

[asmith]

Thanks for this guide. One or two screenshots would be great, so that we can see how you have set out your colonies - which is the part I always have a problem with. Also any idea of what sort of score you get when you finish it like this, would be helpful. Thanks

 

[Cristobal Colon]

Sorry, I destroyed my saves while upgrading to 1.01 as I had to uninstall the whole game and move from a digitally distributed version to a normal retail version...

The good news is that I am re-playing with (almost) the same strategy a new game under 1.01 and I will mention the score.
I am currently playing French (de Champlain) but with exactly the same localization of each settlement.
However with the new version the score does not show on my main screen.
Or maybe it is just an option I forgot to set up ?

 

[fugazi]

You can click one of the option-buttons next to the map in the down-left corner Cristobal. There's the option to display scores

 

[Cristobal Colon]

You can click one of the option-buttons next to the map in the down-left corner Cristobal. There's the option to display scores

Thank you Fugazi.

This is a screenshot of where I am at the moment (1569) with a score of 757 (lower I think that the one I had on the vanilla version of the game)

As you see the 6 main Settlements are already located. The way the secondary settlements will be scatterred outside this area is of minor importance. Its only a matter of packing them together as close as you can from the Main settlements.

 

[prolefeed]

Re this: "For instance you will not use infantry to defeat the REF so you have no use of military FF who provide free promotions for Gunpowder units. You may thus wish to decline some of the military FF in order to get sooner to the one who provides the free promotion to the mounted units (Dom Pedro 1st)."

On the contrary, hills and/or forested squares next to your city will give an edge to infantry with the right FF promotions, especially Ethan Allen. Dragoons should only be used to go after distant REF troops or REF on flat unforested squares -- which often are quite rare. Fortify your infantry to build up the +25% bonus against amphibious assaults, and only unfortify them and turn them into dragoons as needed. And since horses are damnably expensive in the patched game, avoiding much of that expense allows you to buy more cannon fodder -- which leads to this:

Monarchy is the way to go, since if your tax rate isn't too bad (Dutch!), you can keep on churning out cash via trade and turning that money into replacement troops, plus guns and horses to arm them.

 

[Cristobal Colon]

And since horses are damnably expensive in the patched game, avoiding much of that expense allows you to buy more cannon fodder -- which leads to this:
Monarchy is the way to go, since if your tax rate isn't too bad (Dutch!), you can keep on churning out cash via trade and turning that money into replacement troops, plus guns and horses to arm them.

Please consider that in the strategy described here, except in the very beginning of the game for the purpose of scouting, you do not buy horses in Europe.
You produce them in your 5 ranches. 36 horses per settlement and per turn will equip a dragoon. So you equip all your 80 dragoons in less then 80/3= 27 years...

 

[radmod]

I'm curious, in your screen-shot you are able to have nearly a 3x3 grid of cities. How did you obtain your land for that? Did you culturally overwhelm some villages? So far, I have yet to play a game where I could create such a grid since the natives are too densely packed. Is this due to the Huge map (I wimp out and play normal size).

 

[Cristobal Colon]

I'm curious, in your screen-shot you are able to have nearly a 3x3 grid of cities. How did you obtain your land for that? Did you culturally overwhelm some villages? So far, I have yet to play a game where I could create such a grid since the natives are too densely packed. Is this due to the Huge map (I wimp out and play normal size).

I do not know if cultural overwhelming is the name for it: If you have good relationship with the Natives then when you threaten their way of life, instead of declaring war they will abandon their settlements...
So the only obstacle to a perfect grid pattern are the mountains.

Also the SCORE playing with this strategy for the 1.01 patch was:
Leader: Samuel de Champlain
Independence reached in Sept. 1644
Score = 220
Normalized score = 23 081

The strategy works with the following modifications:
(1) Special care of relationship with the local Natives should be taken during the first 100 turns. Playing French and getting FF Pocahontas asap should help.
(2) The 40 settlements framework is probably oversized as the REF is 50% smaller of what is was in the previous version. Probably 30 settlements and declaring Independence 10 or 15 years before should be quite sufficient.

 

[JaeChunDaeSung]

I understand Seperation of Church and State + Controlled Arms = Faster, higher Rebel Sentiment, but how can Right to Bear Arms be best implemented and used?

 

[Newbunkle]

Edit: NVM I'm thinking of a different declaration.

 

[dalgo]

I understand Seperation of Church and State + Controlled Arms = Faster, higher Rebel Sentiment, but how can Right to Bear Arms be best implemented and used?

Because 'Controlled Arms' gives such a big advantage (+50% bells) I haven't used the alternative 'Right to Bear Arms' freedom myself. However - It gives colonists +1 strength, but this does not carry over when they are made into soldiers or dragoons unfortunately. So you end up with a 3 strength colonist who is unable to attack and can only defend. They might perhaps be useful fortified in a forest but it would surely be better to give them a gun so they can attack, in which case that freedom is wasted.

There is another possibility though. If you have Chief Powhatan in Congress then native converts get +50% strength on top of that +1, which presumably gives them 4 strength, so perhaps you could experiment with that.