Advice, tips, guides...?

Alignn

Chieftain
Joined
Jan 16, 2019
Messages
14
I'm trying to get into this mod again, and while the changes since I last played are interesting (the large rivers are really cool, I try to start next to one every time) I feel like I'm not very good at the game when I see the AI get all the FFs and have larger cities even when I picked Sweden and focused on food.
So, I'm just curious if anyone has any good tips for this mod specifically (rather than Colonization in general):
  1. Is growing by food worthwhile in the early game?
  2. How important are the "be the first to get 3000 whatever" quests? Should I focus on those to the exclusion of other resources?
  3. Does more happiness matter, or is it just important to keep it generally positive?
  4. When exactly do colonies require guards to avoid unrest? Size 3?
  5. I noticed on Epic speed that a rancher only produced 1 horse per turn when I settled my starter dragoon (75 horses) - is the required amount of horses for normal production speed higher, or does it max out at 100 horses (I would guess at 2 per turn without experts or improvements)?
  6. Since Settlers are needed to found new cities things, expanding is a fair bit more expensive; can't just grab the first four migrants and found as many colonies. How often/early should expansion be done? The sooner the better?
  7. What's a good way to get points for FFs? Exploration jumps up very fast (perhaps relatively too fast actually?), but everything else seems slow.
  8. When's a good time to start producing bells? The happiness makes them more desirable now, but I don't have a good feel for when to sacrifice a potential field worker.
  9. Are the Monastery improvements worthwhile? It feels really strange to have a colonist just fortify in the hopes of something happening, and the description recommends building it near places with much pedestrian traffic, but I've never seen the natives move except to attack... do they trade internally or something?
  10. Any other tips, especially for early game? Besides exploring :)
 
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I'm just curious if anyone has any good tips for this mod specifically::)

I'm going give a short answer to your long question.

The Russian colonies are about to beat me. They've adopted Theocracy, Native Rights, the Right to Bear Arms, All Men Are Free and Monarchy. In other words they've declared independence in April 1702 and I'm not even close. They have six settlements. I have forty, producing every raw material and finished product available. As far as I can see they have fish, lumber and ore.

The Russian towns are all on tundra or taiga, the most forbidding terrain in the game. It appears their emphasis is entirely on food and Founding Fathers. Liberty bells accumulate faster with few cities.

I'm miffed. I've developed a vast interconnected empire while the Russians sit around fishing, digging up a little gold and creating happiness by going to the tavern.

What I'm trying to say is that this is a complicated game with many paths to success, including a few that are extremely unlikely and yet in the end they still succeed. If I was just starting out I'd keep it simple. Get one city established before moving on to the next one. Look for lumber and ore.

Also, it never hurts to have a strong navy.
 
Is it possible to get him unless playing as England? I always get overrun at conquistador level as whatever and prio village hall+ random citizen.
 
@Zingo99 it is possible to get Jacques Marquette playing as any nation, with right strategy and a bit of luck, even on Revolutionary (highest) difficulty level - let alone lower ones.
 
@Zingo99
Most beginner players make the mistake that they try "turtle strategy", meaning to stay put in their first colony and "play safe".
You need to start rushing from the start like e.g. sending out Scouts or trading with Natives early on.

Do not try to go for manufactured goods in the early game - that is a midgame strategy.
(In the very early beginning you should most likely almost ignore all goods.)

----------

In the first game phase :

A) Scout Rush (to get Gold from Treasures on Land)
B) Bell Rush (to get Founding Fathers)
C) Cross Rush (to maybe start a 2nd City early)
D) Native Trade Rush (Wagon Traings selling e.g. Trade Goods)
E) Sloop Rush (to get Gold from Treasures in Water)

In the second game phase:

F) Missionary Rush
G) Native Trade Post Rush
H) Hammers Rush
I) Raw Goods Rush
J) Military Rush (in case you want to conquer another European early on)
K) Get some juice early game events triggered (an experienced player learns to trigger them)

Only after that you start normal gameplay:

L) Step by step found more Cities
M) Get Happiness and Health up
N) Get Manufactured Goods going
O) Get more Improvements
P) Get more Experts from training in Native villages
Q) Get more Quests done (rewards can be huge)
R) Get more Events triggered (now mainly midgame ones)
S) Start to use Education System
T) Maybe prepare to conquer more European Players
U) Get your first Monastery and Forts built
V) Get your first Pirates
...

----

Summary:
Play fast and aggressive if you really want to win on higher difficulties.
(Otherwise better play on lower difficulties that allow slower game play.)
 
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I'm trying to get into this mod again, and while the changes since I last played are interesting (the large rivers are really cool, I try to start next to one every time) I feel like I'm not very good at the game when I see the AI get all the FFs and have larger cities even when I picked Sweden and focused on food.
So, I'm just curious if anyone has any good tips for this mod specifically (rather than Colonization in general):
  1. Is growing by food worthwhile in the early game?
  2. How important are the "be the first to get 3000 whatever" quests? Should I focus on those to the exclusion of other resources?
  3. Does more happiness matter, or is it just important to keep it generally positive?
  4. When exactly do colonies require guards to avoid unrest? Size 3?
  5. I noticed on Epic speed that a rancher only produced 1 horse per turn when I settled my starter dragoon (75 horses) - is the required amount of horses for normal production speed higher, or does it max out at 100 horses (I would guess at 2 per turn without experts or improvements)?
  6. Since Settlers are needed to found new cities things, expanding is a fair bit more expensive; can't just grab the first four migrants and found as many colonies. How often/early should expansion be done? The sooner the better?
  7. What's a good way to get points for FFs? Exploration jumps up very fast (perhaps relatively too fast actually?), but everything else seems slow.
  8. When's a good time to start producing bells? The happiness makes them more desirable now, but I don't have a good feel for when to sacrifice a potential field worker.
  9. Are the Monastery improvements worthwhile? It feels really strange to have a colonist just fortify in the hopes of something happening, and the description recommends building it near places with much pedestrian traffic, but I've never seen the natives move except to attack... do they trade internally or something?
  10. Any other tips, especially for early game? Besides exploring :)
I've been playing off and on for a long time, but given the changes from RaR to WTP I would love to see answers to these questions.
 
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