Cabral, Minuet or de Leon?

[dalgo]

Three of the best Founding Fathers are available really early in the game. How many of these three do you get?

Pedro Alvarez Cabral gives -50% Travel Time to Europe
Juan Ponce de Leon makes it twice as likely to get Treasure from Ancient Ruins
Peter Minuit gives a 25% discount on units bought in Europe

Cabral and de Leon need exploration points which come fast in the early game, but the political points aren't as easy. I generally get offered Cabral first and take him for the faster travel. Peter Minuit requires trade points, which you can probably get, and the same number of political points as de Leon. It is a tough choice between the two. Extra cash in the early game when it is so important with de Leon, or Minuit's discount saving you heaps of cash throughout the game.

 

[Ignol]

On Marathon or Epic, Cabral is wonderful. On anything slower than that, he's a meh FF.

De Leon may get you twice as likely chances for treasure, but the amount of treasure is likely not influenced. Only the chance. I would rather the FF that reveals all ancient ruins and burial grounds. With him, you can just bee-line them.

Minuit is good, under all speeds, with his value rising from Quick to Marathon, atleast in my opinion. Less gold I pay the better. This is especially good when hastening people onto the docks gets more expensive than actually buying the specialist.

 

[Reveilled]

Cabral doesn't seem that useful to me, at least on normal speed, as your ships always get there eventually, and it will be the same amount of goods total delivered over time one way or another.

De Leon could be good, but it depends too much on luck of first finding ancient ruins and then getting the treasure from them.

Minuit is awesome, however. Can't go wrong with Peter Minuit.

The way I look at the Founding Fathers, it's not just a matter of the bonus they provide, but the bonus the next Founding Father provides too. There's a good chance that when you take a FF, someone else will get the next one, so you need to consider whether the bonus is better than waiting a few turns for the next father.

 

[Knaken]

Minuit blows the other two away. He is the best founding father you can get (and also the cheapest for some odd reason). Later in the game when taxes get too high, the guy that gives +3 production to every town probably becomes the best.

 

[Gliese 581]

Minuit blows the other two away. He is the best founding father you can get (and also the cheapest for some odd reason). Later in the game when taxes get too high, the guy that gives +3 production to every town probably becomes the best.

What's so great about +3 production in the late game?

 

[majk-iii]

It's not a modifier, hence it will be modified... right?
At least for the smaller, nonprodutive colonies, they will finally get to taste the modifiers at all; 3+1 basep. + whatever %.

For bigger cities it's not such a big deal, but still something since rebel-semtiment also act as a modifier.

Have i finally gotten this down correctly, people?

 

[Ignol]

Cabral can turn a 6 turn voyage to Europe into 3 turns. In the later game, you have so many goods to sell off you probably don't have the ships to sell it, and every turn is that much more money earned. More money earned, more Statesmen that can make the REF size smaller in comparison to speed at which you reach 50% or higher.

 

[woodelf]

I find Ponce de Leon comes almost too late in my games. Another one that comes real late shows the ruins on the map. Big deal since the map is fully explored by then.

I hope some more get added.

 

[Honolulu Blue]

I find if I put some effort into bells early on, I can get all three.

I like them all. Cabral is nice early, Minuit later on, and de Leon somewhere in between.

 

[Antilogic]

That's funny, because I have always passed over Cabral in favor of the other founding fathers. I haven't finished a single game yet, though, so I really can't comment on my strategy's effectiveness.

Minuit is a little less broken than he was in the original game; that benefit has been divided up amongst a couple FFs.

Alexander Hamilton is the one who grants +3 hammers for Town Halls; I just got him and really like the benefit. Although I have several light forests in my territory which don't produce enough lumber to be considered "worth it", so the additional production is really helpful.

 

[Finarfin]

I'd like to see the available FF randomized from game to game, or the sequence in which they appear randomized. It would add some more variety.