Jingle bells... But not that much !

[Navarre]

Hi. I'm trying to get the basics, have played two games, and started two others I stopped because of something strange: I don't know if it's a bug or a feature, but I've seen once José and once Washington scoring huge scores in liberty bells very early in the game, like 40% at turn 30 for José and 79% (!) for Washington at turn 50, each time with only one city (well, one city left for George, the Apaches didn't like him). And in each game, they took all the Founding Fathers at ridiculous speeds, Peter Minuit on turn 20-30 and so on. I tried to buy and settle an elder stateman very soon to compete, but I was still way behind, they were in a totally different league. And that was on the easiest setting.

So, is that normal ? If it is, how the heck are they doing that ?

And.... If I kill them, do I get the FF ?

 

[Molybdeus]

Ignore it. Score isn't as close to real strength as it is in Civ4. The AI frequently picks up a lot of founding fathers in the early game . . . and then gets massacred by a big Royal Expeditionary Force.

Just worry about getting Peter Minuet. You can win with him alone.

 

[Navarre]

Yeah, but he's early, so the AIs did get him in these two games. Now I'm playing with AoD2, so he's different but still important (-50% cost to buy land from natives, and I usually try to play fair with them). Anyway, I'm getting used to see the FF gone early. I just don't really understand how the AI manage that with ridiculous cities and land.

 

[Molybdeus]

The AI uses colonists to produce liberty bells early in the game rather than developing infrastructure. This is dumb, and you shouldn't try to match them.

You can target a particular founding father by refusing other ones. For example, I typically refuse Vasco Nunez de Balboa before getting Peter Minuit. You won't always get the specific founding father you want, but I get Peter Minuit in about half of my games without producing early liberty bells.

Land purchasing cost isn't all that important. If you have built your colony well you should either be producing guns (enabling you to conquer them) or be producing saleable goods (enabling you to afford to buy the land.)

I haven't played with the mods, just with the patch, and can't advise you as to how to use that. I would recommend that you play the patched version of the game first before using mods at least until you win one game.

 

[Navarre]

You can target a particular founding father by refusing other ones. For example, I typically refuse Vasco Nunez de Balboa before getting Peter Minuit.

Yes, that's what I learned to do. I still miss Peter Minuit quite often, but I concentrate on getting the ones who give a production bonus (+25% tobacco, cotton, whatever I produce) and ignore the others.

Land purchasing cost isn't all that important. If you have built your colony well you should either be producing guns (enabling you to conquer them) or be producing saleable goods (enabling you to afford to buy the land.)

Call that a white European male complex, but I just don't like to slaughter the Natives to steal their land. I usually can buy it tough, even without Founding Father who lowers the price. It's just way more expansive. I produce or buy guns anyway, they sometimes declare war out of the blue even when they're pleased, and those pesky other Europeans running around are more numerous with the mod.

I haven't played with the mods, just with the patch, and can't advise you as to how to use that. I would recommend that you play the patched version of the game first before using mods at least until you win one game.

I did play and win several games before trying the mod, but it's a way better game with it. You should try it.