Just lost the game because of this game feature. As the french colonies, I was by far the largest and richest power in the new world. I was preparing for the upcoming fight with my lord and king by garrisoning most of my new free colonists while trying feverishly to raise my rebel sentiment. I was glad to see rebel percentages go up in my cities, 50, 60, upper 70 percent... My army was getting huge in the mean time... When I realized that my garrisons had negated the effects of my elder statesmen, George Washington had gained up on me and DoI'd on me... If I had known about this "colonist garrisons are 100% tory, always", I could have DoI maybe 30 years before Washington. Cannons not counting as garrisons proves how flawed this system is. The cannoneers aren't mindless drones, they're people with political opinions, just like infantry men or dragoons.
When you accumulate 200 food, the free colonist that appears at the city gates, is he from the old world (100% tory)? I mean, I thought the colonist was born from parents inside the city, but I guess the abundance of food attracts people from Europe? The way it works now is when you hit the 200 number, a parentless golem of ears of corn rises from the storehouse that I devoutedly loyal to the king.
How intentional is this? Is this feature in place to prevent the player from getting too strong before declaring independence? Only the city rebel / tory ratio mattered in the original Colonization. This is a major game design change from it's predecessor.
... just leave out colonists outside colonies from the overall rebel percentage calculations or take the rougher road and change the colonists so they can be either tory or rebel? When a new colonist is born, the game would randomly choose which colonist is his parent and he'd inherit his polical views. That'd be fair, as long as the rebel propaganda filled newspapers make their way into the fort *winkwink*. (But I guess nobody from Firaxis is listening in.)