After several tries, I think I have finally found a strategy that will lead to a relatively easy victory (no cheating, except the occasional reload when I mess up). Here is an outline:
Exploration Phase:
Like the name implies, exploration is extremely important early on. Try to stay on good terms with everyone at this point. Build a few colonies. You will need some FFs, especially Peter Minuit. You will need to produce political points in a few colonies in order to get him faster.
Expansion Phase:
Now that you have a few colonies up and running, and your galleon has cashed in the treasure chests, load it up with cannons and a few dragoons. Sail to the nearest European colonies and attack! Even at this level, their colonies are usually lightly protected. One trick: if their settlement is next to a native village, land your troops in the village and you can pull off a surprise attack. Don't bother develop the captured colonies, I usually just give them back to improve relations, but not before I strip it clean.
Build school/college/university, buy an elder statesman (if one didn't immigrate), start training them for 500 gold. IMPORTANT: DO NOT put the elder statesmen in town hall. They will pump out liberty bells and increase REF size. In one of my aborted games, REF had 900+ units. Station 2 or 3 statesmen in each colony, put them anywhere except town hall. The only problem with this is you won't get political points. That's why I always have a couple of colonies cranking them out in the lumber mill.
Pre-Revolution Phase:
Your economy should be up and running, send your ships to trade with far away natives to add money to your treasury, build print press/newspaper in every colony. When you have trained enough elder statemen, put all of them into town halls. Go for the liberty bell generating FFs. You can go from nearly 0% rebel sentiment to 50%+ in less than 20 turns. Your whole fleet is now shipping goods to sell in Europe while bringing back loads of guns and horses.
Revolution Phase:
Once you get over 50% rebel sentiment, you don't want to wait too long to declare independence. Before you declare, you can build some new colonies, since you get two extra colonists when you free the slaves.
In my latest game, I declared in 1680 or so. The REF had only about 250 units total, while I had over 100. I still had loads of gold and my fleet was still bringing in horses and guns in the Pacific. The war was very easy to win.
Exploration Phase:
Like the name implies, exploration is extremely important early on. Try to stay on good terms with everyone at this point. Build a few colonies. You will need some FFs, especially Peter Minuit. You will need to produce political points in a few colonies in order to get him faster.
Expansion Phase:
Now that you have a few colonies up and running, and your galleon has cashed in the treasure chests, load it up with cannons and a few dragoons. Sail to the nearest European colonies and attack! Even at this level, their colonies are usually lightly protected. One trick: if their settlement is next to a native village, land your troops in the village and you can pull off a surprise attack. Don't bother develop the captured colonies, I usually just give them back to improve relations, but not before I strip it clean.
Build school/college/university, buy an elder statesman (if one didn't immigrate), start training them for 500 gold. IMPORTANT: DO NOT put the elder statesmen in town hall. They will pump out liberty bells and increase REF size. In one of my aborted games, REF had 900+ units. Station 2 or 3 statesmen in each colony, put them anywhere except town hall. The only problem with this is you won't get political points. That's why I always have a couple of colonies cranking them out in the lumber mill.
Pre-Revolution Phase:
Your economy should be up and running, send your ships to trade with far away natives to add money to your treasury, build print press/newspaper in every colony. When you have trained enough elder statemen, put all of them into town halls. Go for the liberty bell generating FFs. You can go from nearly 0% rebel sentiment to 50%+ in less than 20 turns. Your whole fleet is now shipping goods to sell in Europe while bringing back loads of guns and horses.
Revolution Phase:
Once you get over 50% rebel sentiment, you don't want to wait too long to declare independence. Before you declare, you can build some new colonies, since you get two extra colonists when you free the slaves.
In my latest game, I declared in 1680 or so. The REF had only about 250 units total, while I had over 100. I still had loads of gold and my fleet was still bringing in horses and guns in the Pacific. The war was very easy to win.
