Getting a cathedral up should be a HUGE early game priority.
1 - Right after start, get your caravel (+Soldier + Pioneer) to scout all the coas in search for other european nations.
2 - Wwhen you find them, they will be loosely defended, use your soldier to atack the city, then use it to capture the pioneer (Which usualy hangs by).
3 - Do that to the other european
4 - You have a continent european free.
They always start the colony with the soldier so they are sitting ducks in early game. Using this strategy you can start a game with 3 soldiers, 3 pioneers, and the best no europeans.
It does sound like cheating to me though...
It makes sense that minimizing your treasury minimizes the amount the King can demand, but refusing those demands for cash has absolutely no negative consequences (beyond losing the ability to request military help from the King).
Do not underestimate the benefit of a colony plot with at least 3-4 mountain peaks combined with a few farmable plots. With a combination of expert farmers and silver miners, you have a cash cow. Silver starts at around 2x the price of the most expensive manufactured item. The difference being that you did not have to create any raw goods first. Yes you will never have the volume of a cigar factory with 3 specialists, but considering silver runs about 2x the price of cigars, you have the same cash flow with a lot less infrastructure.
Problem is, silver dropped down to 1 gold in my game![]()
I often use inland cities to get resources and use wagon trains to move the goods to the port city. Sometimes I use WorldBuilder to change the unit to name it. so I know which is which (e.g. "Cloth" or "Rum")
I often use inland cities to get resources and use wagon trains to move the goods to the port city. Sometimes I use WorldBuilder to change the unit to name it. so I know which is which (e.g. "Cloth" or "Rum")