Some (hopefully) new insights on the game

[The_Dwarf]

Today I got the new 'gamestar' which is a pretty popular and serious gaming magazine in germany and I thought people would be interested on some (maybe) new facts about the game - so here we go :
To begin with the game got 82/100 there which is pretty good for that magazine (e.g. spore got a lower rating)
The very good news is that they dont complain about any major flaws - yahoo
So know lets see some of the changes done comparing with traditionell col :

- Battle system :
The units still remain as few as in traditionell col, however they can be spezialized through promotions like in civ4 and you can get generals - seems cool to me.

- Natives :
More natives and they have a greater influence on the game - I guess that was pretty well known/expected already.

- Schools :
To give lessons the expert teachers dont have to go off work anymore - I actually really dont like this much, to much simplification

- Workers/Pioneers :
They dont consum any tools anymore, instead you have to pay gold for them . Dont know if i like it or not but it will reduce the micromanagement for sure without making the game much more shallow.

- Horses :
They dont enhance population themselves anymore, instead you need rangers for this now, seems like a nice idea.

- Founding Fathers :
This is probably the most interesting. Instead of only producing liberty bells founding fathers need other recources also. Since the articel is not that detailed about it some of the following might be (wrong) guessing.
You need points along five catogeries, I guess its liberty bells + some of the other categories for different orientated founding fathers.
Those categories are something like exploration/Military/Trade/Religious points. I guess its like you can only get a war orientated founding father if you have done some fights already.
Furthermore you dont have to take a founding father of a list if you have enough liberty bells anymore, instead you can wait to afford a more expensive one. That sounds pretty pretty awesome to me since it cuts down the randomness a bit (e.g. getting hernando de soto asap was a huge advantage in traditionell col) and you have some really interesting strategic choices here.
If the new Founding fathers concept works as I think/hope this will be soooooo great - cant wait to play

 

[Honolulu Blue]

Thank you for sharing.

The battle system and natives I've discussed in other threads, so I won't repeat myself here.

* Schools - Moving from choosing the trainer to the trainee is interesting. Being able to choose the specialty should prove to be very useful. I also like being able to school converted natives now (though I suspect it's going to take them a long, long time to learn). One possible sour note is the wispy rumor that the more people that are trained, the longer it takes.

* Pioneers - At first I didn't like the switch from tools to gold. But now I'm starting to come around. As long as it doesn't cost TOO much to make improvements, I can live with it. Still, that makes tools pretty much like everything else with only two uses - trade and manufacture into guns.

* Horses - You mean my colonies won't be able to produce a bazillion horses on their own? Heresy! I can live with this too, I suppose.

* Founding fathers - I think you're right about the point divisions. The liberty bells are in the political category. I'll have to see the actual implementation, but I think it's a good move. I'm going to wait and see whether waiting for FFs later down the line is a good move or not.

 

[Apocalypto]

Yeah, the education feature got a bad review in PC Gamer/GamesRadar as well. They also said that the combat system wasn't balanced enough, with a dragoon winning 9 out of 10 battles. But if you think about it that would make some sense, because now you have to have the Rancher in order to get those valuable horses for your dragoons.

It seems the same principle is applicable to ships, statet as being very hard to obtain, but if you get enough of them you might actually be able to sink some of the Kings forces while still at sea. I think one preview mentioned about 3-4 ships per Royal Navy ship. So there are opportunities, but they will cost a bit extra.

I'm really looking forward to fighting out in the open during the revolution. The classic game was way too easy when the revolution started, and kind of repetitive. It didn't really offer any extra challenges on Viceroy level, the AI just poured in more troops. This time I'm looking forward to ambushing him out in the open

 

[Honolulu Blue]

This time I'm looking forward to ambushing him out in the open

You mean you didn't do this in Col Classic? The ambush bonuses in that game went up to +150%!

 

[Apocalypto]

You mean you didn't do this in Col Classic? The ambush bonuses in that game went up to +150%!

Yes I did. But you had the bug where sometimes you would lose a gazillion battles in a row. If I started attacking him and lost 2-3 times in a row, I just fortified inside the fortress instead and waited for the next turn.

In the new Col we will have to think about using units with promotions corresponding to terrain types and so on. I think the Revolutionary War will be much more challenging, at least I hope so

 

[Knut_Are_M]

my guess on gaining founding fathers.
military: kill enemy units and capture colonies and destroy native settements.(it is quite important to fight some before the end revolusion)

Trade: earn gold by selling resourses to natives/europe/other colonies.

Exsporation: Exsplore the map. Ps do this early.

Political: gain liberty bells. Do this stedily for a challenge with the king.

Religious: gain crosses/missionaies. You might want to get a few crosses, especially if the land around you is poor. Or if you want to ignore the king as much as possible.