Whats the point of colonies?

[Sjaramei]

So just to amuse myself i "liberated" a bunch of islands and gave them their independence. So besides making a huge mess of everything what do you actually gain from this option?

In my opinion this is a poor effort from Firaxis. (using vassal system for this just makes it look like they took the easy way without actually making something)

Oh and why can't i disable this option? (disable vassal states would fix it i guess... but again lousy effort from Firaxis on this part)

 

[A1CBOZ]

If you have several cities on another continent the maintenance can drown you because there is an added cost for overseaes cities. Making them colonies relieves that cost.

 

[Spiceweasel]

I think of it as a way to deprive my rival civs of land colonizing space, without having to support a bunch of fledgling cities myself.

 

[the_elf]

I think of it as a way to deprive my rival civs of land colonizing space, without having to support a bunch of fledgling cities myself.

That actually sounds like a GREAT strategy. You could spam settlers, have them all drop cities on the same turn, and make yourself a AI-power-ally, depriving the other civs the plots/resources.

You wouldn't even need to pack garrison units for the new cities, since they gain that when they change hands.

 

[Andraeianus I]

If you have several cities on another continent the maintenance can drown you because there is an added cost for overseas cities. Making them colonies relieves that cost.

That is why I saved my Forbidden Palace for that extra continent of five cities. Even without FP the cities were still making a profit. So there is not a real need to turn them into a colony, is there?

 

[the_elf]

That is why I saved my Forbidden Palace for that extra continent of five cities. Even without FP the cities were still making a profit. So there is not a real need to turn them into a colony, is there?

Think of colonies as another feature, or an option. If you can mitigate the maintanence, great. If you can't, grant them independence.

I try to do the same thing with Forbidden Palace and Versilles. But the concept was to better illustrate the cost of a cross map empire.

 

[vodlaian]

Colony = +10 relationship + free resources

 

[A1CBOZ]

That is why I saved my Forbidden Palace for that extra continent of five cities. Even without FP the cities were still making a profit. So there is not a real need to turn them into a colony, is there?

I don't personaly know becasue in my games I have never yet had to move to a new continent. But I would say that if you still turn a profit then I would keep them. But when corps roll around and jack up inflation it might be another story

 

[glosrob]

I kind of hoped that the colonies might have agitated for their own independence without me actually having to grant it of my own free will.

It would be kind of a 3 stage thing.

You found the cities. Give them colony status for some kind of bonus (reduced maintanence perhaps)

They are semi autonomous but you can interfere like they are your own cities. So if you want you can let the AI build them up BUT you can equally go 'nope, don't build that, build this and also for good measure give me that Iron/Saltpeter' etc.

Do this enough and the AI can demand independence and you can say 'yes ok' (diplomatic bonus with the newly created nation) or 'no get ready to get your ass kicked' and you would have to send the troops over.

It is a great way to eat up land though.

 

[El Koeno]

Colony = +10 relationship + free resources

The point is that if you properly manage overseas possessions you'll have the resources and make a profit too. Though in BtS the profit is harder to get due to the colonial expenses, so if you're colony gets too big, you might be forced to grant it independence.

It's not necessary for you to have founded the cities though. Colonies are also a nice way of handling conquered territories.

 

[Frimlin]

That is why I saved my Forbidden Palace for that extra continent of five cities. Even without FP the cities were still making a profit. So there is not a real need to turn them into a colony, is there?

Not in that case, sure. But the option is now there for those cases that can't be fixed like that. If you're not needing it, sure you don't need to make a colony. If you do, now you can.

 

[Pomp]

Colonies are also a nice way of handling conquered territories.

That's a big one. It's nice to be able to, say, replace furious Monty with friendly Washington, as I did in my most recent game.

 

[LikeMike]

Do your colonies count towords the domination victory? As in, does the territory count as yours?

 

[Pomp]

They're vassals, so you get to count 50% of their territory and population, just like regular vassals.

 

[snipafist]

Do your colonies count towords the domination victory? As in, does the territory count as yours?

Vassals count, so yes. I haven't tried the colonies option yet, but I'm sure I will do so in the future. It looks quite intriguing.

 

[VLGoldenJew]

I've found the overseas maintenance costs to be fairly grueling, especially if you're on a war rampage and take a lot of cities very quickly. Creating a colony from my captured cities was pretty useful-- I got to cut maintenance costs, keep the resources (woohoo vassal), and the free garrisoned infantry allowed me to keep my front moving since I didn't have to worry about defending cities in the back.

 

[Draknith]

i used a colony in my last game. I had probably 8-10 cities in the old world, a couple island cities out in the ocean, and then 4-5 cities in the new world. I developed the new world cities a bit, and reinforced them with a small army. After I felt comfortable, I granted independence to the colony. It actualy helped out my main empire, and since I was well developed and I developed the new world a bit, my colony became 2nd most powerful in the world. Not bad having someone so loyal to your cause and being very powerful too.

 

[paleman]

Colonies are a great way of gaining access to surplus resources which can boost the effects of corporations without needing to actually run the cities or (especially) pay maintenance. Once corporations come into play, there is no limit to the fish, copper, etc. , for which you can trade. So it becomes useful to plop four cities down on that ice-ridden island with 3 fish and 2 clams, make it a colony, and be able to reap the benefits of the resources without any of the burdens of cost and attention. This is especially important considering the large maintenance costs of corporations - anything you can do to lessen the cost is good. For me colonies also make the game more versatile because state property is no longer the automatic default for an intercontinental empire.

 

[MrFelony]

Colonies=easy over seas conquering. just replace a civ wiht a friendly vassal/colony

 

[Marshall Thomas]

Will granting colonial independance always lower your score?