I do have to say the maps suck. The Western Hemisphere one in particular looks like it was made by a Civ Fanatics noob.
Yeah, the big giant expanse of ocean that would take like 20 turns to sail across just to reach the “sail to Europe” zone is a pretty obvious mistake. Luckily, you can just crack open the world builder’s terrain editor and paint a bunch of Europe (east) “territory” in the right area. Though I got the impression that the eastern seaboard doesn’t have that nice mix of terrain that the Col1 map had.
On the subject of natives:
Trading with the natives can be pretty lucrative, and it looks like you don’t need wagon trains to do so effectively (you did in Col1). Each tribe has a gold total that all of its villages share to buy goods from you. While each village has a demand for a particular good, they seem to always pay well for guns, horses, tools, and trade goods. Trade can strengthen relations with that tribe, but also incur the “you have traded with our worst enemies” penalty with other tribes. You can earn tons of trade points early on by selling horses or whatnot to them and buying furs or silver to sell back in Europe; even if you just break even, you get more trade points for selling goods and they get more gold to buy more stuff from you.
Founding missions seems to help relations a lot. With lots of missions, the “you have stolen our land” penalty seems to accrue more slowly and fade gradually.
Note that when they offer you a settlement that’s surrounded by your territory, any of your units that were living there are returned to you (untrained) but you don’t get your missionary back.
How do you trade without wagon trains?
Playing my third game (abandoned the first two after about 150 turns, still learnign after all) and think I’m going to have a shot at declaring independence this time around. Can anyone advise on the best way of getting soldiers? Do I have to train them at a college/university or can I just equip colonists?
Also, once I’ve declared independence can I trade with Europe or do I have to stick to trading directly with natives/other powers on the map?
I’m still pretty new but so far I’ve learned it’s just easier to buy weapons from the home country and amass the stock in your main city. Anyone you don’t need gets to make a pilgrimage to your capital and learn how to play war. While your army grows the soldiers can go back to the fields to keep your government solvent while you prepare the throw off the yoke of your oppressor. You of course can make the weapons, horses and canons yourself, but it takes a more complex supply chain.
Soldiers don’t require an education, colleges aren’t necessary.
I think a balanced approach is better, because buying all your cannons, soldiers and guns in Europe costs a lot.
The supply chains are:
food - colonists
food - horses (ranch)
iron - tools (blacksmith) - guns (armory)
School (and college) are very useful for learning Elder Statesmen. You can’t have a revolution without Rebel Sentiment (and Elder Statesmen are vital to produce enough Liberty Bells).
You can either buy Veteran Soldiers in Europe (expensive) or give Colonists guns + horses.
You can’t train Soldiers in Schools.
When you declare Independence, there are choices (which make up your Constitution). One of these is Monarchy, which lets you trade with the rest of Europe. (Your ships have to dodge the Royal Navy though. :eek:)
Just move the ship into a coastal native village. If the ship has goods to sell and/or free cargo space (and at least one movement point left), the action bar should have a trade button (looks like a golden dollar sign or something).
Does anyone know how to change the dimensions of the map to create your own scenario? The maps for Colonization are far taller than they are wide.
The “determined” trait that one of the Spanish leaders has appears to be broken. I’m receiving the same +50% combat bonus from my rebel sentiment that all other leaders get during the revolution. Anyone have any insight on this?
I think that’s a feature, not a bug. The game world is only a hemisphere, or even less.
One thing I’m just now noticing is that colonists don’t become expert farmers, planters, etc. through experience anymore. One would think that a colonist who’s been planting cotton for 100 years would get to be pretty good at it.
I dont think my colonists ever became experts by experience. You needed to have some expert teach them.
The ones in the field did - sometimes - and the longer they worked at it the more likely they’d be promoted. Ore miners, fisherman, tobacco planters and so on. The city experts never did; you’re right on that count.
I noticed that, too. In the original game, if you left a “Free Colonist” doing one task long enough, they’d become an “Expert (whatever)” through experience. Not so this time around, it seems. On the other hand, the Indian Villages will train as many Colonists as you can send to them, so the lack of on-the-job training isn’t as much of a disadvantage as it might otherwise be.
On a different note, has anyone gotten into a war with the other Europeans at all? I’m thinking about playing a “Conquest of the New World” game where I wipe all the other Europeans out and then take on the REF with the enormous army I would have amassed in the process…
Now there’s another game I wouldn’t mind seeing reissued for Vista.
No, I haven’t yet. But isn’t defeating Europe a victory condition? I think you’d have to play a custom game and uncheck Europe to follow your scenario.
If you remove the “Europe” and “Time” Victory condition the game won’t end until you either win or lose the War of Independence. 
And you’re right about Conquest of the New World; the game was a lot of fun but a wee bit slow moving, IMHO.
Good point.
But if the tribe’s villages are all inland?
This is very confusing.
The Civilopedia says you get a bonus to defend; the Leader choice says you get a bonus to attack. :rolleyes:
I’ve just won a game with Simon Bolivar (determined) and it seemed that I got an attack bonus of (rebel sentiment% - 50%).
I found it confusing to look back at battles to see if I got a defensive bonus…
I think that either someone wins the War (first to do so wins), or if nobody does, you have to have the highest score when time runs out.
(But I am confused about whether the King can beat you on score…)