Most kind. 
Civfanatics had a good discussion of this.
- Apparently there are two similar things going on:
-
each Settlement has its own Rebel Sentiment %, and every Colonist within that Settlement benefits from it. So if Rebel Sentiment is 20%, then each Farmer (for example) produces 20% more Food. (Thus a larger Settlement benefits more from Rebel Sentiment.)
Press F1 to see these figures. -
the Colony as a whole has a Rebel Sentiment. This needs to reach 50% or higher to allow Independence. Now not only every Colonist, but also every unit outside Settlements (e.g. Scout and Dragoon) is counted.
Press F3 to see this figure.
Each Liberty Bell producer (i.e. any Colonist in a Town Hall (Elder Statesmen in particular) plus Political Founding Fathers) affects that Settlement steadily.
A small Settlement therefore reaches 100% Rebel Sentiment quicker than a big one.
However the whole Colony is affected equally by any Liberty Bells. N.B. Even when one Settlement reaches 100%, it is still helping the Colony figure improve.
Sorry if this sounds complicated! :eek:
- My present strategy is to have one large (coastal) Settlement and a few smaller (inland) ones. Since the coastal one will take longer to improve Rebel Sentiment and have a bigger overall effect, I start building up that Settlement’s Liberty Bells early on. I also give this Settlement Printing Press and Newspaper. (Larger Settlements need the bonuses these buildings give.)
Yes, the King will increase his REF in response.
Next if I School several Elder Statesmen and keep them doing other jobs, then I can pop them into the smaller Settlement’s Town Halls just a short while before I want to declare Independence.
And about this time, I put almost all Settlements onto Political Points, because those are the Founding Fathers that give Liberty Bell bonuses.
Started on this game today. Started off poorly with yet another bad first settlement location. Bad luck when my soldier went after a ruin and was killed by angry natives. Adrian started taking up the good areas on the land an was choking my expansion. So, what could I do but get involved in a long, costly, and drawn out war? I’ve basically got him beat now (down to one colony). But we’ll see if I can recover and turn this into a viable nation.
I’m at work now, so I don’t have the details to share just yet, but I was able to win the posted game. I’ll write up the details after I get home and I can post the declaration of independence and victory saves if anybody’s interested.
Well done on winning - I look forward to your score and time!
My Score for slacker’s game:
Final Score: 3234
Independence Declared: 1704
Victory: Independence 1755
Time taken: 6 hr 53 min
Game probably should have ended about 7 turns sooner as I couldn’t find the last of the REF (they were on the northern section fighting natives and the natives actually delivered the coup de grace).
That was close - maybe I’ll have another go at the map!
P.S. You can find units by pressing F5 and selecting a leader.
Well, that was, umm, interesting.
Founded a colony (as the French) on a fairly wide penninsula. The English founded and grew right next to me. Both of us, straight as an arrow, directly west.
So I declare independence. The French King lands his troops on the English side! I can’t pick off the landing points without declaring war on the English. He’s not fighting the English, nor are the English fighting me. It’s like they’re not even there.
I don’t like that. At all.
Frank that’s absolutely bizarre. No way to get open borders with the English King?
I bumped up to Explorer level today and did great building an economy and beating the snot out of the French (I’m Dutch). However, after several years of holding out at Fort Nassau, the city finally falls via human wave attacks by the REF. I’m not producing guns and cannons fast enough elsewhere (at least not to my standards!) so we’ll see if I can generate enough of a rag tag army to defeat the rest of the REF. (However, since I’m going out of town on Thurs, I might not get to play again until Sunday!) Addiction is a horrible thing.
ETA: I guess I’ll just live vicariously through glee’s game blogs 
Not now that I’ve burned Jamestown.
yeah, that could pose a problem. 
That does sound unusual.
Normally the King’s ships bombard your ports and land troops next to them…
I’ve now had a weird experience myself.
I was playing the Spanish and up the coast were the Dutch and French. Near them were the Cherokee, who agreed a Defensive Pact with me.
After the usual preparation, I declared Independence.
The King’s troops initially landed by Isabella (my Coastal Settlement) and were duly dispatched. However a small group landed up the coast and slaughtered the Cherokee. Then they wandered round the coast and were also dispatched.
This left just a few troops on the F3 screen, but there was no sign of them.
After some time, I decided to go look for them and found they had built a Settlement on the site of a Cherokee village. I wiped them out - but the game wouldn’t give me a victory! :smack:
I’ve reported it all to CivFanatics and hope someone will explain…
I lost, as expected. The King beat down Montreal, the English burned a weakly defended Quebec before I could get back to it, and as I was trying to regroup I ran out of time.
Live and learn.
I had another go at the challenge game:
Score: 4984
Declared Independence: 1595AD
Won War of Independence: 1618AD
Time taken: 4hr 18 min
I’m getting the hang of this!
1618!!! :eek:
I guarantee I’ll never get in that early. I think I keep my focus too much on creating an industry first (say rum or whatever), and then work on Liberty Bells. One of these days I’m going to have to try “The Patented glee Method.” 
I’ve never built an Industry. :o
(Of course there are several ways to play these wonderful games - I’ve only tried my method on Pilgrim, Pioneer and Explorer so far…)
Score: 8102
Declared Independence: 1582AD
Won War of Independence: 1606AD
Time taken: 4hr 15 min
Remember this was my third attempt at the map, so I knew everything.
Even so it was incredibly close.
I just managed 52% Rebel Sentiment by 1582, when I had about 8 Dragoons (and no Cannon :rolleyes:). The King had around 11 Soldiers, 8 Dragoons and 11 Artillery.
The smallish first Royal wave was swept aside 
, but then I couldn’t wipe out all the Artillery that landed next, and lost a few troops when they attacked next turn. (It’s **so much easier **to attack Artillery than defend a Settlement against them.)
Next I lost a Settlement :eek: (my first ever loss in 15 games!), but got it back immediately.
My Rebel Sentiment had now reached 100% , but I only had 4 Dragoons left. I managed to build a couple of Cannon and two Soldiers.
By 1601, I only had an injured Soldier and the King only had an injured Artillery. :eek:
After a few years, I built a Cannon and a Soldier and the rest … is history!