BTW, in case anybody's interested, here's a wildly inaccurate map of parts of Micras that I made for the game (version 3.0). It contains Cibola, El Dorado, Tapfer, some of the Jasonian islands, Istvanistan, Yardistan, Benacia, Benacia, Florencia and a few other islands (the game engine is limited to 15 continents, if you have more then the AI and pathfinding might start getting dumber - I don't know how much dumber but I decided not to take any chances). If you're interested in a simple, peaceful game you could try colonising Cibola - it's far out on its own in the west so no AIs ever go there, and it is populated by only the Tupi. It doesn't have many mountains, nor any savannah (though El Dorado does), so it's not exactly the Land of Riches...
... if you want great riches you should go to Benacia! Though Benacia, in fact, does not have any savannah either, so you have to go to Benacia or Florencia for that... but especially the west half of it can produce some wonderful capital sites in the intersections of conifer forests, hills and plains. Mining silver isn't likely to be all that easy, though, since I made the middle parts of Benacia (where the mountains are) fairly dry...
I never playtested starting a colony in eastern Benacia, because to be honest, it just doesn't look good. I've also never gotten far in creating a colony in Tapfer... and Istvanistan, well, that's way too wet (it still amuses me that Istvanistan got put on an island right in the middle of the tropics - Istvanistan reminds me a lot of things, but a bunch of rainforest in the middle of the ocean it isn't... unfortunately, in this map, I went for terrain that made geographic sense, not cultural sense, so it's... rainforest.)
Actually, now that I've gotten warmed up, I think I could rant a bit more about Colonization. Firstly, I'm kind of ashamed for getting addicted to it. I need to push myself to actually learn to play strategy games one day. Colonization isn't a strategy game, it's a game of logistics (some would say micromanagement games). Certainly there's some strategic depth in the game, though I've barely even dipped into that. Maybe if it were a multiplayer game...
Secondly, the thing I really hate about Colonization is the horrible tension curve. At first the game is quite delightful with the thrill of exploration (hey, I'm a gamer, if I get rewarded with a pretty picture, cool music, and lots of game tokens for moving my scout unit on top of a lost city rumour, I'm going to love exploring for the sake of just that). The empire-building stage is the most interesting part of the game, as you wrestle with inefficient production, lack of infrastructure, poorly educated colonists, and are using every possible source to get more colonists and expand your domain... if I could feel the closure that allows me to put a game down for the next half a year by just building a nice, efficient, 100% independence-supporting colony, I'd do it.
Thing is, I can't. The victory condition in Colonization is winning your independence by means of war. And you need a big army to defeat your mother country's royal expeditionary force. True, there are some tricks to mitigate this, involving the fact that the REF's landing sites are *very* predictable and that you get an ambush bonus while fighting in the open. However, I haven't yet found a way to get to the point where you can beat the REF without first passing the point where you're starting to feel bored with bulking up on your defenses. Actually, this might change - I learned in my last game that the REF is apparently unwilling to attack a fortress containing just a few artillery units, so if I keep my number of ports low, and build one next to a coastal mountain I can abuse for slaughtering the REF, I can probably get away with a very small force (except for the fact that if I go independent early, there will be royal uprisings in colonies that don't have 100% sons of liberty).
Thirdly, Colonization players SUCK. Seriously, what the PRH is up with everyone having the Dutch as their favourite power to choose? Actually... um... the Dutch used to be my favourites, too
. I found out, however, that at the hardest level, the income you get from transporting goods by ship to Europe will be quite marginal: With the heavy limits on production efficiency, it's very difficult to build a colony that actually does anything meaningful aside gathering a cash crop - and when you do have enough of that crop to actually make some money on it, the King comes along and gives you a choice of an 8% tax hike or boycotting that good! Seriously. If you want to make money, and there's a decent amount of land area available, well, it's really quite simple. Concentrate on building meaningful colonies, a lot of carpentry capability, a strong tool industry, and above all as many liberty bells as you can squeeze out. Get Hernando de Soto as your first or second founding father, and get one or two scouts. If they aren't seasoned ones, visit indian villages until they become that (it doesn't matter if the colonist is a petty criminal, they can still become seasoned scouts by talking to an indian chief once). Then just visit every lost city rumour on the map. Never accept tax hikes, so that all those Cibolas you're going to dig up have the greatest effect.
By the time you're done exploring, you'll have bunches of colonists from all the Fountains of Youth you've found (my record for number of these found in a single game is seven, though three or so is more common), bunches of statesmen and maybe preachers bought with the money from the Cibolas and burial mounds, and maybe some other goodies that exploration provides (keep notes on which indian city provides which skills... if there's an indian capital that provides farming, then even if it's a fair bit away it might be worth it early on to fill a galleon with FoYouth-attracted free colonists and indentured servants, and have them all learn the skill). You'll also have colonies with excellent infrastructure to place these colonists in. Most significantly, you'll have the liberty bell production that you need to get... Peter Stuyvesant
. He is, IMO, one of the most important founding fathers, right up there with Minuit, de Soto, Jefferson, Bolivar, and de Brebeuf. Jakob Fugger might get rid of your boycotts once, but this guy gives you a way of getting around them for the entire game!So, really. Being Dutch doesn't factor into any of this favorably. There's simply so little benefit that you get from prices on goods early on - either they get boycotted from under you or the tax rate creeps toward the sky... of course, later on, when you do have those custom houses, and large, efficient colonies, price does start to become a factor - but by this time you've got industries (which help diversify production), and you've got also got the resources to harvest a little bit of each crop (which you would do anyway even if you were Dutch), so the Dutch boon is really quite meaningless.
My current favourite power is, in fact, the English. This is mostly because they're the only choice that's left after you eliminate the Spanish (who I never play since those indians are so cute and cuddly and playful and jovial and nice - I would never have the heart to slaughter them) and the French (whose boon is easily duplicated by either having Pocahontas, or having de Brebeuf and a couple of extra petty criminals to spare for missionary work).... actually, come to think of it, playing the French could be kind of nice - that hardy pioneer they start with sure could come in handy, and I *did* lose one unit to an indian attack in my last game as the English.... but, you know, it was just one pioneer: What's one colonist with a couple of tools against the English boon of significantly increased immigration? With Brewster and Penn, a cathedral or two full of firebrand preachers, and proper technique, the English can basically dedicate a galleon to hauling immigrants that cost less than 150 a piece to the new world for several decades...
(oh, and one more thing: If you ever feel like getting de La Salle... remember, guaranteed peace with all European powers is just one founding father away, and as I've already pointed out, the Indians should rarely be a problem... so... why bother with free stockades anyway? I'd much rather have the ability to get rid of a colony at any stage I want)
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