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1. Pick Spanish settler with Jose de San Martin
You will have three things that other countries do not:
a. 25% bonus to exp gained in battle
b. 25% bonus str when fighting natives
c. a veteran soldier on your first trip to the new world
2. Look at where you start. If the yellow zone depicting ocean route to europe is verticle then you are likely somewhere closer to the equator and should sail directly west to find the nearest landfall. If the zone to europe forms a corner then sail away from that corner, due northwest or southwest depending on how it looks. You should sight land within 2-3 turns, if you dont then angle north or south to find land that is closer to the zone to europe.
3. When you find land look for a tile that generates a base of (4-6 food with forest/jungle next to it), OR a hill that generates at least (2-3 food and 3 ore with a fish or crab tile next to it AND a forest/jungle next to it).
If you dont find that tile right away then sail INTO the nearest native village and without unloading your veteran soldier use him to speak with the cheif for a chance at exp or gold, then sail along the coast away from tundra/ice and towards the equator.
Or if you cannot tell what direction is the equator then sail towards fish tiles or rivers that you see on the edge of exploration hoping for a nearby hill.
4. Settle with both the soldier and the pioneer, placing them (both inside the town hall if you have 4-6 food from your center tile) OR (one in town hall and the other on a fish/crab resource) and setting production to trade points.
After a few turns move the colonist off the seafood tile and into the town hall with the other colonist to generate more liberty bells, until your food runs out then put one back on seafood.
5. Move your ship into your towns port to pick up all the guns and tools, then set sail for the nearest native village.
Sell all the guns first then all the tools then buy any fur/cotton/silver/sugar and then sail directly east to the nearest zone to europe tile, dont hit auto sail to europe if you had explored along the coast until you found the right spot to settle or your ship will angle back the way you came causing you to lose turns on the voyage.
6. As soon as your ship is on its way to europe then open diplomatic screen with your king and request military assistance.
You should be able to get 2 cannon for around 200 gold each and one veteran soldier for around 500.
Then open europe dock screen and hurry immigration on any veteran soldiers if any are available and if you have gold left over. (1. if no veteran soldiers are available for hurry immigration then 2. get scouts for the horses they come with *but use the first scout to actually set to autoexplore*, if no scouts then 3. get elder statesmen for the liberty bell generation, and if you have an ore tile especially on your center tile then 4. rush a blacksmith if none show up for free on the docks)
*when i say hurry immigration i mean one of the 3 random available units just above to the docks box, typically 70s or less gold to rush the first one on quick games*
And if you still have gold after that then double click on the veteran soldiers you bought from the king and/or hurry immigrated and turn them into dragoons.
7. Wait for your ship to arrive in europe and manage the colonists in your town to maximize liberty bell production by alterating food generation and town hall duties, unless you had 4 or more food on your center tile then just leave both in town hall.
When your ship arrives in europe sell all commodities you purchased from the natives and load up all the veteran soldiers that you turned into dragoons, or if you only have one veteran soldier on the docks then load 100 horses and set sail for your colony.
On the next trip turn any available immigrant into a dragoon and transport them next.
*note: before you turn any colonists into dragoons, soldiers or otherwise, first request additional military aid from the king if you have enough gold.
On subsequent trips load cannons if you have taken all the veteran dragoons and dont have gold to buy more horses/guns depending on what the natives are buying. (you can determine what natives are paying a premium for by visiting them with a land unit and speaking to the chief)
Don't bother shipping finished goods like cigars, rum, cloth, or coats to natives because the profit is marginal or non-existant. Just ship guns or horses, and if they dont request either then sell them guns anyway and horses secondary and trade goods teritiary.
Note: when you start a trade with natives check how much gold they have on the upper left before you offer to sell, dont accept sales where they are paying all their gold to you unless it is profitable. (you can tell if its profitable by multiplying the cost to SELL of the product by the amount you are selling to see if it matches or is less than the amount of gold the natives offer you, mouse over the commodities icon in trade window to see current price popups)
If the native village(s) you have been trading with are all of the same tribe and are out of gold then explore along the coast for another village of a different tribe to see if they have gold. But if it takes more than 4 turns to find another tribe you should double back to your colony and dump the guns and horses into the city, pulling out veteran troops from production jobs if your warehouse gets overfilled.
8. When ship arrives in colony unload all dragoons and turn them into colonists working in this priority:
a. Town hall for liberty bells if your food production can support it
b. Food tiles like fish, crabs, wheat, bananas, grasslands along rivers, or in the worst case a tile that generates at least 3 food to provide a surplus.
c. If your town hall gets filled, (and it will after a few round trips of gun running, soldier recruiting, horse trading, and commodities purchasing from natives) then put a colonist on a forest/jungle tile to prepare to:
produce in this order:
1a. Docks> if you have a fish/crab resource
2a. Stockade> to help defend your colonists from the soon to be hostile natives, (or sneak attacks from other players).
3a. Fort> further defense bonus
4a. Lumber mill> to prepare to build the fortress/newspaper/warehouse expansion
5a. Printing press> to increase liberty bells thereby generating founding fathers before the enemy can get to the ones you want.
5b. Founding father lineup:
1. Peter Minuit> decreases cost by 25% to gain military units via diplomatic requests to the king, and rush buying specialists, veteran soldiers, cannon, and ships at the docks.
2. Vaco Nunez de Balboa> increases defenses at all your cities by 25%.
3. Francisco de Coronado> +1 movement for dragoons making total of 3 movement, especially useful for great general dragoons who have a bonus of movement from the general (unless im mistaken).
4. John Paul Jones> gives you a free frigate, perfect for hunting down privateers during peacetime or bombarding/blockading enemy ports during wartime.
5. Paul Chomeday de Maisonneuve> free promotion of formation, gives 25% bonus str vs mounted units for gunpowder units (meaning for soldiers with guns but without horses).
6. Dom Pedro I> +50% Great General emergence and free promotion of Veteran I and Minuteman I for Gunpowder and Mounted Units, making them more effective in defending cities. But with the strategy in this guide the game will not last long enough for Dom Pedro to make an appearance unless you purposely delay attacking the enemy's core cities.
6a. Newspaper> to generate additional liberty bells.
7a. Armory> to start producing your own free* cannons, provided you have ore to manufacture tools from, and if you don't have ore then buy cheap tools from europe for about 2 gold per.
8a. Warehouse and warehouse expansion> provided you havent already slipped this in earlier to compensate for high production of goods and materials.
d. the actual work in the carpenter's shop/lumber mill to produce these things.
e. ore mining for tool generation
f. and the final place you should assign workers is to generate raw materials for sale (dont bother wasting effort refining materials into finished products). The best tile for this is silver mining, it generates the most cash without refining.
g. and if you generate so much food that all those professions are filled with left over supply of food you can refine raw materials (cotton:cloth, sugar:rum, fur:coats, tobacco:cigars) for a profit. Never turn food into horses unless you are cut off from europe by a blockade and are getting attacked by lots of cannons, plain infantry supported with cannons can defend very effectively with 100% rebel %, fortress, Vaco Nunez de Balboa, and fortify bonus.
*note: promotion path for Infantry should be minuteman 1 and 2, mountaineer 1 and 2 if your city is on a hill, veteran 1 and 2, formation, charge, veteran 3 4 and 5, and if your infantry gets that many promotions then give him a great general to allow for minuiteman 3, mountaineer 3, and veteran 6.
9. Load up all guns and horses you can carry and make a trip to the nearest indian village to sell for fast cash.
If you have already done this step until the indians are broke> then after you unload your dragoons, cannons, and/or colonists load up any raw materials to sell in europe. Sell everything EXCEPT: 1. food, 2. lumber, 3. ore* if you arent currently assigning blacksmiths to generate tools and you have a full warehouse, 4. tools, 5. guns* when the indians are broke, and 6. horses* when the indians are broke.
10. rinse and repeat the flow of:
GOLD: turning into veteran troops, cannon, guns, horses, trade goods, and raw materials of which you,
SAVE: the disarmed veteran troops once they reach your colony and the cannons then,
SELL: the guns, horses, and trade goods to indians and,
SELL: the silver, cotton, fur, sugar, tobacco, cloth coats rum and cigars to europe.
This gives you even more GOLD to repeat the process.
Eventually the indians run out of gold and then you start rearming your veteran soldiers into dragoons that you post outside the city once your warehouse fills OR you run out of food to support them as colonists in the city.
If you have any gold left over when all your veteran troops have been armed then check to see if you are low on tools, if you are then turn the next colonist you bring from the docks into a pioneer to bring tools along or just use up the cargo space if you need lots of tools at the moment to finish the buildings you already put the production on.
*note: you can keep building things you dont have the tools to complete and then work on the next building, cannon, or ship until you can bring the tools to actually click finishing of the job.
11. When you have at least 2 cannon and 2 dragoons assembled and ready then its time to attack the nearest native village.
a. Keep one cannon for defense, it can destroy waves of natives by itself if you have a stockade or better.
b. Start your attack by moving onto either a (hill tile with none or light forest next to the native village) or a flatland or a light forest, but never with a river between you and the native village and never from in dense forest/jungle or the native's bonus to fighting in forests will eat you alive.
c. Always begin the attack with your stack of units at full health, especially before you get lots of promotions.
d. Always begin the attack with cannon then when all cannon have attacked use dragoons and then if you have soldiers along send them last (or fortify them for defense against counter attacks) I prefer to use only cannon and dragoons since the infantry bonuses are primarily for defending territory like cities or forested hills.
*note: Avoid combat with natives attacking from or to any heavily forested tiles.
Promotions:
Cannon should get in this order: Bomb 1 and 2, then Veteran 1 2 3 4 and 5, then canister shot 1 and 2.
Dragoons should get: Veteran 2, formation, charge, grenadier 1 and 2, skirmisher 1 and 2, veteran 3 4 and 5, and explorer 1.
*note: the first dragoon should get surgeon 1 and 2 first so he will be prepared to accept the first great general you receive, then he should get surgeon 3 and finally the normal promotions i just listed.
Privateers should get Navigation bonuses for movement speed to sneak attack weaker vessels, then Veteran promotions.
Frigates should get Veteran bonus's to maximize str in the chance the enemy uses frigates or ships of the line.
Scouts should get explore bonuses for movement and visual range then skirmish 1 and 2 to avoid combat and run away.
Infantry ^see above^
12. Always RAZE
a. When you destroy a native village you should send the converted native and treasure wagon back to your base city, unless the distance is too long through hostile territory. (typically enemy natives will be roaming the lands looking for easy targets)
b. Put the native to work on a food, lumber, ore, or silver tile in that priority *given you dont have an expert for the job.
c. Let the king ship the treasure back for 50% cost. You wont need, and its a waste of gold, to buy a galleon for this game.
d. If the distance is too far then just make a new city with the converted native on the spot you got him from then immediately sell the treasure and move your forces into the city to heal up for the next attack. *note dont bother defending this new city, if anything attacks it while you are nearby then counterattack while they are wounded and in deforested turrain.
*note: If you just defeated an european colony then raze it, dont bother trying to defend it, the goal is to destroy all the production they put into the infrastructure making the buildings walls and population of specialists. Razing destroys and kills them all severely weakening your foes.
13. After you have a great general you should be ready to attack and destroy european cities with little challange.
a. If you need to cross ocean tiles to reach your enemy then defend your caravel with a frigate.
b. Don't attack a native village when you are within striking distance of european troops.
c. Watch out for players that use stack attack: meaning they have the settings set so their grouped units will rapidly attack in succession, with this trick and animations off they can swarm your elite troops with green soldiers who will whittle you down instantly with no chance for you to use promotions between fights for healing. You also have no time to retreat once you start losing units.
d. Also watch out for players who will make amphibious attacks from sea with a merchantmen or galleon full of cannon. You will have no time to pull colonists off their jobs to pop out of city and defend. *note: pulling population out of your cities before you get attacked will raise the rebel % of your city to 100% and that will give your defenders an additional 50% str bonus for defense.
If anyone has any questions or comments or better yet competing strategies i would like to see them. Just reply here to this thread.
You will have three things that other countries do not:
a. 25% bonus to exp gained in battle
b. 25% bonus str when fighting natives
c. a veteran soldier on your first trip to the new world
2. Look at where you start. If the yellow zone depicting ocean route to europe is verticle then you are likely somewhere closer to the equator and should sail directly west to find the nearest landfall. If the zone to europe forms a corner then sail away from that corner, due northwest or southwest depending on how it looks. You should sight land within 2-3 turns, if you dont then angle north or south to find land that is closer to the zone to europe.
3. When you find land look for a tile that generates a base of (4-6 food with forest/jungle next to it), OR a hill that generates at least (2-3 food and 3 ore with a fish or crab tile next to it AND a forest/jungle next to it).
If you dont find that tile right away then sail INTO the nearest native village and without unloading your veteran soldier use him to speak with the cheif for a chance at exp or gold, then sail along the coast away from tundra/ice and towards the equator.
Or if you cannot tell what direction is the equator then sail towards fish tiles or rivers that you see on the edge of exploration hoping for a nearby hill.
4. Settle with both the soldier and the pioneer, placing them (both inside the town hall if you have 4-6 food from your center tile) OR (one in town hall and the other on a fish/crab resource) and setting production to trade points.
After a few turns move the colonist off the seafood tile and into the town hall with the other colonist to generate more liberty bells, until your food runs out then put one back on seafood.
5. Move your ship into your towns port to pick up all the guns and tools, then set sail for the nearest native village.
Sell all the guns first then all the tools then buy any fur/cotton/silver/sugar and then sail directly east to the nearest zone to europe tile, dont hit auto sail to europe if you had explored along the coast until you found the right spot to settle or your ship will angle back the way you came causing you to lose turns on the voyage.
6. As soon as your ship is on its way to europe then open diplomatic screen with your king and request military assistance.
You should be able to get 2 cannon for around 200 gold each and one veteran soldier for around 500.
Then open europe dock screen and hurry immigration on any veteran soldiers if any are available and if you have gold left over. (1. if no veteran soldiers are available for hurry immigration then 2. get scouts for the horses they come with *but use the first scout to actually set to autoexplore*, if no scouts then 3. get elder statesmen for the liberty bell generation, and if you have an ore tile especially on your center tile then 4. rush a blacksmith if none show up for free on the docks)
*when i say hurry immigration i mean one of the 3 random available units just above to the docks box, typically 70s or less gold to rush the first one on quick games*
And if you still have gold after that then double click on the veteran soldiers you bought from the king and/or hurry immigrated and turn them into dragoons.
7. Wait for your ship to arrive in europe and manage the colonists in your town to maximize liberty bell production by alterating food generation and town hall duties, unless you had 4 or more food on your center tile then just leave both in town hall.
When your ship arrives in europe sell all commodities you purchased from the natives and load up all the veteran soldiers that you turned into dragoons, or if you only have one veteran soldier on the docks then load 100 horses and set sail for your colony.
On the next trip turn any available immigrant into a dragoon and transport them next.
*note: before you turn any colonists into dragoons, soldiers or otherwise, first request additional military aid from the king if you have enough gold.
On subsequent trips load cannons if you have taken all the veteran dragoons and dont have gold to buy more horses/guns depending on what the natives are buying. (you can determine what natives are paying a premium for by visiting them with a land unit and speaking to the chief)
Don't bother shipping finished goods like cigars, rum, cloth, or coats to natives because the profit is marginal or non-existant. Just ship guns or horses, and if they dont request either then sell them guns anyway and horses secondary and trade goods teritiary.
Note: when you start a trade with natives check how much gold they have on the upper left before you offer to sell, dont accept sales where they are paying all their gold to you unless it is profitable. (you can tell if its profitable by multiplying the cost to SELL of the product by the amount you are selling to see if it matches or is less than the amount of gold the natives offer you, mouse over the commodities icon in trade window to see current price popups)
If the native village(s) you have been trading with are all of the same tribe and are out of gold then explore along the coast for another village of a different tribe to see if they have gold. But if it takes more than 4 turns to find another tribe you should double back to your colony and dump the guns and horses into the city, pulling out veteran troops from production jobs if your warehouse gets overfilled.
8. When ship arrives in colony unload all dragoons and turn them into colonists working in this priority:
a. Town hall for liberty bells if your food production can support it
b. Food tiles like fish, crabs, wheat, bananas, grasslands along rivers, or in the worst case a tile that generates at least 3 food to provide a surplus.
c. If your town hall gets filled, (and it will after a few round trips of gun running, soldier recruiting, horse trading, and commodities purchasing from natives) then put a colonist on a forest/jungle tile to prepare to:
produce in this order:
1a. Docks> if you have a fish/crab resource
2a. Stockade> to help defend your colonists from the soon to be hostile natives, (or sneak attacks from other players).
3a. Fort> further defense bonus
4a. Lumber mill> to prepare to build the fortress/newspaper/warehouse expansion
5a. Printing press> to increase liberty bells thereby generating founding fathers before the enemy can get to the ones you want.
5b. Founding father lineup:
1. Peter Minuit> decreases cost by 25% to gain military units via diplomatic requests to the king, and rush buying specialists, veteran soldiers, cannon, and ships at the docks.
2. Vaco Nunez de Balboa> increases defenses at all your cities by 25%.
3. Francisco de Coronado> +1 movement for dragoons making total of 3 movement, especially useful for great general dragoons who have a bonus of movement from the general (unless im mistaken).
4. John Paul Jones> gives you a free frigate, perfect for hunting down privateers during peacetime or bombarding/blockading enemy ports during wartime.
5. Paul Chomeday de Maisonneuve> free promotion of formation, gives 25% bonus str vs mounted units for gunpowder units (meaning for soldiers with guns but without horses).
6. Dom Pedro I> +50% Great General emergence and free promotion of Veteran I and Minuteman I for Gunpowder and Mounted Units, making them more effective in defending cities. But with the strategy in this guide the game will not last long enough for Dom Pedro to make an appearance unless you purposely delay attacking the enemy's core cities.
6a. Newspaper> to generate additional liberty bells.
7a. Armory> to start producing your own free* cannons, provided you have ore to manufacture tools from, and if you don't have ore then buy cheap tools from europe for about 2 gold per.
8a. Warehouse and warehouse expansion> provided you havent already slipped this in earlier to compensate for high production of goods and materials.
d. the actual work in the carpenter's shop/lumber mill to produce these things.
e. ore mining for tool generation
f. and the final place you should assign workers is to generate raw materials for sale (dont bother wasting effort refining materials into finished products). The best tile for this is silver mining, it generates the most cash without refining.
g. and if you generate so much food that all those professions are filled with left over supply of food you can refine raw materials (cotton:cloth, sugar:rum, fur:coats, tobacco:cigars) for a profit. Never turn food into horses unless you are cut off from europe by a blockade and are getting attacked by lots of cannons, plain infantry supported with cannons can defend very effectively with 100% rebel %, fortress, Vaco Nunez de Balboa, and fortify bonus.
*note: promotion path for Infantry should be minuteman 1 and 2, mountaineer 1 and 2 if your city is on a hill, veteran 1 and 2, formation, charge, veteran 3 4 and 5, and if your infantry gets that many promotions then give him a great general to allow for minuiteman 3, mountaineer 3, and veteran 6.
9. Load up all guns and horses you can carry and make a trip to the nearest indian village to sell for fast cash.
If you have already done this step until the indians are broke> then after you unload your dragoons, cannons, and/or colonists load up any raw materials to sell in europe. Sell everything EXCEPT: 1. food, 2. lumber, 3. ore* if you arent currently assigning blacksmiths to generate tools and you have a full warehouse, 4. tools, 5. guns* when the indians are broke, and 6. horses* when the indians are broke.
10. rinse and repeat the flow of:
GOLD: turning into veteran troops, cannon, guns, horses, trade goods, and raw materials of which you,
SAVE: the disarmed veteran troops once they reach your colony and the cannons then,
SELL: the guns, horses, and trade goods to indians and,
SELL: the silver, cotton, fur, sugar, tobacco, cloth coats rum and cigars to europe.
This gives you even more GOLD to repeat the process.
Eventually the indians run out of gold and then you start rearming your veteran soldiers into dragoons that you post outside the city once your warehouse fills OR you run out of food to support them as colonists in the city.
If you have any gold left over when all your veteran troops have been armed then check to see if you are low on tools, if you are then turn the next colonist you bring from the docks into a pioneer to bring tools along or just use up the cargo space if you need lots of tools at the moment to finish the buildings you already put the production on.
*note: you can keep building things you dont have the tools to complete and then work on the next building, cannon, or ship until you can bring the tools to actually click finishing of the job.
11. When you have at least 2 cannon and 2 dragoons assembled and ready then its time to attack the nearest native village.
a. Keep one cannon for defense, it can destroy waves of natives by itself if you have a stockade or better.
b. Start your attack by moving onto either a (hill tile with none or light forest next to the native village) or a flatland or a light forest, but never with a river between you and the native village and never from in dense forest/jungle or the native's bonus to fighting in forests will eat you alive.
c. Always begin the attack with your stack of units at full health, especially before you get lots of promotions.
d. Always begin the attack with cannon then when all cannon have attacked use dragoons and then if you have soldiers along send them last (or fortify them for defense against counter attacks) I prefer to use only cannon and dragoons since the infantry bonuses are primarily for defending territory like cities or forested hills.
*note: Avoid combat with natives attacking from or to any heavily forested tiles.
Promotions:
Cannon should get in this order: Bomb 1 and 2, then Veteran 1 2 3 4 and 5, then canister shot 1 and 2.
Dragoons should get: Veteran 2, formation, charge, grenadier 1 and 2, skirmisher 1 and 2, veteran 3 4 and 5, and explorer 1.
*note: the first dragoon should get surgeon 1 and 2 first so he will be prepared to accept the first great general you receive, then he should get surgeon 3 and finally the normal promotions i just listed.
Privateers should get Navigation bonuses for movement speed to sneak attack weaker vessels, then Veteran promotions.
Frigates should get Veteran bonus's to maximize str in the chance the enemy uses frigates or ships of the line.
Scouts should get explore bonuses for movement and visual range then skirmish 1 and 2 to avoid combat and run away.
Infantry ^see above^
12. Always RAZE
a. When you destroy a native village you should send the converted native and treasure wagon back to your base city, unless the distance is too long through hostile territory. (typically enemy natives will be roaming the lands looking for easy targets)
b. Put the native to work on a food, lumber, ore, or silver tile in that priority *given you dont have an expert for the job.
c. Let the king ship the treasure back for 50% cost. You wont need, and its a waste of gold, to buy a galleon for this game.
d. If the distance is too far then just make a new city with the converted native on the spot you got him from then immediately sell the treasure and move your forces into the city to heal up for the next attack. *note dont bother defending this new city, if anything attacks it while you are nearby then counterattack while they are wounded and in deforested turrain.
*note: If you just defeated an european colony then raze it, dont bother trying to defend it, the goal is to destroy all the production they put into the infrastructure making the buildings walls and population of specialists. Razing destroys and kills them all severely weakening your foes.
13. After you have a great general you should be ready to attack and destroy european cities with little challange.
a. If you need to cross ocean tiles to reach your enemy then defend your caravel with a frigate.
b. Don't attack a native village when you are within striking distance of european troops.
c. Watch out for players that use stack attack: meaning they have the settings set so their grouped units will rapidly attack in succession, with this trick and animations off they can swarm your elite troops with green soldiers who will whittle you down instantly with no chance for you to use promotions between fights for healing. You also have no time to retreat once you start losing units.
d. Also watch out for players who will make amphibious attacks from sea with a merchantmen or galleon full of cannon. You will have no time to pull colonists off their jobs to pop out of city and defend. *note: pulling population out of your cities before you get attacked will raise the rebel % of your city to 100% and that will give your defenders an additional 50% str bonus for defense.
If anyone has any questions or comments or better yet competing strategies i would like to see them. Just reply here to this thread.
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