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[ForeverGamer]

Thanks Vet.

something bothers me: buy muskets when they are cheap (early on)... at that stage, I dont have money yet.... By the time I am ready to buy guns, they are all 15 or higher a piece!

Do you suggest buy and sell guns for profit early on?

Does anyone have an info on the '!' over the indians? I know '!' means hot steaming mad but what about the others? What color is the lowest alarm level and the progression to Red? - This way, I know when to send a wagon to present gifts

I once finished this game without cheat (on easiest level) last 1995. Im trying out Viceroy level and am burdened by lots of things - namely my expasion is way too slow - its 1600+ and I only got 7 colonies with only 2 with fort (not even a fortress)!

PS. Micromanagement makes the game tiresome sometimes I just quit from the headache it presents!

[BeefontheBone]

The exclams start green, then get a bit yellow and then red, and the more of them are on there the more upset the indians are with you.

[Eagle of Fire]

The only real advantage I find there is in the game is for the traders (Netherland if I remember well?) who get a better ship at the begining. The second best is French native freedom which allow you to be a lot more agressive than the other nations when it comes to acting with the natives (especially in term of land).

I myself more often than not play French. Not only they are those who colonized the place I live at today but as long as you can get your first colony at 1 turn range from the ocean then you really have the best advantage of the game. Play with natives, trade with them and in the end they'll help you a long way to win your independance. Native colons can be really usefull too for quick expantion.

[Doc Adrian]

each side has a few advantages

English get more immigrants, which is good but you can recruit continental congress members to build up your "man power" you can also grow plenty of food and reproduce em on your own, early in the game though it can be really handy

French have better Native relations as you said, and that helps you throughout the game as long as you don't adopt the Spanish style of conquest

The Dutch get a Merchantship instead of a caravel and their prices stay stable longer, the latter being much more useful.

The Spanish get a bonus will attacking the natives, which is great if you just want to kill em and take their money (not recommended for higher scores)

The main advantage to taking the Dutch or Spanish is you also don't have to play against them, since both can be downright ruthless.

[Microprose Veteran]

Forevergamer:

At the start, what little money you make, buy muskets for it. I would advise against trading in muskets since they're way too valuable for that. Except selling them to the natives of course (sound investment).

A good way to get some extra cash without a lot of work, is to send a scout to make contact with the Native villages. Depending on their mood and level of advancement, they may give your scout some hard needed gold. If possible, send a dragoon to accompany your scout in case you find one of the cities of Chibola...

If you find a big stash of gold, you will see a gold wagon. To cash it in you must safely transport it back to Europe! This means getting a galleon or Hernan Cortez. If you don't want to invest in the galleon, you can also just build a colony with your scout, send in the wagon and you will get the message that the king's fleet will transport it for you for a price... If you have Cortez the transport is free.

After the gold has been transported, simply abandon your colony by turning the colonist into a scout again.

[Camulos]

Just to clarify:

The "!" marks over the indians do NOT change colour according to how annoyed they are... the colour represents WHICH country they are annoyed at, blue for French, red for English etc.

They can be annoyed at more than one nation at a time, and so all you can see is the one that they most dislike.

Obviously the more "!!!" the more angry they are.

I recommend everyone to get some scouts going as soon as possible, the indians will soon train them up to seasoned, and if you find the incas and astecs you can make a fortune sending your scouts to collect their beads.

Also, starting as the English for a higher difficulty setting is pointless, as all you will receive at the docks is criminals and servants.

[Doc Adrian]

Its true...I got more Petty Criminals than I almost know what to do with, fortunatly I can arm em and use them to steal Other Colonists and hope they get promoted.

or defending against the indians which are alot more pissed at me since I am playing viceroy LOL.

How many colonies do you have?

It is a lot of work to manage the colonies, at least for me.

At the moment my New England counts 5 colonies,
one with cotton, one with tabaco, one with sugar, one with iron, and one quite pointless the spains ... erm ... left :angel:

And there ist still this huge mass of land. It takes me a lot of years to bring all the treasures my scouts find to a galleon. I can't imagine to colonize a tenth of the land.

Ant then there is this thing with the independence...

[Doc Adrian]

I have 9 colonies loaded to the max built usually 1 for each cash crop, 1 capital, ` silver mining..and the other is near some key tribal villages.

once I get the max built and enough troops I declare independance but thats usually my target goal

[Grand Dad]

I too am playing after more than 10? years...it's a great game like all MicroProse game of old. I remember playing as a Viceroy (it's pity that there's no option in this and Pirates [aslo Pirates Gold] to view the Hall of Fame) but now I'm finding it difficult to play as a Conquistador, but hreat to be back.

However I disagree with some on this forum that it's the best of the Civ. series. I firmly believe that no strategy game compares with Civilization I. It gave rise to Microsoft's AOE, AOM, Sierra's Empire Earth etc. and later to Sid Meier's Civ. II and III with PTW and Conquerors but not one them is as good as Civ. I.

I don't think there's any other way except to start a revolution. When you click on Declare Independence you meet the King and the war starts. Everone's so money hungry

You can go and destroy the Indians and get loads of gold, but you also lose points...fortunately the Dutch and the Indian's pay me some tribute. The French are being nasty since they have been granted independence...didn't see them going at war with the home country? Unfair isn't it