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[Eagle of Fire]

That's not random, it's an intended feature. It's the colonial army bonus, you get an attack bonus equal to the defense bonus the King army usualy get if you attack from another square which is not barren or town. Meaning, you need to attack from a vegetation or hill square.

Pretty much like what the natives did IRL. They always had the advantage of the terrain.

[Mighty Midget]

No, the whole point is that the two tiles are exactly the same say, for instance both are prairies.

[Eagle of Fire]

Originally Posted by Colonization manual page 88

THE ROYAL EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
The Crown’s military forces include a royal expeditionary force (REF), trained for operations into foreign lands. Almost certainly this is the force that is brought to bear if an uprising develops in the New World. This force includes infantry regulars, cavalry troopers, artillery units, and warships.

The units of the expeditionary force are highly-trained and well equipped soldiers of the King’s regular army and, under ordinary circumstances, are more effective than almost any troops your colonies can produce (see the Combat Strengths Chart).

REF Bombardment Bonus: In addition to their increased combat strength, the King’s troops are backed by superior artillery and naval bombardment support when attacking colonies. This results in an automatic 50% bonus when the King’s troops attack colonies.

The only weakness these troops possess is their lack of familiarity with the New World terrain. Thus, colonial forces receive the ambush bonus when battling the King’s forces in the countryside (see Attacking and Defending).

Your Continental Congress report (see reports menu) gives you up-to-date information concerning the current size of the Royal Expeditionary Force.

Originally Posted by Colonization manual page 31

Colonial Forces Ambush Bonus: Like the natives, colonial units receive the ambush bonus when battling the King’s regular army troops during the War of Independence. This bonus applies only if the battle occurs outside a colony, in appropriate terrain. This reflects the King’s troops’ lack of familiarity with the terrain.

Colonization is the first game I ever purchased and owned myself. I played that game to no end in my youth, I know pretty much everything there is a need to know about that game.

In resume: keep your cannons to defend towns, take your continental dragoons out of town to kill the King army. In the best scenario, the King army should debark away from your colonies and they'll never attack them.

[Driderman]

Looks like I get to tell something about this game that hasn't been mentioned yet. Yay!
Although, it is an answer to a question posted a month ago or so...

Anyway: There IS diplomacy in this game. It's just well-hidden. To initiate diplomatic talks with other Europeans you need to have a scout unit enter one of their colonies.
Don't bother though, I've played this game regularily since it was made and I've hardly ever used it as the options are very limited

Edit: Oh yeah, one other thing. I once played a game on the America map where I was closely 'allied' with the Arawak indians and at some point during the game they actually went from 'Agrarian' to 'Advanced' and their village icons changed to the city ones used by the Inca! At the time I suspected it had something to do with gaining Adam Smith as a founding father, but I have been unable to reproduce the effect in other games.

[Eagle of Fire]

It probably have to do with the fact you traded a lot of goods with them in that game. When you do that, natives of that tribe tend to become very friendly and even assist you in combat. If you have master missionary, they tend to send you a lot of native slaves too. They're great at anything farming related.

I almost always played French, it happened often to me. I never seen a nation get up to advanced like you are describing though.

[Driderman]

I never really trade with the indians, except for horses and muskets if I need them to fight someone. My goods are usually sold through custom houses, so I doubt that was the case.

I know they'll send a lot of converts (not slaves), I tend to use missionaries a lot since it's cheap labour. Good way to get rid of Indentured Servants and Petty Criminals too, making them missionaries.

I suppose it might be a bug, but it just doesn't seem like it.
If I remember correctly, I had a road connecting their capital with one of my cities and it (possibly) happened around the time I built an Iron Works, possibly in that city.
That may have something to do with it I suppose.
In any case, I'm trying to see if I can make it happen again in the game I'm playing now. Got Adam Smith, got the road connecting, haven't built an Iron Works yet but a Textile Mill. Nothing has happened yet though...

[Eagle of Fire]

I usually never use untained missionaries. Their work is often sloppy at best. What I do with petty criminals and identured servants is make them scouts or soldier. Scouts can be promoted at a treasure coin event (and some native village too I think), and soldiers eventually raise up to veterans once they have enough experience.

Identured servants can be trained at a native village, in the same way plain colons can.

It's the easiest way of getting rid of them I've found while playing. Otherwise, untrained missionaries often make the natives angrier over time, and training petty criminals and indentured servants at universities (or school house) take forever...

[Incappucciato d'Ombra]

Originally Posted by Eagle of Fire

promoted at a treasure coin event (and some native village too I think)

A promotion to Seasoned Scout can occur each time you visit an Indian Village for the first time, generally only 1 time for each indian nation but if you are lucky enough, especially in random map, even more than 1 time.
This depend on the specific "way of life" of each Indian Nation. To give an idea :
Iroquois, Apache & Sioux : very high possibility to obtain promotion
Cherooke & Tupi : from medium to high possibility to obtain promotion
Arawaks : not sure, but i think medium
Incas & Atzec : i think ZERO or near zero, never happen to me even in random map where sometimes each of this nations can have 20 and more village :eek:

In addition, each village has its own specialization, so may happen that 1 or more village has "seasoned scout" as specialization and possibility that a village gain this specific specialization depend on the "way of life" of the tribe and obviously on the number of villages.


About this :

they actually went from 'Agrarian' to 'Advanced' and their village icons changed to the city ones used by the Inca! At the time I suspected it had something to do with gaining Adam Smith as a founding father,

EoF is right, level of trade is the key But not only trade between your nation and indian nation, even other european nation that trade with the indian nation, support them with musket and horses, AND horses/muskets stolen by the indian will count.
As for Adam Smith... not sure of this but i think that each Economic Founding Father and general prosperity of your nation (or european nation nearest the indian nation) will count, but the role played is minimal (near to 0).

[Driderman]

So this has happened to you as well?

[Eagle of Fire]

Damn... With all this talk I now want to play this game again. Where's my copy?