Favorite European powers to play in Colonization

Playa del Carmen · May 22, 2002, 13:09

(Of course, pick as many as apply).

I like playing the Dutch and the Spanish.

One of the reasons I like the Dutch because the Merchantman they get at the beginning is a real bonus. I don't have to save up and buy one later.

I like the Spanish because often my relations with the Indians break down, so I have to get rid of them. The bonus they have (IIRC, they have a bonus when attacking indian villages) helps me a bit.

Though I usually play the Dutch.

What about you?

Rex Little · May 22, 2002, 13:30

Playing the French accords with my peaceful nature (in any Civ-type game, I virtually never attack until I'm attacked first). I must admit that it doesn't seem to really help in Colonization, as the natives start raiding sooner or later anyway.

The Spanish are probably the easiest to play, because you can start clearing out those pesky natives right away. The money you get from wiping out villages probably is as much as the Dutch get from their commerce advantage.

In practice, I play all four nations alternately. I play so sporadically that it takes years to cycle through all of them.

Andemagne · May 22, 2002, 16:10

I usually play the dutch, because you can make lots of
money with that trade bonus.

haven't played the spanish that much...

Ecthy · May 22, 2002, 16:41

Willem van Oranje bin ick van tujtschem bloet

MrWhereItsAt · May 23, 2002, 02:45

Spanish (

) or English, which appeals to me getting every colony filled with experts ASAP, due to the extra emigration. Is there any real advantage to the Dutch besides the (admittedly cool) Merchantman? I don't see the trade stability thing as affecting things when I played them. And France - how do you play at all without offending the natives? Their bonus is useless IMO.

aaglo · May 23, 2002, 02:52

I like to play with Dutch (the merchantman is a BONUS, but I've never really seen the effect of 'stronger economy with higher paying prices' or similar).

And I also like to play with english for quicker colonisation... but that can be a drag when the pier gets filled with petty criminals... usually I buy muskets & horsies for them, and fight until they are upgraded to servants -> send them to indian villages....

Dr. Stiby · May 23, 2002, 08:42

It's been a while since I played the game and I actually forgot the bonuses. But I always played as the Dutch of course!
Aruba as a colony!

gopher · May 23, 2002, 13:34

Da Brits. You always seem to get better (and more!) colonists with them. It always fills my heart with joy when the dock contains a Statesman, Hardy Pioneer, and Distiller on the docks ready to go.

tishco · May 23, 2002, 15:00

i'm half english and quarter dutch and quarter scottish/banana, so i voted 4 those 3

moomin · May 23, 2002, 16:21

Spanish. But then we used to play first-to-exterminate-all-natives games back then. I never won, because I'm not an aggressive player, really.

Andemagne · May 23, 2002, 20:37

the REAL Dutch bonus is that trade thingy.
prices in europe don't collapse as fast as
they do for others, and prices recover faster
too => you get more money for you "cargo
from the new world"

(=> you can buy those firebrand preachers
and get those extra imigrants you get with
english + much more)

MrWhereItsAt · May 24, 2002, 05:28

Really? I have never seen any noticeable effect of the price stability feature. Maybe there's one more amount of cargo that is required to start prices on the downward spiral, but that is it. Once prices start going down, the basemen's the limit.

Jethro83 · May 24, 2002, 06:02

Definitely the Spaniards, or the English.

Wiping out the Aztecs and Incas is the fastest way to make huge amounts of money (provided that Cortéz is in your congress though). The Spanish attack bonus helps in this goal.

And the English are swarming with specialists ready for immigration to the new world.

Skanky Burns · May 24, 2002, 06:35

The Dutch prices don't collapse as easily. As the Dutch, I sold 200 units of silver and the price only dropped by 1. Doing the same as English, it went down more.

That or English = more ppls

Juggler · May 24, 2002, 08:14

I usually play English (colonists) and Spanish. never liked those Frenchies and Dutch

Jethro83 · May 24, 2002, 09:27

Dutch are still OK, as in their Merchantman at the beginning, and their more favourable exchange rates, but I still find my commodities reduced to 1 gold per unit.

And as for the French, their bonus is made a bit redundant as relations with natives really do deteriorate. Perhaps the best hope is to occupy lands near one of the larger tribes that have many more camps/villages (eg. Iroquois, Sioux, Tupi) and wipe out a sufficient chunk of land, and take their capital after that. Since they'll surrender, and leave you with all that land a good distance from their nearest remaining camps, relations probably won't deteriorate since for some reason they are returned to favourable when you burn their capital.

I stand by my favourites being Spanish and English.