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unmerged(2708)

unmerged(2708)

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Apr 5, 2001
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I have a few simple questions that do not appear to be covered adequately within the manual. If I go to start the Grand Campaign and select Turkey, I see a city icon with the number 35 next to it. Then what appears to be a town icon with 0 and a colony with 0 then 500 ducats. What does the number 35 signify? I definitely do not have 35 cities. For that matter, what do the colony and town icons signify? After starting the campaign and clicking on the 'Political Map Mode' button I can count 35 provinces containing my shield symbol within and outside of my country. The documentation reads: 'Core provinces are marked on the political map with small shields.' I don't presently have any control over the provinces outside my country. Are these provinces considered my 'Core provinces' because historically Turkey had some right to this land?

Second question if you're still reading :)

Page 14 of the U.S. manual states 'It is also easier to maintain a colony in a province where you already have a trading post, as compared with a neutral and empty province.' From my understanding of the situation, you can't have both a trading post and a colony in the same province. So should it read 'It is also easier to establish a colony in a province where you already have a trading post, as compared with a neutral and empty province.'?

Another:

The Learning Scenario section of the manual states 'Normally you need a Conquistador, or land military technology level of 11 in order to discover provinces.' (Terra incognita I presume). I started a Fantasia campaign and was able to discover provinces (sea and land) with just the beginning tech levels without Conquistadors or Explorers. Also, the manual doesn't explain exactly how to obtain Conquistadors or Explorers.

Finally:

While playing the Fantasia campaign to decided to play it like Civ (expand expand and expand). So I send as many settlers out as I could until I had 5 towns up and running. After about 30 years, to my dismay I was still only making about 50 ducats yearly and had run out of cash (hardly enough to send a settler once a year). Is this a bad strategy? Should I just try to create as many colonies and trading posts as possible and then let the colonies grow by themselves? Also, what's the use of making a 6th level trading post if you will eventually be converting it to a colony anyway? Thanks for those who read all of this. I love the game so far..but am just finding it hard to get into without knowing the answers.
 
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I'll do my best :D

1. yes, that 35 is the number of cities you have or that constitute your core provinces, the next number is the number of colonies and the last one is the number of trading posts.

2. If these 'core provinces' are outside your boundaries, that's actually quite helpful (especially has Turkey). These shield are also referred to has CB shields because they offer a casus belli to you against whomever owns the province that has your shield. This means you can declare war at a reduce cost in stability because you have a valid CB.

3. I think the manualshould have said it's easier to establish... Indeed, if you have a TP it's easier to send a colonist to expand the TP to a colony.

4. this is true EXCEPT for the Fantasia scenario :D

5. That's a hard question to answer because there's a lot of parametres (which is why this game kicks @$$ ). First, your revenue does increase with the number of people. So indeed, until you develop your colonies to cities (+700 people), they won't give you a lot of money. TP contribute monetarily to the Centre of Trade they belong too. If you control that CoT, then you may reap the monthly revenues (or part thereof). Another way to get more income is to select provinces to colonize that have valuable units to produce (don't choose the provinces with grain and fish, choose the ones with gold, fur, tobacco, spices, anyway, you get the idea)

Have fun!
 
1+2. It also means you don't get the nationalism revolt penalty - 3% falling over 30 years.

3. Its also easier to establish new colonies next to existing colonies and (according to elsewhere on the board)some countries get historical bonuses ie England will find it easier to colonise N America than Turkey will.

4. Conquistadors or Explorers appear at preset times and occasionally randomly. Colonial powers tend to get more of them.
 
1+2) The 'core' provinces in this case are those that Turkey historically conquered and so were put in in order to encourage their expansion in historical directions. Turkey didn't really have a 'claim' to most of these provinces, but in the game a country has a casus belli against any other country that controls one of their 'core' provinces, so the AI Turkey will tend to expand into Hungary, the Mamelukes, etc. Unfortunately, this means that Turkey also won't suffer from the 'nationalism' revolt risk when taking these particular provinces, even though in this case they should.
 
Thanks so much for the information

This is all making sense now. Has anyone here just jumped right into the Grand Campaign or do you find it helpful to start with the Fantasia campaign to get a better understanding of things from the beginning?
 
I've never played the Fantasia scenario. Seems to me to miss the essential point of the game, but that's my taste.

I started by playing a GC as Portugal. Focus on exploring, setting up trading posts and colonies and handling merchants. You won't have to deal with wars or major diplomatic issues, at least for the first few decades. By then, you will have those parts of the game down and can finish the campaign or switch to another one.

Russia is another good first choice. The focus there is on expansion pure and simple. Again, things don't get too difficult until after several decades.
 
Re: Thanks so much for the information

Originally posted by The Wumpus
This is all making sense now. Has anyone here just jumped right into the Grand Campaign or do you find it helpful to start with the Fantasia campaign to get a better understanding of things from the beginning?
Click to expand...

The Fantasia scenario actually may give you bad habits rather than helping. It has special rules, you don't have to deal with wars at home, etc. It's not as bad as the near-useless tutorial, but you're probably better off playing the GC or one of the smaller scenarios to learn the game, unless you intend to primarily play Fantasia (or other third-party fantasy scenarios).

As far as the trading post issue: If you intend to keep the province as a trading post for a long time (to make money), raise it up to 6. If you eventually intend to make a city out of it, just go to level 1 and then start working on colonies. Also, remember that if you go to war with someone, they can burn a trading post just by entering the province, so there are obvious defense issues here as well: You may want to improve safer, more easily-defended trading posts first.

Another strategic point: You need to find a good balance between creating a bunch of level 1 colonies (to claim the territory) and building up a few cities quickly (to make money, and to help your expansion).
 
If you want to jump into a Grand Campaign game, go with Russia as your first choice. You will probably see this advice alot on here. With Russia, you can learn the game pretty much in steps. You do not have a port at the start, so no ships to worry about at first. You have a nice size army to work with and troops are cheap. You have alot of countries surrounding you that you have permanent Cassus Belli against. After yo take out some of the eastern countries, you will start to explore. So all things are gradually introduced to you. Also, it is alot harder for countries to take you out. You have the winter to help defend you, and everyone will come from one direction, rather than a country like Austria, where you are surrounded by other countries. I was able to pick up the game very easily playing as Russia. BTW, once you play the GC, you probably won't ever go back to the Fantasia scenario. The GC is too much fun.

Suvurov
 
Originally posted by Suvurov
If you want to jump into a Grand Campaign game, go with Russia as your first choice.
Click to expand...

One thing to remember as Russia: You can be a colonial power (expanding east through the Siberian corridor to China), but only if you first take a port, especially one that's one of your national provinces (you see a shield on the map, and you have a Casus Belli on the owner). This is also nicely historical--grabbing Ingermannland and Azov was pretty important to Russia.

This is obvious if you already know it, but I was very frustrated in my first game by the fact that I wasn't getting any colonists....
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAIR I got one colonist right from the start, due to religion (Orthodox). What the ports are needed for is colonial dynamism, which I was quite surprised about when I first noticed russia had it.
In 1550 I wanted to take a lot of Pol-Lit until 1600, but now it's 1597 and I haven't taken any province yet - was too busy colonizing siberia ;-)
Unfortunately (but I expected nothing else) Spain is about 300VP ahead by now and I will attack Pol-Lit next time I play.
But - getting back to the point - I think you really get one colonist right from the start.
This is not true for other powers - however. I was really frustrated when I played England first time, and got no settlers. I played until 15something, must've been just before protestantism gets available - then I dropped the game because of being a colonial power unable to colonize.
It was my first game and I didn't know about the happenings ... now - after a few more games I should fare better with England. I read somewhere around here that England gets Colonial Dynamism as well, can anyone tell me when and how (circumstances)?
 
Posted by Cadorna:
It was my first game and I didn't know about the happenings ... now - after a few more games I should fare better with England. I read somewhere around here that England gets Colonial Dynamism as well, can anyone tell me when and how (circumstances)?


I am playing England now (also my first game after tutorial) but am only up to 1538. Have converted to Protestantism which gives me one settler per year. I assume that I will get Colonial Dynamism around the historically more accurate time, which I think for England was in the 1600's. I have already been somewhat ahistorical in establishing a city in Quebec. :)
 
Playing the standard campaign (1.08) as Russia i didn't get any settlers until i captured a port. Now i get 1 a year for my religion - Orthodox but none until i took Ingermand (sp).
I played the tutorial and found it pretty useless as i couldn't save my game. I then just jumped into the GC as Russia. Seems a good country to start with as others said it has lots of options but is geographically remote enough for you not to get into too much trouble.
 
Russia needs a port to get colonists and expand

Originally posted by Cadorna
Correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAIR I got one colonist right from the start, due to religion (Orthodox).
Click to expand...

Okay, I'll correct you. :) With Russia, at least early on, no port -- no colonists. Ingermanland is the logical and best target, but it takes some effort to acquire it efficiently. See 'Musings from Moscow' thread for more.

DC
 
Originally posted by Standup

I played the tutorial and found it pretty useless as i couldn't save my game. I then just jumped into the GC as Russia. Seems a good country to start with as others said it has lots of options but is geographically remote enough for you not to get into too much trouble.
Click to expand...

Actually, in patch 1.08 the ability to save games was added to the tutorial which, IMHO, makes it a good starting place for new players. However, for all the reasons stated above, I agree that the Fantasia scenario is more misleading than helpful. I started playing as England in the GC and was frustrated by unrealistic outcomes for naval battles. I moved to Russia and found the learning curve just right (with a little help from this forum!)

DC
 
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