Hi everyone,
this is a short guide describing different strategies for New World colonization, and which is the most important colonial region depending on your chosen strategy.
Strategy 1: Just an ordinary trading empire
(focus on steering trade from the New World to Western Europe)
This is probably the most used and definitely the most referenced strategy in the forums. Often times, if there is a thread where a newer player is asking for colonization tips, people say "focus on the Caribbean first". While that tip isn't generally true and there are in fact other options, the Caribbean is indeed the best colonial region if you want to set up one of those typical trading empires.
Let's look at the advantages of the Caribbean colonial region:
- lots of quite highly developed provinces with strong trading goods
- can be colonized quite early
- the Caribbean trade node directly feeds into Seville and Bordeaux, also indirectly into the English Channel
-> as a classic trading empire that tries to steer New World trade into a Western European node, the Caribbean is absolutely crucial. You could play as, say, England and focus on North America while completely ignoring the Caribbean, but that is not as lucrative. As Portugal, Castile or anyone else controlling the Seville node, you do not even have that (worse) option.
Now let's look at the disadvantages:
- there are no natives to conquer in the Caribbean, everything must be colonized which takes time and money
- many islands mean that you may need to transport troops around all the time if you play with Native Repression policy, also the region is very open to colonization by anyone else
- there are no gold mines here
This strategy is especially recommended if:
- You are starting in the English Channel, Bordeaux or Seville trade node or you are planning to conquer one of these trade nodes relatively quickly or have already conquered them.
- You are ready/in a position to start colonizing early and you are ready to invest a lot of resources into it (aka classic colonial power)
- You want to continue colonizing other regions (especially Mexico) once you are done with the Caribbean in order to maximize your trade income.
Strategy 2: Just give me those tariffs
(focus on maximizing tariffs from a certain colonial nation)
This strategy is based on ignoring the possibilities of steering trade and instead setting up one big colonial nation, developing their provinces and increasing the tariff rate as much as possible (setting up several colonial nations like this is also possible but not really required).
If you want to follow this strategy, then Mexico will be the colonial region of your choice.
Let's look at the advantages of the Mexico colonial region:
- lots of very valuable trading goods
- gold.
- can be conquered from natives
- you can easily take the whole region for yourself (at least the really valuable parts, the AI may set up their own colonial nation in the north of Mexico but it shouldn't matter)
- as an Asian nation, you can steer Mexican trade back home (however this guide doesn't really focus on steering trade back to Asia)
Now let's take a look at the disadvantages:
- it is not as close to the Old World as the Caribbean, however once you got a single colonized province in the Caribbean you can easily reach it
- you need to ship your troops over to conquer the region
- you need the Caribbean in order to steer trade to Europe, but with this strategy you don't care.
- This strategy is especially recommended if:
- You are starting or conquering into a high value Old World trade node that cannot directly get trade from the New World, but is still considered downstream (Examples: Genoa, Lübeck).
- You do not plan to conquer the "missing links" (Seville or the English Channel) anytime soon or at least you do not want to dedicate your whole strategy to doing this
- You are a colonial late comer, as the Mexico region is often still available to conquer later on and you do not care whether the AI has already colonized other regions or not
Strategy 3: Everything is golden
(focus on the region with the biggest gold income, disable treasure fleets)
This strategy is similar to strategy number 2, however you simply focus on Gold. The colonial region with the best gold mines is Peru. It has 6 provinces with gold mines at the start of the game in comparison to Mexico's 5 (if I'm not mistaken), but it also profits from the +3 goods produced modifier in Potosi.
+3 goods produced is a flat modifier and it is the same bonus you would get for 15 production development. So for example, if you own Potosi and it has a base production of 4 - it actually produces as much gold as a province with 19 base production.
Now, in order to use this strategy you need to understand treasure fleet mechanics. All income from gold mines that your colonial nations gain will not be part of your tariff income, but instead they will regularly send you a certain sum of money (+inflation) with treasure fleets.
The treasure fleets magically arrive at their destination no matter where your home trade node is located. If there are any pirates operating in any trade node that your treasure fleet has to pass, then they will steal a part of your money. However, if your home trade node happens to be "not downstream" from the starting node, then your colonial nation will actually "keep" its gold income - which means it is treated just like all its other income - so you can obtain the money via tariffs and you will not get any inflation.
That said,
Let's look at the advantages of the Peru colonial region:
- all the gold.
- can be conquered from natives.
- you can get there before the AI does and take the whole region for yourself
- Peruvian trade can only be steered into Europe, not into Asia, which makes it much easier to pick a home node that is not considered downstream and will disable treasure fleets. Note: Mexican trade can be steered into both Europe and Asia, which is why the Mexican colonial region is inferior for this strategy.
Now let's take a look at the disadvantages:
- it is bordering the Pacific so difficult to reach, you will have to jump there via Panama or the southern tip of South America
- it is not really good in terms of trade, but you don't care if you want to use this strategy
- you need to ship your troops over to conquer the region (naval attrition galore!)
- unlike Mexico, it is entirely possible that there is a consolidated regional power once you get there, everything is mountains and very narrow, so fighting in this region really isn't fun
- This strategy is especially recommended if:
- You are starting or conquering into a trade node that is not considered downstream from Lima: Anything that is not the English Channel, Lübeck, North Sea, Bordeaux, Champagne, Seville or Genoa (or several of the American trade nodes but why would you have your trade capital there)
- You do not really plan to gain a strong position in any of the nodes mentioned above or if you do, you are ready to sacrifice your position (aka not move the trade capital there) in order to keep treasure fleets disabled
- You are not playing in Europe (which makes it more unlikely for you to conquer any of the downstream nodes in the near future anyway)
- You are a colonial late comer, as the Peru region is often still available to conquer later on and you do not care whether the AI has already colonized other regions or not. But note that Peru is more difficult to reach than Mexico and the whole strategy is more specialized so it should be planned from the very start of the game, at least if you are playing as a European country.
this is a short guide describing different strategies for New World colonization, and which is the most important colonial region depending on your chosen strategy.
Strategy 1: Just an ordinary trading empire
(focus on steering trade from the New World to Western Europe)
This is probably the most used and definitely the most referenced strategy in the forums. Often times, if there is a thread where a newer player is asking for colonization tips, people say "focus on the Caribbean first". While that tip isn't generally true and there are in fact other options, the Caribbean is indeed the best colonial region if you want to set up one of those typical trading empires.
Let's look at the advantages of the Caribbean colonial region:
- lots of quite highly developed provinces with strong trading goods
- can be colonized quite early
- the Caribbean trade node directly feeds into Seville and Bordeaux, also indirectly into the English Channel
-> as a classic trading empire that tries to steer New World trade into a Western European node, the Caribbean is absolutely crucial. You could play as, say, England and focus on North America while completely ignoring the Caribbean, but that is not as lucrative. As Portugal, Castile or anyone else controlling the Seville node, you do not even have that (worse) option.
Now let's look at the disadvantages:
- there are no natives to conquer in the Caribbean, everything must be colonized which takes time and money
- many islands mean that you may need to transport troops around all the time if you play with Native Repression policy, also the region is very open to colonization by anyone else
- there are no gold mines here
This strategy is especially recommended if:
- You are starting in the English Channel, Bordeaux or Seville trade node or you are planning to conquer one of these trade nodes relatively quickly or have already conquered them.
- You are ready/in a position to start colonizing early and you are ready to invest a lot of resources into it (aka classic colonial power)
- You want to continue colonizing other regions (especially Mexico) once you are done with the Caribbean in order to maximize your trade income.
Strategy 2: Just give me those tariffs
(focus on maximizing tariffs from a certain colonial nation)
This strategy is based on ignoring the possibilities of steering trade and instead setting up one big colonial nation, developing their provinces and increasing the tariff rate as much as possible (setting up several colonial nations like this is also possible but not really required).
If you want to follow this strategy, then Mexico will be the colonial region of your choice.
Let's look at the advantages of the Mexico colonial region:
- lots of very valuable trading goods
- gold.
- can be conquered from natives
- you can easily take the whole region for yourself (at least the really valuable parts, the AI may set up their own colonial nation in the north of Mexico but it shouldn't matter)
- as an Asian nation, you can steer Mexican trade back home (however this guide doesn't really focus on steering trade back to Asia)
Now let's take a look at the disadvantages:
- it is not as close to the Old World as the Caribbean, however once you got a single colonized province in the Caribbean you can easily reach it
- you need to ship your troops over to conquer the region
- you need the Caribbean in order to steer trade to Europe, but with this strategy you don't care.
- This strategy is especially recommended if:
- You are starting or conquering into a high value Old World trade node that cannot directly get trade from the New World, but is still considered downstream (Examples: Genoa, Lübeck).
- You do not plan to conquer the "missing links" (Seville or the English Channel) anytime soon or at least you do not want to dedicate your whole strategy to doing this
- You are a colonial late comer, as the Mexico region is often still available to conquer later on and you do not care whether the AI has already colonized other regions or not
Strategy 3: Everything is golden
(focus on the region with the biggest gold income, disable treasure fleets)
This strategy is similar to strategy number 2, however you simply focus on Gold. The colonial region with the best gold mines is Peru. It has 6 provinces with gold mines at the start of the game in comparison to Mexico's 5 (if I'm not mistaken), but it also profits from the +3 goods produced modifier in Potosi.
+3 goods produced is a flat modifier and it is the same bonus you would get for 15 production development. So for example, if you own Potosi and it has a base production of 4 - it actually produces as much gold as a province with 19 base production.
Now, in order to use this strategy you need to understand treasure fleet mechanics. All income from gold mines that your colonial nations gain will not be part of your tariff income, but instead they will regularly send you a certain sum of money (+inflation) with treasure fleets.
The treasure fleets magically arrive at their destination no matter where your home trade node is located. If there are any pirates operating in any trade node that your treasure fleet has to pass, then they will steal a part of your money. However, if your home trade node happens to be "not downstream" from the starting node, then your colonial nation will actually "keep" its gold income - which means it is treated just like all its other income - so you can obtain the money via tariffs and you will not get any inflation.
That said,
Let's look at the advantages of the Peru colonial region:
- all the gold.
- can be conquered from natives.
- you can get there before the AI does and take the whole region for yourself
- Peruvian trade can only be steered into Europe, not into Asia, which makes it much easier to pick a home node that is not considered downstream and will disable treasure fleets. Note: Mexican trade can be steered into both Europe and Asia, which is why the Mexican colonial region is inferior for this strategy.
Now let's take a look at the disadvantages:
- it is bordering the Pacific so difficult to reach, you will have to jump there via Panama or the southern tip of South America
- it is not really good in terms of trade, but you don't care if you want to use this strategy
- you need to ship your troops over to conquer the region (naval attrition galore!)
- unlike Mexico, it is entirely possible that there is a consolidated regional power once you get there, everything is mountains and very narrow, so fighting in this region really isn't fun
- This strategy is especially recommended if:
- You are starting or conquering into a trade node that is not considered downstream from Lima: Anything that is not the English Channel, Lübeck, North Sea, Bordeaux, Champagne, Seville or Genoa (or several of the American trade nodes but why would you have your trade capital there)
- You do not really plan to gain a strong position in any of the nodes mentioned above or if you do, you are ready to sacrifice your position (aka not move the trade capital there) in order to keep treasure fleets disabled
- You are not playing in Europe (which makes it more unlikely for you to conquer any of the downstream nodes in the near future anyway)
- You are a colonial late comer, as the Peru region is often still available to conquer later on and you do not care whether the AI has already colonized other regions or not. But note that Peru is more difficult to reach than Mexico and the whole strategy is more specialized so it should be planned from the very start of the game, at least if you are playing as a European country.
