Experts, Indians and Independence

Another way to earn the services of Experts is to utilize the local Indian tribes. While war mongers may ruin this option for themselves and others by conquering the Indians in the hopes of getting large bundles of treasure, the more peaceful types may open up relations with the chiefs and learn of their expertise in each local tribal camp. The natives tend to be more focused on harvesting natural resources, which limits some of the options when it comes to being trained, but each unit trained by Indians is converted for free, whereas purchasing the very same expert from the homeland could be extremely expensive. Ultimately, the Indians are the masters of the land, so a player should not expect to be able to train an Expert Gunsmith through Indian camps. Expert Fur Trappers and Cotton Planters are among some of the more valuable types available, though.

The final option for players to earn Experts is through education, where players can build Schoolhouses and Colleges to train their lower-level colonists for nearly any expert profession, including criminals and indentured servants. The downside is that while the colonists are in the process of being educated, they are dead weight for the colony and do not provide any benefit in production or harvesting of resources. Instead, they use up food while hitting the books. However, when they graduate, they may take on the role of any other expert housed in the very same colony. A colony with Expert lumberjacks, fisherman and fur traders may spawn an unlimited number of new experts of the same type, for example. On the flip side, players may not train an Expert blacksmith if one is not presently living in the colony. This prevents a jack-of-all-trades colony from existing, where experts of any type can be churned out without someone to teach them of the skill desired in the first place.

Beyond material goods and the experts who work with them, there are also Crosses and Liberty Bells for players to consider, which also serve as resources of their own. Each also creates a bigger divide between how things worked in Civilization, but each also runs parallel to the mechanics of the original Colonization. Cross resources are produced out of churches and influence the costs of the current colonists on the docks, which can vary from being three valuable experts to three almost useless criminals (until they are educated).

Liberty Bells, on the other hand, are in direct control over how far a colony's border extends. Borders dictate which resources a player can control when he or she is close to other colonies. Liberty Bells can also inspire Indian villages to relocate or go to war with you, depending on how committed the tribe and chief are to their current location and the preservation of their lands. On a military level, Liberty Bells provide significant boosts to defense, which helps during any attack by a foreign party. Politically, Liberty Bells directly influence which Founding Fathers (more on them later) that a player may be offered the services of.

Finally, their perhaps most critical use goes towards the Declaration of Independence, in that your colony becomes able to break free from the bonds of the homeland. And that's just getting started in Colonization. When a player gets all of the minute details of resource gathering and processing down, he or she then has to worry about relations with the other factions in the game. The other countries and leaders attempting to colonize will hunt for the optimal spots to claim, and they are not afraid to go to war just to gain an upper hand. After all, each leader is out to do exactly what you are, and certain plots of land and sea provide much better resources than others.

Additionally, the native Indians are settled throughout the lands as well, and are typically right next to some of the best land plots available. Indians are willing to give your people a freebie location when they come to settle, but after that they begin to demand tribute in gold. Players may declare the land for themselves without paying, which can anger Indians to the point of war. Trade with the Indians is trickier when compared to trade with the homeland. To give incentive to locate the Indian camps and explore the land, Firaxis has implemented "Ancient Ruins," which are scattered about the map, along with a new bonus provided to the first person to speak to each camp location's Chieftain.

Finally, one of the biggest aspects of the unique long-term game comes in earning the support of various founding fathers such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Hooker. Each requires certain conditions before they offer to join your cause, which usually comes in the form of the number of liberty bells acquired and the number of points in combat, trade, exploration and religion. Their benefits can involve upgrades to units and productivity and even free units such as a number of missionaries or indentured servants. Once they join, they become permanent members of your Continental Congress and cannot be captured or converted. So when all is said and done from more peaceful aspects, what remains is the combat.

Combat stretches across both land and sea, with several different types of ships and five key combat oriented units. While these numbers may seem a bit small to Civilization players, the truth is that there were not things like tanks or machineguns at the time. Civilization 4: Colonization makes up for the limitations by providing a number of upgrades to be earned through combat, similar to what was seen in Civilization 4. There are an assortment of weapons like cannons and dragoons, along with various non-artillery units like Scouts, Veterans and regular Infantry. For Naval combat, players can use three different ships: Privateers, Frigates and Ship of the Line-class ships.

When it all comes down to the final option of independence, players will most likely find themselves wanting to forget about any conflicts with others and pray that they can gain assistance from their allies. The King continually ramps up his forces to levels several times greater than anything your colonies can typically churn out, and he then dumps his forces off in waves akin to a Zerg rush. However, the act of independence offers players the opportunity to select between several permanent laws, such as being for slavery or against, each of which affects your colonies in significantly powerful ways.

Once the Constitution is written, the King cuts off friendly contact and goes straight for the jugular. It's easy to become discouraged by the onslaught, but the battles with the King simply require modified tactics involving retreating attacks and inland hunkering down versus trying to hold coastal ground. Players need only worry about defeating the King's land units to win, and once they're all defeated, the King surrenders to the New World, granting victory and independence to the colonies.

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