Sid Meier's Colonization

The game begins in 1492 with the arrival of the New World. The player controls the colonial forces of one of four nations: England, France, the Netherlands or Spain; the other three are computer controlled. The choice of a nation is important because each nation has unique abilities that contribute to certain strategies ^{[4] [7]} . There is a choice between a historical map (America) or a randomly created map (New World); a randomly created map shifts the focus of the game towards exploration. The player is tasked with declaring independence until the end of the game in 1850 ^[7] .

The journey begins with the fact that two units go to the New World. When the ship is sailing into the unknown, a new territory gradually begins to appear on the map ^[7] . Subsequently, the New World opens, a meeting with the Indians takes place, a colony is built, and the colonists begin to cultivate the land to make it more productive. The ship goes back to Europe to bring more colonists, sell any unnecessary items, and as a result, the exploration of a new world begins ^[7] .

Indians and Relationships

The final release contains nine Native American tribes: semi-nomadic Tupi , Sioux , Apache , agrarian Arawak , Iroquois , Cherokee , civilized Aztecs and Incas (in the draft version there are 18 more nationalities). Aboriginal relationships are an important part of the game. Various options are possible: from a total war of annihilation to trade relations, which become an important source of income when taxes become too high.

You can’t play for the Indians, but you can establish missions in their settlements, after which the converted Indians join the nearby colonies (once every few turns).

An Indian village or city can be burned by carrying out a certain number of attacks, while the player receives a convoy with looted treasures. Extraction is especially plentiful during the looting of Inca and Aztec cities. If you burn the capital of the tribe, it "pacifies", ceases attacks on the player’s settlements, recognizing his power. However, after some time, they may again resume hostilities.

When the Indians sell their horses or defeat dragoon squads with them, the natives will begin to form cavalry squads. When buying or capturing muskets in colony warehouses, the Indians arm themselves, creating units of equal strength to the colonial soldiers (the bonus of knowing the terrain, which is the highest among the Indians, and the negative bonus of the unusualness of European technologies are mutually extinguished). If one and the other falls into the hands of the Indian tribes, then armed Indian horsemen may appear on the map, equal in strength to the dragoons, moreover, European ones (the double bonus of knowing the area is partially offset by the negative bonus of the unfamiliarity of European technology).

Continental Congress

There is no scientific progress in the game, but there is an opportunity to choose the so-called “founding fathers” in the Continental Congress (an analogue of the Wonders of the World from Civilization ). Historical figures are listed as “founding fathers” ^{[K. 1]} . Each time a new participant joins the Continental Congress (an analogue of the completion of a scientific study in Civilization), the player receives a bonus valid until the end of the game. So, for example, after the accession of Peter Minoit, the Indians no longer require payment for the use of their land, Francis Drake increases the attacks of privateers by 50%, Hernan Cortes provides free transportation of treasures to Europe. "Founding Fathers" are assigned to 5 areas of development (economics, land research, military affairs, politics, religion), and when choosing another candidate for Congress, the player is given one representative from each direction, of which the player must choose one.

The economic component of the game

Along with the map of the New World, the game also has a European port , which is a source of immigrants (in Colonization, natural population growth is much slower than in Civilization, since the timeline is not progressive, but constant). In addition, it is possible to buy almost all necessary goods ( weapons , horses , ships ) in it before it becomes possible to produce them in colonies , as well as sell goods produced in the New World. Compared to Civilization, the game has a detailed economic model (there are several dozen types of goods, such as food, wood , furs , silver , etc.). Among the goods there are also “crosses” - a conditional unit of religious freedom in the colonies, which is “produced” by priests and attracts new immigrants to the New World (as you know, religious freedom also attracted colonists to America in real history) and also “bells of freedom” - a conditional a unit of political freedom produced by statesmen; “Freedom bells” increase the revolutionary mood of citizens (this, in turn, gives gradually increasing bonuses to production and over time allows you to risk declaring war on independence) and allows you to hire “founding fathers”. Each city dweller in the game has his own profession, which allows him to perform certain work more efficiently than others. Colonial professions can be taught (from the Indians or in a specially constructed building - a school ), in addition, you can hire already trained professionals in Europe.

The game is governed by the basic laws of the economy: for example, if a player offers a large supply of goods, he will inevitably become cheaper in the metropolis, and silver prices will fall especially quickly.

However, there are imbalances in the economy, the most serious of them is that the troops do not require anything for their maintenance, so building up the army in the game only improves the state of the economy .

Warfare

The outcome of the battle depends on the strength of the attacker and the defender and the type of terrain at the position of the defender (for example, defense on the hills and in the mountains is more advantageous; fortifications of colonies also strengthen defense); attacker is given a +50% bonus to strength.

Diplomacy

Diplomacy in the game is similar to diplomacy of Civilization, but, in addition to relations with three other European powers, the game has a relationship with the Indians. At first, they perceive the European colonists positively, but after desecrating Native American graves or illegally seizing land, they can declare war. Of course, they also open hostilities against the player if he had previously attacked their units or settlements. Moreover, the deployment of troops near their settlements also increases tension and may at some point provoke their attack.

In addition, the game contains the king of a European power (the Dutch have a governor ), who collects tax from a player playing the role of governor of the colonies.

War of Independence

When 50% of the population supports the idea of ​​separation from the mother country, the possibility of declaring independence appears. The colors of the players change - the rebels get a red-blue flag (reminiscent of the US flag), royalists have white flags. Relations with Europe are lost, and royal troops arrive in the New World every round. These troops are stronger than usual, and the royalist warship - manovar - the strongest in the game. If the player’s nation is in bad relations with some Indian tribe, then the royalists “arm” them, and now they have to fight on two fronts. In addition, royalist uprisings are possible in cities with a low level of revolutionary sentiment.

However, the player receives several bonuses - professional troops improve to the “continental army”, a good acquaintance with the area gives the player’s units an ambush bonus, one of the European states will eventually receive help.

The condition for defeat is the loss of all ports, the condition for victory is the destruction of the royal corps or the failure of all ships transporting troops from Europe.

Summary

After the end of the game, the total is calculated. Plus are the number of inhabitants (ships, vans and guns are not included in this number), gold reserves, and the period for declaring independence. With preserved independence, the total score is doubled. Points are taken away from the burnt Native American villages. Then the points are converted into percentages, and the result is already expressed in the object, to which the residents assign the player’s name - from a contagious disease (the lowest score) to the continent .

Sid Meier's Colonization scored high on steam and was well received by the players. ^[eight]

The game was quite popular, this was one of the reasons that in 2008 a remake of Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization was released.

In January 2003, the development of a free remake of an open source game called FreeCol began . Alex Meer from Rock, Paper, Shotgun spoke negatively about artificial intelligence in the remake, noting his “strange” behavior, but noted that the game deserves attention ^[10] .

Comments

Sources

Literature

• The fate of the hit: Sid Meier's Colonization (Russian) // The best computer games : magazine. - TechnoMir, 2005. - September ( No. 046 ). - S. 154-156 .
• Svyatoslav Torik. Retroactive: Sid Meier's Colonization (Russian) // " Country of Games ": magazine. - Gameland Publishing , 2010. - September ( No. 16 (313) ). - S. 170-174 . - ISSN 7157-1000 .