What are the best colonies that you go after? Is there a life rating map?

Congo, Guinea, Ghana

1. Congo
2. Nigeria
3. Egypt
4. Ethiopia
5. Ghana/South Africa (if you can snatch from the Brits).

With colonies, you want to be strategic if you can. By late game, oil and rubber become extremely valuable commodities and can be critical to your economy and military, so try to grab those ASAP once 1870 hits. Congo (either Republic of or Democratic Republic of), Gabon, And Ghana are all good choices. Events should change your colonies' resources to them later in the game. Pre-1870, you can do the same thing by conquering Brunei, where oil will turn up and which can be a springboard into Asia and Oceania.

1.Nigeria coal and rubber 900Kpops
2.Congo rubber!
3.Eritrea rubber and a springboard to Arabia (for oil)
4.Sudan form Egypt for more rubber
5.Uganda TEA!!!!

Most available land has a life rating of 35. In Africa Darfur and southern Ethiopia have less, as well as inland Mocambique and the Comoros. Christmas and Coco islands also have 30.
Basically there's not that much available before 1870s. Getting Dongola and colonizing Darfur can be useful if you can't reach the western african coast by sea. From Darfur it's easy to get to Gabon.

Concerning desirability, Rubber and oil are the targets. Everything else you can get earlier and better. Coal is available in Korea/Manchuria. Tea in Sikkim and Formosa.

mrlifeless said:

1.Nigeria coal and rubber 900Kpops

Click to expand...

It's the best place for any nation lacking coal to acquire.

1.Sokoto/Nigeria - big population and a few good RGOs.
2.Ethiopia - good population

Those two can be taken from the start

3.Congo/Central Africa - big populations and rubber - the true bottle neck good late game.

1. Africa
a) Sokoto, Congo , Nigeria - population, coal and rubber
b) Egypt - to get Suez, and some cotton + rubber

2. Asia:
a) Korea - easy to take, coal RGO, good place to take Japan or China next + big population
b) Japan - tea, silk, and gold in Kobe + big population
c) China - all resources except oil and rubber, big population,
* Formosa - good place to start, and ticking war score can be helpfull
* Southern Zhili + Shandong = gold + cotton + good place to defend when you combined with Korea
* Guangxi - cotton, silk and tropical wood
* Shanxi - coal

Dubai and Venezuela are good for oil

cacra said:

Dubai and Venezuela are good for oil

Click to expand...

You want Burma and Venezuela rather than Dubai. Nobody lives in Dubai.

I thought Venezuela lacked oil at this time? The east indies are awesome, but you probably WILL get into confrontation with GBR if you go for them.

This is a strategy that I use every game for africa now, and it works out well

1 take egypt (cotton, rubber)
2 take nigeria (Cotton, Coal More rubber, More POPs)
3 take tanzania and ride it down to namibia (strategic benefit and even more pops)
you will notice that this is very similar to the british colonization system. I use this and do not go farther, because taking all of africa just isnt fun. I generally skip the congo, as by now I have all the rubber/ tropical wood i'll ever need

BTW for oil, get persia after she westernizes. Although the russians will intervene, and it will e costly in imfamy, it s fine because
A. Everyone knows russian troops are dirt garbage
B. Your Pops usually flood the taken states, usually doubling the population in a year or two.