Conquistadores & explorers

[Viator]

Apologies for the goofy question, I am a total beginner. I am starting a campaign with Spain. I see that at start I have an explorer fleet (Columbus), but no conquistadores, so I can't land in Southern America. How can I build conquistadores and new explorer navies (in case the ones I start with get sunk)?

Thanks in advance,
Viator

 

[Duque de Bragança]

Originally posted by Viator
Apologies for the goofy question, I am a total beginner. I am starting a campaign with Spain. I see that at start I have an explorer fleet (Columbus), but no conquistadores, so I can't land in Southern America. How can I build conquistadores and new explorer navies (in case the ones I start with get sunk)?

Thanks in advance,
Viator

Wait for them to arrive. As Spain, this will not take long. A couple of years or so

 

[Carolus Rex]

U can't build conquistadors and explorers. They coem either a) as historical leader(Spain, France, Portugal and England are the ones that get the most) or b) as of event effects(explorer/conquistador event).

 

[unmerged(5184)]

Many provinces will be revealed when your ships will approach them (not all, though). You can colonize these few visible provinces, and wait a few years to explore the other provinces, when the conquistadores will start to appear.

- 76 -

 

[Viator]

I still don't understand

Please excuse my obduratness, I've started a campaign as Spain (level of difficulty = easy, both historical & casual events allowed), and no conquistadores have appeared after about 4 game years. Could you inform me about:

1. what conquistadores look like, if their arrival is announced in the reports window on the screen bottom, and/or what game menu should I check to see them whenever they come;

2. what lands are open and colonizable without the need of conquistadores. I've tried a lot of them and they all look equally blank, which supposedly means they must still be discovered.

This is all the more weird as in my game I've noticed that Portugal is sending colonists all over the world. Should I send my whole fleet exploring the wide world on turn 1, in order to look for lands that automatically turn colonizeable? What does the trick?

Any help warmly appreciated,

Viator

 

[saskganesh]

hey viator,

try message options (press F10 and scoll to options). you can set a message box to appear for announcing arrival of leaders. or you can set it for text. obviously, the first is preferable.

with conquistadors have a little gold conquistador type helmet somewhere on the right hand side of the info screen.

if its only 1496, hang on. some will appear very soon.

goto colonization screen and see which ones are coloured green. those ones are usually colonizable. in some cases you can only place a trader. try to make at least one port in the new world.

as a general rule for spain, go west. thanks to Treaty of Tordesillas, you have an advantage over competitors in exploring most of the new world. also in the enw world you will find inca and aztecs, who are rich and weak. and you as spain, have free CB's on them. dont pass this up.

learning the controls takes some getting used to, but it will come.

patience,
sg

 

[unmerged(11105)]

One other thing to be aware of is attrition. The first few times I played EU I wondered where my exploring navies had disappeared to!

Scylax already mentioned that only some provinces will be discovered as you sail by the coast. I find the best way to settle America without a conquistador is to colonise the first province you discover. You can then base a fleet in this province, sail up and down the coastline discovering and colonising / setting up trading posts in the more valuable (gold, tobacco etc) or more friendly (native aggressiveness low) provinces.

With a conquistador it becomes easier...

 

[unmerged(10069)]

To avoid attrition you have to order you ships to port every few months (attrition get lower with increasing naval tech and explorers as leaders of your fleets).

 

[saskganesh]

you'll see another number on the info screen which shows attrition value. the higher it is, the worse it is. it took me a few games to figure out how to manage this well.

 

[Viator]

Still, I don't see conquistadores...

Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I am in 1500 and can see no conquistador and no green area ready to be colonized. Maybe I should start all over again with Turkey...

I also have another question: after a few years France, Scotland and the Papal States have started a war of conquest against England. I checked the diplomacy screen and seem to be entertaining no alliance with England, even though I have an official marriage going on (I hope that's the right translation, I have the German edition). After a while, however, a message informed me that I had betrayed my obligations toward England

Should I go to war anytime a state I have an state marriage with is attacked, or what?

All help appreciated! Thanks for the previous replies!

Viator

 

[saskganesh]

it all seems very confusing doesn't it. it does take a few games to get the swing of it.

have you looked at the message settings? you may have been allied to england but didn't know it. did you see a little flag on the top hand side of the screen? they are very little.

to be clear, you are not obliged to to go to war to defend a country you are married to...only allied.

as to conq's, loo around madird porvince or the coastla areas. i am not sure exactly when they show up, but you shuld have one somewhere by now. maybe he showed up on a boat, so his presence isn't obvious.

if you restart, turks are a good choice. russia is also a good country to start with.

 

[unmerged(14485)]

Originally posted by saskganesh
if you restart, turks are a good choice. russia is also a good country to start with.

Holland is also really cool, as is Poland, Austria, ... Godammit!!! The whole damned game is too great to say!!!

Patriotically yours,

A very loyal EU1 player

 

[Morpheus506]

The reason you don't remember being allied to England is Spain starts off in their alliance, so you never end up being notified that you joined it.

 

[Stonewall]

Also, be aware that all alliance deals...asking allies for help in war and responding to their please for help are found in pop-up buttons on the upper right hand part of the screen. It is a small shield with the shield of the country asking for help in it. If you don't see that shield in time, you will automatically reject their request, sever the alliance, lose 1 point of stability and give them a temporary CB on you for 1 year.