England and the Colonization of the Caribbean

[IrishGirl]

I'm playing as England and it's time to colonize. Almost all the online strategy guides and posts on the forum state that England should not prioritize the colonization of the Caribbean. I believe (I admit I'm not sure) that this is because, at one time, the trade node in the Caribbean did not feed into the English Channel.

In my game, it's 1495, and there are two nations with the power to settle the Caribbean: my England and Portugal. We're still allies. As I look at the trade map, it appears the trade node from the Caribbean has changed from the one on the Wiki. It now has three routes feeding out of it: (1) Sevilla, (2) Bordeaux, and (3) a trade route that goes up the coast of the United States but is still hidden by FOW. Despite being hidden, it's safe to surmise that there is a node there and it feeds directly into the English Channel trade node. Meanwhile, I have no power in Sevilla and 29.41 trade power in Bordeaux.

My question is: would the following strategy work?

1. Colonize in the Caribbean. I have the range, I can get there, I can make my own Port Royal.
2. Also colonize in North America, once I've located the still-hidden trade node. Colonize in that area and control that trade node.
3. Steer from the Caribbean into that North American trade node and then to the English Channel.

This is my first experience colonizing as England. My thought is that it's more important to control the trade nodes than the territory. My hope that is by getting that trade node early, I can control most of the trade from North America.

Am I wrong? Is this plan foolish?

 

[Logist]

That's a good plan. Just prioritize centers of trade in the Chesapeake node and the Caribbean node.

 

[PhoenixG]

Controlling Caribbean is always solid plan when you colonizing merica. It's pretty much the central hub for mid and south merica and will feed to all important western europe trade node. And yes it doesn't feed directly to English channel, but you can steer it through north merica towards english channel or north sea trade node. While denying money from France, Portugal and Spain.

 

[GoWithTheFlo]

This sounds pretty good.
The Caribbean is a very central trade node, almost all of the Americas trade can end up there. Controlling the Caribbean early is a great strategy. You can then use merchants, centers of trades and light boats to transfer trade there, then NA then English Channel.

 

[ecrurudesby]

All sounds fine to me.

3. Steer from the Caribbean into that North American trade node and then to the English Channel.

Alternatively you can colonise Canada as well and push trade from Caribbean > Chesapeake > St. Lawrence > North Sea > English Channel

My thought is that it's more important to control the trade nodes than the territory.

Unsure what you mean by this. You don't need to control territory (land) to control trade, but it helps, particularly centres of trade and estuaries.

 

[IrishGirl]

Unsure what you mean by this. You don't need to control territory (land) to control trade, but it helps, particularly centres of trade and estuaries.

I think we're saying the same thing.

What I'm saying is blanket colonialization isn't as important as taking the land necessary to control the trade nodes. England - as I learned the hard way - starts out at a disadvantage in colonizing because of their distance from North America, the Carribean, and South America. To beat Portugal, I need to make every tick of the game count.

I've run a couple of tests and found that if I (1) focus MPs on Diplomacy and not waste even one, (2) take Exploration as my first idea, (3) buy into the Rennasiance first chance I get, (4) get the University idea in Parliment (5% reduction in tech times), and (5) get the colonial range advisor, I can have sufficient colonial range by 1480 to hit the Carribean. If I get a running start there, I can then take Expansion as my second idea (I know, maybe not the best, but it gives me a second settler) and double my settlement output.

I feel like I need two settlers, as I don't know a better way to colonize faster. Your suggestion was kind of my plan - Caribbean, first, and St. Lawrence area second. Ideas will probably then be Exploration, Expansion, Quality (as England actually benefits from the navy ideas).

 

[rinehime]

In my game, it's 1495, and there are two nations with the power to settle the Caribbean: my England and Portugal. We're still allies. As I look at the trade map, it appears the trade node from the Caribbean has changed from the one on the Wiki. It now has three routes feeding out of it: (1) Sevilla, (2) Bordeaux, and (3) a trade route that goes up the coast of the United States but is still hidden by FOW.

Wiki looks fine to me. The "hidden node" you're referring to is the Chesapeake Bay and it feed directly to the English Channel

What I'm saying is blanket colonialization isn't as important as taking the land necessary to control the trade nodes. England - as I learned the hard way - starts out at a disadvantage in colonizing because of their distance from North America, the Caribbean, and South America. To beat Portugal, I need to make every tick of the game count.
<...snip...>
I feel like I need two settlers, as I don't know a better way to colonize faster. Your suggestion was kind of my plan - Caribbean, first, and St. Lawrence area second. Ideas will probably then be Exploration, Expansion, Quality (as England actually benefits from the navy ideas).

Yes, focus on the provinces with the trade bonuses first, then the high dev provinces. Caribbean, Chesapeake, then St. Lawrence should be your first goals as England. In the other thread you said you're playing "isolationist"-ish. If so, you won't have a ton of control in the North Sea node, so sending directly from Chesapeake to Eng, Channel is probably the way to go. Alternatively, collecting in Chesapeake may be even more worthwhile if the dutch provinces hold all the TP in English Channel.

If you have the cash, you can have more than 2 colonies going at once. Just recall the settler before they're done. They grow a bit slower without the extra settler chance. Also, use the +20 settlers native policy and keep some stacks in the colonies to keep down revolts. The New World natives are generally pretty small.

 

[DemBones]

I've run a couple of tests and found that if I (1) focus MPs on Diplomacy and not waste even one, (2) take Exploration as my first idea, (3) buy into the Rennasiance first chance I get, (4) get the University idea in Parliment (5% reduction in tech times), and (5) get the colonial range advisor, I can have sufficient colonial range by 1480 to hit the Carribean.

I think you have the right idea, just note that you aren't necessarily obligated to put your first colony in the Caribbean. Once you have a colony pretty much anywhere in the Americas, you can build other colonies off of that one. I think simultaneously colonizing Caribbean and Eastern US is a good plan, focusing on Centers of Trade. To be clear though, all of the provinces in the node confer some trade power to the controller, its just that the ones with the 'center of trade' modifier contribute significantly more. And don't worry if Portugal or Spain grab some provinces you want. Colonized provinces tend to be very cheap to take in peace deals.

 

[DonRoscoe]

Good choice! You might wanna wait for the colonization mission to 'spawn' to establish a colony in the Caribbean. You get +5% settler chance and + 25 global settler increase from 'colonial enthusiasm', lasting 10 years. Making the colonies grow faster.

There are 2 more once the colonial enthousiam ends and you explored the regions: East-America and Canada. Helps you with colonizing North-America.

They always spawn in that order, first Caribbean, after 10 year follows East-America, finally 10 years later Canada. If you colonize before that, they will not spawn, so be patient. A colony is grown 3 years quicker this way. You beat Portugal that way.

See the wiki for details:
https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Colonial_missions

Also keeping positive relations with Papal State gives you a bonus +10 settlers/year if you stay Catholic, every time you start the colonial nation in the region first (5 provinces needed). If you are beaten to that you get a -20 settles/year tick. (Event: Treaty of Tordesillas). So it's worth the effort, the bonus/malus lasts the entire game!

 

[IrishGirl]

Wiki looks fine to me. The "hidden node" you're referring to is the Chesapeake Bay and it feed directly to the English Channel

You're correct. When I looked at it earlier today, I swear it looked different - but then I was just looking at the thumbnail version. I've now downloaded it and will be using it to plot my colonization strategy.

... In the other thread you said you're playing "isolationist"-ish. If so, you won't have a ton of control in the North Sea node, so sending directly from Chesapeake to Eng, Channel is probably the way to go. Alternatively, collecting in Chesapeake may be even more worthwhile if the dutch provinces hold all the TP in the English Channel.

Yes, the plan for isolationism was for two reasons (1) English growth (not wasting resources on a prolonged war with France) and (2) to prevent me from winning that war. I really want France to have a chance to be a force in the 16th and 17th century. So I'm basically giving them free run of Europe.

Funny though: Austria got the Burgundian Inheritance and now holds the Flanders/Holland lowlands area. There is a war poised to happen around 1500. Since my game rule is that England will play no role in Europe at all - not even to defend her French holdings - until after 1500, this could be the first chance for England to be drawn into a foreign war. Currently, she's 8/7/7 on tech and her closest competitor is France with 7/7/6.

This is just a very long way of saying that, despite that rule, England still holds all her French holdings (except Maine, which she gave back because the rule required it), and so still has 56% of the power in the English Channel trade node, as well as 21% of the power in the North Seas trade node. That could change now, once the isolation band is lifted.

I've also been toying with the idea of a Russian adventure. Allying & guaranteeing Sweden, then defending when Russia attacks.

If you have the cash, you can have more than 2 colonies going at once. Just recall the settler before they're done. They grow a bit slower without the extra settler chance. Also, use the +20 settlers native policy and keep some stacks in the colonies to keep down revolts. The New World natives are generally pretty small.

How does that work exactly? Assume I start colonizing a province. I have one settler. He's in the province and ... what? I send him back and then use him to start another? Won't the first province stop growing and die? If not, how many of these can I do? Currently, England is cash rich, with 1067 gold and income of 8 ducats a month (with one colony). Can I move him to another location completely or should I keep him in an adjacent province?

 

[rinehime]

How does that work exactly? Assume I start colonizing a province. I have one settler. He's in the province and ... what? I send him back and then use him to start another? Won't the first province stop growing and die? If not, how many of these can I do? Currently, England is cash rich, with 1067 gold and income of 8 ducats a month (with one colony). Can I move him to another location completely or should I keep him in an adjacent province?

Click on the province and there should be a "Recall Colonist" button. He'll instantly be returned to your Envoy pool (that somewhat makes up for ridiculous arrival times ), then use him to start another colony.

As long as you're fully funding your colonies (in the Economy tab) they'll continue to grow. All colonies will grow at the base global settler increase rate. With a colonist present, that colony has a %-chance (new settler chance) each month to increase their population by 25 settlers (each 1% chance = +3 settlers per year). With no colonist, the colony just grows at the base rate. Colonist growth is pretty slow in the 1500's, but picks up significantly at later techs. The extra settler chance can be a pretty big boost especially at later techs.

Reducing colonial maintenance will reduce their growth rate and will make the lose population at lower levels. You should see the effects when you adjust the maintenance slider.

The problem with extra colonist beyond your colonist limit, is that they get expensive fast. Each colony cost 2/month up to the number of colonists you have. After that the costs increase quadratically: 1st colony over cap is 4 ducats, next colony is 10 ducats, then 20 and 34, etc. Given your income and goals, you should probably be running 1 over your cap at all times and maybe 2 when you get richer.

I think the wiki page is correct on all the mechanics.

 

[nwil10]

Click on the province and there should be a "Recall Colonist" button. He'll instantly be returned to your Envoy pool (that somewhat makes up for ridiculous arrival times ), then use him to start another colony.

As long as you're fully funding your colonies (in the Economy tab) they'll continue to grow. All colonies will grow at the base global settler increase rate. With a colonist present, that colony has a %-chance (new settler chance) each month to increase their population by 25 settlers (each 1% chance = +3 settlers per year). With no colonist, the colony just grows at the base rate. Colonist growth is pretty slow in the 1500's, but picks up significantly at later techs. The extra settler chance can be a pretty big boost especially at later techs.

Reducing colonial maintenance will reduce their growth rate and will make the lose population at lower levels. You should see the effects when you adjust the maintenance slider.

The problem with extra colonist beyond your colonist limit, is that they get expensive fast. Each colony cost 2/month up to the number of colonists you have. After that the costs increase quadratically: 1st colony over cap is 4 ducats, next colony is 10 ducats, etc (that's from the wiki, but doesn't sound quite right from my last play-through). Given your income and goals, you should probably be running 1 over your cap at all times and maybe 2 when you get richer.

I think the wiki page is correct on all the mechanics.

Each colonist above the limit increases exponentially. Meaning, with one colonist, the first costs 2 ducats, the second costs 4 ducats (2 raised to the second power), the third costs 8 ducats (2 raised to the third power) and so on per month.

It should be worth mentioning which religion your going to use (protestant or catholic) and if your willing to fight Portugal France or Castille for colonies.

With protestant religion, there is the ability to use your church power to choose an aspect of +20 settlers a year. With catholic faith, there is the ability to claim a colonial area. If it were my choice, I would rush the Caribbean until I have 10 full colonies while staying Catholic then switch to protestant and branch out over all of North America. Other Catholic countries will be disinclined to try to colonize the area if you are the first with five provinces colonized while a catholic nation.

 

[Virupaksha]

Extra colonists are very expensive and not really necessary.

To colonise north America lay one colony on Nanticoke and from there you can fabricate on four OPMs and take them by war. Convert them if possible before you core the last province and they become a CN. Then lay a colony on Biloxi and attack north from there for another 5 provinces and you have your merchant. After that move to a new area.

Caribbean you have to slow colonise laying down five colonies but if one is Havanna you can fabricate and take ten provinces in Mexico in two wars. If you go Cartagena into Musica as well you should have four CNs with two merchants before 1550 laying down 8-9 colonies.

 

[rinehime]

Each colonist above the limit increases exponentially. Meaning, with one colonist, the first costs 2 ducats, the second costs 4 ducats (2 raised to the second power), the third costs 8 ducats (2 raised to the third power) and so on per month.

No, this is incorrect. What I wrote above is right. The tooltip even used to say exponential, but it was wrong. Apparently it was fixed some time ago:

To be fair, I thought it was exponential, but when I checked the wiki, it said quadratric and I quoted it without checking. I went back and checked, and the wiki is correct.

The formula is 2x^2+2 where x is the number of colonies - number of colonists (i.e. x is the number of colonies over your limit.)

Extra colonists are very expensive and not really necessary.

To colonise north America lay one colony on Nanticoke and from there you can fabricate on four OPMs and take them by war. Convert them if possible before you core the last province and they become a CN. Then lay a colony on Biloxi and attack north from there for another 5 provinces and you have your merchant. After that move to a new area.

Caribbean you have to slow colonise laying down five colonies but if one is Havanna you can fabricate and take ten provinces in Mexico in two wars. If you go Cartagena into Musica as well you should have four CNs with two merchants before 1550 laying down 8-9 colonies.

The first extra colonist isn't that expensive. The second and third can be, if you're not making enough dosh. Yeah, you can get colonial nations by defeating the natives, but that's not the point - the point is to get the trade power provinces first, which usually aren't settled by natives. Sure, you're CNs will expand on their own, but they're pretty bad at it.... And yes, taking Mexico and the Andean provinces is a very good idea...

 

[Ninaran]

Also the Caribbean provinces have rather high development compared to the rest of the Americas, making for preeetty good income from Tariffs, even if some of the trade doesn't go through your north America stuff. Let's also not forget that by colonizing it, you deny it from the Iberians, weakening them.

 

[Virupaksha]

The first extra colonist isn't that expensive. The second and third can be, if you're not making enough dosh. Yeah, you can get colonial nations by defeating the natives, but that's not the point - the point is to get the trade power provinces first, which usually aren't settled by natives. Sure, you're CNs will expand on their own, but they're pretty bad at it.... And yes, taking Mexico and the Andean provinces is a very good idea...

Four ducats per month is the equivalent of running a level 2 adviser.

If you eliminate the natives you have all the trade power, doesn't matter which province. If other nations colonise in your area you just take their provinces by war and if you already have a CN there is no coring cost.

 

[rinehime]

Four ducats per month is the equivalent of running a level 2 adviser.

If you eliminate the natives you have all the trade power, doesn't matter which province. If other nations colonise in your area you just take their provinces by war and if you already have a CN there is no coring cost.

No argument there - running level 2 and 3 advisers should be a higher priority for any playstyle. That also gets you the second colonist via ideas sooner as well as the +settlers bonus in the English NIs. It's also worthwhile to point out that in the early game it's even more expensive to colonize (over your limit or not) because colonial growth is so slow.

By mid-game, however, once you have all +3 advisers, a steady income, and the settler growth rate is up a bit going one over can help to block the rest of the colonizers or settle the TC land in the East Indies faster. And if you're not fighting wars on the mainland, what else are going to spend the extra cash on?

Of course, I'm probably still biased toward colonizing because my last game was First Come, First serve and I was running 2 - 4 colonists over as soon as I had +3 advisers and the cash. (While it's easy to beat the colonial nations if you have a new world capital, they're sooooo slow)

 

[babuchas1]

Don't forget Ivory coast when you colonize. The Americas is nice, but all the trade from Asia/Africa can feeds to the english channel through the ivory coast.