Exploration

[unmerged(6847)]

Hello!

I am a quite new player of EU and I am having a few problems at the time. I am playing England in the GC and would like to colonise in America, but I can't seem to discover it.

First I couldn't explore the Atlantic, but after a while I realised that there was a leader who was able to explore the sea regions. Is there such a leader for land regions as well? Can I recruit conquistadors when playing England? Or do I simply have to reach tech lvl 11 for land warfare to be able to explore land regions?

I would highly appreciate any help on this matter!

 

[hjarg]

Exploration is done by conquistadores/explorers who appear when they historically did.

For example Spain has Columbus from the start of the game. England gets 2 Cabots quite early on as well: in 1495 & 97 iirc. But neither of them live long enough to do any real exploration: you are only able to discover few areas in the North America before they die. Sitll, you get an early base for colonization this way.

But after Cabots it will be quiet for you- no explorers for was it 50-70 years or so. You just have to wait a bit and pray for random explorers.

 

[unmerged(5503)]

Here is a list of the Conquistadors and Explorers of England.

ENGLAND

Conquistadors

Raleigh 1580-1618
Smith 1600-1625
Radisson 1668-1700
Jenkins 1735-1750
Clive 1748-1774
Hastings 1750-1785
Hamilton 1765-1780
Carleton 1775-1790

Explorers

J. Cabot 1497-1500
S. Cabot 1508-1512
Willoughby 1552-1554
Chancellor 1552-1556
Frobisher 1553-1594
Gilbert 1577-1583
Cavendish 1584-1592
Davis 1585-1605
Hudson 1597-1611
Baffin 1612-1622
Button 1612-1634
Dampier 1679-1710
Byron 1764-1786
Vancouver 1791-1798
Cook 1768-1779

 

[Dathon]

You can also get map information by conquring an enemy's capital province. For example: playing with England you or your ally declare war at Portugal, you send some forces to the capital province and capture it. Voila all Portugal's exploration till that point is yours.
Of course as England it wont do you that much good, cos you don't get any colonists until 1550 or so.

 

[The Andy-Man]

erm, i never got Cabot. Now in 1497, how do you know when you get them?

 

[unmerged(7288)]

erm, i never got Cabot. Now in 1497, how do you know when you get them?

The computer will make a fanfare or a splash or something and the message log will be updated at the bottom of the screen with "xxx awaits your command in yyy"

another technique of getting maps is to beat an enemy navy at sea. sometimes you get the message "stolen rutters" and you have taken the enemies map. Same goes the other way around though so be careful with your fights

 

[unmerged(5503)]

Here is a list of England's Conquistadors and Explorers.
Tabot will be at your's sercice very soon.


ENGLAND

Conquistadors

Raleigh 1580-1618
Smith 1600-1625
Radisson 1668-1700
Jenkins 1735-1750
Clive 1748-1774
Hastings 1750-1785
Hamilton 1765-1780
Carleton 1775-1790

Explorers

J. Cabot 1497-1500
S. Cabot 1508-1512
Willoughby 1552-1554
Chancellor 1552-1556
Frobisher 1553-1594
Gilbert 1577-1583
Cavendish 1584-1592
Davis 1585-1605
Hudson 1597-1611
Baffin 1612-1622
Button 1612-1634
Dampier 1679-1710
Byron 1764-1786
Vancouver 1791-1798
Cook 1768-1779

 

[SideshowBob]

Explorers have a little picture of a sextant next to their name and conquestadors have a picture of a gold helmet. They look just like normal leaders apart from this and the fact that they can explore. In EU1 the default message setting for new leaders is to only show them in the scroll bar at the bottom, so i recommend that you change your settings, menu-settings-change message settings, so that you get told of new leaders via a pop up box.

Also right click on your world mini map and then change the setting to explorers and it will show you with a red dot where they are.

Finally watch out for Frobisher, he comes along nice and early, (when you really need explorers) and goes on for ages, the man seems to never die. This makes him really good, so make sure you don't loose him because of atrittion losses.

 

[unmerged(1047)]

Also, once you have navy tech 13, the chances for a fleet to discover the coastal land provinces goes up quite a bit, even if they don't have an explorer. If you pass a fleet past a coastline 4 or 5 times (after this) you're likely to see its coastal provinces on one of them.

When this happens you'll be able to build a colony or TP on the coast. You still will need a conquistador or level 11 army to explore the inland provinces, or the stubborn coastal ones.

Based on this and other factors, when playing England, I prefer to rush naval tech, and if I have the cash (after taxmen and judges) I'll even build a couple naval manufactories in the fish provinces. (You can get an extra colonist a year by having a shipyard, which you can build at navy tech 16, too.)

 

[unmerged(7498)]

Very useful discussion. Thanks for the advice and info.

I am having many problems with this game. This helps sort out many of my misconceptions.

Is there any way to increase my chances of discovering a specific province. Sometimes I think that the direction of my explorers travel can give a better chance sometimes this doesnt work out. Am I fooling myself here or does the direction of travel matter?

 

[unmerged(6909)]

Yes, the direction matters. If you send your explorer along a coastside then there's a small chance that he will discover a coastal province. So, if you want to discover Roanoke and Manhattan, for example, let him patrol in front of these provinces until they are discovered.
The drawback is that you may waste the short live of your explorer this way.

 

[SideshowBob]

Originally posted by LawLessOne

Is there any way to increase my chances of discovering a specific province. Sometimes I think that the direction of my explorers travel can give a better chance sometimes this doesnt work out. Am I fooling myself here or does the direction of travel matter?

No the direction you sail up or down a coast doesn't matter.

Basically everytime you move an explorer into a sea area which has coastal provinces then you have a % chance to discover any of those provinces, you could discover all, some or none.

So as Nebukadnezar says if you repeatedly go back to a coastal sea area, you keep 'rolling your dice' for the % chance everytime. So sailing up and down a coast line will eventually uncover all provinces.

Naval tech does increase the chances, i think it's the level that says increased sighting at sea for naval units, can't remember the tech level, but it's quite high.

 

[unmerged(6909)]

OOps, I misinterpreted "direction". Thanks for clarifying this.

 

[The Andy-Man]

yeah, i got the first Cobot, and didnt find ANY coastal provinces in north America, then the 2nd one foud 5, now i dont have enough colonists (only had 3)

 

[unmerged(5503)]

You get more settlers later,when you are able to convert to protestantism, which give you 1 settler/year. Later on you can convert to the Reformed Church,that give you 3 settlers/year.

 

[Watcher]

In my computer Reformed Church get 2 settlers/year. Am I the only one?

 

[unmerged(6909)]

No, you're not alone in the world.
2 is right

 

[BiB]

Originally posted by Adler
You get more settlers later,when you are able to convert to protestantism, which give you 1 settler/year. Later on you can convert to the Reformed Church,that give you 3 settlers/year.

That's a mistake in the manual

 

[unmerged(5503)]

Oh ,can't I rely on the manual any more?

 

[BiB]

Originally posted by Adler
Oh ,can't I rely on the manual any more?

Could u ever ?