Spreading Colonies or Populating them?

[Marshall Thomas]

Is it better to use your colonist (and ducats) to spread out as many colony level one provinces(100 people) as possible or is it wiser to to send your colonist to already established colonies to increase their size?

It seems to me that it's wiser to send your colonist to most of the potentially rich colonies to claim them before your colonial rivals do; and then after you do that, you can concern yourself with populating them with more colonist and reaching "city size".

I understand that colonies only really make a great profit when you have several hundred and then over a thousand people in them; but in the early colonial race, it seems as though getting that first colonist to the rich uncolonised provinces is the way to go.

However, I believe that I'm failing to take certain factors into consideration with this strategy. I've read some posts which, if I remenber correctly, suggest that colony spamming is less effective than a strategy which developes colonies before moving on to founding new ones. IIRC, the strategy guide also advocates such a strategy. Would anyone please offer some thoughts and opinions on this? thanks in advance

 

[unmerged(30612)]

Well both really.

You claim as many of the good provinces first, then build those up.

Try not to kill the natives either so they add to your population once you hit the thousand mark.

You can grab 9 high income provinces before building one up. Now the AI is not as ruthless with this, so it is completely possible to build up your colonies quickly if you wish.

I think at the end of the day it is really negligible seeing as colonization just propels you into god mode in whatever game you are playing regardless of your strategy.

 

[The Great Duck]

First send them to one colony,when you develop it fully,go for another one.

 

[Marshall Thomas]

Why is it best to develope it fully before you start colonising the next province? thanks

 

[JaxomCA]

As far as I can see, level 1 colonies get the full stability cost and the full research cost. Having a bunch of level 1 colonies is a sure way to fall behind in technology. I think 2-3 colonies in development is the optimal, depending on how many colonists a year you have and how long it takes them to reach the colonies.

 

[unmerged(30612)]

As far as I can see, level 1 colonies get the full stability cost and the full research cost. Having a bunch of level 1 colonies is a sure way to fall behind in technology. I think 2-3 colonies in development is the optimal, depending on how many colonists a year you have and how long it takes them to reach the colonies.

Good points man, might make me rethink what I said.

 

[unmerged(2456)]

Try not to kill the natives either so they add to your population once you hit the thousand mark.

It depends on how aggressive they are. Too aggressive and you may never reach 1000.

 

[StoweMobile]

I prefer to spread out colonies myself. Ya, i'll fall behind in tech now, but in 50 years when I have a massive colonial empire, I will catch back up, and get ahead in tech. Not to mention, there is a cap (I think like 30 or something) on the penalty to research, so whether you have 30, or 300 provinces the penalty is the same. In this manor I prefer to get to 30, and then just go ape crazy on my number of colonies. Also, from what i've found is that the more provinces you have the higher chance the "Expand Colonial Borders" event will occur which increase your total over sees income, as well as give you some cheap colonists.

 

[unmerged(45895)]

Not to mention, there is a cap (I think like 30 or something) on the penalty to research, so whether you have 30, or 300 provinces the penalty is the same.

I think cap is at 100 provinces. So whether you have 30 or 100 makes huge difference.

 

[unmerged(33767)]

For me there is a number of variables that determine how many provinces I develop at once.

A) Number of colonists per year

B) Census tax

C) Inflation free minting

Seeing these variables as limitations I develop as many colonies as they allow.

Example from my last Portugal game, the year was roughly 1490-1500

A) 5,4 colonists per year

B) 132 ducats of Census tax

C) Central bank NI and a monthly income of 125

For the sake of the example we will imagine that an average colonists costs 50 ducats to send, it means that my finances allow for (132+125)/50 ~ 5 colonists, since that number is supported by my yearly colonists I am able to send out 5 of them at every 1 January, as I mint my December income.

Thesises that guide my strategy

Sending out as many colonists as possible is beneficial since it increases the speed of your development, which is compounding in time.

Developping colonies to towns as fast as possible is beneficial as you get access to province improvements which further increase the value of the province and increase your development speed.

Seizing colonial land by 100 person provinces is not beneficial as you slow the overall colonization of the world and that a) diminishes potential trade income b) slows your development speed c) it is better if other countries develop colonies as you can seize them and get a fully developped colony for almost free, the tax penaltry is irrevelant as the majority of income is production.

Other things that are important to remember while colonising. At first the limiting factor will be income, but it changes quickly as ducats become abundant and there is a shortage of colonists. As such it is vital to begin adjusting sliders ASAP in order to maintain momentum in colonial development.

This was a simplified example and does not include other options such as

- manufactories
- sending merchants
- Provincial improvements
- Warfare and unit expenses
- The possibilities to accept a certain amount of inflation in order to speed up colonial development

These obviously make things more difficult and are a matter of priorities that need to be decided in every single game.

Hope this helped, critique is welcome.

 

[Marshall Thomas]

Do level one colonies(100 people) definately count as city provinces(1000+ people) for purposes of additional province tech and stability cost penalities? If they do, would anyone still favor a colonial strategy of spreading out several level one colonies to "out-grab" the colonial competition- instead of populating provinces to pay for and balance the additional province tech and stability cost? thanks in advance

 

[unmerged(67452)]

I prefer to focus on one colony at a time, so that it can get to core ASAP.

 

[MHz]

i prefer somewhere between 3-5 colonies at a time, because the more you 100 colonist- colonies you have, the higher the risk of a native uprising, destroying your entire colony. There is also a risk that a country you ar at war with seizes your colony...

But on the other hand it is possible to have lots of very rich, small colonies, which you get to level 2, so the uprising problem is a little less harsh
the core thing starts from the moment your first colonist reaches your colony, so don't let that stop you from claiming lots and lots of colonies

 

[TKaz84]

To me it depends on two major factors: how many other people have joined the rush for the new world and my monarch's administrative rating. If I have a good rating (at least 6), I see that as my window to grab as many of the good provinces as I can while the chances of success are high and before someone like england does. This is also my chance to grab some of the provinces with natives at an aggression of 5 or 6 (any higher and I usually just kill them). That way, when I get a new monarch with a bad administrative rating I can focus on building the colonies now that I have better placement chances in them.

Another factor to consider is prestige. From what I have seen you get prestige every time you colonize a new province, but none for building them up. Since prestige influences colonization chances, it is theoretically possible to create a sort of "snowball" effect with placement chances.

 

[Gothmog]

I haven't played all that many colonial games thus far, but I tend to grab as many colonies as I can within the rough area I'm supposed to colonise, and then develop them later on.

 

[berhaven]

IMHO balancing in the rule: as someone else noted, there are pros and cons for each strategy. Other variables are sliders, advisors and NI (notably QFTNW). If I am early in discovering potential good colonies, there is a good advantage in spreading colonies, for the noted snowball effect. Another advantage of spreading colonies is in the fact that, on average, I will have a shorter time as fully developed non core cities.
Ideally, I'd accept a larger number of small colonies in the early part of the game, let's say before viceroys NI, while later I'd try to develop as quick as I can the colonies i can develop simultaneusly.

 

[unmerged(74371)]

Think about it this way: You build up your one colony, thinking it's good and that it gets you core and money sooner. Fair enough.

But then you want to expand, and suddenly you find that Castille and England have taken all the good gold-producing and friendly-native provinces while you were building up your one colony.

My advice:
First, send one colonist to ALL the provinces you want (like provinces with gold mines, sugar etc.), then just let them stay there at 100 population.

SECOND, when you're done sending one colonist to the colonies you plan to expand, build up one province at a time, starting with the best ones. Replace any of the colonies that are lost to natives as you go. It works quite well.

 

[unmerged(67849)]

I do both. I like to build my colonies, but then there are times where spreading quickly has benefits. Like at times where you can colonize 6-8 provinces and landlock 10 more. If other countries don't have access to the territories they can't colonize them so sometimes it's wise to spread quickly to reserve territories for later expansion.

Also I'll increase colonies from 100 to 500-700 quickly and then sometimes let them sit for awhile. My thinking behind this is: assuming a provinces growth rate is the same at all sizes (i'm pretty sure it does fluctuate though) A province with 100 colonists and a growth rate of 10% per year will gain 10 colonists per year. A colony with 700 colonists and a growth rate of 10% will gain 70 per year. Once they grow and get over 900 colonists I then throw one last colonist in to make sure I gain the native population when it turns into a town.

 

[TKaz84]

I will also build up colonies more quickly if the natives are more aggressive, to minimize the potential conflict that can arise.

 

[unmerged(3474)]

Keep the colonial events in mind. It can be very powerful if you have the ducats.

Once you get a level 1 colony, you get a chance to have the first of a series of colonial events. The first "encounter natives" event gives three options: (1) increase random colony pop by 200 at a cost of 300 native population; (2) increase base tax value by 1; or (3) ignore natives and lose 1 prestige. If you chose option 1, you may get the "expand colonial borders" event (the powerful one). Chose option 2 or 3 and you get less favorable events which generally reduce native population (I forget which ones they are). The "expand colonial border" event gives you the option of paying 30 ducats to gain 200 population in a random colony + 1 colonist and your placement chance is increased and colonist cost are reduced for a few months. It seems that if you keep choosing this option, you will always get the "expand colonial borders" event - I have had it probably 10-15 times in a 15 year window and really boosted my colonial empire.

Since you must have at least 1 level 1 colony to trigger the "expand colonial borders" event, it is important to keep adding new level 1 colonies (or keep old ones at level 1) so you can trigger the event. I think that the more level 1 colonies you have, the greater chance of the event (not sure, but it seems to happen). Again, you need to have a good deal of money to benefit from this event, but I find myself running out of colonists quickly as Castille, so it is a no-brainer to go for it.

To address the native uprising issue, I have had 25+ colonies as Castille for 15+ years and had 1 native uprising. The uprising happened in a 1500 native pop province with 5 aggressiveness, 3 ferocity - so I was begging for trouble there. In my experience, if aggressiveness is under 5, natives never have an uprising unless you march troops into the province (always send them into port via ship and you won't have a problem). Even at 5 or more aggressiveness, uprisings are extremely rare (and probably a function of ferocity). Keeping a single regiment in a risky province typically protects against any colonist losses and at worst will reduce native pop by 100 for each uprising (assuming the province has a native pop of 1500 or less - obviously the big native pop provinces are more difficult to deal with).