Thoughts on Spanish Canada and Iberian colonizers in general

[TheDungen]

Once long ago it was common for Spain to colonize Canada then ytou patched the game and they stopped colonzing places they could not stream trade back ti sevilla from.

But now lately Spain seems almost obsessevely colonizing Canada, ignoring south america and mexico for it.

Please do something about the logic the AI uses for which regions to colonize. It may also be worth having spain be a but more bullish with regards to Portugal, As soon as portugal start colonizing ina a region Spain gives up on it completly.

Also with the greatly icnreased number of tags in the new world, indonesia and polynesia I think you should consider dialing down how good the colonizing nations are at colonizing. It seems they colonize everyhting that can be colonized very quickly while in reality many of the island of the pacific and the interior of America and Africa were only colonized very late in this period. Instead you should buf the ability and tendency of the colonizers to actually conquer natives. Because right now they seem to mostly ignore them until the natives have reformed at which point conquering them become much harder.

 

[Adartho]

I definitely agree that Iberians get too much of a preference when colonising, it would be nice to see other tags get the spotlight (especially when it comes to some minors like holland or denmark that could potentially colonise). The issue that Paradox faces I think is balancing the fact that Spain took some parts of the Americas extremely quickly with how long it took for North America, Australia or Africa to be colonised. There's no good way to make it historical in that regard without railroading, which isn't particularly fun.

 

[TheDungen]

I definitely agree that Iberians get too much of a preference when colonising, it would be nice to see other tags get the spotlight (especially when it comes to some minors like holland or denmark that could potentially colonise). The issue that Paradox faces I think is balancing the fact that Spain took some parts of the Americas extremely quickly with how long it took for North America, Australia or Africa to be colonised. There's no good way to make it historical in that regard without railroading, which isn't particularly fun.

I'm sure it could be better though, if they would just constantly fine tune it.

 

[MadDoctorScientist]

Portugal should most certainly take its mission tree more seriously.

The issue with assorted Spanish settlers seems to be that the colonisation systemn is too easy and generic. There are not nearly enough provinces in the Americas (I keep complaining about this), and while some can be settled with a population of 200 (Greenland), some others should need a slightly bigger number around the 1000 it now takes. And the Native Attacks should not end automatically once that limit is reached.

Having colonies was one of the hardest and most costly things an European power could do at the time, and it is not without reason that the Basque, Swedish, Maltese/Hospitaller, Danish, Scottish, etc., colonies failed in the long term.

If Portugal would focus on trade and the East early on, meanwhile Spain does not gain the colonies for granted (REMEMBER, they oft conquered them militarily instead of settling empty territory), it would be a start.

The Dutch being an special case alongside the French of both settling empty territory and milking a weakened Iberian Union, but in a slightly different way than what the British did. And because the Dutch per se only appear late in the game, that adds even more peculiarity to them.
Reworking Colonisation and Mission Trees would make more sense there.

And then there is the issue of how Colonial Nations work, the lack of monuments in the New World, the tendency of Amerindian tribes undergoing Westernisation a bit too fast, and so on.

 

[TheDungen]

Having colonies was one of the hardest and most costly things an European power could do at the time, and it is not without reason that the Basque, Swedish, Maltese/Hospitaller, Danish, Scottish, etc., colonies failed in the long term.

I agree with most of what you said except this. Most of these didn't have their colonies fail but rather they were conquered by other colonial powers as the new world colonies were consolidated to larger blocks.

 

[MadDoctorScientist]

I agree with most of what you said except this. Most of these didn't have their colonies fail but rather they were conquered by other colonial powers as the new world colonies were consolidated to larger blocks.

...a faliure at survival.

 

[TheDungen]

...a faliure at survival.

Not of the colonies. They survived just under new management. Often they were signed over as part of poeace treaties that happened in Europe rather than having fallen to outside conqueror themselves.

 

[Hermerico]

Agreed, colonization in general is too fast, but Portugal always, and I mean ALWAYS massively overperforms in their colonisation of the Americas, while simultaneously failing to conquer any of their historical holdings in the Indian Ocean, except Goa (by event).

Portugal is essentially a much weaker version of Spain, having the exact same colonial playstyle. While in reality the Spanish conquest and colonization of the Americas and Portuguese conquest of a trade network in the Indian Ocean, were entirely different in nature.
It would be way more interesting if these tags played differently as well.

 

[TheDungen]

Agreed, colonization in general is too fast, but Portugal always, and I mean ALWAYS massively overperforms in their colonisation of the Americas, while simultaneously failing to conquer any of their historical holdings in the Indian Ocean, except Goa (by event).

Portugal is essentially a much weaker version of Spain, having the exact same colonial playstyle. While in reality the Spanish conquest and colonization of the Americas and Portuguese conquest of a trade network in the Indian Ocean, were entirely different in nature.
It would be way more interesting if these tags played differently as well.

Completly agree. I think it should probably take manpower to colonize in colonial provinces. That way Portual would do what it really did and colonize fewer but higher value provinces. It would also slow down Spain and make it more of a "Do I want to colonize or make war on the natives" thing.

 

[Hermerico]

Completly agree. I think it should probably take manpower to colonize in colonial provinces. That way Portual would do what it really did and colonize fewer but higher value provinces. It would also slow down Spain and make it more of a "Do I want to colonize or make war on the natives" thing.

I think settler growth should in some way be tied down to the total development of core provinces of your main culture, so a large, more populated nation like Castile would naturally be faster than a smaller, less populated one like Portugal (or Brittany) in a organic way, especially if the colonizer gets reduced to a single island in the middle of the Atlantic.

 

[MadDoctorScientist]

Not of the colonies. They survived just under new management. Often they were signed over as part of poeace treaties that happened in Europe rather than having fallen to outside conqueror themselves.

We are arguing in semantics here. Overall, the point is that before long, New Amsterdam turns into New York, and similar.

 

[MadDoctorScientist]

By the way, my Steam thread on Tordesillas and a convoluted one about stuff. And ramblings about Portugal.

Did I mention there are not nearly enough provinces in the New World, and the world in general?

 

[YellowPress]

By the way, my Steam thread on Tordesillas and a convoluted one about stuff. And ramblings about Portugal.

Did I mention there are not nearly enough provinces in the New World, and the world in general?

Why would you want even more new world provinces

 

[MadDoctorScientist]

Why would you want even more new world provinces

I. - giving the colonies stuff to do.

II. - to make the United States, Mexican Empire, Brazilian Empire and assorted Bolivar-San Martín nations worth playing after starting the game in Europe.

III. - the world gets settled way too fast as it is.

IV. - more provinces in general is usually a good thing. With more culture, events, details and whatnot.

V. - making war against Amerindian nations less boring.

VI. - making Amerindian wars against Europe/colonies less boring.

VII. - more monuments.

VIII. - making going to war something worth of strategy and planning, as a war simulator should be.

IX. - the hermit.

X. - making managing nations, specially a colonial power, something worth of strategy and planning, as a administration simulator should be.

XI. - did I mention number four?

etc.