Tropical needs to go

[Pilon23]

Heh, in my last South American native game I was wiped out by a joint venture of Spain and Portugal in 1482. That was cute.

In my last North American native game, Britain started colonizing the hell out of North America starting in 1524. They also decided to send 40k troops to establish "dialogue", which is a refreshing contrast to history.

In my last Siberian tribe game, I was under constant assault, sometimes by 7 nations at a time - many of them from (former) North American colonies of all places. Can someone explain why I, in Siberia, have to defend myself against the "United States of America", a 4 province colonial nation, in 1740? What exactly is the damn allure of Siberia, by the way? Had to abandon that game, not because I was losing territory, but because all of my provinces were under siege for nearly 50 years (at the cost of perhaps 10 million western lives through attrition due to massive fortifications and attrition stacking).

In most games I still see the Americas (North and South) almost completely colonized by the mid 1700s. Hell, by that time they're usually independent nations. The combination of both the colonial nation and the parent nation colonizing is enough to offset any new provinces.

If anything, Western colonialism starts way too early, is generally way too aggressive (except perhaps in the case of the Spanish), and is far more successful than it was historically.

Do you play on hard, with lucky nations, and AI bonuses by any chance? This is way different from anything I've experienced on normal without lucky nations/AI bonuses.

 

[Less]

In my experience the AI chance to DoW you as a pagan goes up exponentially the stronger you are. If you are weak they treat you not much differently from any other native, if you are strong they are absolutely chomping at the bit to attack and dismantle you the instant they know you exist.

 

[Camtheman]

They should move some of that Tropical to Africa and get rid of some of that ugly wasteland. Maybe it would improve the AI colonizing south America and make them wait for Africa untill the 1800s like they really did.

 

[-Malovane-]

Do you play on hard, with lucky nations, and AI bonuses by any chance? This is way different from anything I've experienced on normal without lucky nations/AI bonuses.

The games I indicated were normal difficulty, lucky nations on, and AI bonuses off. Basically, the baseline game.

I do prefer lucky off, but the evil and crafty game keeps resetting it to on, and I forget to double-check sometimes - only find out until 150 years have passed.

Luck on or off, though, the AI still starts colonizing 30-40 years before it has any real business doing so. Without luck, however, the results are a bit more realistic over time. Fewer instances of powerful states like "California" declaring independence in 1700, heh.

Personally, I think they need to move the explorer/conquistador idea up the tree a little bit so that it will be accessible, on average, in the 1490-1500 time-frame for early adopters like Portugal/Spain. Seeing Portuguese ships flitting off the coasts of the Americas in the early 1460s can be aggravating. As it stands, turning lucky off just delays it for a few years at best.

Arctic provinces should probably be just as harsh to colonize, if not more so, than tropical. However, natives in these areas should have a much easier time in colonizing them. Perhaps a nullification of the negatives (or possibly even a bonus) to native colony growth in preferred territory is warranted, as they have adapted to these climates. Perhaps a simple bonus for same culture group/religion areas. Colonial powers (Spain in particular) would then be able to conquest for the jungle areas that seem to lag behind a little in the present state of the game. You might end up getting something relatively historical in this case.

Also, I would like to see a system where colonial nations could purchase territories from native tribes (which could relocate), so as to better emulate what some other colonial powers did.

Finally, the cost of colonizing overseas should be far greater than colonizing a province right next to you. Perhaps a solitary colony at maximal colonial range should cost 15-20g a month, 10g for a colony near an existing overseas colony, 5g for an "overseas" colony on the same continent, and 2g (the minimum) for a neighboring province. As colonial range increases, the cost should scale down. Ie, a colony at 50% of your range should cost 50% to maintain. The first colony should be hard to get going, and costly, but get cheaper as the game progresses.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Personally, I think they need to move the explorer/conquistador idea up the tree a little bit so that it will be accessible, on average, in the 1490-1500 time-frame for early adopters like Portugal/Spain. Seeing Portuguese ships flitting off the coasts of the Americas in the early 1460s can be aggravating.

Portugal begins the game with 2 explorers, so moving QFTNW won't help there.