Some gameplay tips you may have forgotten or not used in the first place. -Pressing "G" when your ship is right next to an ocean square and choosing to go to Europe, makes your ship go to Europe without using an extra movement point (say you have 4 MPs and the ocean is 4 squares away, normally you reach the ocean and THEN, on the next turn, you can direct the ship to go to Europe. By pressing "g" while NEXT to an ocean square sends the ship to Europe in the current turn, saving you one turn. -You CAN use the petty criminal as a scout, actually it is the second best use for criminals after blessing them as missionaries! If you enter native villages, and you should except perhaps Arawak villages - they tend to use scouts for target practice with their tomahawks - the worst that can happen is that your criminal will be left a criminal, otherwise he may be trained as a seasoned scout! If using them as missionaries, there's a founding Father that raises them to act as genuine Jesuit Missionaries, can't remember his name (Brebeuf maybe?) -You are correct, villages train the first free colonist or indentured servant that enters and lives among the natives while capitol villages (the ones with the yellow star on the village icon on the map) train as many as you wish.
I played this when it came out, and I'm re-playing it intensively, right now, (2022) - and I learned three things I didn't know. So, thanks. (I play with the music off - and now I remember why). This, and the original "El Tropico" are the best sims of their type, even today. “Upon all new settlements the Spaniards make, the first thing they do is build a church. The first thing the Dutch do… is to build them a fort. But the first thing you English do… is to set up a tavern or drinking house.” - Thomas Walduck, 1708
5:15 - FWIW, you can hit Escape to get a new FF list (usually next turn but later on same turn, and notably this does not apply to the latest versions of the game, though it still applies on 2.25 which is my go to version). Very useful to know about. Also, Jefferson is IMO the best FF to get first..50% bonus to Liberty Bell production is nothing to sneeze at as it helps you get all subsequent FFs that much faster. On a related note, I consider La Salle the single worst FF as he locks you into any colony you put three or more colonists into (he gives you a free stockage at 3 pop and you can't disband a city with a stockade) and I'm a big believer/user of temporary colonies to go after Silver among other things early on.
I did not know you could mulligan the founding father list - this is something I'll definitely try to remember next time I play. Thanks for the tips. :-)
@@kebzero Sure! Anyone who likes the original Colonization some 27 years later is ok by me. :) Having looked it up since I first posted, hitting Escape to get a new FF list was taken out with the 3.0 patch. Version 2.25 isn't hard to get, though, and if you want and have trouble finding it elsewhere, I have a copy handy I'd be happy to email you - grand total of something like 4-5 MB IIRC. Also FWIW - I have the GOG.com version which is just plug and play, no messing with DOSBOX required, but I just copy my 2.25 gameplay directory in and everything works great, so you get the best of both worlds.
The game definitely left an impression with me too - otherwise I wouldn't still play it, two decades plus down the road. :-p I do wish they'd make a proper, from-the-ground remake of it, though. The Civ4Col version was such a poor graft, in my opinion.
kebzero Eheh. :D Yes, I think the same too, it's a shame that the remake has not the quality that a great game like this deserve. Always hope for a new remake, it will be amazing with the graphic of the new civilization. :)
@@kebzero The thing with these older games that are generally regarded as "awesome plus!", like Civilization 1, 2 and maybe 3, Colonization, Master of Magic, Heroes of Might and Magic 1, 2 and 3 and so on, is that gameplay and "depth" was more important than graphics! Nowadays it is all 3D and camera angles and high end graphics for a freaking STRATEGY game, that needs no advanced graphics at all - if it has the other elements of gameplay covered. This is why we don't see games like these anymore, people "forgot" how to make great games with limited resources.
Master of Magic is definitely on my 'to-play' list, I just haven't had time for it yet. At the moment, I'm considering a MoM game once this Colonization game wraps up. It has been quite a few years since I played MoM though, so I'll be very rusty.
When I was young, I have never noticed the hidden resources pattern : land : 4 blocks to west from pine tree, feather, dear or ore sea : 3 blocks to the west from a fish if it is not a pair of an land bonus what you can check 4 blocks to the east
I'm playing the version that's being sold on Steam; makes my life easier when someone else does all the DosBox wrapping and setup. I believe this is also version 3.0, going by the game files.
Such a shame that this was made in an age where (non-hotseat) multiplayer games were just taking their baby steps. Would have been a great LAN game with simultaneous turn support, but such a feature was not yet a thing in games like this. Bigger shame that no developer has taken the time and spent effort to rectify the issue of missing multiplayer support.
I could, but criminals cannot be educated by visiting native encampments. There's a fairly common event that'll turn an indentured servant or free colonist into a seasoned scout (rather than give a gift or a local map). That would be worth it since it'd save time and get a good scout earlier, which means much higher chance on exploring ruins.
They cannot be trained when visiting a native settlement by the "live among the natives" action, but I am pretty sure criminals can be promoted to seasoned scout by the "we grant you guides" event when they are visiting a village as scouts.
The 1994 MS-DOS game IS NOT DEAD. Yes Civilization IV - Colonization, the 2008 remake, was BAD but now, after all this time, we got something close to perfection. We The People 4.1 (2024), best mod for Civilization IV - Colonization. Jump from 20 to 99 ressources, with all buildings/professions associated, new core concepts for colony management like healthcare/culture/law/happiness. Colonies can exploit 2-tiles radius now, you can then develop vertically if you want. Tons of events during your play forcing you to make choices all the time. You can build a very complex economic system and automate it. New victory conditions for different gameplay. New leaders of course, new tactics. New military or civilian units/chips. So many things I don't remember anymore. Piracy, slavery, all aspects are deeper and more respectful to history rather than political correctness ! You can have famous actresses or dedicated "sex workers" to raise happiness in your colony. You can go FULL slavery if you want, and can maintain order or compensate for happiness "issues". Nothing is free. Total different game and most of all : correctly balanced like the MS-DOS version was originally, but without exploits and serious tactical gameplay. Like you can't have an infinite number of troops/ships in a colony. There is a limitation depending on the level of your port (logic). Try it for nostalgia or else, the community is active (forum/discord) and ready to help. Installation is fairly simple (copy/paste). It's just astonishing to see this old idea, this old excellent game completely alive and better than ever ! A pure gem for any 4X gamer.
In my opinion, the original is plain better designed. The Civ4 remake is in many ways a graft onto the Civ4 engine, something that is very noticeable when you move colonists from one job to another; the engine is not really designed for that. This caused a lot of lag issues for me back in the day, akin to how Civ:Beyond Earth acts for me today (hideously laggy at times). I was also not a fan of the founding fathers becoming unique - the competition for them in Civ4Col is really frustrating, as it doesn't let you customize your empire the way you could in the original. In truth, though, it might be a case of how I had more fun and spent more time with the original.
@@kebzero Glad to hear your perspective! I was introduced to Sid Meier through Civilization III, so I never got to play the original Sid Meier's Colonization. I didn't have too many issues with Civ 4 Colonization that I remember, but I much prefer to play it with the Religion and Revolution mod. I might just have to get Colonization while it's still on sale!
The original did have some weaknesses too (just like the first Civ) - For example, there's no such thing as a border, so the AI will typically move its units right next to your city and fortify, blocking your pioneers from improving those tiles. You can bribe the AI to move their units away, though. If you do pick it up, I hope you'll enjoy it. It's one of those games I still like to pick up and play, 24 years and counting since release. :-)
@@kebzero In my opinion there are 2 frustrating fawl in Civ4Col: 1) as you said the founding fathers become unique (like wonders in civ) and that doesn't fit with Colo mechanics. 2) second one is the Royal Expeditionary Force, that reacts incredibly and only to your liberty bells production by city hall, that force you to produce them with hammers and leave to basic town border.. The Authentic Colonization (TAC) is a great mod from a german fan team that resolve second issue and brings lot of good implementation. Unfortunately does not resolve the first one, and unfortunately I don't why I'm not able to load it anymore :( It's a pity because Civ4Colo should have been a masterpiece.
Joining the club - I was also disappointed when I tried the remake recently. On the technical side it felt disappointingly sluggish and even buggy, resulting in me giving up on it after just a couple of initial tries so far - so I haven't really gotten to try out the mechanics changes that much. In my opinion the old DOS version is the one that most instantly gives me a mood boost. The old windows version sadly lacks the dynamic music, but has some of the DOS version bugs fixed I think, like trade routes not unloading boycotted goods in colonies. There is also the open source clone FreeCol that is fairly good, but again, with the lack of dynamic music it just doesn't give me the real Colonization mood.
I believe others have pointed this out to me as well - I've always assumed that criminals could not be educated this way, as they would not be educated if I sent them on foot. If I remember, I'll use them this way in the future. :-)
I watched a few viceroy gameplays, no one utilized they cycling of founding fathers by simply pressing ESC. This is the best Colonization game btw, someone should get the rights and make an indie game, with multiplayer pls. I know freecol, its not the same wibe.
You shoulda traded your guns from your first soldiers to a tribe (just not an adjacent tribe) and bought their goods. Then the first time you go back to Europe you would have around a thousand gold
Some gameplay tips you may have forgotten or not used in the first place.
-Pressing "G" when your ship is right next to an ocean square and choosing to go to Europe, makes your ship go to Europe without using an extra movement point (say you have 4 MPs and the ocean is 4 squares away, normally you reach the ocean and THEN, on the next turn, you can direct the ship to go to Europe. By pressing "g" while NEXT to an ocean square sends the ship to Europe in the current turn, saving you one turn.
-You CAN use the petty criminal as a scout, actually it is the second best use for criminals after blessing them as missionaries! If you enter native villages, and you should except perhaps Arawak villages - they tend to use scouts for target practice with their tomahawks - the worst that can happen is that your criminal will be left a criminal, otherwise he may be trained as a seasoned scout! If using them as missionaries, there's a founding Father that raises them to act as genuine Jesuit Missionaries, can't remember his name (Brebeuf maybe?)
-You are correct, villages train the first free colonist or indentured servant that enters and lives among the natives while capitol villages (the ones with the yellow star on the village icon on the map) train as many as you wish.
The same goes for left mouse button and selecting the square (from more than one square away)
I played this when it came out, and I'm re-playing it intensively, right now, (2022) - and I learned three things I didn't know. So, thanks. (I play with the music off - and now I remember why).
This, and the original "El Tropico" are the best sims of their type, even today.
“Upon all new settlements the Spaniards make, the first thing they do is build a church. The first thing the Dutch do… is to build them a fort. But the first thing you English do… is to set up a tavern or drinking house.”
- Thomas Walduck, 1708
Hope you do another play-thru of this game...1 of my favorites
Man the music brings back memories.
I switched to another video of this game to get a clearer picture of how this works and now I know a little more its excellent
5:15 - FWIW, you can hit Escape to get a new FF list (usually next turn but later on same turn, and notably this does not apply to the latest versions of the game, though it still applies on 2.25 which is my go to version). Very useful to know about. Also, Jefferson is IMO the best FF to get first..50% bonus to Liberty Bell production is nothing to sneeze at as it helps you get all subsequent FFs that much faster. On a related note, I consider La Salle the single worst FF as he locks you into any colony you put three or more colonists into (he gives you a free stockage at 3 pop and you can't disband a city with a stockade) and I'm a big believer/user of temporary colonies to go after Silver among other things early on.
I did not know you could mulligan the founding father list - this is something I'll definitely try to remember next time I play. Thanks for the tips. :-)
@@kebzero Sure! Anyone who likes the original Colonization some 27 years later is ok by me. :) Having looked it up since I first posted, hitting Escape to get a new FF list was taken out with the 3.0 patch. Version 2.25 isn't hard to get, though, and if you want and have trouble finding it elsewhere, I have a copy handy I'd be happy to email you - grand total of something like 4-5 MB IIRC. Also FWIW - I have the GOG.com version which is just plug and play, no messing with DOSBOX required, but I just copy my 2.25 gameplay directory in and everything works great, so you get the best of both worlds.
Love this game, remember me when i was a child and played it on amiga with my dad. :)
The game definitely left an impression with me too - otherwise I wouldn't still play it, two decades plus down the road. :-p
I do wish they'd make a proper, from-the-ground remake of it, though. The Civ4Col version was such a poor graft, in my opinion.
kebzero Eheh. :D Yes, I think the same too, it's a shame that the remake has not the quality that a great game like this deserve. Always hope for a new remake, it will be amazing with the graphic of the new civilization. :)
@@kebzero The thing with these older games that are generally regarded as "awesome plus!", like Civilization 1, 2 and maybe 3, Colonization, Master of Magic, Heroes of Might and Magic 1, 2 and 3 and so on, is that gameplay and "depth" was more important than graphics! Nowadays it is all 3D and camera angles and high end graphics for a freaking STRATEGY game, that needs no advanced graphics at all - if it has the other elements of gameplay covered. This is why we don't see games like these anymore, people "forgot" how to make great games with limited resources.
@@kebzero there is FreeCol (open source remake)
@@MaegnasMw Total War suffers from this too. Rome 1 had so much more detail than Rome 2. Rome 2 does look pretty though... lol
I used to go all the way around SA, to land in Peru and emulate establishing the first Viceroyalty, the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Where did you put New Amsterdam and Fort Orange
Enjoying watching some of your content, just wondered if you had thought about doing a let's play on Master of Magic?
Master of Magic is definitely on my 'to-play' list, I just haven't had time for it yet. At the moment, I'm considering a MoM game once this Colonization game wraps up.
It has been quite a few years since I played MoM though, so I'll be very rusty.
I look forward too it. Thanks :)
This is still my favorite game.
When I was young, I have never noticed the hidden resources pattern :
land : 4 blocks to west from pine tree, feather, dear or ore
sea : 3 blocks to the west from a fish if it is not a pair of an land bonus what you can check 4 blocks to the east
Thanks for the video
What version of Colonization is this? Mine is 3.0 -- 7 Feb 95 Got it from the Internet Archive page
I'm playing the version that's being sold on Steam; makes my life easier when someone else does all the DosBox wrapping and setup. I believe this is also version 3.0, going by the game files.
Cool! I'm pulling up a first row chair 8)
Hope you'll enjoy the series, and thank you for watching. :-)
Such a shame that this was made in an age where (non-hotseat) multiplayer games were just taking their baby steps. Would have been a great LAN game with simultaneous turn support, but such a feature was not yet a thing in games like this. Bigger shame that no developer has taken the time and spent effort to rectify the issue of missing multiplayer support.
If this game had a multiplayer version I would play it all day long
Civilization IV: Colonization has multiplayer
You could have made the criminal into a scout and would have kept the free colonist producing four liberty bells.
I could, but criminals cannot be educated by visiting native encampments. There's a fairly common event that'll turn an indentured servant or free colonist into a seasoned scout (rather than give a gift or a local map). That would be worth it since it'd save time and get a good scout earlier, which means much higher chance on exploring ruins.
They cannot be trained when visiting a native settlement by the "live among the natives" action, but I am pretty sure criminals can be promoted to seasoned scout by the "we grant you guides" event when they are visiting a village as scouts.
That'd be news to me. Never seen them get that free promotion. Will have to try that some day, if I remember. :-)
@@kebzero Just had one criminal scout successfully promoted by receiving guides from the Sioux, 2 Minutes ago. Colonization Version 3.0.
I stand corrected, then. Will definitely use criminals for rookie scouts from now on. Thanks for the tip. :-)
The 1994 MS-DOS game IS NOT DEAD. Yes Civilization IV - Colonization, the 2008 remake, was BAD but now, after all this time, we got something close to perfection. We The People 4.1 (2024), best mod for Civilization IV - Colonization.
Jump from 20 to 99 ressources, with all buildings/professions associated, new core concepts for colony management like healthcare/culture/law/happiness. Colonies can exploit 2-tiles radius now, you can then develop vertically if you want. Tons of events during your play forcing you to make choices all the time. You can build a very complex economic system and automate it. New victory conditions for different gameplay. New leaders of course, new tactics. New military or civilian units/chips. So many things I don't remember anymore. Piracy, slavery, all aspects are deeper and more respectful to history rather than political correctness ! You can have famous actresses or dedicated "sex workers" to raise happiness in your colony. You can go FULL slavery if you want, and can maintain order or compensate for happiness "issues". Nothing is free.
Total different game and most of all : correctly balanced like the MS-DOS version was originally, but without exploits and serious tactical gameplay. Like you can't have an infinite number of troops/ships in a colony. There is a limitation depending on the level of your port (logic).
Try it for nostalgia or else, the community is active (forum/discord) and ready to help. Installation is fairly simple (copy/paste).
It's just astonishing to see this old idea, this old excellent game completely alive and better than ever ! A pure gem for any 4X gamer.
Quick question: What makes this game superior to the Civ 4 remake? I'm just a bit curious
In my opinion, the original is plain better designed. The Civ4 remake is in many ways a graft onto the Civ4 engine, something that is very noticeable when you move colonists from one job to another; the engine is not really designed for that. This caused a lot of lag issues for me back in the day, akin to how Civ:Beyond Earth acts for me today (hideously laggy at times). I was also not a fan of the founding fathers becoming unique - the competition for them in Civ4Col is really frustrating, as it doesn't let you customize your empire the way you could in the original. In truth, though, it might be a case of how I had more fun and spent more time with the original.
@@kebzero Glad to hear your perspective! I was introduced to Sid Meier through Civilization III, so I never got to play the original Sid Meier's Colonization. I didn't have too many issues with Civ 4 Colonization that I remember, but I much prefer to play it with the Religion and Revolution mod.
I might just have to get Colonization while it's still on sale!
The original did have some weaknesses too (just like the first Civ) - For example, there's no such thing as a border, so the AI will typically move its units right next to your city and fortify, blocking your pioneers from improving those tiles. You can bribe the AI to move their units away, though.
If you do pick it up, I hope you'll enjoy it. It's one of those games I still like to pick up and play, 24 years and counting since release. :-)
@@kebzero In my opinion there are 2 frustrating fawl in Civ4Col:
1) as you said the founding fathers become unique (like wonders in civ) and that doesn't fit with Colo mechanics.
2) second one is the Royal Expeditionary Force, that reacts incredibly and only to your liberty bells production by city hall, that force you to produce them with hammers and leave to basic town border..
The Authentic Colonization (TAC) is a great mod from a german fan team that resolve second issue and brings lot of good implementation.
Unfortunately does not resolve the first one, and unfortunately I don't why I'm not able to load it anymore :(
It's a pity because Civ4Colo should have been a masterpiece.
Joining the club - I was also disappointed when I tried the remake recently. On the technical side it felt disappointingly sluggish and even buggy, resulting in me giving up on it after just a couple of initial tries so far - so I haven't really gotten to try out the mechanics changes that much. In my opinion the old DOS version is the one that most instantly gives me a mood boost. The old windows version sadly lacks the dynamic music, but has some of the DOS version bugs fixed I think, like trade routes not unloading boycotted goods in colonies. There is also the open source clone FreeCol that is fairly good, but again, with the lack of dynamic music it just doesn't give me the real Colonization mood.
you should make criminals scouts as the villages will upgrade him...
I believe others have pointed this out to me as well - I've always assumed that criminals could not be educated this way, as they would not be educated if I sent them on foot. If I remember, I'll use them this way in the future. :-)
@@kebzero As scouts it works :)
I watched a few viceroy gameplays, no one utilized they cycling of founding fathers by simply pressing ESC. This is the best Colonization game btw, someone should get the rights and make an indie game, with multiplayer pls. I know freecol, its not the same wibe.
Evet, keske bunun multiplayeri olsa
That's an exploit bruh.
If you goto: Amsterdam, you can glitch your way to Europe in one turn less
You shoulda traded your guns from your first soldiers to a tribe (just not an adjacent tribe) and bought their goods. Then the first time you go back to Europe you would have around a thousand gold
That can easily backfire if the natives ever go hostile. Especially if they get horses from you too.