1602 A.D.

Most scenarios start the player with a single ship and less than 30 pioneers (the lowest level of pilgrims). Few scenarios begin with even a single soldier, or a ship capable of combat. (Talk about poor and ahistorical planning - even The Mayflower had soldiers!) These people can build huts to live in and collect very basic products (fish, game, logs). They can also clear land for sheep farms, and can then build butcher shops and weavers' huts (to make meat and cloth). They can also build a chapel - after all, most of the colonists who set out from Europe came seeking religious as well as economic and political freedom.

The initial settlement is more than just a building block for the future. It is the only future available to the player. There are no supply convoys or cheat keys that will bring a second wave of settlers or commodities. There are "free traders" who arrive to buy and sell commodities (if the player is willing or able to pay) at the warehouse, but these do not always have what the player needs or can afford. (Setting prices that the player is willing to pay is not well explained in the rulebook - refer to the "Trade" section of the "Hints" on the web site to learn how to do that trade well). Players can send their ship to trade with other players (computer or human), but most of those want the same commodities the player wants - and are selling the same commodities the player makes. A player who sells off tools, logs and bricks to a computer/human player is helping his rival win the game, so the trade-off had better be for something vital that the colonists need or demand).

Warehouses and marketplaces are cheap. Players should build several of both. First, they extend the area of the island under the player's administration - this means one can build over a larger area of the island. Second, each marketplace comes with two carts. Carts automatically go around picking up and distributing goods. The only way to get more goods picked up and distributed is to have more carts, and the only way to get more carts is to build marketplaces. Third, warehouses and marketplaces are where the people store goods they produce. If there is no space available for storage, the goods stay on the farms and shops. Fourth, and perhaps most important of all: the more warehouses a colony has, the more free traders will visit. No free-trading ships (non-player merchantmen) will appear until there are at least two warehouses in play (if two players each have a warehouse, that counts as the two needed, but in scenarios with only one player at start, that player needs two warehouses, or no free traders will show). Thus each warehouse attracts additional traders, which gives the player more chances to buy and sell goods without having to enrich other players.


A city takes shape.	Sailing the Spainish Main.

Keep the People Happy (Sticks and Stones)

Pioneers (the most basic colonist) have needs and expectations that must be met by the player - or they and the colony will not evolve. Pioneers will require commodities (like cloth) so that some of them can advance to become settlers. Once a colony has some settlers (not all colonists advance - someone has to do the chores), it will be able to construct a quarry and a stonemason. A quarry can be built in a mountain that has an ore symbol (as discovered in the exploring "eye" sequence before landing). Immediately next to it should be built a stonemason. The mason will walk to the quarry, chip out stone and take it back to the mason shop to make bricks. (Now we all know that bricks are made from straw and mud - we all saw Charlton Heston as Moses making bricks in The Ten Commandments - but these are really STONE blocks, not "bricks" - perhaps it is an error in translation from the original German.)

Bricks are vital to making more advanced buildings, and for paving streets. Paved streets allow carters to move faster to collect and distribute commodities. One brick paves one square of road. Bricks also allow people to improve their dwellings (a la Sim-City, Pharaoh, and Caesar III,). Improved dwellings hold more people, allow them to advance to higher levels and improve the tax base.

Population increases based on the availability of food and housing. Food comes from fishermen, hunters and the farms. Sheep and later cattle farms give a butcher the raw material to produce extra food. This feeds more people, and once the colony reaches 75 settlers (again, on the "Hint" printout) grain farms become available. This allows the construction of the windmill and the bakery, which together turn grain into flour and then into bread. Other farms also become available, depending upon the agricultural suitability of the island (as determined in the "exploring eye.") Tobacco, vines, sugarcane and other crops can be planted and buildings (distilleries, mills etc.) also become available.

When building a farm of any type (other than sheep/cattle) remember to actually PLANT CROPS. The rules forget to explain this. As the building menu expands to include the farms, the crop icons are shown next to the farm buildings available on the menu. A player should note that if an island is NOT suited to grow a particular crop, that just because the icon is in the menu does not mean it will grow. Every island grows livestock and grain, and usually supports two or three other types of crop (only).

Are you enjoying this Review? Here you can send it to a friend.

Protected under copyright and international treaties. No portion of this web site or the files contained therein may be obtained for other than personal non-commercial use nor may they be reproduced or otherwise redistributed. Violations will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under the law and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties.

All other copyrights and products mentioned on The Wargamer are the property of their respective companies.