Strategies for Indpendence

[Xbox Live Comedian.]

Hey everyone.

Does anyone have good strategies for winning? I love this game. However, I usually get crushed by the European Forces.

Any advice?

[Mad Prophet]

I love this game too, since the original back in the 90s. It's unique in many ways.

Are you playing in vanilla or with some mod?

You can search on civfanatics civ4col
There's a guide with some tips and strategy that you can try.

I'm trying to remember something that can help you, but I'm sure there are more experienced players who can shed better light for you.

[Mad Prophet]

for independence war:

Try to declare independence with the greatest amount of rebel sentiments possible, if I remember correctly your military units get a bonus.

Have your dragons and soldiers attack from tiles like jungles and forests, since those tiles have better defense and it gives you a bonus when attacking the king's soldiers (ref).

Basically you must take the conflict outside your settlements, since the refs are not familiar with the terrain of the new world and there you can take advantage.

In the settlements leave artillery and soldiers to defend.
Have the defense of your main settlement fully updated, fortress I think.

There is no point in making naval battle, since the king's ships are very powerful and it's a waste of resources to build a strong navy.

Before declaring independence, you should already have at least one city dedicated to creating guns.
Another city with a lot of food that is dedicated to breeding horses
A couple of cities with a lot of food so that they grow quickly and give you new units to turn into military ones

Educate free colonist to be veteran soldiers at the university.

[Mad Prophet]

There are also other strategies from the beginning of the game such as:

Bell Rush: where you focus from the beginning on generating many bells per turn to achieve a rebellious sentiment in your cities and reach 50% as soon as possible (in each city), this way you get a bonus to production.
Also to obtain the greatest number of Founding Fathers.
There is a downside to this strategy, as the King will become alarmed by the rapid rebel growth and will more frequently add military units to the king's army pool.

Scout Rush: Have several veteran scouts from the beginning to explore the map and get the most gold.

All the tips I mentioned work in a vanilla game.

If you play with a mod like "We The People" that is massive, the experience is different in many aspects, but also works I think.

[anaxagoreselpis]

The only times I have completed the game is by having an indestructible navy. The Kings forces never all arrive at the same time and target your main base so you know where to defend. With three fleets of ships of the line, maybe 8 ships in each fleet, you should be able to defeat the Kings Navy. For this to work I had three cities that could produce ships of the line every 7 turns or whatever it is in end game. I played on marathon with we the people mod as Jens Munk.

[Xbox Live Comedian.]

Thanks everyone.

[Icårus]

t. guy who's first videogame was literally the original CD-ROM for this game
*The original game had about 10% the bell factor towards the king adding units to the REF, so the MOST IMPORTANT thing to win the port (rather than the original CD-ROM which was fine) is to generate zero bells until you're ready to declare independence, then race to 50% as fast as you can. Minimizing the size of the REF used to be a factor in decision-making, but it's a bug in the port that the King takes 5 turns to churn out 100 units.

Aside from the aforementioned bug:
1. Have a migrant workforce. A stack of lumberjacks, carpenters, wagons, and pioneers. Treat them like their own city - they need their own farmer and fisherman. Once you have a unit, build another. 2x-3x depending on map size. This keeps you in the mindset of separating your core economy from your mobile assets. Efficiency = food = colonists.
2. Make your young colonists sleep outside like the dogs they are. This will communicate to them the truth of their existence: that they are cannon fodder for the amusement of the gods.
3. Build fortresses inland. The King will magically take settlements on the coastline. Your Bastion city should be landlocked, on a hill, next to an ore mine and green trees, producing cannon continually.
4.a. Every town with good farming should produce horses.
4.b. Every town with good farming should support 1-2 factories. (Do not have a central factory hub. This is a single-point of failure that will end you.)
5.a. Build an arsenal (gun factory) every time you build a money factory.
5.b. Leave a couple carpenters to build ships and wagons.
5.c. Station massive caravans of horse and gun near your wretched colonists, foreshadowing their future.
6. When you're feeling sufficiently arrogant, (i.e. you have twice the quantity of the King's REF units, in poor bloody colonists, with a horse and a musket for every man) go ahead and hire an army of elder statesmen to convince the mothers and fathers of those wretched souls that they should in fact enter the meat-grinder. DO NOT DO THIS UNTIL YOU ARE SUFFICIENTLY ARROGANT! IT IS A RACE!
7. Get Ethen Allen. The bonus to attack he gives is critical to the preservation of our democracy.
8.a Only build a fortress where you intend to make a stand. Anywhere else you will eventually have to purchase from His Majesty's forces. Don't make Poor Bloody Colonist assault a star fortress when he can pillage a village, eh?
8.b. Put ten million cannons in every fortress.
9. AFTER you declare independence, arm and mount your PBCs. They continue to live outside. They are not to touch the luxuries of civilization until they earn it. The King's forces aren't so tough. They'll wilt in our sweltering jungles, and freeze to a halt in our endless tundra. But you try to fight 'em in a comfy pub over a tug 'n a nug you've got another thing coming. FIGHT OUTSIDE.
10. Keep it up. Might see a street with your name on it some day.