Do i want colonial nations? are they a good thing?

[billy]

i'm new and on my first game and set up a few colonies.

I read if there are 5 colonies in a region they form a colonial nation . IS this something i want to encourage? should i make 5 in one region to get this to happen. How does it work if another nation has a colony there?

I read the wiki and wasnt really any wiser on whether it was good for me or not.

edit- I also just realised trade company's are an option , lol , lot to learn in this game , any advice on this be welcome

[somnia et musica]

You have no choice.

[billy]

Originally posted by Yung Mythrows:

You have no choice.

ok good to know it just happens , but is it a good thing i want and should make happen by colonising 5 places in a region? or something to avoid ?

bot sure how it intereacts with trading companies.

[Alta ♥]

If you want to avoid it you can statify it however once you have 10 provinces in a colonial nation you get an extra merchant. It being it's own nation it will earn way more money than you would if you owned it.

The most important thing about colonial nations is trade, they produce a large amount of trade resources which you can siphon off to your trade node of choice and reep the benefits. If you get gold then you will get transports which send you a certain amount of gold after a certain period of time.

I used to worry about them too but trust me, apart from ruining one tagging and having a hideous flag it's a good thing and a reasonably fun mechanic to play with.

Oh yeah and colonial nations can declare their own wars and colonize for themselves.

[Kagemin]

Colonial nations can only exist in the colonial regions, so the Americas and Oceania. They will immediately spawn once you have 5 cores in a colonial region. They are very good, but more of a long term investment.
If you help them a bit (either by winning some wars against natives and other colonial nations for them, and helping them with rebels, or by sending them money via subsidies) they become a decent power in themselves, send you money, and transfer trade power to you. They can get you into trouble if a war between them and another colonial nation escalates though, since it can get you in a war against other colonizing nations.

Trade companies on the other hand are optional, you can add provinces in the Trade regions, so Africa, India, and (south) east Asia. You will get much lower taxes and manpower from those provinces, but increased trade power. So generally you will want to provinces with trade centers, river estuaries etc to boost your trade power. It will also negate unrest from wrong religion and wrong culture.

Additionally, both colonial nations and trade companies can give you additional merchants once they grow big/powerful enough. It's 10 provinces for colonial nations and more than 50% of the trade power in their node for trade companies. Combined with the additional trade power you get from then, this can result in insane amounts of money from trade.

[billy]

thanks.

What actually happens when the colonial nation forms? is it a vassal to me or just a completely independent nation? thats the bit i dont understand. It took as lot of effort to make all the colonies i dont want them all just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ off on there own :)

[Dave]

Its like a vassal and it will have a liberty desire % just like a normal vassal.unlike a normal vassal though it wont take any of your diplomatic slots. Make sure you dont dont over do the trade tarrifs from it because it will bring in alot of money but also increase the liberty desire alot for the colonial nation. Also you kinda wanna be as big or bigger than it and stay ahead on diplomatic tech n stuff or else that will increase its liberty desire aswell.

[billy]

Originally posted by Tight Arse Polo:

Its like a vassal and it will have a liberty desire % just like a normal vassal.unlike a normal vassal though it wont take any of your diplomatic slots. Make sure you dont dont over do the trade tarrifs from it because it will bring in alot of money but also increase the liberty desire alot for the colonial nation. Also you kinda wanna be as big or bigger than it and stay ahead on diplomatic tech n stuff or else that will increase its liberty desire aswell.

very helpful , thanks

I will form more colonies and maka one

Can a colonial nation form in the carribean?

[Dave]

yeah you need erm most of the small islands and then err cuba i think or part of cuba and it forms caribeass, what nation are you playing as ?

[Dave]

Also sometimes its better to collect in a node than transfer, i played as mali earlier and i had malian brazil as a colony and assumed you would get more money transfering to the ivory coast but actually i made 3 or 4 more gold just collecting in malian brazil. So its good to just test out that stuff.

[billy]

thanks , I'm playing as castile

[Dave]

Should be pretty good as castille

[billy]

Originally posted by Tight Arse Polo:

Should be pretty good as castille

I'm just building colonies minding my own business while france fights everyone :) . I should be creating spain in 10 years when i get to 10 admin. good times .

[the_panther]

There is a map mode which tells you which provinces are part of which Colonial Nation. Check it very closely so that you know precisely where the boundaries lie. If you colonize outside the CN territory (like Florida or Columbia), that will be the start of a new CN which frequently is not desired.

Check the trade map mode and see how that trade can be steered to your home node. Focus on getting trade companies and colonial nations along the path home. For Castile, the top goal is nearly always The Caribbean since it goes directly home. By accident or design, you started well here. After Caribbean, Mexico is the best second CN for Castille. In contrast, England wants Canada and USA to send trade home. Is it interesting how the developers put in game features which encourage the player to sort of follow history.

If you want to attempt to try out the Ivory Coast (West African Charter) Trade Company, that will work. This is a good second place to colonize when you are ready to expand into west Africa through wars. Unlike a CN, TCs are provinces owned by you directly. Do not make states in TC territory since it strongly detracts from your trade income. Instead, make states in the parts of west Africa that are not inside the TC.

There is a sizable penalty for collecting in a trade node that is not your home, though the penatly is not as bad for the TC as compared to the CN. You normally gain far more ducats but putting in steering merchants on each node towards the path home. As Castille, you already own the lion's share of your home node and you rarely need to post a collecting merchant in the home node. Instead, use that merchant to steer more trade home.

The liberty desire for CNs will stack to some extent. Castille can easily handle 2 CNs early and more later when Spain becomes a world wide power. Though if you already own 100% of Mexico and Caribbean, you will probably not need a third CN. But closely watch liberty desire since CNs can and often do revolt. Keep tariffs as low as possible. You may desire the income from increasing tarrifs, but the CN just gets that much closer to declaring independence. You get more income from trade anyway. Remember the Boston Tea Party when England raised tarrifs too high on their colonies? Don't let that happen to you.

Finally, check the ideas of your CNs. They usually take exploration or expansion. If they do, you can occassionally send some ducats to your CN and they will colonize for you. Once they get large and have good income, the CN will colonize without gifts. A difference here is that, unlike the parent nation, a CN can colonize outside the designated boundary and the new province will become part of the colonizing CN.

[billy]

thanks

[Apotheotic Otter]

Another thing you can do if you're feeling particularly cheesy is just create one colonial nation, pump all your mana into its development, then release it and play as it. 500 dev USA in 1540 is completely historically accurate, right?