I don't think this would work in freecol because, in my experience, the indians have never offered silver as an item for trade. Has anyone had a different experience? The general idea of trading with the natives for profit is sound, and will help any strategy.
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In Freecol, the incas and aztecs are more profitable that other tribes as both trading partners and as plunder targets, and they can train your people as Silver miners, but I don't believe that they give you cheap Silver.
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And yes, Indians are really good to use for trading. I can't believe how much I can get form 100 tools sometimes from them. No idea why anyone playing freecol would fight them instead.
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While I don't play that way, I understand the incentives that could lead to deciding to conquer the natives rather than trade with them.
The most immediate and obvious advantage to conquest is that you get plunder and converts.
The main advantage, however, is the ability to put your own people to work in a new colony replacing the old Settlement. They might not be any more productive than the natives were before them when producing the same goods. However, they will produce whatever goods you want them to produce, whereas you have no control over what the natives produce. In particular, you can produce things that the natives would never sell you, such as tools, horses, muskets, and things the natives can't even own, such as artillery and ships. You can also build terrain improvements and factories that the natives can't build.
I'd be happy to build roads through native territory for the benefit of both my forces and theirs, while leaving the territory in their control, but the game does not allow that. I have to take their territory in order to build roads on it, which understandably raises native alarm. Replace the settlement with my own colony, and that's no longer a problem.
Another advantage to conquest is defense against other Europeans. I'd love to be able to set up an alliance with my native trading partners to protect my access to their goods. I would use my forces to help deter, and if necessary, fight, any other Europeans attacking their settlements - in return, I would occasionally like their help when fighting other Europeans on my own behalf. I'd happily give them muskets and horses to cement such an alliance. However, natives and Europeans don't understand each other well enough to form proper alliances, and if I were to station my units in positions to defend a native settlement, those units would alarm the natives, not make them feel safer. And there's no way to place those units inside the Native Settlements themselves, which would be the most useful position from which to defend them.
This is all entirely reasonable, but frustrating.
Last edit: James Kuyper 2017-09-13
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I have found native alarms to be not a particular problem, with the help of trading, being French, and pocahantas. I usually place my colonies adjacent to the native tribes to maximize convert probability from missionaries ( I usually get five or six converts out of each missionary) , waiting with pocahantas until the alarm causes the indians to attack or not trade with me. Quite often the older tribes will disappear as the last indian converts and the tile becomes available to my colony.
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There have been some changes made to the way native alarm is handled now when trading with natives. Most notably, when giving gifts to natives. These are now adjustable options in the game options. Grab a new nightly release and play a new game to see these options and the effects they have on the game.
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I found a turtorial on getting really cheap silver when you land in south America from colonizationfans.com here: http://www.colonizationfans.com/strategy/south-america-strategy.html
Would this work in freecol as well, or are the natives programmed differently?
Sorry if this has been posted before.
I don't think this would work in freecol because, in my experience, the indians have never offered silver as an item for trade. Has anyone had a different experience? The general idea of trading with the natives for profit is sound, and will help any strategy.
In Freecol, the incas and aztecs are more profitable that other tribes as both trading partners and as plunder targets, and they can train your people as Silver miners, but I don't believe that they give you cheap Silver.
Ok. Thanks for the replies.
And yes, Indians are really good to use for trading. I can't believe how much I can get form 100 tools sometimes from them. No idea why anyone playing freecol would fight them instead.
While I don't play that way, I understand the incentives that could lead to deciding to conquer the natives rather than trade with them.
The most immediate and obvious advantage to conquest is that you get plunder and converts.
The main advantage, however, is the ability to put your own people to work in a new colony replacing the old Settlement. They might not be any more productive than the natives were before them when producing the same goods. However, they will produce whatever goods you want them to produce, whereas you have no control over what the natives produce. In particular, you can produce things that the natives would never sell you, such as tools, horses, muskets, and things the natives can't even own, such as artillery and ships. You can also build terrain improvements and factories that the natives can't build.
I'd be happy to build roads through native territory for the benefit of both my forces and theirs, while leaving the territory in their control, but the game does not allow that. I have to take their territory in order to build roads on it, which understandably raises native alarm. Replace the settlement with my own colony, and that's no longer a problem.
Another advantage to conquest is defense against other Europeans. I'd love to be able to set up an alliance with my native trading partners to protect my access to their goods. I would use my forces to help deter, and if necessary, fight, any other Europeans attacking their settlements - in return, I would occasionally like their help when fighting other Europeans on my own behalf. I'd happily give them muskets and horses to cement such an alliance. However, natives and Europeans don't understand each other well enough to form proper alliances, and if I were to station my units in positions to defend a native settlement, those units would alarm the natives, not make them feel safer. And there's no way to place those units inside the Native Settlements themselves, which would be the most useful position from which to defend them.
This is all entirely reasonable, but frustrating.
Last edit: James Kuyper 2017-09-13
I have found native alarms to be not a particular problem, with the help of trading, being French, and pocahantas. I usually place my colonies adjacent to the native tribes to maximize convert probability from missionaries ( I usually get five or six converts out of each missionary) , waiting with pocahantas until the alarm causes the indians to attack or not trade with me. Quite often the older tribes will disappear as the last indian converts and the tile becomes available to my colony.
There have been some changes made to the way native alarm is handled now when trading with natives. Most notably, when giving gifts to natives. These are now adjustable options in the game options. Grab a new nightly release and play a new game to see these options and the effects they have on the game.