Sid Meier's Colonization: Difference between revisions

Colonization
Developer(s)	Microprose
Publisher(s)	Microprose
Designer(s)	Brian Reynolds, Sid Meier
Platform(s)	Amiga, DOS, Windows, Macintosh
Release	1994
Genre(s)	Strategy game
Mode(s)	Single Player

Colonization is a computer game by Brian Reynolds and Sid Meier released by Microprose in 1994. It is a turn-based strategy game themed on the early European colonization of the New World, starting in 1492 and lasting until 1850. It was originally released for DOS, but later ported to Windows, the Amiga (1995) and Macintosh (1995).

Amongst others, Sid Meier has produced the Civilization series and Colonization. These games have many similarities. The first Civilization game, for instance, can be won by conquering all the other civilizations, after about half way through the game there tends to only be one potential rival to your dominance anyway (i.e. Russia), or, by being the first civilization to colonise another planet. Both games pit the player as a godlike leader of an embattled civilization, the objective being to gain supremacy over rival civilizations, primarily through military means and discovery, transformation and utilization of the land. In Civilization the player begins the game in 4000BC, with a ‘primitive’ tribe which “gradually builds up a sophisticated conglomeration of cities... infrastructure, units, resources” (Poblocki, 2002) and scientific know-how, “nearly everything is quantified (not only money, production of units, and infrastructure but also science and culture). (Poblocki, 2002) With increasing levels of sophistication of the population of the cities, the player controls the differentiation of the people, some become farmers, others soldiers, scouts, diplomats, scientists etc. As the civilization progresses the player is able to research different things including political models, which influence the productivity of the developing society.

The Colonization experience begins in 1492. The player is asked to select one of the four world powers (England, France, Netherlands, Spain), “For the greater glory of (chosen country), we dub thee Viceroy of the New World. Go and explore this new land. Settle it and bring wealth and glory to yourself and our nation.” (Meier, 1994) The journey begins with two units, travelling on a ship to the new world, and as the ship moves into the unknown, the map is revealed. Subsequently, the new world is discovered, the Indians are met, a colony is built, colonists begin to change the land to be more productive, the ship is sent back to Europe to collect more colonists, selling any superfluous items, and the exploration of the world begins. The game revolves around, harvesting, manufacturing and trading goods. Resources gleaned from the land are converted into commodities and either used, or, sold (most of the time back in Europe). The prices of commodities fluctuate depending upon supply and demand. The more of a commodity you and the other three colonial powers sell, the less the markets will be willing to pay for them. With money a player is able to buy goods, recruit new colonists, ships or artillery. Whilst maintaining an income, the player is also required to protect his colonies from potential invasion, through employing soldiers. Moreover the player is required to manage his citizens effectively, educating the populace in various skills which increase their productivity in those areas (farming, mining, lumberjacking, fishing, blacksmithing, carpentry, etc.) that are required. There are three areas of employment in the Colonization world, primary resource gatherers, secondary resource manufacturers, and the more specialised units such as soldiers, statesmen, pioneers, Jesuit missionaries and preachers. Each level of specialisation requires prerequisites, both to be taught and to make effective use of. The geography of the land determines the productivity of a colony, for instance some squares produce a lot of food, whilst others produce none. Thus it becomes necessary to link the various colonies together, transporting goods from places in which there is an excess to places in which there is a demand. Normally roads are built for this, as they grant increased movement.

Specialist buildings and special squares, as in Civilization, have greater output. Specialists, who produce more per turn, can be trained or recruited. Indentured servants and criminals are as good as ordinary colonists in primary production but not so good at manufacturing or statesmanship; but they can be transformed into improved types by education. Missions established in Indian villages eventually encourage converts to join a colony; they are better than ordinary colonists at most outdoor pursuits, but not industrial ones.

Horses can be bought and sold, but they also multiply in any colony that has two or more of them and a food surplus. They help any colonist move further in a turn, add to military strength, and allow Scouts to do profitable things in native settlements or foreign colonies.

Ships of several types (Caravel, Merchantman, Galleon, Privateer, Frigate and Man-O-War; which can be purchased or eventually built) move goods, horses, and colonists around and some of them can attack, while wagon trains (which can be built) move goods and horses on land.

Relationships must be carefully maintained with Indians and other colonial powers, including waging war if necessary, having strong defensive units and fortifications, or recruiting the peacemakers Benjamin Franklin and Pocahontas. Destroying native settlements yields a quick profit and makes their land available but prevents the substantial long-term gains to be made by friendly bargaining and trading. It also counts against your final score.

The king of your home country meddles in your affairs from time to time, mostly by raising the tax rate but occasionally by forcing you into wars with your rivals.

Moreover, the player must pay attention to political development and recruiting Founding Fathers (roughly corresponding to the World Wonders of Civilization), to ensure the best possible chance of success.

On the easiest level, the action takes place, essentially, at the speed in which you want it to. You are left to your own devices, learning the mechanics of the game. With each increase in difficulty level, the restrictions that bound successful endeavours become more pronounced. The game is eventually won by seceeding from the motherland, signing a declaration of independence and defeating the armies which are sent to usurp your ‘unalienable rights’. Successful navigation through this game requires the player to think, to strategise, to effectively make use of what is provided, to map, and cultivate the land, to negotiate between rival factions, and occasionally to conduct military campaigns. Whilst the military aspect is important, it is less so, than in the Civilization series, focusing more heavily on aspects of trade, and the inter-relationships between peoples, and colonies, which make up a community. In doing all these things the player is required to develop certain fundamental notions which influence both the game world and the real world, such as: infrastructure restrictions and requirements, methods for increasing productivity, the importance of economic and civic growth, the centrality of trade, that some resources are more useful and more valuable than others, the importance of education, that newspapers and diplomats influence public opinion, that religion can affect people's allegiances, even that it’s more sensible to use those member of your population who aren’t proficient in a trade or profession, as soldiers, the influence of historical figures on colonial New World societies, and the list goes on.

Maps include a standard North and South America (quite good as a representation except that Great Lakes are too far north), but, as in Civilization, there are any number of possible alternatives, somewhat randomly generated according to criteria set by the player.

The 3,920 terrain squares can be any one of nearly 20 categories (most of which can have "specials" at random locations), including eight types of forest, each of which can be cleared to produce a one-off timber crop and result in a specific type of open ground (and then plowed for more productivity).

While popular, the game received resistance because it completely ignored the fact that slavery was a major component of the European colonization of the Americas. While it is possible for players to bring in indentured servants and petty criminals, these settlers can be progressively educated into a free citizen and then specialists.

Also, while Native Americans can join colonies if they convert to Christianity, the game does not address the Spanish hacienda system, which effectively pressed native tribes into slavery.

It has been speculated that this is the reason why Colonization, unlike Civilization, has never been re-released.

More practical reasons why this might be also include:

1. Inability of the player to adopt a different goal to "win" the game. Warfare is not equally enjoyable by all players of strategy games. The Civ series offers at least a few other options to the player, and independence from the Mother Country was not necessarily the goal of all, or even most, colonies at the time. In short, the option to remain part of the Mother Country is not open to the player who might want a more diplomatic or trade based game.
2. The treatment of the native Americans in-game has given some critics cause for concern. Although the game trys to represent them humanely, because the in-game indians resent large-scale European settlement in the New World. If playing as Spanish, it is usually in the players interests to defeat or subjugate them or convert them to use as cheap labour. If playing as French, it is usually beneficial to trade with them and treat them as allies.
3. Restriction on founding of colonies is limited to a maximum of 38. While possibly more historically "accurate", this causes "empire builder" player types to become disenchanted when the computer players start to erode their previously huge lead as the computer player adds more and more colonies, while the builder is limited to only fiddling with their existing colonies. There is another limit on the total number of units. Once this is reached, new units simply vanish. During the war of independence, converting a soldier to a dragoon can cause the unit to vanish, so you are left with neither soldier nor dragoon!
4. Inflexibility in salvaging colonies needing relocation to more profitable terrain once the consequences of the previous limitation is realized. It is so cumbersome that it is generally far easier to simply start the game over, but the loss of time and effort is discouraging and undoubtedly contributed greatly to the lack of popularity of the game, which is otherwise quite a pleasant Civ variant. The only way to delete a colony once a stockade is built is to starve the inhabitants!
5. The creators omitted the Portuguese among the European colonial powers, claiming in the manual that Portugal was under Spanish control for much of the period the game takes place in. In actual history, the dominions of Portugal in the Americas (and also in Africa and Asia) were far larger than those of France or the Netherlands, yet it is excluded from the game. Due to this, Colonization was strongly resented in Brazil.

• The Unofficial Microprose Colonization Home Page
• Moby Game's entry on Colonization
• An open source Colonization clone
• SweCol2 - Open source project aimed in to develop Colonization II