Sent in Tips - Training Colonists and Trading with the Indians

[MAY00] Trading with the Indians Tip by Thomas van Dam

The best thing you can do is send your troops to the Indians capital and then destroy it. Make sure your colony is far from the capital, so the other native villages won't do anything and you can trade with them as usual. They also carry on giving you gifts and you have a treasure from the capital. Now, they 'bow to the might of the Dutch/English/Spanish/French and give you all the land the tribe owns'. The best way to do this is in the early stages of the game.

Thomas van Dam, Holland (I always play with the Dutch) - ICQ #70331654

[SEP99] Changing Village Skills Tip by Renadine@aol.com

I have found that sometimes I am disappointed when I visit a village to train a planter, let's say, and they train scouts or fur trappers. Here is what to do--refuse the training. Go back and try again maybe 20-30 minutes later in the game, i.e., after quite a few turns. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, the training that village provides changes! For example, I sent an untrained colonist into a Tupi village I thought would train Cotton Planters, and instead I was disappointed when it said, "Scouts." I sent the guy back over and over again, after waiting a few turns in between visits, and it suddenly changed to "Cotton Planters." Great, huh? Here is another way to try this--send a colonist first, without sending a Scout. See what the village will train. Quite a few turns later, send a Scout and see what he finds out. Sometimes it changes. If it does, send the colonist back there if you want him trained in that speciality (which has changed.) I found this trick doesn't work too well with the Tupi villages in Brazil and northern South America. It has worked for me in the Iroquois villages in Canada, in an Apache village around Arizona/New Mexico, and in the Tupi villages in Paraguay/Uruguay/Argentina (southern South America). Don't get too excited, it happens irregularly, and not very frequently, but give it a shot if you get desperate for a certain training.

[APR99] How and where to get the rare Tobacco Planter and less rare Cotton Planter Skills by Renadine@aol.com

Players have big problems with getting Tobacco Planters. Here is how to acquire them:

First, make sure that if you found your first colonies in the Argentina area, visit the local Tupi villages immediately. If one trains a Tobacco Planter, waste no time making an untrained colonist a Tobacco Planter. This is almost the first thing you should do in a game, after you found your first colony (if in Argentina). Visit the villages on the eastern side of the Andes below Brazil, including the one on the Plate river north of the major Bay. Usually, the Tupi camp near the Bay will yield a Cotton or Tobacco Planter--train a colonist from this village immediately. If your colonist stumbles upon a Sugar Planter or Fur Trapper or Scout training Tupi camp, forget it--keep moving. Those can be trained in a lot of camps later. First priority--Tobacco Planter.

Secondly, if you see a major Tobacco production symbol, build a colony with that symbol in an adjacent square, and put an untrained colonist growing Tobacco immediately. That colonist will learn to be a Tobacco Planter, either after a few turns or somewhat later in the game. Let him produce and produce, even it you have to let the Tobacco be thrown away. Tobacco Planters are infinitely important. I have personally found that colonists will sometimes, if I am lucky, become self-trained even on non-maximum production Tobacco icon squares. For example, this has happened on a "grassland" square on a minor or major river which I have plowed. Don't despair! The game is rigged kindly enough that it will eventually give you (usually) a Tobacco Planter expert if you have a colonist plant Tobacco long enough on at least a plowed square.

Tobacco Planters are trained normally in the following Indian camps:
Northern most Sioux camp in Oregon/Washington near the California coast. Get a ship up there with an untrained colonist early in the game, or walk someone up there. Next place to try--the lowest Florida Cherokee camp. Another place to try--Cherokee camp west of New Orleans bay area. Another place to try--above the Apache camp which is closet to the Aztec capital. Another place to try--the Apache and Sioux camps on the California coast.

Remember--Tobacco Planters are extremely important--you must get one trained right away. If you can only get 1 Tobacco Planter trained (or self-trained by luck), make sure that the first colonist you train in college is a Tobacco planter--build your college where the Tobacco Planter is, that is a good tactic, I find.

Cotton planters can be found rather easily in the American West, and most often, the Tupi camp in southern Argentina will train one for you.

Land a couple of colonists around New Orleans and check out the Cherokee and Iroquois villages up the Mississippi and across the Missouri River camps. You will find at least one Cotton planter training Indian camp, sometimes two. Go up to the Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado area and you will find sometimes 4 camps which all train Cotton planters. I always make sure to have at least one Cotton planter early in the game, along with a Tobacco Planter. Acquire these early. Once in a blue moon, the Iroquois capital or a camp in New England will train a Cotton Planter.

Sugar Planters are commonly trained all over S. America, Caribbean Islands, and by the Apaches in Texas (land someone near the Rio Grande and place him in an Apache camp (near the Aztec capital) and usually they will train a Sugar Planter. If not, try the camp above. Ninety percent of the Tupi camps train Sugar planters.

Indian Village Chart sent in by Howard Train

Below is a blank table that lets you record the status of each Indian Village your Scouts visit. It's easiest to use abbrevs. for the goods that they will trade. If you intend on trading a lot with a particular Village it may be best to leave them a few lines. Put a * next to the Tribe box if the Village is a Capital. Cross off the skill field when it's been taught. Easy peasy. Just save or print the chart.

Indian Village Chart

[The Indian trading thing was a real let down in Colonization. They went to all the trouble of programming this complex trade thing, and then made it impractical to use. They could at least have had it so if you click on a Village, it gives you a report of what they last demanded (if Scouted), even if it has changed, and what they teach, and if they have already. Also you couldn't build roads next to the villages, to speed trade, without upsetting them, even though they wanted trade. I compiled something similar, but using counters - you have too if you want to trade, it's impossible to remember. The counters had black and white sides, so the most desired goods could be listed in one colour, the other two in another colour. You just list all goods, and then can use the chart indefinitely.]

Selecting Colonist to Train by Gary Longo and Jeff Lindequist

In version 3.0 (if you didn't already know) you can make any Colonist inside a City a Master by highlighting (the green box around the colonist) and pressing the "S" key, this helps production and your score.

In the game the Indians are Experts/Masters at various Skills why not let us hire them or trade with them on a frequent and regular basis? Instead of hit and miss by BORN@aol.com ?

Use Scouts to see what skill is taught in each Native City, and then send a Colonist/Indentured Servant there to learn that skill. An aside, the most rare skill is Tobacco Planter. Usually only one Native City, in all the Native Cities combined, teach that skill. [But if you put a petty criminal to work on a prime Tobacco square there is a good chance that he will learn the skill]