On this page:

4.5.1 Objectives
4.5.2 Resources
4.5.3 Map
4.5.4 Strategy overview
4.5.5 New concepts
4.5.6 Mixed trading and colonization strategy
4.5.7 Minimal trading strategy

4.5.1 Objectives

4.5.2 Resources

4.5.3 Map

Skip preformatted map

\,--------------------------./
||            [B1]          ||
||       [A1]               ||
||              [B2]        ||
||                     [C1] ||
||             [O]@         ||
||[B3]             [V]      ||
||                    [C2]  ||
||    [A2]              [C3]||
||         [A3]             ||
/'--------------------------'\

4.5.4 Strategy overview

Citizens require everything needed by Settlers, plus Tobacco *or* Spices, Alcohol, a Tavern and a School. Your starting island is fairly small, and all but one of the other islands has already been settled. You'll only need 14 houses to complete, and you start with more than that. The most obvious strategy involves colonization of the one vacant island, and then trade for remaining goods you need. It is also possible to win without a significant amount of trading. There is no military option: The three existing players are far better developed, and you have no easily way of building military units. So long as you are not hostile to the other players, they won't attack you, so don't be frightened by the size of their colonies compared to your own.

4.5.5 New concepts

New in this scenario:

4.5.6 Mixed trading and colonization strategy

Address some of your colony's (Offenpach's) starting problems - impending lack of Food (add a Fisher's hut or two), Wood supply (plant trees to cover the full catchment of the Forester's hut, and re-route the road slightly). Set your Warehouse to buy in Tools at low prices and sell excess (everything above about 10t) Cloth.

Now move your ship across to the vacant island ([V] on the map). Settle the island, building your warehouse on the western side (facing Offenpach). Build a Quarry and two Stonemasons nearby - two Stonemasons will happily work in one Quarry. Plant out Spice fields for one or two Spice farms, and when you have enough spare Bricks, build the farms. You only need one Spice farm, but a second one will allow Spice to be traded. Planting crops before the farms are built means that the farms are not idle whilst the crops are growing. Start shipping Bricks from the new colony on the Vacant island to Offenpach. Watch out for pirates, who may engage your ship: Surrender if you need to - you don't have the firepower or repair facilities to attack pirates yet, and you cannot afford for your ship to be sunk. Initially, use newly delivered Bricks to build a Tavern and a School.

Get a trade agreement with Player C (via Diplomacy screen). Now set up a trade route from C1 to Offenpach with Liquor, and Vacant (new colony) to Offenpach with Spices and Bricks. Consider automating the trade route - you may only need a few runs if shipping full loads. If one of the other players puts a cheap ship up for sale, consider buying it, and using it to run the same routes. Stop selling Cloth. Gradually the number of Citizens will increase. Whilst you are waiting, you should be able to increase the tax rate paid by the remaining Settlers. You don't need any new housing - every Citizen house holds 15, so you only need 14 houses to reach 200 Citizens. Additional housing might be desirable for tax revenue, but it will put additional pressure on supplies of Food and Cloth, which you can do without. You may need a Fire department, to put out fires, although the probability of having to deal with a fire on this scenario is quite low.

The main weakness with this strategy is Liquor can be in short supply - you are at the mercy of the AI players and ships to sell it to you.

4.5.7 Minimal trading strategy

This strategy makes a similar start to the Mixed trading and colonization strategy above - deal with a few starting colony issues, and colonize the vacant island. In addition, place a second Market place on the north tip of Offenpach, which opens up the whole of the island for development. Destroy the existing southern-most Sheep farm, and build a replacement in the newly opened area on the northern tip (clear the forest around it). In the space between the Weaver's hut and the Forester's hut, you will be able to build two Wineries. A third Winery can be placed to the west of the housing. Three Wineries should be sufficient to meet the Liquor demand. The island only supports 50% Vines, so half the Vine squares will die and the Wineries will operate at less than 50% capacity.