Overview
A step-by-step guide on how to get a British force complete with several rockets in about 15 minutes. Jeese, James, and Meowth not included.
Foreword
This guide was made to help out a hopelessly noobish friend of mine improve his skills in the game. It’s meant to be simple and straightforward… and maybe educational. This strategy is more likely than not ineffective against expert AI or any games with rushing allowed. This is best when playing hard AI (with friends perhaps) or in games with treaty periods of at least 20 minutes.
TL;DR
The step-by-step guide is probably too long and detailed for most people, so I’ll start with the abridged version.
Discovery Age (0:00-7:00)
• Build as many manor houses as possible and a market
• Constantly train villagers from the town center
• Balance Food and Wood production
• Beat up monkeys and steal their money
• Advance at 5:30, select The Governor
• Start mining upon age advance
• Shipments (In order): Virginia Company, Fast-Building Houses, 3 Settlers.
Colonial Age (7:00-10:10)
• Build the rest of the manor houses
• Focus on food and coin once manor houses are maxed and steel traps and amalgamation are paid for.
• Ship in 5 settlers
• Advance to Fortress at 8:30, select Admiral of the Ocean Sea
• Move to the second mine
Fortress Age (10:10-11:45)
• Leapfrog to the Industrial
• Ship in 8 settlers
• Build a Church and Military buildings
• Move to a third mine
• Get Mercantilism
Industrial Age (11:45-?)
• Ship in 3 Rockets
• Get the Factories
• Build an army
• Max out settlers and build a great mill and plantation economy
• ???
• PROFIT!!!
• Revolution?
• Win the battle?
• Advance to Imperial? Select The General Auto Insurance?!?!?
• Become your teammates’ Butt Monkey?
• Become disappoint?
Imperial Age (28:00-End of Game)
• Build a Capitol
• Research cool stuff
Discovery Age
The beginning of the game is the most critical time; every second counts in setting up your economy and acquiring treasures.
• Gather home city provisions; select 3 (half) of your settlers to gather wood crates, have the other 3 (the rest) of your settlers gather the food crates and then coin (if applicable)
• Start training settlers from the tower center immediately. Continue training settlers at the town center. The town center should NEVER be idle! If it’s not training settlers, then it should be researching the next age.
• Have 3 (half) settlers begin hunting and assign the other 3 (the other half) to woodcutting. Have one woodcutter build a manor house. The settler produced by the manor house should go to woodcutting.
o Settler count: 7
Food: 3
Wood: 4
• Make sure your explorer is exploring and use any down time to acquire treasures. Remember, treasures can provide a critical boost to an early economy
• Have one of the 4 woodcutters build a market.
• First settler trained from the town center should join the woodcutters, increasing wood gatherers to 5.
• Second settler trained from the town center should go to hunting, increasing food gatherers to 4.
o Train a third settler as soon as you have the food to do so. The third settler should go to hunting as well. The next several settlers from the town center should also be assigned to hunting.
• Research Hunting Dogs and Gang Saw from the market if possible. If you lack coin, see if your explorer can get some treasures with coin.
• Time for the first shipment! Virginia Company
• Once Virginia Company is in, have woodcutters build your second and third manor houses simultaneously. Settlers produced from these houses should go to woodcutting.
o At approximately 3:00 minutes in; Settler Count: 14
Food: 7
Wood 7
• New settlers from the fourth Manor house and town center should go to food gathering.
• Make the fifth manor house; assign settlers from it to food production
• At approximately 3:30 minutes; Shipment 2: Team Fast-Building Houses
• Sixth manor house settler should also join food gathering, increasing food gatherers to 11.
• At approximately 4:20 minutes; Duuuuuuuuuuude, Fast-Building Houses are in! Build manor house #7 for food gathering.
• Next settler from the tower center should go to woodcutting instead of hunting.
o At approximately 4:40 minutes; Settler Count: 22
Food: 13
Wood: 9
• Manor house #8, also for hunting.
• Next settler from town center goes to hunting
• Manor house #9 for hunting
• Manor house #10 for hunting
• Time from shipment 3! Send in 3 Settlers. The 3 settlers shipped in should be added to woodcutting. (Team Wool Staple Ports when you have greedy Japanese and Indian allies. Or Team Cheap Docks on a naval map. In these situations, just follow on with the rest of this guide, minus 3 settlers and several seconds of delay.)
o At approximately 5:15 minutes (before 3 settlers shipment); Settler Count: 26
Food: 16
Wood: 10
• At 5:30, you should have sufficient food to advance to the Colonial Age (Age 2). Select “The Governor” for crates of 200 coin and an outpost.
• Divert 4 of 16 settlers from hunting and move them to mining. One of the miners should make Manor house #11 to boost your colony’s mining. Then build Manor house #12 for mining, too.
• Manor house #13 for mining.
o At approximately 6:30 minutes; 75% progress on Colonial age research; Settler Count: 33
Food: 12
Wood: 15
Coin: 6
• Research placer mines from the market.
• Manor house #14 and #15 should go to mining.
• At Approximately 7:00 minutes: Congratulations! You’ve reached the Colonial Age (Age 2)! Oh, and you’re still a scrub.
Colonial Age
In the Colonial Age, you’ll be tying up the loose ends of your efforts in the Discovery Age.
(Photo: Your civilization’s Explorer overseeing food production)
• Send 4-6 settlers from mining to collect the age up bonus of 200 coin. When they are done getting that coin, send them back to mining.
• Train more settlers from the Town Center. Send them to mine.
• Build Manor houses, #16, #17, and #18 for mining.
• Time for Shipment 4! Send in 5 Settlers.
o At approximately 7:30 minutes; Setter Count: 39
Food: 12
Wood: 13
Coin: 14
• Build the last two manor houses, #19 and #20, for mining. The number of miners should hit 16.
• The 5 Settlers shipment should arrive now. Send them to mining in order to max out mining to 20 miners. Note: No more than 20 settlers can gather from a mine at once. If there are over 20 settlers at the mine, send the extra settlers over to hunting. New settlers from the town center should also go to hunting now, instead of mining.
• Now that manor houses are maxed out, your wood demand is much lower. Send 3-4 of your woodcutters to join your hunting parties.
• At you should now have sufficient resources to age up to the Fortress Age (Age 3). Select Admiral of the Ocean Sea for 400 wood and a Caravel.
o At Approximately 8:30 minutes; Advancing to the Fortress Age; Settler Count: 48
Food: 19
Wood: 9
Coin: 20
• While advancing to the Fortress Age, research Steel Traps and Amalgamation. After you have starting researching both of these upgrades, Move all 9 of your remaining woodcutters to food gathering.
o At approximately 9:15 minutes; 50% progress on Fortress Age research; Settler Count: 48
Food: 28
Wood: 0
Coin: 20
• At approximately 9:50 minutes, your first mine will deplete. Send all 20 of your miners to nearest available mine to continue coin production.
• At approximately 10:10 minutes: Well done, dingus! You’ve reached the Fortress Age!
Fortress Age
If everything goes according to plan, you’ll be aging up to the Industrial Age only moments after you reach this age.
• Upon reaching the Fortress Age: Time for shipment 5! Send in 8 settlers.
• Train one settler from the town center. Send him to woodcutting.
• You should have enough food and coin to leapfrog to the Industrial Age. Queue up the Industrial Age research and select The Tycoon for Crates of 1000 coin upon age up.
• Take 8 of the 28 settlers on food production and send them to collect the 400 cords of wood Fortress Age bonus. Afterwards, they should use the wood to construct a Church and Barracks. Two of them will build, the other six will go directly to woodcutting. When there is sufficient wood, the two builders should then build a stable.
• Research Log Flume, Blunderbuss, and Great Coat from the market. DO NOT research Circular Saw. You need to save coin for Mercantilism from the Church.
• The 8 settlers from the home city shipment should also join in woodcutting.
o At approximately 11:00 minutes; 50% progress on Industrial Age research; Settler Count: 56
Food: 20
Wood: 14
Coin: 20
Builders: 2
• Research Mercantilism from the Church as soon as you can. It is absolutely critical for the success of this strategy. You may spend a few seconds in the Industrial Age before you can afford it.
• At approximately 11:45 minutes: Great! My Jambo Jet flies cheerfully! You’ve reached the Industrial Age!
Industrial Age (Team Rocket Time)
Once you hit the Industrial Age, It will be time to build up a formidable (maybe… sniff*… maybe) army centered around rockets.
• If you haven’t already, research Mercantilism!
• Get the 2 builders and some woodcutters to collect the 1000 crates of coin age up bonus. Send them back to woodcutting afterwards.
• Resume settler production at the town center. All new settlers should go to woodcutting.
• If hunting is scarce or completely depleted, the 20 settlers on food should go to woodcutting as well. This will help accumulate a large amount of wood necessary for building a second (and possibly third) town center as well as a late game mill and plantation economy.
• Your second mine will deplete around this time, too. If there is no third mine to be found, send all 20 of your miners to woodcutting as well.
• Upon researching mercantilism, you should earn a whopping 3 new shipments! First, ship in 3 Congreve Rockets. Then ship in the two Factory shipments: Factory and Robber Barons. This will get Rocket production up and running as fast as possible.
• Start working on your military.
o Get Standing Army and Mass Calvary from the Church.
o Research Veteran upgrades for Musketeers and Hussars (and Longbowmen if you wish to use them).
o Start training Musketeers and Hussars (Longbowmen and/or Dragoons if you wish to use them).
o Once the first Factory has shipped in and been constructed, research Mass Production to speed up Rocket Training. Once the second Factory is built, select both factories and switch them from default coin production to Rocket production. Then just watch the rockets roll in! Note: When you’ve reached population limit, the factories will not be able to produce new rockets. During these times, it would be wise to switch the factories over to wood or coin production.
o Sell excess wood at the market if you are in need of extra food.
o Watch out for enemy attacks! This is about the time when the AI mounts their first serious assaults (If against a hard AI; perhaps some human players too).
• As you amass wood, have your explorer build a second town center and have 10 woodcutters build a mill to produce food on. You should research the mill production upgrades as soon as you can.
o At approximately 14:00 minutes; Settler Count: 60
Mills: 10
Wood: 30
Coin: 20
Longbowmen: 5
Musketeers: 5
Rockets: 3
• As the result of unit training and possible combat, you will soon earn Shipment 9. Ship in Land Grab to get big discounts on Plantations and Mills. Once Land Grab is in, you should move most of your woodcutters to new mills and plantations. You will likely want to build 3-4 mills first, as the combination of training lots of soldiers and settlers is highly taxing on your food supply. As time goes on, your demand for food will slip and it will become wise to shift 10-20 settlers from mills to plantations, especially if you plan to advance to the Imperial Age. Here is a good economic example:
o At approximately 16:00 minutes; Settler Count: 56 (♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Gall Bladder)
Mills: 30
Woodcutting: 6
Mining: 20
o (If mining is not available)
Mills 30:
Woodcutting: 16
Plantations: 10
• Soon, you’ll unlock shipment 11. Get Advanced Arsenal. The upgrades that it provides for your army are invaluable.
• Keep training villagers until you have 90+ settlers. This will enable you to build a thriving economy that will be able to fund the full development (and replacement) of your army and possible progress to the Imperial Age. You should regularly adjust and readjust the balance of resource production until you are loaded with all the Imperial upgrades that you need. If you are generating a lot of a particular resource, have some settlers gathering that resource switch over to another resource with lower production. Here are good examples of mid to late game economy settler distributions.
o At approximately 18:00 minutes; Settler Count: 62
Mills: 40
Woodcutting: 2
Plantations: 20
o At approximately 20:15 minutes; Settler Count: 80
Mills: 30
Woodcutting: 30
Plantations: 20
o At approximately 22:00 minutes; Settler Count: 92
Mills: 30
Woodcutting: 42
Plantations: 20
o At approximately 23:00 minutes; Settler Count: 93
Mills: 40
Woodcutting: 3
Plantations: 50
o At Approximately 25:00 minutes; Settler Count: 93
Mills: 30
Woodcutting: 3
Plantations: 60
• At approximately 19:00 minutes, you’ll earn shipment 12. At this point, it is up to you how you use it. You can ship in an economic upgrade, send in a fort, boost Calvary or Musketeer combat effectiveness, Send in the Hot Air Balloon, get extra rockets using the Infinite 2 Rocket Shipment, or ship in The Glorious Revolution and call upon the support of the Black Watch and Roger’s Power Rangers. Personally, I shipped in Refrigeration.
• At approximately 23:00 minutes, you’ll earn shipment 13. Personally, I shipped in Royal Mint.
• By this time, you should have you settler and military populations maxed out. You should have 90+ villagers at work. For your military, the bulwark of your force should consist of 8-12 rockets while you field 20-40 foot soldiers and 10-20 Hussars to defend your rockets.
• Now, it is up to you how to proceed. You can enter the fray and attack with your army, sit in your base and fist yourself, defend your allies, declare Revolution, or advance to the Imperial Age and acquire the game’s ultimate researches and upgrades. Or attempt to do all of the above.
• If you are planning to advance to the Imperial Age, you should be able to do so by 26:00 minutes. It isn’t particularly important which politician you select at this point. Of course, The General grants you free units (2 rockets!) above and beyond your population limit.
• At approximately 28:00 minutes, if you opted to do so, you will reach the Imperial Age. Wow, awesome Record! You must be a pro!
Imperial Age
A few tips on how not to end up like Stuart Black or Nonahkee.
• Imperial upgrades and researches require tons of wood and coin. Your settler production distribution should reflect that. For example:
o At 27:45 minutes; Settler Count: 93
Mills: 30
Wood: 23
Plantations: 40
• You dingus, why haven’t you built a Capitol?
o First, research deforestation. Then Excessive Taxation and Large Scale Agriculture. And of course, when you can afford it, Spies.
• Once you’ve researched the Imperial resource production upgrades, research the coveted Imperial unit upgrades. Personally, I’d first upgrade the Rockets to Imperial.
• At this point, economy is no longer a defining challenge. Now it grinds down to strategy, tactics, and army micromanagement.
Notes & Tips
Some stuff that might be obvious. Or maybe not.
This guide was formulated on the basis of an Unknown style map that had good mining and woodcutting but the bare minimum of food (Only two herds (8 animals each) per player). This means that this strategy will likely be effective and achievable on most maps. Here are a few circumstances and situations that should be taken into consideration.
• Musketeers and longbowmen do not need to be the only units complementing your rockets. You could use any other units that you feel fit, such as mercenaries, dragoons, hussars, musketeers only, and native units.
• If there is a Dutch ally, wait for them to get Team Cheap Discovery Age Market Improvements. Then buy the discounted upgrades at your market as soon as possible; don’t adhere to the guide’s timing regarding those early upgrades.
• If you are on a team with multiple British players and you’re volunteered to ship in Team Fast-Building Houses as your first shipment, just continue to follow the guide; initial Manor house construction will be slow but the Virginia Company later on should make up for a slow start.
• Even if you’re on a map with good fishing, stick with this strategy; it is easier and more flexible to have an economy solely driven by settlers. It’s also easier to defend your base then it is to keep a large fishing operation safe from enemy raids. Furthermore, spending time and wood on docks and fishing boats is a serious diversion from the priority of maxing out Manor houses as soon as possible.
• If you can squeeze it in, building trading posts could prove to be highly beneficial, accelerating shipment unlocks and gracing your colony with great economic and military upgrades. If you lack the wood, you may want to consider asking one of your local sugar daddy teammates for a loan.
• Be aggressive and proactive! If you snooze, you lose. When you’ve got your army ready to go, don’t wait for upgrades, move up and attack the enemy wherever you see fit. Take out forts, raze trading posts, take out enemy settlers, defend allied bases, or mount a direct assault on the enemy base.
• Protect your Rockets at all costs! They are arguably the best artillery in the game, dishing devastating amounts of damage with great splash while maintaining a good rate of fire. Several rockets are capable of single-handedly taking out entire formations of soldiers with only a few volleys. Also, unlike most other artillery, their performance against mass cavalry is decent. Their only shortfall is a somewhat weak attack against buildings. So long as your rockets are intact and dishing out damage, you’re bound to defeat almost any opposing force that goes up against you, especially if it’s the AI.
Settler Production Distribution Tables
Settler Production Distribution – Use this term to impress (or perplex) a business management type. Basically, the number of settlers gathering each of the resources.
Discovery Age
o Settler count: 7
Food: 3
Wood: 4
o At approximately 3:00 minutes in; Settler Count: 14
Food: 7
Wood 7
o At approximately 4:40 minutes; Settler Count: 22
Food: 13
Wood: 9
o At approximately 5:15 minutes (before 3 settlers shipment); Settler Count: 26
Food: 16
Wood: 10
o At approximately 6:30 minutes; 75% progress on Colonial age research; Settler Count: 33
Food: 12
Wood: 15
Coin: 6
Colonial Age
o At approximately 7:30 minutes; Setter Count: 39
Food: 12
Wood: 13
Coin: 14
o At Approximately 8:30 minutes; Advancing to the Fortress Age; Settler Count: 48
Food: 19
Wood: 9
Coin: 20
o At approximately 9:15 minutes; 50% progress on Fortress Age research; Settler Count: 48
Food: 28
Wood: 0
Coin: 20
Fortress Age
o At approximately 11:00 minutes; 50% progress on Industrial Age research; Settler Count: 56
Food: 20
Wood: 14
Coin: 20
Builders: 2
Industrial Age
o At approximately 14:00 minutes; Settler Count: 60
Mills: 10
Wood: 30
Coin: 20
Longbowmen: 5
Musketeers: 5
Rockets: 3
o At approximately 16:00 minutes; Settler Count: 56 (♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Gall Bladder)
Mills: 30
Woodcutting: 6
Mining: 20
o (If mining is not available)
Mills 30:
Woodcutting: 16
Plantations: 10
o At approximately 18:00 minutes; Settler Count: 62
Mills: 40
Woodcutting: 2
Plantations: 20
o At approximately 20:15 minutes; Settler Count: 80
Mills: 30
Woodcutting: 30
Plantations: 20
o At approximately 22:00 minutes; Settler Count: 92
Mills: 30
Woodcutting: 42
Plantations: 20
o At approximately 23:00 minutes; Settler Count: 93
Mills: 40
Woodcutting: 3
Plantations: 50
o At Approximately 25:00 minutes; Settler Count: 93
Mills: 30
Woodcutting: 3
Plantations: 60
Imperial Age
o At 27:45 minutes; Settler Count: 93
Mills: 30
Wood: 23
Plantations: 40