In the many games of Colonization that I've played I've tended to avoid long wars with the other European powers. Instead I've focused on building a strong interconnected group of 8-9 colonies on a single island or continent in preparation for the War of Independence. I figured it would be too tough to try to defend distant colonies during the War of Independence, so I didn't look to conquest as a major strategy.

But in the game I'm playing now (as Holland) I had no choice but to attack five English colonies around 1680 to keep the English from achieving Independence. And it's worked great! Though I had to build up a substantial invasion force of Dragoons, Artillery and Scouts (for spying on rival colonies before attacks), it's paid off big time. I've acquired a lot of new colonists and built-up colonies while setting the English so far back that I no longer worry about them declaring Independence.

In contrast to Civilization, there seem to be no real disadvantages to breaking peace treaties -- the computer players appear to stick to peace treaties only as long as it's advantageous, and break treaties with the human player or with other computer players whenever it suits them.

To re-establish peaceful relations, send a Scout (protected by a Dragoon) to an opponent's colony and ask to meet with the mayor. If you have Ben Franklin in the Continental Congress, the opponent will always agree to peace, though the cost can be high (ie, a large chunk of your treasury). If you've beaten them repeatedly, they'll usually agree to peace, no strings attached.

Here's a tip: if you spot a rival colony near yours early in the game, buy 50-100 Horses as soon as you can. Take your 50 Muskets and Horses and create a Dragoon. Attack the rival colony -- there's a good chance early in the game that the rival colony won't have any Soldiers or Dragoons for defense. You can quickly gain new colonists and deal your opponent an early setback. There's even a chance your Dragoon can harden to Veteran status if you're victorious -- this seems to happen often following the first attack -- giving you a strong defensive/offensive unit early on for free.

In my current game I repeatedly attacked English colonies on a large Island we shared and drove them all off, leaving me alone on the island to develop my colonies.

Later in the game, be prepared to create a very large invasion force with lots of Horses in reserve to attack other colonies -- particularly at the higher levels it can take many attacks to capture a Fort. As in Civilization, you might want to set up a small colony near the colony or colonies you want to attack so that defeated Dragoons can quickly re-equip with Horses.

Just don't build a colony nearby with 3 or more population -- if you're like me and you try to get S. de la Salle to join the Continential Congress ASAP, you won't be allowed to disband the colony if the population reaches 3.

Out of curiosity, what level of difficulty are you playing most frequently? Normally on Governor and Viceroy the AI likes nothing better than stockpiling muskets from day one. I dont know when the cheats kick in but at some point they start getting free muskets and tools. Rare is the time they dont have at least one Musketeer defending their colony. It is a nice way to get early muskets yourself on those levels. Simply blasting down his new colonies and stealing those stockpiled.

I am with you one play style. I prefer to secure my immediate area, perhaps the entire land mass if I am playing on smaller continents and then concentrate on my economy. Nothing better than a fleet of pirates to protect your shores while your factories churn out cash. On the occasions when I do fall behind another power and have to go to war, its nice to force the War of Succession. Often you will tag the AI thats been wasting time fighting you.

I will say if you are looking for a challenge it is infinitely more difficult to defend multiple land masses during the war for independence. Two is doable enough, but once you get up to three it gets really fun. Assuming you like the naval aspect of course.

Even when you aren't interested in the colonies themselves because they are severely under developed or hard to defend, late in the game when you have the horses and muskets to spare, you can always attack the European factions, capture their colonists, get them on board a bunch of galleons and ferry them back to your colonies. The colonies, those without stockades you can burn to the ground, those with stockades you leave behind three of the most uneducated colonists you managed to capture, and you leave a couple enemy soldiers undefeated to capture them back.

I usually play at the Governor level.

Didn't know there was a cheat for the AI on Tools and Muskets. I haven't found too many Soldiers in enemy colonies early in the game (the first 20-30 years or so). After that, there always seems to be at least one Soldier/Dragoon in every opposing colony, which is why I always take two Scouts with an invasion force to spy on a colony before I attack -- I figure one Scout will be captured. I can't be sure of this, but it seems Scouts are more likely to be captured the higher the population of the enemy colony it's spying on,

And, of course, you can't know if the opponent has P. Revere in its Continental Congress, which make attacks tougher.

I agree totally on securing an immediate area and buying privateers -- I purchase a privateer as soon as I have 2,000 gold. Seizing enemy cargoes early in the game is often worth a year's worth of exports from my own colonies, and sets back your opponents' development.

I'm close to declaring Independence in my current game and I'll have three separated land masses to defend. I plan to have lots of Horses and Muskets in storage, and 40 Tools in each colony in case things get desperate and I have to buy an Artillery piece quickly. Wish me luck!

So, how did it go?

If they haven´t changed it, it is rather easy to achive independence

The AI ist attacking the most eastern sea city. (I never tried just have cities in the west, so don´t know what happens in this case)

So if you build a city specificly for defense, it is rather easy ;)

But don´t make the mistake I once made: I surrounded my city with dragoons and cannons, kind of expecting that they will be placed on other hexes......Nooooooooooooo........ it removed my pile of dragoons and cannons to unload the exp. force!!!!!

Keep in mind that you get an attack bonus, when attacking the enemy in the forest! get´s higher with one of the founding fathers (can´t remember which one though)

Hope it helps

You might be right, but I alwas only had this ONE costal city ;) made it much easier........

But leaving just one spot, I am sure, that doesn't work, tried and didn't work in my case, or I was just unluckz, but since then I let them land and surround them afterwards ;)

Is forest not better? AFAIR you get a better bonus on forest, or?

You just need to be careful to leave one coastal spot open for the REF to land around your colony. They should land there every time. Normally you want to force them onto a mountain if possible as you will get the full 100% bonus for terrain. It is essentially the native ambush bonus only now it applies to your troops as you are the "native".

Thanks for this info. I always thought it would only apply to forest ;)

And one thing I remember again, it is first attacking the Town with the lowest 'rebellion' setting. That's why I said most eastern, that town I always kept a little bit lower then the rest ;) But if you have 100% everywhere, I think it is going for the most eastern one.

Unfortunately, I've had to put the game on hold for a while. I still need to prepare all my colonies for the War of Independenc. I'll let you know how it goes!This is the first time I've played the DOS version, but I played the game a lot on my old Mac. I remember one time I left some troops on a coastal square, and the Expeditionary Force tried to land on the square. It started an unending loop in which the EF would come to the New World but not land any troops, than return to the home country, return to the New World, and so forth. It made the War of Independence unplayable. Since then I've always left the coastal squares surrounding my coastal colonies vacant.

UPDATE: Independence won!

After a long hiatus I resumed my game, playing the Dutch. As I mentioned previously, I pursued a new strategy with this game, conquering English and French colonies across three islands. This not only increased my number of colonies to 14; it also left both the English and French unable to mount any serious drive to independence.

The crippled French and English spent the last years of the game attacking each other's nearby colonies, while the Cherokee -- who had long memories of the English wiping out their settlements -- repeately massacred English colonists, thanks in no small part to the Muskets and Horses I generously sold to them.

I declared Independence in Autumn 1709, with all colonies at 100% rebel sentiment. It would take 10 years of fighting to achieve Independence. The Royal Expeditionary Force was clever, landing near my colonies on all three islands where my forces were weakest. The REF repeatedly landed near San Salvador (which I'd captured from the English, to whom it was ceded by the Spanish after they abandoned the New World).

Fortunately I had three other colonies close to San Salvador that could send Dragoons and Wagon Trains full of horses to bolster San Salvador's defenses after repeated landings. I built a thorough roads network on the island to ensure easy access to all four colonies on the island.

During the war I continously sold goods to the Indian settlements, including the wealthy Inca and Aztec cities (unfortunately, in this game each tribe had only one city each). I decided in this game not to sell Muskets to the Indians close to my colonies -- though when I played the Mac version years ago, I had some pleasant surprises during the War of Indepence from tribes that had acquired Muskets.

Here's my final score and some tips on fighting a War of Independence across several islands:

Dutch Citizens 1,078
Continental Congress +95%
Gold 79,151 +74
Rebel Sentiment +100
Liberty Bells +100
Early Revolution (Spring 1714) +142
Independence +100%
Citizens gave my name to Continent
Rating 127%
Total Score 3,178

This was by far my most successful game of Colonization since I bought the Mac version in the mid-1990s.

Some tips for fighting a War of Independence across several islands:

1. On each island build a strong road network with alternate routes of communication -- don't rely on a single road connecting a colony; you're in big trouble if the Indians decide to block it.
2. Horses, Horses, Horses. Anyone who has played the game knows how important it is to have lots of them stockpiled before the War of Independence.
You'll need to have a whole lot of them on each island, preferably stashed in Merchantmen or Galleons (while leaving enough ships to trade with Indian tribes during the indepence war). Be prepared to transfer Horses each turn from Ships to Wagon Trains, as REF Man-of-Wars often blockade the colony where the REF has landed.
Stockpiling Muskets and having them ready for transport is far less important. Have some in reserve, though you probably won't need them. You should be set to improve each defeated Dragoon (Soldier) back to a Dragoon at the end of each turn by re-equiping them with Horses.
During each turn I lost 200-300 Horses in battle. The REF repeatedly landed near San Salvador, apparently hoping to exhaust my supply of Horses. Fortunately, I had the ability to respond, as noted in No. 3 below.
3. Have a fleet of Privateers that can quickly transport reinforcements and, just as important, Horses to beseiged Colonies. Privateers have only two cargo holds, but with Magellan in your Continental Congress they can move 9 squares each turn, making them by far the fastest ships.
Have Privateers ready and loaded to send to any island each turn. Don't bother using them to attack REF Man-of-Wars; they rarely inflict damage and likely will be sunk.