It is annoying that the game does not keep track of what the Indians want. I would trade all of the advisor reports just for one that keeps track of what each indian settlement wants! What an oversight this is by the game devs!

That brings me to my question. How lucrative is trading with the indians when compared to trading with your home port? Is keeping track of what they want really worth it?

You have hit upon the reason there is no report. Trading with the natives will get you much greater value per unit, Especially city based factions like the Incas. The rub is that European trade is much more easily executed without micro-management, so the overall value is likely greater there unless you are diligent with the natives.

My personal opinion, European trade is so much less work, I cant be bothered with the additional coin from the natives unless I have some specific objective in mind. This holds true 90% of the time. However, early game if you have a load of goods you know the natives want, you can make an early killing getting you a nice jump start.

The city based Indians are no where near me. Now I am starting to understand why some players take their starting ship at the beginning of the game to the west edge of the map and settle there. I might try that in a future game. No idea how viable that strategy is though. But that strategy is starting to appeal to me because then I would only keep track of what the city Indian settlements want. I am assuming the city Indians on the west coast will pay more then the poor Indians I typically am meeting on the east coast.

It's not hard to find something that a tribe will usually want (rum, cigar, coats...). Maybe it depends of where they are on the map. Once you've seen a pattern, sell said merchandise in the Native villages. Repeat in nearby settlements; after you've sold it to a couple of their compatriots (or other tribes), they will usually accept it again.

A less micromanagement-intensive option is selling your cargo as usual in Europe, buy some trade goods or tools for pennies and before going back to your colonies, sell them to the Indians for high profit, one village at a time.

Another fun strategy is selling horses and muskets to a tribe that is far away from you but neighbors another European power, for big profit, low risk and potential havoc.

Are you playing on a specific map or random? Generally people do the go west thing for separation from the other colonial powers, there is no guarantee you will see any particular tribe somewhere specific unless you are on a defined map. Say the Americas. You can return to Europe in any deep sea spot, which are located everywhere on the map, not just east coast. A little odd to be sure...

If you are on the Americas and you are looking to try native trade, there is no better start than the Dutch in SA. Usually head as far south as seems reasonable(Argentina/Uruguay area) and open trade quickly with the Incas. A powerhouse native faction on the Americas map. Its worth it restarting once or twice until your starting square pops a bit south, while you can certainly sail from the Caribbean, why waste the turns? The real money starts rolling not from selling for money, but from trading goods for silver. They have endless amounts and it pays to get an early galleon back to Europe chock full of silver. Money rains from the sky!

I always play on a random map. I never understood the appeal of always playing on the same America map.

I was under the impression that the better natives were always on the west side of the map. I guess I was mistaken. Being seperated from the other Europeans does sound useful though. My only concern with this strategy is the time it would take me to get there though. While I am still sailing on my initial ship, the AI is already building their settlements.

Still, I think I will give it a try and see how it goes.

Trying to improve your game until being good enough for Viceroy is quite difficult if the map gives you different advantages and disadvantages each time you play.

Also, in my opinion the map generator is quite bad. Small patches of each type of terrain scattered all over the place, and lots of islands even in the larger landmasses options when customizing... Makes for terrible colony sites, which not only affects you as the human player, but is also detrimental to the competition you have to put up with. By the time you need to engage with the other powers, or struggle to reach independence before them, those "lost" turns are no longer a serious issue; if you properly take advantage of the lack of conflict. The growth in power and population of the computer players is not exponential.

In any case, I do not see the need to avoid a confrontation, as long as you are militarily good enough to kick them out of their colonies and make them move elsewhere. :P

The America map has its charm for immersion and role-playing purposes. I use it more than the random map generator. I love to think about the real-life locations that I am colonizing, and being able to reenact or change History. I focus on a different region each time, so every game feels like a new adventure.

There are a good number of great maps out there. People have gone through the effort of making more detailed Americas maps (you know, Florida being more than two squares:)... ) Europe, Africa, globe, the whole shebang. Its fun to play on something familiar. And you are right, the map editor is a little wonky so its nice to encounter maps designed to not have desert tiles next to swamps.

Regarding the comments on turns... it really depends on what you are looking for out of the game. If you are doing a score run, there is no game that will punish you more than this one for wasted turns. Simple inertia will not stop. Its a pure zero sum game, each turn is lost gold with no recovery and hence lost points. However, if you are playing for the sheer fun of the game, it is almost impossible to lose. You may not be first, you may not be the biggest or most advanced, but you can still work your way to independence. You simply wont be the highest score. In which case, proximity to the other colonies is almost meaningless in the grand scheme.

Anyway, if you are going to sail west, its a good idea to pick your country carefully. The starting differences are much more pronounced and can make or break (well, not break. But you get the point) you based on your play style. Again, you wont lose and will have fun, just how quickly you will get out of the early game.