Sid Meier's Colonization
Description official descriptions
Sid Meier's Colonization is a strategy game which puts you in the role of Viceroy of the New World. You are sent by your King and country to establish colonies in the newly-discovered Americas that lie to the west. You face many of the same challenges that faced colonial organizers of the time-competition from other Old World powers, strange native cultures, the problems of establishing profitable trade programs, and the problems of organizing an army from a rag-tag band of colonists.
The game begins with the European discovery of the Americas (1500) and continues until approximately the time of the American Revolution (1800). In the beginning of the game you are given a trading/exploration ship and a small group of colonists. You have no knowledge of what lies ahead of your ship, so you must explore until you find a suitable spot to lay down your first colony. As your colonies grow larger and larger, you inevitably encounter native populations and are confronted with competing imperial powers from the Old World.
Each of your colonies is populated by a number of colonists, who you can assign to various tasks. Some chop wood, mine for ore and collect plants outside the colony, some others stay inside to turn those raw materials into more valuable cargo - such as rum (made from sugar), coats (made of furs) or hammers (made of lumber). Hammers which aren't a cargo you can sell, but represent the speed with which you construct new buildings in your colony. Some colonists are specialists, and thus are more effective at a certain job.
The cargo you collect and produce is an important thing. You can take it to Europe to sell, and earn money to buy some other necessary things, hire colonists (though new, willing colonists appear in Europe by themselves) or buy ships and artillery. You can also trade it with the Indians or colonies of other nations.
You'll construct various buildings in your colonies. They have a lot of different functions: some of them can improve the speed with which you produce valuable cargo, others allow you to defend yourself from attacks more easily or construct ships and artillery. Some buildings require you to spend a number of valuable Tools when constructed, though you can make new Tools out of ore.
As you explore the land, you'll come across the Indian villages and some "places of interest" which can be investigated. A colonist that enters an Indian village can be welcomed with open hands, and the natives will reveal a map of nearby lands, or teach him a profession. Investigating places of interest has various consequences: sometimes you'll find nothing, sometimes you'll be killed for trespassing on ancient burial ground, but sometimes you'll find treasure! (Taking this treasure to Europe can be difficult though - if you don't have a sufficiently big ship, the King will agree to transport it for you... if you give him 50% of the gold).
To defend yourself from enemies, you'll want to have some military units. Just give a colonist a musket and he'll turn into a Soldier, give him a horse, and he's a Scout or a Dragoon. However, such a warrior is typically inexperienced, though he might gain military experience in battle. Artillery is also good at defense, but don't try to leave your colonies with it - in the open field, it is useless.
As you progress in the game, you'll feel that working for the King is getting more and more annoying, especially since he keeps raising your taxes, thus decreasing your income from sold goods. Your colonies produce "Liberty Bells", which increase rebel sentiment in the colonies. If the majority of colonists supports your yearning for freedom, you can declare independence. But when you do that, you'll have to deal with the King's expeditionary force arriving to teach you a lesson. If you manage to defeat all his incoming armies and emerge victorious from the American Revolutionary War, you've won!
Groups +
- Colonization series
- Game with creator's name
- Games with downloadable official map/level editors
- Games with randomly generated environments
- Green Pepper releases
- Historical conflict: American Revolutionary War
- Merchant / Trade-oriented games
- Powerplus releases
- Setting: Aztec
- Setting: Inca
- Sid Meier's licensees
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Credits (DOS version)
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Design | |
Programming | |
Art Direction | |
Computer Art | |
Music Composition and Arranging | |
Sound Programming | |
Documentation | |
Editor | |
Manual Design / Layout | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 86% (based on 29 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 150 ratings with 9 reviews)
This game brings back memories
The Good
I loved the music, and it was probably one of the best aspects of the game. The game was addicting because it resembled Civilization, and just building up the empire was fun too.
The Bad
Back when it played it in the mid-90's, I could'nt think of any flaws that it had. But now, I wish they made Colonization 2 or a game that plays identically to this one, but has better graphics and more features. I've tried quite a few games such as Conquest of the New World, and they just don't have the unique feel that Colonization had.
The Bottom Line
I would tell people that this game is similar to Civilization and that they can play it today for nostalgic relief or just sit back and listen to the tunes. This game also inspired me to take an Indian Studies course later in college.
DOS · by igor balotsky (5) · 2004
A damn fine Sid Meier classic.
The Good
Just about everything - it's as addictive as Civilization and not quite as elaborate, the graphics are very well drawn and fit the style of the game, the King with His Pinky Ring is really cool and the ingame music is of top quality.
The Bad
Hmm... I guess it gets kindof annoying after a while, but you always go back to it.
The Bottom Line
A really good Civilization-style game from God Himself.
DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4538) · 1999
The Good
Play as Spanish, English, Dutch or French. Each has a special advantage of their own. Most people play the Dutch because your ship can carry 4 commodities at the start instead of 2 for all other players. Also commodity prices are better. The French have better relations with the Indians meaning fewer attacks and have a trained pioneer which clears land quicker and gets more logs from cleared woods. The English get 50% more immigrants, but this makes it more difficult to train them all and stop big colonies losing efficiency. The Spanish have veteran Soldiers to attack the Indians or other Europeans.
The Bad
The fight mechanics don't work according to probabilities and you get too many
foreign POW's - ie. you can attack a city with several Artillary all the time and lose them all, on other occasions attack all the time and win. This means either you lose every unit and keep every unit. Probably means you should only lose some, this really spoils the game as you can't guarantee a win although you have a massive arsenal. Also after you get 4 privateers they always lose. It would have been good if you could have captured ships as well as sink them.
The Bottom Line
Great. A real insite into how the New World was Colonized. Learn about historic
figures of the time who join your Congress. New Congress members act like tech advances in Civilization eg. Adam Smith makes Factories, and Magellan increases ship movement. The game is a bit like Civilization only on a reduced time scale. Includes Dragoons, Soldiers, Scouts, Caravels, Mecantmans, Galleons, Man-O-War (during fight for Independence). Kings Soldiers and Continental army recruits act like Riflemen and Cavalry.
DOS · by David Ledgard (3) · 2004
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Colonization Gold Multimedia | Lantizia (40) | Dec 31, 2019 |
Trivia
Amiga version
Although Sid Meier's previous Amiga strategy games, Civilization and Railroad Tycoon, were system-friendly and could run on a multitasking system, they kept their custom user interfaces from the PC versions. Colonization, on the other hand, made use of the normal AmigaOS GUI, making for movable and resizable windows. This also meant that you could run Colonization on the Workbench screen, by starting the game with WORKBENCH as an argument.
Development
Colonization was the fourth game that Sid Meier protege Brian Reynolds worked on with MicroProse. The game began as a "spare time" project for Reynolds until it was noticed by the rest of the company. Because the game underwent many significant changes during playtesting, Sid Meier cites the game as proof that designers can (and perhaps should) continue to make changes and improvements up until the last possible minute.
Indians
Colonization was considered somewhat controversial by the press at the time of the release because it portrayed the European conflict with the American Indians but completely excluded the issue of slavery from the game's model.
An interesting change in dialog occurs in relation to Indian wars after your colony gains its independence. When you interact with other European countries before independence, you merely ask them if you want them to war against the Indians. After the independence, you ask them if they will you (or vice versa) place the Indians in reservation camps, a bit of sarcasm from the developers.
Historically, the relations between the native Indians and the invaders are gruesome, if not down right degrading. The first arrivals from Spain and Portugal introduced various diseases to the local populace.
The United States of America traded small pox infested blankets with the Indians, introducing biological warfare before the concept was established and sold whiskey to a nation of people who, surprisingly did not have the genes to break down the alcohol naturally.
Awards
- Amiga Joker
- Issue 02/1996 – #2 Best Game in 1995 (Readers' Vote)
- Issue 02/1996 – #2 Best Simulation in 1995 (Readers' Vote)
- PC Powerplay (Germany)
- Issue 11/2005 - #5 Game Which Absolutely Needs A Sequel (it eventually was remade as add-on for Sid Meier's Civilization IV in 2008)
Information also contributed by Игги Друге and Indra was here
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Related Sites +
-
Colonization Fan Page
The ultimate Colonization fan page. Contains game info, strategy, downloads, forum and more. -
Colonization Forum Newsgroup
Some useful nuggets of info. about Colonization and a couple of polls. -
Hooked on Civ IV: Colonization
Fansite for both the old (1994) and new (2008) version of Sid Meier's Colonization. -
The Unofficial Microprose Colonization Home Page
All you can and should know about Microprose Colonization and more. A must of a Colonization fan. -
freecol - a Colonization Clone
Freecol site about a clone of Colonization currently at Version 0.3.0 . Lots of pictures and info., download a copy. It's very professional. The game's very professional. So far they have the Europe screen, map, units and you can build a colony.
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by MajorDad.
Amiga added by Rebound Boy. Linux added by Sciere. Windows 3.x added by Terok Nor. Macintosh added by Игги Друге. Windows added by Longwalker.
Additional contributors: PCGamer77, Sergio Brinkhuis, David Ledgard, Havoc Crow, formercontrib, hlejr0, Patrick Bregger.
Game added November 2, 1999. Last modified February 13, 2024.