Bug in Colonization?

[AmigaBruno]

I've recently enjoyed playing the game Colonization on my Amiga A1200, running it off a 4Gb CF card as HDD, under Workbench 3.1 with 2Mb RAM. I also own an Amiga A500 Plus with a GVP hard drive and a total of 3MB RAM, but I haven't played it on that model yet and now I'm not keen to spend enough time testing it. I've tried various boot options, but the docs on disk say it's compatible with AGA, as well as older Amigas. I've played at Discoverer level for all the European powers available, meaning France, Spain, England, and the Netherlands. My first established and largest colony is always occupied by another European power and I can never get it back.

Unfortunately, no matter what I do in the game, it always gets to the stage where eventually, at some time during the mid to late 17th Century, all my trading comes to a halt because I no longer get any chance to do anything with my ships at all! I mean, I can no longer send them to any ports, load or unload cargo or colonists, then I'm just left clicking on requesters to acknowledge events which have taken place, but I have no way of doing anything to influence these events. I've ended up making notes of what year trading was stopped, then played for another 8-10 years to make sure I could no longer trade before giving up!

I'd like to know if this has happened to anyone else on here. It may be that this is a disabled time limited version of Colonization, designed to prevent people trading after about 1660-1680 to encourage them to buy the full version of the game. Obviously, this is no longer sold, but I'm fascinated by it and really want to do whatever it takes to be able to carry on playing it after roughly 1660-1680!

[AmigaBruno]

Is this perhaps after you declare independence ? Or regardless of it ?

I've never got to the stage where I could declare independence. I was always worried about threats from other colonies. I've recently received military support from my Kings, so i wouldn't have got this if I'd declared independence. Even with this support, I was eventually overwhelmed by other colonists and defeated, if I hadn't been prevented from trading already.

[AmigaBruno]

I recall trading was good business only for limited time until powers are flooded with surplus from the new world. So it is part of the game play.

To make progress you must generate liberty bells and have your colonies growing. Get some cannons and cavalry to defend your colonies and preferably capture nearby enemy colonies.

I was no longer given the opportunity to send ships to ANY ports, even from one colonial port to another. The only input left available to me was to click on various news items about the price of commodities increasing or decreasing at the ports we'd originally sailed from to set up the colonies. I was also able to click on requests for help from colonies saying they'd run out of lumber or some other item, but I didn't get the chance to supply them with lumber from anywhere.

I've bought some cannons called artillery, but even with 3 of these it was impossible for me to capture a nearby quite small colony, let alone recapture my original colony near there, which had been occupied by rival colonists.

This seems like a very complicated game, so I suppose the best thing to do is get a copy with the original disks and manual. Meanwhile, any tips from people on here would be welcome.

[AmigaBruno]

I have never seen that error before. But it sure does sound like a bug.

I always build custom houses in all my cities as soon as I can and stop training/recruiting from europe before I declare independence.

Indian capitals can train as many as you throw at them and a blue city can educate them in a few turns.

I've never built any customs houses, so I'll try that.

When I got complaints from colonies that I was supplying them with an "untrained" colonist, I took that as an insult, so then I sent these colonists to found another colony, but later on found I could force these colonies to accept them anyway, so I did.

I have never had anyone trained in Europe either, because I usually couldn't afford it.

[AmigaBruno]

Find a good place for your first colony with a lot of food and some other valuable resource. Dont built it just anywhere. Build town defense (stock gate etc.) as fast as you can. Use artillery just for defense and and keep them fortified. Plan your other colonies also on good places, no need to be on the ocean, you can use wagon trains for transport.

For attack use dragons, if you win a few times they will become veterans if not already.

Also you can trade with indians also and they can train your colonists. Use the extensive information in the game about units and terrain and it will get you much further in the game.

Also for me its better to accept the tax raise every time until you have enough liberty bells to declare independence.

Unfortunately, I can't see any indications of what resources there are at any location, so this seems to mean I end up building my colonies "just anywhere". How can I find out what's there before building?

It seems I need to get an original copy of this game with the manual ASAP!

[AmigaBruno]

You must have reached the unit limit. It's about 255. After that the games just locks up. I think if they are working they are not counted, so you can go a little higher.
Google for the population limit on Colonization.

No, I never got anywhere near the population limit.

[AmigaBruno]

Thanks for all your help! After reading all these suggestions, here's what I did.

I played as a French discoverer. I saw a mark in the ocean near the coastline, which I assumed meant good fishing, so I built a colony there. I had already noticed a clearing near lots of trees. I was also told there was lots of lumber there.

After building the colony, I got a report almost immediately that they'd run out of lumber! I then found I was unable to return even once to La Rochelle after setting up the colony. This is the same effect which previously had taken until about 1660-1680 to happen. I waited about 10 years, then quit.

So now I know this effect isn't due to a bug, but because I haven't got the manual. I found a cheap copy of this game on eBay, complete with everything and have bought it. I won't bother playing the game again until after I've read the manual.

[AmigaBruno]

I've got the full version of the game with manual now! I've read part of the manual, but there's a lot in it.

I've already found out so many things I wasn't able to guess about this game before.

I've  installed the version from the disks with came with the package, but  then I found there was at least one turn where I wasn't given the  opportunity to do anything with my ships.

Luckily, I found out  that the command View allows me to interrupt the turns from passing,  then allows me to select one of my ships and regain control of it. I'm  not sure this always works, though. I played another game in the "New  World" (i.e. the continent doesn't look like North or South America) as a  French discoverer, but then found I was unable to control my ships  after 1566. After this, I started a similar game where I seem to have  achieved a lot, such as artillery for all three colonies, a school, etc.  I never bothered building a school before, because I thought it was  just for kids, but there didn't seem to be any kids. One of my colonies  has been occupied by English colonists, but I hope to take it back.  The  area where I've built my colonies has some very helpful Indians,  including the Sioux who have often given me food, although they didn't  give any when my colonists were starving almost to death. I found out  that I'm near the southern tip of the "New World", where there's an  island like Tierra del Fuego and I've discovered, then built a colony on  the Pacific coast.