History VideoGame / Colonization

** Moreover, the Portuguese Empire is a non-entity in both the original game and the remake, despite being of the first colonial empires kickstarted the Age of Discover and founded Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, as well as outlasting all other playable colonial empires.

* [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Gameplay And Story Integration]]: Your colony's interaction with your European homeland. The king will keep on increasing your taxes until eventually, your colony can barely turn a profit, making independence your only choice. The various army's modifiers also reflect their historical situation. The REF have better equipment that the colonist don't have access to in order to reflect their economic and economical superiority, forcing you to think outside the box and employ unconventional warfare tactics such as using the terrain to your advantage and weaken the enemy using hit-and-run ambushes, just like the Americans did in the actual Revolutionary War.

* VendorTrash: Only Food, Lumber, Horses, and Ore (and its refined products, Tools and Horses) have practical value for your own colonies. All other commodities are useful only for making money by trading with the natives or your home port.

*** On top of this, you attract new colonists to your colony by employing people as preachers, whose religious message generates holy points (crosses), and every N crosses attracts a new colonist. In reality, this model really only makes sense for the English (see WeAllLiveInAmerica below); the Spanish wanted to plunder and convert the natives, the French and Dutch wanted to expand industry and trade.

* WeAllLiveInAmerica:
** When you declare independence, your colony flags become American flags, regardless of your mother country.
** Virtually the ''entire'' premise of victory, from the oppressively high taxes to Founding Fathers to the inevitable revolution that follows is based off American history.

** Freecol adds Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Russia. For example, Russia in 1492 was the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Moscow Grand Duchy of Moscow]], which occupied only what is now European Russia and was in no way a great power or able to colonize the Americas, outside of Alaska. A [[JustifiedTrope justified]] example however to allow for 8 player games.

** Freecol adds Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Russia. For example, Russia in 1492 was the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Moscow Grand Duchy of Moscow]], which occupied only what is now European Russia and was in no way a great power or able to colonize the Americas. A [[JustifiedTrope justified]] example however to allow for 8 player games.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: All four colonial empires begin the game in 1492, the year Columbus discovered the New World. At that time, the closest thing to an independent Dutch state was the mass of principalities known as the Burgundian Inheritance, whose [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_I_of_Castile nominal ruler]] (the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_III,_Holy_Roman_Emperor Holy Roman Emperor-elect's]] grandson) was only 14.

** Freecol adds Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Russia. For example, Russia in 1492 was the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Moscow Grand Duchy of Moscow]], which occupied only what is now European Russia and was in no way a great power or able to colonise the Americas. A [[JustifiedTrope justified]] example however to allow for 8 player games.

* AlternateHistory: In the Americas map, European nations are randomly assigned starting positions on the Atlantic Ocean (which gives extra irony because UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia colonized the Americas from the Pacific Ocean) for their ships. [[spoiler: The locations of these starting positions (near Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Hispaniola, the Falklands, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maranh%C3%A3o Maranhão]], Venezuela, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Paulo_(state) State of São Paulo]], and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%ADo_de_la_Plata La Plata Delta]] ) mean that unlike real life where what is now Mexico and the 13 original US states became densely populated as early as the 1650s, these areas often are the last to be colonized. This also means that UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, UsefulNotes/{{Argentina}}, UsefulNotes/{{Uruguay}}, UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}}, UsefulNotes/{{Panama}}, UsefulNotes/{{Guyana}}, UsefulNotes/{{Colombia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Haiti}}, the UsefulNotes/DominicanRepublic get heavy European settlement and thus receive the most developed infrastructure. This also creates an [[TruthInTelevision realistic unfair playing field for colonial powers]] because starting in the La Plata Delta or São Paulo is advantageous due to good farming land and easy mobility; starting in Maranhão or Venezuela hinders expansion due to the abysmal mobility and food production from the [[HungryJungle Amazon Rainforest]] (but starting in Venezuela makes it easy to expand to {{Panama}} and build a settlement to serve as a Panama Canal, [[GameBreaker which is a boon to everything]], or to [[GoldFever mine the Andes mountains for Silver]]); starting in Hispaniola allows for easy colonization of the Caribbean, has a massive sugar production (as in real life), and serves as a base for colonizing the North American mainland (as [[UsefulNotes/HernanCortez Hernán Cortés]] did when destroying the Aztec Empire), if you could be bothered to do so; starting in [[HollywoodNewEngland Nova Scotia]] or [[CanadaEh Newfoundland]] gives you plenty of timber and furs but hinders everything else due to the [[SnowMeansDeath cold climate's low (but not abysmal) food production and mobility points]] and inability to produce Silver, Tobacco, Cotton or Sugar; finally, starting in the Falklands is the least desirable because you have low food production (like in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland), the need to transport everything by sea (like in Hispaniola) and that even if you decide to settle further west in [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Tierra del Fuego]], you still have the same [[SnowMeansDeath cold climate issues]], plus limited mobility and resources from having the Andes Mountains and the [[ThirstyDesert Atacama Desert]] nearby. Then there is the possibility of [[WrongTurnAtAlbuquerque missing Newfoundland or Nova Scotia]] and settling UsefulNotes/{{Greenland}} instead, a place with [[EpicFail no trees]] [[DeathWorld to speak off]] [[SnowMeansDeath due to the cold climate]] taken {{up to eleven}}, meaning that [[HaveANiceDeath you're]] [[PlaceWorseThanDeath screwed]]. ]]

** Even for an old and abstract game, its version of events leaves big hole. A gaping hole. A black hole, if you will, with no mention of the role that slavery played in the European colonial development. This is an EnforcedTrope brought by ExecutiveMeddling, as Sid Meier had planned to include slave labor in the game, but was overruled by Microprose for fear of offending black people; the game ''does'' have Indentured Servants, which were basically Irish slaves and a DistinctionWithoutADifference. The Prima Guide pointed this out, critically noting that the game basically bowdlerized the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_trade Triangle Trade]], without showing why the practice became infamous.

In many regards it resembles its [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual predecessor]], ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'', as you build cities, grow your population, wage war with other factions and in general guide your faction towards an end goal, in this case independence from the mother land. However, the main difference with the ''Civilization'' games is that your population consists of different specialists. You have lumberjacks, elder statesmen, fishermen, blacksmiths, indentured servants, gunsmiths and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters tons and tons of other types]]. To get a productive empire, you need to have a combination of all these specialists. Another important feature is that the player can get "founding fathers" like Washington, Cortez or Simon Bolivar, who give unique benefits to your country.

* VendorTrash: Only Food, Ore (and its refined products, Tools and Muskets), Lumber, and Horses have any practical value to your colonies themselves. All other resources exist to be sold back to your Mother Country, the natives, or (more rarely) other colonial powers.

* DummiedOut: The game files show potential expansions for the Town Hall (called the Capitol) that aren't present or really necessary in the final game. Additionally, there is a Teacher specialist for the schoolhouse that can be found via cheats, but otherwise isn't possible to get in-game.

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: Key manufactured goods do get more expensive over time, but this is probably the game's not-so-subtle way to force you to develop your own economy. Furthermore, the price you get for selling goods is always lower than the price you pay for buying them.

* ArtificialStupidity: The Royal Expeditionary Force isn't very smart in the original game, and attacks in a very predictable pattern. They will simply land right next to one of your least-defended colonies and attack it directly, ignoring any of your units outside the colony until they have captured it. The REF will also stupidly place their units in terrain that gives your attacking units huge "ambush" bonuses, such as hills and mountains.

* [[PlanetOfHats Colony Of Hats]]: Your colonists can only have one specialty at a time. You can switch their specialties, but only by demoting them to regular old non-specialized colonists, and then re-training them (either via native villages, or via your own schools, or via lots of practice) to a new specialty. They can still have any job you want them to, but work only as good as unspecialized colonists outside their specialty.

* FactionCalculus: They don't exactly map to any of the archetypes on the trope page, but each of the four factions possesses a certain global bonus that affects their playing style. The Spanish receive {{Field Promotion}}s more quickly and are better at attacking native settlements, the English get more immigrants at the docks, the French have better relations with native factions, and the Dutch get bonuses to trade.

* FieldPromotion: If a unit wins a combat, there is a chance that it improves in social/skill rank (petty criminal -> indentured servant -> free colonist -> expert specialist / veteran soldier). Cannot happen if the unit winning a battle already had another specialty but was [[InstantMilitia armed and/or mounted out of desperation]]

* {{Grey and Grey Morality}}: The colonists want to create a build a new nation for their people free from the persecution and oppression from their homeland, while the Native Americans are trying to defend their ancestral lands and way of life from the stranger from across the sea.

* IKissYourHand: Every time your king (or stadtholder) rises taxes, he demands that you kiss his pinky ring to comply. You can hold a {insert trade good here} party and refuse the tax raise, but then you can no longer sell that particular good in Europe.

* NonstandardGameOver: If you fail to declare independence by 1800, you will be forced into retirement. While this counts as a game loss, it's the only one in which you aren't disgraced: your king, will grant you knighthood and a country estate in recognition of your loyal service.

* LaResistance: When you declare independence, this is essentially what you become.

* SummonBiggerFish: As the Americans did in RealLife via France, in the original DOS version of the game you can summon a bigger fish during your Revolution (exactly which country supports you is somewhat random, and you could conceivably summon a ''second'' bigger fish with enough Liberty Bell production). Sadly, this is left out of the modern remake.

* TookALevelInBadass: While the natives start out as musket fodder for the colonists, later on once they manage to get their hands on guns and horses through either raids against European settlements or trade, they will become a legitimate threat that you really need to watch out for and can turn the tide of a war depending on who they allied with.

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: When you declare independence, your colony flags become American flags, regardless of your mother country.

** All of the Native Americans greet you with friendly, unbridled joy (even the ones that were historically aggressive).
** Every time you kiss the SmugSnake King's ring, the audience will groan loudly in disbelief.

* ArtificialStupidity: The Royal Expeditionary Force isn't very smart in the original game - they will simply land right next to one of your colonies and attack it directly, ignoring any of your units outside the colony until they have captured it. They will also stupidly place their units in terrain that gives your attacking units huge ambush bonuses, such as hills and mountains.

***

* InstantMilitia: You can arm any unit with muskets for a quick military force, and / or give them horses to make them Scouts or Dragoons. They don't perform as well as Veteran Soldiers or Seasoned Scouts in these roles. Also, if a colony with no garrison but a musket stockpile is attacked the citizens will automatically arm themselves and "Man the stockade!" Only happens if you have the founding father Paul Revere, however.
* {{Irony}}:
** In the Americas map, European nations are randomly assigned starting positions on the Atlantic Ocean (which gives extra irony because UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia colonized the Americas from the Pacific Ocean) for their ships. [[spoiler: The locations of these starting positions (near Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Hispaniola, the Falklands, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maranh%C3%A3o Maranhão]], Venezuela, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Paulo_(state) State of São Paulo]], and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%ADo_de_la_Plata La Plata Delta]] ) mean that unlike real life where what is now Mexico and the 13 original US states became densely populated as early as the 1650s, these areas often are the last to be colonized. This also means that UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}, UsefulNotes/{{Argentina}}, UsefulNotes/{{Uruguay}}, UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}}, UsefulNotes/{{Panama}}, UsefulNotes/{{Guyana}}, UsefulNotes/{{Colombia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Haiti}}, the UsefulNotes/DominicanRepublic get heavy European settlement and thus receive the most developed infrastructure. This also creates an [[TruthInTelevision realistic unfair playing field for colonial powers]] because starting in the La Plata Delta or São Paulo is advantageous due to good farming land and easy mobility; starting in Maranhão or Venezuela hinders expansion due to the abysmal mobility and food production from the [[HungryJungle Amazon Rainforest]] (but starting in Venezuela makes it easy to expand to {{Panama}} and build a settlement to serve as a Panama Canal, [[GameBreaker which is a boon to everything]], or to [[GoldFever mine the Andes mountains for Silver]]); starting in Hispaniola allows for easy colonization of the Caribbean, has a massive sugar production (as in real life), and serves as a base for colonizing the North American mainland (as [[UsefulNotes/HernanCortez Hernán Cortés]] did when destroying the Aztec Empire), if you could be bothered to do so; starting in [[HollywoodNewEngland Nova Scotia]] or [[CanadaEh Newfoundland]] gives you plenty of timber and furs but hinders everything else due to the [[SnowMeansDeath cold climate's low (but not abysmal) food production and mobility points]] and inability to produce Silver, Tobacco, Cotton or Sugar; finally, starting in the Falklands is the least desirable because you have low food production (like in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland), the need to transport everything by sea (like in Hispaniola) and that even if you decide to settle further west in [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Tierra del Fuego]], you still have the same [[SnowMeansDeath cold climate issues]], plus limited mobility and resources from having the Andes Mountains and the [[ThirstyDesert Atacama Desert]] nearby. Then there is the possibility of [[WrongTurnAtAlbuquerque missing Newfoundland or Nova Scotia]] and settling UsefulNotes/{{Greenland}} instead, a place with [[EpicFail no trees]] [[DeathWorld to speak off]] [[SnowMeansDeath due to the cold climate]] taken {{up to eleven}}, meaning that [[HaveANiceDeath you're]] [[PlaceWorseThanDeath screwed]]. ]]

* Irony:

** Even for an old and abstract game, its version of events leaves big hole. A gaping hole. A black hole, if you will, with no mention of the role that slavery played in the European colonial development. This is an EnforcedTrope brought by ExecutiveMeddling, as Sid Meier had planned to include slave labor in the game, but was overruled by Microprose for fear of offending black people; the game ''does'' have Indentured Servants, which were basically Irish slaves and a DistinctionWithOutDifference. The Prima Guide pointed this out, critically noting that the game basically bowdlerized the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_trade Triangle Trade]], without showing why the practice became infamous.

** Even for an old and abstract game, its version of events leaves big hole. A gaping hole. A black hole, if you will, with no mention of the role that slavery played in the European colonial development. This is an EnforcedTrope brought by ExecutiveMeddling, as Sid Meier had planned to include slave labor in the game, but was overruled by Microprose for fear of offending black people. The Prima Guide pointed this out, critically noting that the game basically bowdlerized the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_trade Triangle Trade]], without showing why the practice became infamous.

** Natives can teach some, but not all of the colonist specialties (only those at skill level 1 and 2) to free colonists and [[IndenturedServitude indentured servants]] in one turn (in contrast it takes 3 turns for skill level 1 and 5 turns for skill level 2 specialties to be taught by Europeans). The skills each native group teaches are [[TruthInTelevision limited to those for which each native group has proven]] [[ShownTheirWork historical evidence of practicing]], namely Expert Fisherman, Expert Farmer, Seasoned Scout, Expert Luberjack, Expert Fur Trapper, Expert Ore Miner, Master Fur Trader, Expert Silver Miner, Master Cotton Planter, Master Tobacco Planter and Master Sugar Planter.