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.

Sid Meier's Colonization (abbreviated as 'Col' on this Wiki) is a computer game by Brian Reynolds and Sid Meier released by MicroProse in 1994. It is a turn-based strategy game themed on the early European colonization of the New World, starting in 1492 and lasting until 1850. It was originally released for DOS, then in 1995 ported to Windows, the Amiga, and Macintosh. 1 Play 2 Resource.

1. About This Game Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is the third offering in the award winning Civilization IV series. A re-imagining of the classic Colonization game Sid Meier created in 1994, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is a total conversion of the Civilization IV engine into a game experience in which players will lead a European nation on their quest to colonize.
2. As a result, Sid Meier's Colonization has a far more focused sense of gameplay, which can be good or bad depending on personal preference. The opening theme from Sid Meier's Civilization is re-used almost note for note in the introduction, though the comedic value of its abrupt shift once the cartoon boat reaches the new world and home-spun.

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!

Game Info

• Genre: Strategy
• Publisher: Sid Meier
• Year: 1995

Sid Meier’s Colonization Download

Wallpapers / Screenshots

Despite MicroProse's naming conventions (did we really need another game with 'ization' in the title?), this successor to Sid Meier's Civilization empire-builder attempts to embody the spirit of 'Exploration and Conquest of the New World' rather than focus on the entire span of recorded history. As a result, Sid Meier's Colonization has a far more focused sense of gameplay, which can be good or bad depending on personal preference.

The opening theme from Sid Meier's Civilization is re-used almost note for note in the introduction, though the comedic value of its abrupt shift once the cartoon boat reaches the new world and home-spun mountain music begins playing is worth the blatant recycle. However, not quite so forgivable is the use of almost the exact same introductory statement: 'You must forge a new world! A civilization! Oops, we mean, a colony...ization.'

Much like Civilization, the ultimate goal is to build a thriving empire in a strange new world and outdo the competing nations. To this end, you begin with a little schooner full of soldiers and settlers ready to explore and start a potential new metropolis on foreign shores. Complications set in quickly, as interaction with not only the native peoples of the land but also other colonizing countries threaten to undermine and disrupt your colony. And you just started playing!

Comparisons between the two games are nearly unavoidable, particularly considering the quite similar VGA graphics (though definitely upgraded) and overall atmosphere. Differences in concept are noticeable from the start, though. Established powers in Europe already have their own interconnected alliances and economies that have profound effects on the success of your new colony.

For example, to properly deal with the natives, you often need to barter for their goods and trust. If you load your ship with the finest rum Portugal has to offer (paying ten monetary units each) and the price suddenly drops to five as soon as you leave harbor, odds are that your competitors might have a sudden edge in the trade department. To some players, playing a make-believe primitive stock market to get the most out of the game might not sound like fun but it obviously seemed so to Sid Meier.

Another similarity focuses on having your colonists do some menial labor around their city, while encouraging as much immigration as is humanly possible and dealing with your rivals through treaties or annihilation. Several embellishments in the city screen are evident and your colonists are no longer limited to occupations of farming, tax collection, research or entertainment. Now, any free citizen can choose from a variety of new occupations from blacksmith to missionary with a wide range of jobs in between. However, while the new additions certainly give the game more depth, it also loses a certain amount of simplistic elegance in the process. More time spent on any individual city is less time spent looking at the big picture.

Even with the added complexity of the town screen, though, the ingenious design of Sid Meier and company still shines through but is not nearly as outstanding as Sid Meier's Civilization, due in large part to the heavily borrowed derived gameplay. It is still certainly a worthwhile play, though, while waiting for 'Sid Meier's Californization' to arrive at stores.

Graphics: The graphics are a step up from Sid Meier's Civilization and are quite acceptable overall. The series is not particularly graphics-driven (this is no exception) but provides substance over style.

Sound: While the music cues are occasionally amusing and often appropriate, overall it's not really very exciting. The sound suffers from a similar fate with noises generally sparse and reserved for major events only.

Enjoyment: There is little more fun in theory than designing and overseeing your own empire and that is exactly what Sid Meier's Colonization allows you to do. However, the reality of being the ruler of an empire requires far more work than fun and while Civilization never really showed this in gameplay, Colonization occasionally does remind you of the dry, boring actions you have to do in order to maintain a colony. And where's the fun it that?

Replay Value: Your world never has to be the same twice if you don't want it to be and you can try a multitude of different strategies, using any of the four basic country archetypes in an attempt for ultimate conquest.

Sid Meier's Games

This Sid Meier classic is not severely underrated but certainly deserves as much acclaim as his classic Civilization for the novel design and refreshing emphasis on colony development as opposed to military might like Civil War games of yore. Use various specialist units to build and strengthen your colony through trade with Great Britain and native Indians before declaring independence for the final war for freedom. This rare Windows version of the game features sharper graphics and AI than the original DOS release.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

Colonization Sid Meier Strategy

People who downloaded Colonization for Windows have also downloaded:
Colonization, Civilization 2, Civilization, Civil War Generals 2, Civilization II: Test of Time, Civilization: Call to Power, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Sid Meier's Civilization 3