In Colonization, much of your population is made of Free Colonists.  However, when placed in a settlement, these colonists, as well as indentured servants, converted natives, and others, can take on any role available.  That is, colonists can take up one of the various professions in a settlement, from harvesting raw resources in nearby tiles to working in one of the many buildings that convert raw materials to finished goods.  Thus, there is a lot of flexibility in assigning roles to your colonists: one minute they can be focusing on mining silver from nearby mountains, and another minute they can distill sugar into rum.

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Colonization is, at its core, a game that emphasizes resource production and management. Its economic system focuses on harvesting raw resources and converting them into finished goods: for example, putting weavers to work, turning abundunt cotton into more profitable cloth. These resources and goods can then be bought and sold in Europe and with the natives, creating an incentive for players to produce not only a large quantity of goods, but ones of high quality too.

Each city can contain its own supply of specific resources in its warehouse (the default amount of goods at Normal speed is 100 of each). As settlements produce goods, wagon trains can carry them to sea ports, where ships can transport them to Europe. The market, particularly for some items like silver, is sensitive to rapid fluctuations in supply, causing demand to drop if the market is flooded with an excess of one good: thus, a diverse economy focusing on finished products is destined to be the most profitable. The table below outlines the available resources and average prices.

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Ultimately, all successful games of Colonization will end in combat, as your fledling colonies declare independence and fight to separate themselves from the European continent. Thus, you must maintain a sizeable army, potentially consisting of soldiers, cannons, and dragoons, and, if possible, a navy as well. Keep in mind that the Royal Expeditionary Force (REF), the term given to the soldiers sent by the King in Europe, can grow in size throughout the game, and so what may have been an adequate defense years ago could no longer ensure victory. The REF, however, lands at your shores in waves, making it more manageable to handle.

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There are eight playable leaders in Colonization: two each for the English, French, Dutch, and Spanish colonies. Each leader has two traits, or characteristics that yield a special bonus. One of the traits is unique to that leader, and the other is shared by both leaders of a particular nation. For example, George Washington of the English colonies is Tolerant and Disciplined. John Adams, the other English leader, is also Tolerant, but instead of being Disciplined, he is Libertarian, a trait that no other leader has.

In addition to the leaders for European colonies, there are a few others: chiefs of native tribes and European kings. In total, there are eight different native tribes which inhabit the New World, each with their own leader and two traits, and four Kings, one for each European country.

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The various buildings in Colonization allow your colonists to take raw resources and produce finished goods for sale. This process, be it the conversion of ore to tools or tobacco to cigars, greatly enhances your profits, allowing your economy to grow even more. Unlike Civilization IV, buildings in Colonization require colonists to work inside them in order to produce goods: that is, unless you assign gunsmiths to an armory, tools will not be converted to guns on their own. Thus, you must manage the production of resources carefully, since a settlement requires a relatively high population in order to produce significant amounts of finished goods.

When you establish a settlement, you receive some buildings for free. However, by building more advanced structures, you will be able to produce more resources per turn. Most buildings have three levels, and keep in mind that the more advanced the building level, the more colonists that can work in it. Also, some buildings require Tools to finish construction, so having an ample supply of Tools (made from Ore or purchased from Europe) is a good idea.

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In Colonization, Founding Fathers are historical figures who offer to join your colonies as you accumulate points in various categories: Military, Trade, Exploration, Religion, and Politics. For example, players receive Exploration points if they meet Native tribes, gaining extra points if they are the first European colony to do so. Similarly, building churches and cathedrals yields Religious points.

To view a complete breakdown of the points system, read this thread on the forums. When playing Colonization, you can access the Founding Fathers screen by pressing the keyboard shortcut F6, allowing you to see your current progress towards developing points. On this page, you can see a list of all available Founding Fathers, as well as their respective bonuses.

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