Guide to Colonies

[sparrowhawk]

Could somebody write up a brief guide to getting your colony started? ie what should be builf first (house 2 I guess, then what, storehouse or level 1 wall?)

How many stonies needed to act as defence... etc, etc...

Thanks

[soiram]

As colonies are a main target for aggressive players, I went for the defense strategy first. Raised house / wall fast, while transporting STs and resources from my main isle. Then aimed for fullfilling requirements for producing SFs.

The more defenses you grow fast, the better the chances of survival!

This strategy however, has the disadvantage of draining resources from the main island, so it delays expansion/catapult building etc. But once you establish a fair amount of defense, you can switch to resource building.

OTher approaches?

[sparrowhawk]

This pretty much seems to be the approach that I was thinking of. I'm building up a few stonies to transport over as soon as I go "global"!

[Natmus]

I usually have 60 or so stoners to head over as soon as colonisation is successfull.

Depending on closeness to isles that can help with resources, getting a store house enlarged to hold some goods is important.

A few more tips:

Don't send mercs with your colony fleet. They will take the resources from the isle, even if the takeover is successfull.

Most empty isles are raided regularily these days, so don't expect many resourses to be available when you arrive. However, you can pre-position some goods, say 500 of each resource so you can build immediatly you take over the isle:
Send off your merchants later than the colony fleet, timing the mercs' arrival somewhere just before (10 to 15 minutes) the arrival of the colony fleet. If the takeover is successfull the resources are at your disposal, if not your colony ship (that can carry 5000 units) bring them back for the next attempt.
Note: do not try to pre-position stone throwers or catapults!

Don't waste transport capacity transporting stones to your isle. Let others do that. When you have your colony, and your stores can hold a good amount of goods, buy stone: Using the market, when you order something, the seller will send it to the isle you have active at the moment you buy the stones, so if you buy for example 4000 stones for 800 gold, the stones will be sent to your colony if you had that selected when you made the order. You can send the payment from your main isle, saving you transport capacity.

[Raven]

Natmus

buy the stones, so if you buy for example 4000 stones for 800 gold, the stones will be sent to your colony if you had that selected when you made the order. You can send the payment from your main isle, saving you transport capacity.

I've only heard bad reports about the market (possibly sellers not being paid) Is it OK?

[Natmus]

raven said:

I've only heard bad reports about the market (possibly sellers not being paid) Is it OK?

I have had no problems the 4 or 5 times I have used it. Of course, I have bought stuff, and generally I haven't sent the payment before I either had the goods, saw them coming, or recieved a message announcing the departure of the goods.

I think it's accepted not to send the payment before recieving the goods, so as long as you are buying stone on the market, you don't really risk anything.

[Arminius]

raven said:

Natmus

buy the stones, so if you buy for example 4000 stones for 800 gold, the stones will be sent to your colony if you had that selected when you made the order. You can send the payment from your main isle, saving you transport capacity.

I've only heard bad reports about the market (possibly sellers not being paid) Is it OK?

I've had mixed results, but on the whole people seem honest. Just sold 2000 lumber for 3K gold, so ask me again tomorrow...

[sparrowhawk]

I've used it once, to buy a stackload of stones, and the deal went through smoothly.

Anyway, Mads - some good tips. Thanks.

[inyati]

raven said:

I've only heard bad reports about the market (possibly sellers not being paid) Is it OK?

Up till now I´ve had good results with Market Trades. But why not try Trading with [Serenity] members? Prices are fixed and there should be no problem at all in the exchange. (See Domestic issues for more info).

[Arminius]

Some advice from a forum:

I made the mistake of NOT developing stone on most of my newer colonies... I thought ship it out from the main ones. Now I spend my spare time arranging merchant ships to balance my stone levels... There has to be more to life than shovelling stone round... Don't be fooled, develop those quarries you need that stone! So if you have any spare, drop some off at my main base 23.68.5... Only if you're passing mind...

_________________
Fingal

[Natmus]

arminius said:

Some advice from a forum:

I made the mistake of NOT developing stone on most of my newer colonies... I thought ship it out from the main ones. Now I spend my spare time arranging merchant ships to balance my stone levels... There has to be more to life than shovelling stone round... Don't be fooled, develop those quarries you need that stone! So if you have any spare, drop some off at my main base 23.68.5... Only if you're passing mind...

_________________
Fingal

Yes, I have been telling bait the same thing, but he keeps throwing stones at my colonies.

However, the optimal solution is not to build quarries, but to buy stone. Serenity sell 5 stones for 1 gold, and deliver everywhere. Buy that damned stone from them, they are dependable.

Or use the market to buy stones from people you don't know. Once they realise how many merc it takes to transport 10,000 stones to your main isle, they will cry, while you only have to ship 1.5 or 2k gold the other way.

Don't produce stones, buy them. Remember that you can ship the gold from your main isle when you pay.

[Arminius]

Now that I'm about to launch it (4hrs to go) how do I do that? Do I just direct the ship to the island? Transport goods with it? Or send it over empty?

It might all become obvious once it's happening, but I'm a bit worried something will go wrong and the ship will get lost...

[Natmus]

To use it, you make a normal attack on an island which has a main house of level 1. If the attack is successful, there is a 50% chance that the colonisation will work.

If the attempt fails, the colony ship travels back to your island. If the attempt succeeds, then the colony ship is expended to build your colony.

I would send an army large enough to score 100% on the attack (use the calculator), add a few more ships for good measure and then add the colony ship.

[Arminius]

Thanks, that's reassurring. 2hrs 15mins to go...

[sparrowhawk]

Yeah, thanks Mads, just what I needed to know.