Sid Meier's Colonization (Original)

The Original "Sid Meier's Colonization" is a beautiful and worthy game even today. Placed in its final form in the early 90s, this game features only 4 European powers, but more than 10 native tribes with which you can trade and otherwise interact. Your Choices of Europeans are as follows:

The Dutch:
Focused on trade and economic prosperity playing as the Dutch means prices for your goods in the European markets don't fall as fast from influxes of cheaper New World products, and rise up again faster if they do. Aditionaly, the Dutch begin the game with a better ship than other European nations: allowing them to take more cargo to Europe faster early in the game and carry more colonists back. A Dutch player will be well advised to take advantage of these factors by hauling cargo to the Netherlands early, and using the funds Generated to Recruit more colonists in order to spread out with multiple colonies early on, as focusing on a smaller number of larger and more widespread colonial efforts was the Downfall of Dutch colonialism in the real world. The best founding fathers for a Dutch player to recruit in the beginning of the game are Pocahontas, Jean De-Brebuf, and Francisco Coranado. The Dutch and The Spanish are natural enemies, not only for IRL historical reasons, but because the Spanish destroy the Native American Tribes With whom the Dutch need to trade in order to thrive. The Dutch start with a free colonist with muskets, a free colonist with tools, and a Merchantman.

The English:
Focused on rligious freedom and immigration the English were the 'runner up' in the IRL colinization of the new world. Ending up in controll of the majority of North America and parts of the Caribbean the English edged out both the French and Dutch to become a major colonial power in the world, and remained more successful at it than the Spanish or French, with much of their Empire lasting into the twentieth and partialy even twenty-first centuries, long after the end of Colonization's timeline. Simply Put, when playing as the English, you need to focus on religion and building a large number of colonies: build Churches and Cathedrals ASAP in each conlony, staff them with firebrand preachers as soon as you can recruit or train them, and get William Penn into the Congress the second he becomes available! Remember also that Recruiting more than one colonist at a time raises the number of crosses required for immigration permanently so only do it if you absolutely need someone in the queue enough RIGHT NOW to cost yourself extra crosses per recruit forever after... The Best founding Fathers for the English in the early game are William Penn, William Brewster, Father Jean De-Brebuf, and Francisco Coronado. The English' natural enemies among the Europeans are the French, who also are here primarily to settle and grow their colonies. They start with a soldier with muskets, a free colonist with tools, and a Caravel.

The French:
Arguably, the French are the weakest power in the game. Their special ability is that they generate alarm among the natives half as quickly as other Europeans, but that's not much of a problem if you just are quick to make peace and maintain it by agreeing to give the natives food whenever asked. However the French are in a way the 'purest' european power: thier specail ability can help wuth any of the several avinues to victory that the game contains, from conquering native tribes for converts and plunder with Contenental Congres members like Father Jean De-Brebuf, Hernan Cortes, and Paul Revere, to encouraging super massive immigration and growth with Wiilliam Penn, William Brewster, and Father Jean De-Brebuf, or go their IRL route and make the fur trade pay for everything with Henry Hudson, Ferdinand Magellan, and Adam Smith. In a sense the french are the wildcard of the game, they COULD be anything, the question is how the player wants to stack the deck. The French start the game with a Free Colonist with Muskets, a Hardy Pioneer With Tools, and A Caravel. Their natural enemies are the English And Spanish, the English because they compete for prime colony sites. And Spanish because Their conquering native settlements weakens the French special advantage...

And last, we come to...

The Spanish:
The Spanish, from my perspective, are kind of the arch-villains of the game. Taking their main source of early profits from the conquest of native tribes and looting lost cities of their artifacts they are like ravenous wolves, roaming the world and devouring everything in their path... Spanish players start the game with a Caravel, an expert Solder with Muskets, and a Free Colonist with Tools. From these beginnings, and the fact that they arrived in the new world decades ahead of everyone else, they became the big winners in the colonial land grab... Or was it the losers? The riches they plundered from the new world were squandered on silk and jewels from Asia, wrecking their economy, and one by one their colonies rebeled against Spain, or were conquered by other European countries. In the end, the discovery of the new world was an unmitigated disaster for the Spanish, leaving both their colonies and homeland poverty stricken and unstable... The Best Founding Father for the Spanish, Bar None, is Hernan Cortes, as he both ensures treasure from conquered native settlements and makes the king's Galleons carry it at no additional fee: so all you have to do is escort it to a coastal town. Good secondary picks with them will be Pocahontas, Francisco Coronado, and Father Jean De-Brebuf.