User Guide

115
EXPLORATION
AND
COLONIZATION
Overview
At the beginning of most games, there will be
large portions of the world that do not appear
on your country’s maps. Instead, unknown
lands are covered with a dense white fog that
obscures your view, with the areas being re-
ferred to as “terra incognita” (Latin for “un-
known land”). Your armies and navies are
prohibited from entering a province that has
not yet been charted, and you will be unable to
conduct diplomacy or send merchants to cent-
ers of trade if they are not on your maps.
If you set your heart on a quest for these
new lands, you will need to hire naval explor-
ers to chart unknown waters, and conquista-
dors to explore new terrain. This is a slow and
sometimes perilous process, but the potential
riches of building a colonial empire will often
make the venture worthwhile. When you have
mapped an unsettled province, you may send
groups of people to begin establishing a colony
in these new lands. They will attempt to settle
there and will send back a very small amount
of local resources when they are able. They may
also find themselves beset with hostile tribes
and may need some assistance from your army
if they are to remain safe and secure.
As more and more colonists brave the jour-
ney, the colony will grow until it finally reaches
the size that it can truly be called a colonial
city and is granted the same rights and advan-
tages as any other province in your realm. It
will never be as rich as some of the provinces
in the heart of your empire, but it will nonethe-
less contribute to your economy in a meaning-
ful way.
If you are not as determined -- or are unable
-- to go off exploring on your own, you may sim-
ply sit back and let other nations do it for you.
They will have the first opportunity to claim
the prize and reap the rewards, but word of
their discoveries will eventually become com-
mon knowledge and you will be able to obtain
copies of their maps.
Exploring
Explorers and Conquistadors
Any province in the world that is not already
displayed on your country’s main map is con-
sidered to be terra incognita and is “off limits”
to your armies or fleets. Some parts of the
world are so remote and so hostile that this can
never be changed. These inhospitable areas are
called “permanent terra incognita” and may
never be explored. All other regions are simply
hitherto uncharted and await some brave soul
from your country to go and discover them.
These special people are called “explorers” and
“conquistadors”.
An explorer is a sort of “super admiral” that
you can hire to command one of your fleets.
He is unlikely to have particularly good naval
combat attributes, but he has the unique abil-
ity to sail into unknown water provinces and
chart them. He may even be able to discover
and map an occasional island or a coastal prov-
ince for you as he passes by.
A conquistador is a special general that is
the land-based counterpart of an explorer. You
can give him an army to command and ask him
to enter and map new terrain. He will usually
not be very good at combat, although he and
his regiments will probably be able to contend
with any hostile primitive tribes they encoun-
ter during the course of their discoveries.
Explorers and conquistadors are very selec-
tive of the countries they are willing to work
for. They will only accept employment with a
nation that has truly devoted itself to this cause,
which you can do by adopting the “Quest for
the New World” as one of your national ideas.
If you lack this prerequisite, they will never be
willing to be employed.
Once you have adopted the Quest for the