Colonies, eh?

[Megas Methuselah]

Will any of you guys bother yourselves with colonies? For some land-locked nations, you'll start a few steps behind other nations in establishing colonies. Will it even be worth the effort? Or will your main focus be on mainland Europe/other homeland?

[batemonkey]

I will be busy painting the map red from the get go

i'll start off by capturing areas near naval coke points, and once i dominte the oceans, well, see my sig

[Greyblades]

I think it will depend on which country I will be; As Britain I would have little real need for lands in europe and the chances of my homeland being attacked are low (being and island and all) so I will have less concerns about being backstabbed while concentrating on colonies.
This is in contrast to playing as france or spain where I have about 3 or more direct neigbours all waiting for your defences to become neglected and weak enough to grab easily. If I was playing as them I would spend the first few turns being more interested in making sure my borders are secure before I can start taking over colonies.
And of corse there are the land locked and mediteranian factions that will not provide incentive to get myself in on the colony scene, therefore I would end up beating my neigbours over the head with a blunt stick, as per total war tradition.

[Monk]

It will be determined hugely by who you pick at the start. Britain and Spain, for example, will likely be huge colonial powers and you'll need to really balance your strengths in each theater of operations. Someone like Prussia however will be much more focused on mainland Europe.

It's sorta like picking what type of game you'd like to play, do you wanna focus solely on europe, or do you wanna manage and establish lots of colonies?

[Sir Beane]

The real fun is in picking a faction well known for one thing and then taking them in a completely different direction.

Why not Play as Austria and become the foremost colonial power, or take Britian for a spin and try and dominate Europe.

Or, once mods are out, play as Hannover or Savoy or the Khanate of the Crime and go and take America .

[Mailman653]

I think France starts out with Louisana in the Americas, as long as I keep the Lion happy, I can harrass the Spanish in the Carribean.

[SirGrotius]

I'm hoping they'll at least be profitable from a trade prespective. I wish the game kept track of PRESTIGE.