I guess the buccaneer style implies that you'll have to win sea battles (capturing or sinking ships) in order to get promoted to a higher rank. That's why I chose a trade-oriented approach, I don't consider myself to outstand in naval battles.

The colonists are subject of future missions. I'll spoiler-alert this so if you don't want to know what these missions are, just don't highlight.. Spoiler Alert! Highlight to read. In future missions, you'll have to i.e. draw away inhabitants of rivalling colonies, or make sure that the total population of colony X get higher than Y within 5 years.[/QUOTE]
(And this is a REAL spoiler, so don't say I didn't warn you)
Spoiler Alert! Highlight to read. You can also use the colonists to add up the population of your own refuge port that you'll get later in the game.[/QUOTE]

Well, I'll look after my Port Royale box, and launch the game. I'll hopefully find some more usefull tips when I refresh my game memory a little.