Since America and Azteks are included, what is the best way to implement?

[sapi]

No, but yours sound good!

[Leodegar]

Maybe even have this map not appearing with visible geographic shapes, but completely black - so there is really the feeling of discovering a new world.

And don't make it too profitable to raid the Aztecs and establish colonies, so the game won't be a race to go oversees. I would not like it, if it was kind of a sure winning strategy to go overseas as soon as possible.
I think it's ok, if you have to thow in a considerable amount of resources to establish yourself in America and that you should feel the lack of these resources on the European theatre. So in my opinion, it should have quite balanced pros and cons to cross the sea. Maybe in a way, that you even don't make the journey in every game or with every faction.

And I do hope for a real Colonization Total War Expansion!

[Zenicetus]

My $.02.... maybe there should be a lockout for the first few hundred years, just based on limits in naval technology. But it shouldn't be restricted to some arbitrary date once you're in the middle to end game. If history had played out a little differently.... with less repression of science, or maybe an Arab conqueror who preserved ancient learning and focused on shipbuilding and navigation tech... it's possible that the New World would have been "discovered" and colonized at an earlier date. I could see the date being pushed back 100 years or so, if the "dark ages" had been a little less dark and chaotic. Rewriting history is part of the fun with this series.

It's likely that building an ocean-crossing ship will be at the end of the port/navy tech tree anyway, tied to the largest and most developed cities. That should put an automatic damper on getting there too early.

I do agree that the full campaign shouldn't bcome a mandatory race to the New World. If your faction is starting to dominate the endgame, then you should be able to win the campaign without the New World, even if it means blocking a competitor from reaching it. There should be more than one pathway into the endgame.

[Divinus Arma]

And don't make it too profitable to raid the Aztecs and establish colonies, so the game won't be a race to go oversees. I would not like it, if it was kind of a sure winning strategy to go overseas as soon as possible.
I think it's ok, if you have to thow in a considerable amount of resources to establish yourself in America and that you should feel the lack of these resources on the European theatre. So in my opinion, it should have quite balanced pros and cons to cross the sea.

Well, now here you have a good point. Why not both? Why not make it almost prohibitively expensive to cross over and make the benefits realizable after a further investment. And that benefit should be very powerful indeed. After all, Spain did become quite powerful in the early part of the era until it was knocked out of play by the combined attacks on Spanish Navy by world players (Hence the value of pirates and privateers).


But seriously, if the investment is made it should be so expensive as to detract from the european theatre. The resulting consequence is a huge boost in power. Makes sense to me.....

[The_Doctor]

According to the interview from a magazine that was posted here a while ago, you need a certain technologies before you can get to America. It could be like gunpower in MTW or like Marius in RTW.

From the interview it sounds like the only reasons to go to America are:
-Money
-Converts, to make the Pope like you.

Personally, I like that it will be a small part of the game and that it is only in it to set the scene for an expansion that will cover the next 100 year after M2TW ends.

[Divinus Arma]

CA has released how they intend to do this:

Initially, these lands will be hidden from the players, and the squares of the Atlantic Ocean will be impassible. Late in the game, however, players will be able to develop the technology that allows them to cross the ocean, discover America, and attempt to capture its riches.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...ml?sid=6144512

[Watchman]

Well, sufficient nautical technology would certainly be a very logical prequisite. Which, if you want to be nitpicky about it, would mean the basically Mediterranean-centered factions that mainly use galleys for their seagoing needs would also have to get "roundships" at some point, as galleys and oceans simply don't mix very well. Or, rather, there's a reason galleys were only ever widely used on the small handful of relatively calm "inner seas" (like the Med) and major inland waterways (as in China) of the world.