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Overview

New World Colony is a strategy board game where players compete to build the biggest colony on the map. Players take turns setting new territories, gathering resources, trading, and building structures to improve their colony.  Players may also invade opponents' territories, or build walls to protect their own territories.

A player can win the game by accumulating a certain amount of Colony Points or by eliminating all other players by capturing their territory.

Colony points are gained by building towns on territories that you own.  Large groups of the same territory, areas which are called regions, will allow you to gain Colony Points at a much faster rate, so it is very important to gain and maintain control of these regions.




Settling

Settling new territories is the primary way that you expand your colony. Settling a territory will allow you to gather resources from it, as well as build structures and defensive walls.  To settle a territory, simply select it and hit the 'Settle' button in the bottom-left corner of the screen. (You can also double-tap on a territory to settle it). You may only settle territories that are next to territories you currently own. 

Settle

Before Settling: After settling:

If another player owns a territory, you may not settle it.  However, it is possible to invade it at extra cost and take it over.  When you click on a territory owned by an opponent, the action button will automatically switch to say "Invade". 

Unowned territory selected: Opponent-owned territory selected:
Invade Invade

Water tiles behave a bit differently than normal territories.  In order to settle a water territory, you must also own a shipyard that touches the water region.  Water is cheaper to settle, but is also harder to defend. 



Resources

There are five resource types in New World Colony:

Food Wood Stone Gold Colony Points (CP)

Note that water territories also produce Food and Gold, and special mountain territories may produce Gold as well.  Resources are gained at the beginning of your turn based on the number and types of territories you own.

The menu bar at the bottom of the screen displays your current resource counts (large number in middle)) as well as the number of resources you are producing each turn (small number at bottom)



Resources are necessary for any action - such as expanding your colony, building structures and walls, and invading opponents' territories. Each type of action requires different amounts of these resources.

Colony Points are a special resource. If you accumulate enough Colony Points, you will win the game. They can only be gained by building towns on groups of similar territories called regions.  The larger the region, the more Colony Points you will earn. The flags that appear on territories indicate how many Colony Points you are earning from that region. Colony Points are expended when you invade an opponent's territory, so you will need to find a balance between spending and accumulating these points.



Territory Types

There are four basic territory types that you will encounter: Fields, Forests, Mountains, and Water.  The land territories each have a special version that appears on isolated territories (are not connected to any other territories of the same type).  These special territories produce extra resources and are great places to choose as your starting territory.

Territory Description Special Description
Field Produces:

5 Food


Farm Produces:

10 Food

Forest Produces:

5 Wood

Orchard Produces:

5 Wood + 5 Food

Mountain Produces:

5 Stone



Minerals Produce:

5 Stone + 10 Gold

Water Produces:

1-5 Food + 1-5 Gold

N/A N/A










Regions

Territories frequently appear in groups called Regions.  A region is a set of connected territories of the same type.  Below is an image of a Field region - a set of field territories that touch each other.  In this example the region size is 2, but regions can be of any size.



Keep an eye out for large regions - if you are able to gain control of an entire region, you have the potential to earn lots of Colony Points if you build a town or fort on one of the territories in that region.




Structures

You can build structures on territories you own (except water tiles). Structures are allow you to increase your resource gather rate, settle new territories or improve your trading ability.

 Structure     Description

Granary

Adds +5 to food gather rate on a field tile, and may also provide a random +1 to +10 random food bonus.

Sawmill

Adds +5 to wood gather rate on a forest tile, and may also provide a random +1 to +10 random wood bonus.

Mine

Adds +5 to stone gather rate on a mountain tile, and may also provide a random +1 to +10 random stone bonus.

Trading post

Converts the resources you would normally own from a territory directly into gold, and gives you better prices when trading that resource. Only one of these can be built per region. See Trading for more details.

Shipyard


Allows you to settle any adjacent body of water.  Can be built on any land tile.

Town


Produces Colony Points.  Number of points depends on size of region and whether the player owns the entire region. This structure blocks any other resources from being produced on its tile, and reduces resource production on all region members by 1.

Fort


Towns can be upgraded to Forts, which produces more Colony Points than a town. A player must own a fort if they want to invade another player. This structure blocks any other resources from being produced on its tile, and reduces resouce production on all region members by 2.

Stronghold


Forts can be upgraded to Strongholds, which produce more Colony Points than a fort, and adds a defensive bonus to all territories in the region that are owned by the same player. This structure blocks any other resources from being produced on its tile, and reduces resource production on all region members by 3.




Walls and Defense

It will be a critical part of your strategy to prevent opponents from capturing the regions that are most important to you. With this in mind, you can build wood or stone walls around territories that you own.  Walls increase the cost for invading a territory.  In the Defensive game mode, stone walls prevent invasions entirely.

Stone walls are more expensive, but they also provide more defense than wood walls. You can replace a wood wall with a stone wall.  You can not build walls on water tiles.

Be careful with your wall placement.  An opponent's cost for invading will be set according to the least-defended side that they have access to.  So if an opponent owns two territories that touch your territory, and only one of those sides has a wall, then the wall will have no effect.

The blue player has protected their territory with a stone wall.
The red player gained a new territory, and the blue player needed to build more walls to keep the red player out.



To place a wall, choose the wall type you want to build from the action menu.  Adjacent territories will be highlighted, and clicking on one will build a wall against that territory.

You can cancel a wall build by clicking anywhere else on the screen.  Also, you can not remove walls once they are in place.

Other factors increase the cost for invading. Mountain regions are always more expensive to invade. Territories with Town structures are more expensive to invade. Fort structures are more expensive still, and Strongholds are the most expensive to invade. In addition, strongholds increase the invade cost for all territories in the same region (as long as they are owned by the player that owns the stronghold). These effects are cumulative - so a Stronghold on a mountain with stone walls is extremely expensive to invade.



Trading

Trading is an important activity that will allow you to gather the resources you need to build up your colony.  The trading window is accessed by clicking on the player's resource bar, or by clicking the trade button at the bottom left (note: in portrait mode, this button is only visible when no territory is selected).


Clicking the 'Buy' and 'Sell' buttons will buy or sell five of the respective resource in exchange for gold. If you click Buy, you will lose the amount of gold specified below the buy button. Conversely, if you click Sell, you will earn the amount of gold specified below the sell button. For example, in the screenshot above, it will cost 12 gold to buy a set of five food resources, and you will earn 7 gold for selling five food resources. Resources are always bought and sold five at a time.

The price for each resource will change with market demand.  For instance, if many players are buying food then it will slowly become more expensive. Alternatively, if many players are selling food then it will become cheaper to buy. This market value is reflected in the size of the horizontal bar above each resource icon in the trade window. The larger the bar, the more expensive it will be to buy and the more gold you will get when selling.

Depending on the situation, it may be a good strategy to try and hoard a particular resource so your opponents need to buy it at high prices.

To get better prices, you may build a trading post on your territories.  Trading posts will make resources cheaper to buy and get you higher prices when you sell.  Trading posts are specific to a resource type.  For instance, building a trading post on a mountain tile will get you better prices for trading stone, but will not affect your prices for food or wood.

Trading posts will also automatically sell any resources generated on a particular territory and exchange them for gold. Doing this is helpful for many reasons - mainly, you'll get a better price from these automatic sales than you would through manual trading. Also, these automatic sales do NOT affect the market price of a resource. So if you want to keep a resource cost high (for competitive reasons), and you have an excess amount of a resource, then trading posts are a great option.

Note that you can not trade for Colony Points - they must be earned.



Invasions

Invading is an important option to consider during the game. While it is possible to win the game without invading any territories, it is likely that an opponent will gain a territory that is strategically vital for you to claim for yourself.  Similarly, you may be able to disrupt your opponent's strategy by taking over a particular territory.

Invasions will always cost you Colony Points, which means that it takes you a step further away from victory.  So you must decide if the long-term gain of invading a territory is worth the short-term cost to your Colony Points.

Some territories are more costly to invade than others. Water tiles are always the easiest to invade, and no walls can be built to improve their defenses.  A territory with wood walls is more expensive to invade, and a territory with stone walls is more expensive still. Mountain tiles are always slightly more expensive to invade than other territories.  Towns also add a defensive bonus to the territory they are on, Forts provide a stronger bonus, and Strongholds provide the biggest defensive bonus.

These effects are cumulative - so a Fort on a Mountain territory that is protected by stone walls is extremely expensive to invade.

If you do not like the competitive nature that comes with territory invasions, There is a Pacifist game mode available that prevents all invasions.  In this game mode, players can only win by accumulating Colony Points.

If you want a very competitive battle, then select the Warlord game mode. In this mode, victory can only be achieved by invading all of your opponents' territories.

Another option is the Defensive game mode.  In this mode, you may still invade territories although it is possible to build walls that prevent invasions.  In this mode, maintaining a strong defense is key to victory.



Water

As mentioned before, Water tiles have special rules that you should be aware of.

First of all, you will need a shipyard touching the water region in order to settle these territories.

Before Shipyard After Shipyard
Water tiles are inaccessible to the player.
Water tiles can now be settled.


Water tiles produce a random amount of food and gold each turn as the sea is not always predictable.

You can not build structures or walls on water tiles, so you can not defend them as easily or gain Colony Points from them.

However, since it is relatively cheap to settle water tiles, they may allow you to quickly spread to distant territories or to find a way around your opponent's land defenses.

It is possible to lose your shipyard if it is invaded or demolished. In this case, you will still own the water tiles you previously settled, but you will no longer gain any resources from them.  These tiles will be indicated by a red exclamation point (see image below). To resolve this, simply build a new shipyard next to that water region or recapture your old shipyard.  The warning icons will disappear and you will begin to gather resources from your water tiles again.





Colony Points

Colony points are needed to invade territories or claim victory.  They are earned by building towns, forts, and strongholds on regions of territories.

The larger the region, the more points you earn per turn. A flag will appear on any town or fort to indicate how many Colony Points you are currently earning from that region.

A player has built a town and is earning one colony point per turn.  However, the player does not own the entire region so they are missing on some potential points.
The player now has control of the entire region, so they are earning more Colony Points from their town.

The player upgraded their town to a fort, and is now earning even more Colony Points per turn.





Game Modes

There are four game types available:


Standard set of rules where you can invade and build walls. All action costs and resource gathering rates are normal.

Invasions of territories protected by wood walls cost an extra 5 food, wood, gold, and Colony Points. A territory protected by stone walls can not be invaded.

No invasions are possible in this game mode.  Walls have no effect and therefore are not available in the action menu.
The game can only be won by entirely taking over your opponents' territories. The last player standing is the winner.  Colony points are still useful as they are used for invasions, but you can not claim victory simply by accumulating them. 

In addition, you can play in either turn-based on real-time mode:

In turn-based mode, players take turns gathering resources and settling territories. When a turn is over, the player hits the 'End Turn' button and play progresses to the next player.
In real-time mode, all players can settle, trade, build, and invade simultaneously. Resources are allocated (based on each player's resource production) every time the 'Turn Timer' expires. This is currently the default setting for all 'Quick Match' online games. Also note that this option is not available if multiple human players are on the same device.



Multiplayer

New World Colony allows you to play online with your friends or random matches from around the word.  This requires Game Center to be installed on your device.  Once you are logged in, you can start a new match by hitting 'Online Match' on the main menu. 

Games take place in a 'asynchronous' turn-based fasion, meaning that you can start a new match or take a turn without needing to be connected to your opponent at the same time. You can quit the app immediately after player a turn. Once your opponent takes their turn, which may be minutes or hours later, you will be notified and you can then take your next turn. You can have multiple matches going on simultaneously in this way.

Multiplayer is a great way to challenge your strategic skills, and is incredibly fun. There's no penalty for losing if you are worried about being outmatched. It's highly recommended that you try this out!




General Strategies

(Note: if you'd like to discuss strategies with other players, please visit the NWC page on reddit at r/NewWorldColony.)

There are lots of ways to win at New World Colony. You can try cutting off your opponent from the resources they need, playing aggressively by getting an early fort, or play defensively and go for a Colony Point victory. Below are some tips to help you achieve these goals, or defend against them.

On your first few moves, you should make sure to capture enough field and forest territories because you will need the food and wood to continue growing your colony. Stone doesn't become as important until several turns in when players start constructing and upgrading buildings.

If at all posible, try to secure at least one complete region of 2 or more territories in your first few turns. If your opponent tries to block you in, you can use this region to construct a Town (and later, a Fort) which will allow you to invade and break through your opponents' blockade.

Otherwise, don't build a town too early. Remember that they prevent normal resources from being collected on that territory. So doing so may stunt your economic growth curve. Either wait until you have a large complete region, or until your opponent constructs their own town.

Walls are extremely important. A few wood walls can delay an opponent from invading by one or two turns, which may be enough for you to complete a town or gather more resources. Also, if an opponent invades through a wall, and you capture it right back (without having to break through a wall), then you have just forced them to waste Colony Points. Repeating this can quickly even the CP score if you are trailing.

If you have sufficient resource production, and there's a large region in your grasp, you should try and capture the entire region. And if you have one large region, it's better to upgrade the town on that region rather than to build a new town on a small or incomplete region. You'll get more Colony Points for the resources that you spend.

If you can afford to build a stronghold on a large territory, it's always in your best interest to do so. Besides generating a huge amount of Colony Points, they are excellent defensive structures. They'll give a defensive bonus to the entire region - so if you and an opponent are constantly battling over a region, it will always be more expensive for them to invade than for you to reclaim the territory, meaning you can whittle down their resources.

It's not always in your best interest to trade. Sometimes, it can be more advantageous to wait a turn and produce the resources you need. The reason is that the resources you are selling could be used in the future to build or upgrade a structure. By selling them for short-term gain, you may be missing out on a chance to build something important later. So trading is best used when the desired territory or structure is a very high priority.

Note that if you have a significant Colony Point advantage, then it is a good idea to invade through walls if it disrupts your opponent enough. It may be possible to cut down their Colony Point production to a point where they can't reclaim the territory - and then you'll have earned an excellent foothold inside enemy territory.

You may find yourself constantly selling resources to generate gold. If so, then you should strongly consider building a trading post. These structures generate gold instead of the normal resource that a territory would produce. Doing this means you have to waste far fewer resources through selling.

Changes in version 4.10

Rule changes in version 4.20

Rule changes in version 4.26



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Copyright 2011 Erik Asmussen