FreeCol
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| FreeCol | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot from FreeCol 0.5.2 |
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| Developer(s) | The Freecol Team |
| Publisher(s) | SourceForge.net |
| Designer(s) | List of Main Designers is available at the FreeCol Website |
| Latest version | 0.5.3 |
| Release date(s) | December 5, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Platform(s) | Java Platform |
| System requirements | A screen resolution of 1024x768 or greater Java Virtual Machine version 1.5.0 or above |
| Input | Keyboard, Mouse |
FreeCol is a free software (under the GNU General Public License) clone of Sid Meier's Colonization. It is made to run on Linux and Windows Platforms. In February 2007 it was SourceForge.net's Project of the Month [1].
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
FreeCol starts in the year 1492. With a few settlers you build up colonies in the new world. You can also take colonies from rival Europeans. You build up these colonies with help from the king in Europe until they can stand alone without any help form Europe. Then you declare independence from the King and if you can survive his attacks on your colonies you win the game.
The player can trade with Europe using various natural resources which are collected by your cities or delivered as gifts by natives. In each city you can also build up industrial buildings to convert raw materials into processed goods (which sell for more in Europe). Some industrial building will convert materials into goods useful for running your colony, such as converting wood and ore into tools.
[edit] Assigning Tasks
You can also assign people to resource gathering through dragging them to the location of the resource on the resource map in a city. The more specialized an individual is as gathering a particular resource, the more quickly your stocks grow. Through assigning more people to work in a city it will grow. However, more people working in a city also requires more food. Assigning people to work in buildings allows for the conversion of raw materials to finished goods, the more people assigned the faster work is done. However, this will only happen when the raw materials needed are available, when materials are unavailable assigned workers will continue to consume food.
People can also be assigned tools to work or guns to become soldiers (tools and guns can either be produced in a city or purchased from Europe). If assigned tools the person can be used to plow the countryside (increasing food production) or to build roads (making unit transportation more efficient).
[edit] Transportation of Goods
Goods can be transported either by boat or wagon train. Wagon Trains are used to transport goods along land routes. This is useful to move needed materials between cities within your colony or to trade finished goods to port cities for transport to Europe. Ships can be used to move finished goods for sale in Europe, or to purchase raw materials in Europe. People Emigrating from Europe must also be transported by ship.
