Gold of the Americas: The Conquest of the New World Details

Overview

Gold of the Americas is a Strategy game, developed and published by SSG, which was released in Europe in 1990. Gold of the Americas is a strategy/conquest game set in the Americas, unlike other better known games of this genre (Colonization, Pirates etc..) this one is rather simplistic and very strategic. You play one of the powers of the New World and your mission is to end the game with the greatest amount of Victory Points (VPs). The game only lasts 30 turns (300 years) and at the end you get 1 VP for every colony level you have. You can only colonize areas you have info on and the game starts with only a few areas on the map explored, this is where your explorers come in and they are also used for raiding and invading (only when at war) other colonies. Putting a colony down is straight forward, once a territory is explored (you can colonize any explored area, no matter who explores it) you simply put down 2-3 colonist’s and a couple of armies and hope the Indians don’t wipe you out. Trading is equally simple you just place your trade ships in any sea area you wish, and hope that your Competitors don’t sink them or Privateers don’t loot them. Taxation is really the killer in this game. You have two coffers that money is placed into, the main Treasury and your Secret Funds. Taxation is assessed as a percentage of your previous turn’s earnings (that going directly into Treasury) and this percentage averages slightly OVER 100%. However the tax man is always one turn behind so it’s not as bad as it sounds. Failure to meet your tax bill results in less interest from the King, so less is sent to you (armies etc..). Trading, raids and exploration all add to your Secret Fund which you can do with as you wish, if you let it build up too high you may get a visit from the Auditing Department, and that's most inconvenient. Good points - Multi-tasking, HD installable, quits to WB and bad points - A little too strategic for my liking.