Sid Meier's Colonization/Gameplay

This game is a blend between the Civilization series and a trading silmulation. The game sees the player aligning with one of the four major powers in a quest to "colonize" a new world. The epoch is set in the 1500's and spans indefinitely until the player has completed his goals and claimed independence. The manual claims that the game terminates by 1850, regardless of whether the goal of independence has been won by that date or not. You must declare independence from your initial sponsoring country by 1800 in order to win the game.

The game allows trading and transport of several commodities, in addition to the usual search, build, and grow methodology common to 4X games. The unstated limitation of 38 colonies is quite vexing for builder types who wish to create an incredible empire in the New World. This limitation also allows the computer players to "catch up" somewhat from a dismal initial start. The computer players can keep building on territory that is unclaimed while the human player is limited to destroying/disbanding one settlement in order to build another elsewhere to take advantage of more useful/more advantageous terrain.

Lack of intelligent automation options for transport of materials and goods has caused this otherwise fine variant of Civ to remain relatively unknown and unplayed by even devoute Civ fans.