The Europe Panel

The figure :autoreffigure3.2 represents the Europe panel.

Figure: The Europe Panel

In this panel, you can control the ships sailing between America and Europe, as well as the ships currently docked in Europe. You can also buy goods, recruit, purchase and train units. Units recruited, purchased or trained are in the Docks Area in the Europe panel.

If a ship has set sail for Europe or America, you can change its direction by dragging it from the Going to America box to the Going to Europe box (or vice versa).

If a ship has docked at the European port you can drag and drop units between the Docks and Cargo panel. You drag and drop goods between the Cargo panel and the Market panel. If you want to buy or sell less than 100 units of goods, press the shift key while dragging. This will allow you to specify how many units you wish to transfer. If you press the ``Unload'' button, all goods will be unloaded.

If any of the goods are displayed in grey, this means they are being boycotted by the Crown because you refused a tax raise. You must pay your tax arrears before you can trade these goods. You can do this by dragging the goods as usual, in which case you will be given the chance to pay your tax arrears (provided you have enough money). A small area at the top right of the screen will keep track of how much money you made or spent and how much taxes you paid.

From time to time, new colonists eager to join you in the New World will appear on the European Docks. If you are unwilling to wait, you can also recruit new colonists by paying for their journey to the New World. Alternatively, you can train expert units at the Royal University. Paying for their education is expensive, however, and not all types of experts are available in Europe.

Units present in Europe can also be armed, mounted, equipped with tools or blessed as missionaries in Europe. In order to select one of these actions, you need to right click on the unit. Note that you will have to pay for the arms, horses or tools required to equip your units.

In order to send a ship back to the New World, you must drag it to the Going to America section of the Europe panel, or press the ``Set sail'' button.