Your Home Country

Your Home Country is a European monarchy and colonial power. The original game featured four playable nations, namely Spain, France, England and the Netherlands. FreeCol optionally adds Portugal, Denmark, Sweden and Russia.

Virtually all players agree that the addition of Portugal corrects a glaring omission of the original game, but the other three European nations are controversial. Sweden, Denmark and Russia all had colonies or territories in the Americas, but were either minor colonial powers or arrived very late. However, as we wished to make multi-player games with up to eight human players possible, we had to add further nations. We might well change the selection at some later date, and you can change the selection by editing the rules yourself.

Each of these countries may have special abilities and different starting units. In the original game, these abilities and units were tied to particular nations. FreeCol, however, optionally allows you to select your national advantage.

In the future, FreeCol will probably define eight national advantages, so that each nation can have a different advantage. At the moment, FreeCol only defines the following six advantages, as well as the no advantage ``advantage'':

• No advantage: You start with two Free Colonists and a Caravel, and no special abilities. This is mainly intended for multi-player games, as it removes a potential imbalance between players.

• The trade advantage: You can buy and sell twice as many goods in Europe before prices change. You start with two Free Colonists and a Merchantman.

• The cooperation advantage: You generate only half as much native alarm as the other European nations. You start with a Free Colonist, a Hardy Pioneer and a Caravel.

• The immigration advantage: You need to generate only two thirds as many crosses as the other European nations in order to attract new immigrants. You start with two Free Colonists and a Caravel.

• The conquest advantage: You capture twice as much treasure and twice as many ``converts'' when destroying native settlements. You start with a Free Colonist, a Veteran Soldier and a Caravel.

• The naval advantage: All your ships can move one tile further than those of other European nations. You start with two Free Colonists and a Merchantman.

• The building advantage: Your lumberjacks produce two units of lumber and your carpenters produce two hammers more than those of other European nations. You start with an Expert Lumberjack, a Master Carpenter and a Caravel.

In the original game, the Dutch had the trade advantage, the French had the cooperation advantage, the English had the immigration advantage and the Spanish had the conquest advantage. In FreeCol, this is also the default, although you can optionally select different advantages. By default, the Portuguese have the naval advantage, the Swedish have the building advantage, the Danish have the trade advantage and the Russians have the immigration advantage. This is likely to change in the future, however.