Your Monarch

Your Home Country is ruled by a Monarch whose actions can have a profound influence on your colonies and your relations to other nations present in the New World.

From time to time, the Monarch may decide to raise the Taxes you pay on all goods you sell in the Home Port. You may refuse to accept these taxes, however, in which case your colonists will stage a protest similar to the Boston Tea Party and throw some goods into the harbour. The Monarch will not be amused and will boycott this type of goods. This means that you will no longer be able to trade these goods in the Home Port until the Boycott is lifted.

You can end a Boycott by paying the outstanding tax arrears. As soon as Jacob Fugger II joins the Continental Congress, all Boycotts will be lifted, but the Monarch may declare further Boycotts later on. As soon as Peter Stuyvesant joins the Continental Congress, you will be able to build Custom Houses in your colonies. The original Colonization game contained a bug which made the Custom House ignore all Boycotts, and this behaviour is available as a rule variant.

Naturally, the Monarch does not trust your colonists, some of which are nothing but Petty Criminals, and some of which even support the infamous Sons of Liberty. For this reason, the crown maintains the Royal Expeditionary Force, which is to put an end to insurrections in the New World. From time to time the Monarch may inform you that further units have been added to the Royal Expeditionary Force, just so that you don't get any ideas.

The Monarch may also declare war on any nation present in the New World, both European and native. This will also affect your relations with this nation, unless Benjamin Franklin has already been elected to the Continental Congress. In this case, the Monarch's wars do not affect you anymore.

If you are already at war with some nation, either due to the Monarch's actions, or your own, the crown may offer you some cheap Mercenaries. If you agree to their price, these units will appear at the docks in your Home Port, ready to set sail for the New World.