Sid Meier's Colonization (Macintosh)

100 point score based on reviews from various critics.
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Each of your colonies is populated by a number of colonists, who you can assign to various tasks. Some chop wood, mine for ore and collect plants outside the colony, some others stay inside to turn those raw materials into more valuable cargo - such as rum (made from sugar), coats (made of furs) or hammers (made of lumber). Hammers which aren't a cargo you can sell, but represent the speed with which you construct new buildings in your colony. Some colonists are specialists, and thus are more effective at a certain job.



As you explore the land, you'll come across the Indian villages and some "places of interest" which can be investigated. A colonist that enters an Indian village can be welcomed with open hands, and the natives will reveal a map of nearby lands, or teach him a profession. Investigating places of interest has various consequences: sometimes you'll find nothing, sometimes you'll be killed for trespassing on ancient burial ground, but sometimes you'll find treasure! (Taking this treasure to Europe can be difficult though - if you don't have a sufficiently big ship, the King will agree to transport it for you... if you give him 50% of the gold).

To defend yourself from enemies, you'll want to have some military units. Just give a colonist a musket and he'll turn into a Soldier, give him a horse, and he's a Scout or a Dragoon. However, such a warrior is typically inexperienced, though he might gain military experience in battle. Artillery is also good at defense, but don't try to leave your colonies with it - in the open field, it is useless.

As you progress in the game, you'll feel that working for the King is getting more and more annoying, especially since he keeps raising your taxes, thus decreasing your income from sold goods. Your colonies produce "Liberty Bells", which increase rebel sentiment in the colonies. If the majority of colonists supports your yearning for freedom, you can declare independence. But when you do that, you'll have to deal with the King's expeditionary force arriving to teach you a lesson. If you manage to defeat all his incoming armies and emerge victorious from the American Revolutionary War, you've won!


There are no Macintosh screenshots for this game.


Alternate Titles

  • "Sid Meier's Colonization: Erschaffen Sie eine neue Nation" -- German tag-lined title
  • "Sid Meier's Colonization: Create A New Nation" -- Tag-lined title

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The Press Says

Génération 4 Nov, 1995 82 out of 100 82
High Score Jan, 1996 4 out of 5 80


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Amiga version

Although Sid Meier's previous Amiga strategy games, Civilization and Railroad Tycoon, were system-friendly and could run on a multitasking system, they kept their custom user interfaces from the PC versions. Colonization, on the other hand, made use of the normal AmigaOS GUI, making for movable and resizable windows. This also meant that you could run Colonization on the Workbench screen, by starting the game with WORKBENCH as an argument.


Colonization was the fourth game that Sid Meier protege Brian Reynolds worked on with MicroProse. The game began as a "spare time" project for Reynolds until it was noticed by the rest of the company. Because the game underwent many significant changes during playtesting, Sid Meier cites the game as proof that designers can (and perhaps should) continue to make changes and improvements up until the last possible minute.


Colonization was considered somewhat controversial by the press at the time of the release because it portrayed the European conflict with the American Indians but completely excluded the issue of slavery from the game's model.

An interesting change in dialog occurs in relation to Indian wars after your colony gains its independence. When you interact with other European countries before independence, you merely ask them if you want them to war against the Indians. After the independence, you ask them if they will you (or vice versa) place the Indians in reservation camps, a bit of sarcasm from the developers.

Historically, the relations between the native Indians and the invaders are gruesome, if not down right degrading. The first arrivals from Spain and Portugal introduced various diseases to the local populace.

The United States of America traded small pox infested blankets with the Indians, introducing biological warfare before the concept was established and sold whiskey to a nation of people who, surprisingly did not have the genes to break down the alcohol naturally.