Preview by: Troy Goodfellow

Kim Soares of Nitro Games is a reasonable man. He read the reviews and heard the commentary on his first release, East India Company. Too shallow, they said. Too repetitive, they said. Not enough variety, they said. And he accepted most of the critiques in the spirit in which they were intended. Conquest of the Americas is Nitro’s second stab at an historic trade empire game and a lot of the elements will be familiar to strategy gamers. In fact, a lot of the elements seem inspired by Sid Meier’s Colonization.

You start with a new world full of colony spots along the coast. As one of six imperial nations, you seize these spots and begin harvesting the resources for cash. Your colonies expand their reach as you develop them, bringing new goods into their sphere of influence, possibly bumping up against foreign settlements. You cannot settle inland, but with a map that stretches from the Hudson’s Bay to the northern coast of South America, you will have lots of room to expand.

Soares is especially happy with the new production system. Goods are no longer just instant money makers. You can process raw materials into finished goods for a greater return. If your home country demands cloth and you have no cotton, you will need to negotiate for it with your rivals. This processing mechanic means that you can choose to have trading hubs into which you pour all your raw materials for refinement. This will make your trading simpler, but also mean you have fewer cities to focus your defensive attention on. Of course, this also means that these are rich and natural targets. The trading system has been modified to allow more complex routes than the very simple options available in the original.

In response to complaints that the original EIC wasn’t interactive enough, the mission structure has been given a reworking. Your home nation is represented by four advisors, each of whom has different priorities. You must have good relations with the home cabinet, meaning you can’t neglect all of their demands. Maybe you can tell the Bishop to go to hell, but anger too many royal advisors and you will be fired from your post as colonial major domo.

You will also be able to negotiate with native tribes in the area, adding much needed life to the territories you exploit. They will give you access to goods outside your colonies’ harvesting zone and can be persuaded to attack rival towns. At this point, Nitro is undecided as to whether have the natives as a monolithic nation or as a variety of nations you can use as you see fit.

Once again, this is a naval centered game and the 3D battles are back. Dozens of ship types will be available and maximum fleet sizes have been tripled. Now up to 30 ships a side can duke it out in the Atlantic. It’s unclear what this means for the system requirements for the game, but these will probably push your computer even harder than EiC did.

The big concern is that Conquest of the Americas will, like its predecessor, land with a bit of a thud. Nitro’s careful attention to criticism is apparent in the design for the sequel, but we’ve been burned before. It’s clear that Soares and company do understand what goes into a good strategy game – let’s hope they can produce one.