It's the calm before the storm. Of independence.

How's that sound? Is it better if I pause before the "of independence" part, or should I just say it all in one breath, like "storm of independence"? I'm running various catchphrases by Patrick "Give me liberty yadda yadda yadda" Henry, since there's not much else to do while my pre-independence economy thrums along like a finely tuned, uh, cotton gin or whatever else would be finely tuned back then.

Read about the thrum after the jump.

El Norte Piedra is a tool and gun manufacturing machine. It's got three master blacksmiths, three master gunsmiths, two master ore miners, an ironworks, and a magazine. I am up to my eyeballs in guns. I've made a point to upgrade every settlements warehouse and they're still filled to maximum capacity. In fact, I'm making so many guns that I'm loading up wagon trains and sending them off into the wilderness to sell them to the natives. Led by newly acquired Founding Fathers Lewis & Clank, my wagons get an extra point of movement as they roll off into the wilderness to bring the natives the gift of boomsticks.

So what am I going to do with all these guns piled high in my settlements?

Shoot the Spanish king's soldiers when they come around and try to borg us back into Spain.

I've rebuilt Interior Mar, which was razed by Tupis, but I haven't bothered extending my settlements back out towards the tobacco fields to the west. My trade income is still coat-based. I'm spending every cent I earn hiring veteran soldiers in Europe to come live in New Spain. They get increasing expensive each time you buy one, so it's not easy. Eventually, it takes four or five shiploads of coats, cigars, and sugar to bring back a single soldier.

I'm not going to mess with a navy, which is where you'd normally spend all your tools and guns. Ships-of-the-line are insanely complex and expensive. Building one requires a fully upgraded warehouse full with guns and tools, not to mention insane amounts of lumber. Instead, I'm using my spare production points to stock up on cannons for settlement defense. I've got at least three cannons in every settlement.

I've also made a point to build a fortress in every settlement, which gives defenders a 150% bonus. And I'm trying to spread the elder statesmen around to jack up my liberty bells, since my national bonus is a defense boost based on the number of liberty bells in a settlement. When I think of my settlements, the word "impregnable" comes to mind.

In 1743, I press the "Start Revolution" button and found my own country.

Up next: the Constitution of the United States of El Chick
(Click here to read the previous Colonization game diary.)