My intention is to build up my colonies to the point that I've got a healthy economy going, at which point I'll detach a pair of soldiers to accompany the cannons I've purchased from Spain. This will be the army I use to conquer the Incans and steal their treasure. I'm in no hurry to start the war yet, since soldiers take away valuable manpower from my colonies. I've already sacrificed manpower for my scout, who's ranging far and wide to gather treasure revealed by de Quesada. I figure I'm still a couple of decades from commencing hostilities.

Unfortunately, in 1557, the Incans have other ideas.

Read about the Incan War after the jump.

When you found a settlement near the natives, who invariably hog the best spots for settlements, they expect you to buy the land from them. They tend to want a lot of gold. You have to option to tell them to buzz off, which reduces your relationship. "You have stolen our land" the tooltip for that tribe reads next to a negative modifier. I've told the Incans to buzz off a few times, and I've been pushing my borders aggressively by producing liberty bells with my elder statesman. My borders are butting up against Machu Pichu and Cuzco, and they're advancing fast towards Ollantaytambo and Tiwanaku.

Anyway, I figure I'll be conquering the Incans soon, so I don't care if they don't like me. I'm here to get my hands bloody anyway.

Unfortunately, when the Incans declare war on me – Wait, they're declaring war on me? The nerve! – I'm not really prepared. I've recently brought over a pair of cannons from Spain, which I purchased with the money I made from my initial shipments of tobacco and sugar from New Madrid. But the cannons are sitting in El Norte, cut off by hills from my other settlements to the south. These hills are now defended by Incans from nearby Cuzco.

Any colonist can take up weapons to fight, but veteran soldiers are particular types of colonists that earn combat experience twice as fast and start with a +10% to their combat strength. I have three veteran soldiers in my southern settlements, one manning the town hall in Beaver Dam, a second trapping furs in Beaver Dam, and a third working the sugar plantation in New Madrid. Each of these settlements has three Incan warriors on the way. What's more, I've got a treasure heading in from the west that I'll have to careful route in through the French colonies to the north.

I'm not sure how aggressive the Incans will be. I mobilize one of my soldiers and my caravel sails him around the Incan controlled hills cutting off El Norte. The soldier will link up with my cannons and they'll work their way south, taking out the Incan armies and destroying their settlements. Cannons are extremely powerful, particularly this early in the game.

Waves of Incan warriors attack Beaver Dam in 1558 and 1559. My veteran soldier fends off the savages handily. In 1560, the Incan attack steals the tools I had stored in Beaver Dam, which I needed to equip the pioneer who builds farms, mines, and roads. What's more, a stray Incan warrior captures the treasure I was routing through French territory. I'd forgotten that natives can move freely among European borders. Then, in 1561, Beaver Dam is razed to the ground by an Incan attack, slaughtering the veteran soldier and expert farmer who lived there.

In 1562, my pair of cannons and soldier take up a position in the hills above Cuzco. Now it's my turn to go on the offensive.

Read the conclusion of the Incan War tomorrow.

(Click here for the previous Colonization game diary.)