Declaring Colony Problem

[powloon1]

Firstly I have to say how much I love this game unfortuneately it dosn't stop me bumping into frustrating problems on a semi regular basis!

I am playing Italy in the GC (1.03d) I am attempting to play the colony card on Abyssinia all the prerequisites have been met as far as I can tell.

I have the resources (I have a diplomat and the required amount of state funds) to play the card (next door Djibuti which is also ready for colony status flashes green whilst Markos does not)
Abyssinia is a protectorate
I have a CP of 54 in Markos (capital region of Abyssinia) ie over 50
I have an average CP of 45 in the rest of the area (according to the F8 colony screen) ie over 40

The rollover text when I select Markos is telling me I cannot play the card because I do not have sufficient average CP over the region. Has anyone else had this problem? I am at war with the Sheewa tribal faction within Abyssinia could this be causing my problem? I am currently playing various tribal cards / roads etc to raise the average CP but I do not now know what number I should be aiming for as up until this point average CP needed to be above 40.

[powloon1]

Looking at the regions game file under the colonial field for the regions in Area_Ethiopia it is set to Colony_No. Does this mean it is not possible to use the colonial card action for Abyssinia?

[Sir Garnet]

Have you discovered all regions of the colonial area?

I had the same problem in the Congo but explored further and kept raising CP until the card could be played.

[powloon1]

Yes I am 99% sure I have discovered all the regions of the area as I have already declared a protectorate over Abyssinia.

When you had the problem with the Congo was it saying the average CP was over 40 in the F8 colony screen (possibly implying the figure for average CP there is for discovered provinces)?

I have been poking through the region file and one other thing I noticed was that the colonial area for Abyssinia also includes the Eritrean provinces I am wondering now if my average CP in Eritrea is over 40. If that is the case it is a little confusing as you can play protectorate and colony cards on Eritrea as a seperate colonial area.

[Sir Garnet]

Yes, I declared a colony in Mozambique and in Congo in each case without discovering all the regions. Given the reported number, I think the % is only in discovered territory (unless there is some strangeness, such as counting cards played but not completed).

[czert2]

I think problem is that you dont have enough average CP counted from all regions. Ethiopia is very nice example as to maek it protectorate it needs to create CP in 3 different tribal nations. And if you are sure that you have discovered all regions, just play cards which increase CP over existing ones. Most probaly you overlooked one region with low cp. If you have protectorate,y ou dont need to wory - it slowly increase cp in all regions over time.
If you want to "cheat" on CP build/delete outpost card - it have high max cp - 60%, comparedto other cards which end on 35% mainly. So with this you can create colony in area in which you have not all regions expolored or some with low cp and cant play cards here.

[czert2]

Looking at the regions game file under the colonial field for the regions in Area_Ethiopia it is set to Colony_No. Does this mean it is not possible to use the colonial card action for Abyssinia?

I think that colony_no means it is not colony of any state .

[Egg Bub]

If you want to "cheat" on CP build/delete outpost card - it have high max cp - 60%, comparedto other cards which end on 35% mainly. So with this you can create colony in area in which you have not all regions expolored or some with low cp and cant play cards here.

I tried this, but for some reason I then couldn't rebuild the outpost afterwards. It then got automatically rebuilt (not sure if I got CP) but then the Arab rebels in the region turned up and trashed it along with gem pits and everything else. Outposts are cheap though so it's worth a try.

[powloon1]

I think problem is that you dont have enough average CP counted from all regions. Ethiopia is very nice example as to maek it protectorate it needs to create CP in 3 different tribal nations. And if you are sure that you have discovered all regions, just play cards which increase CP over existing ones. Most probaly you overlooked one region with low cp. If you have protectorate,y ou dont need to wory - it slowly increase cp in all regions over time.
If you want to "cheat" on CP build/delete outpost card - it have high max cp - 60%, comparedto other cards which end on 35% mainly. So with this you can create colony in area in which you have not all regions expolored or some with low cp and cant play cards here.

Yes the message I get when I mouse over Markos does mention the Average CP as being the problem. What I don't understand is that on my F8 Colonial screen the average CP for Abyssinia is showing as 49 which should be more than sufficient to play the colony card (the minimum average CP to play it is 40).

The average CP for neighboring Eritrea is 39 which in theory is a seperate colonial area and should have no bearing on Abysinnia. I am trying to raise the CP here to 40 to see if this is the problem.

I checked last night and I have 100% discovered all the provinces in Abyssinia. Am i right to assume other people have suceeded in getting Abyssinia as a colony?

Didn't know you could do that with the outpost. I'm not sure I would use it though as it feels a little "gamey" for my tastes

[Kensai]

Use the colonial filter in game to see which regions comprise a colony. The mouse over on each of them (colonial action mode) to read the CP each of these has reached. Indeed, undiscovered regions that are part of the colonial area will drag that average down.

[powloon1]

Use the colonial filter in game to see which regions comprise a colony. The mouse over on each of them (colonial action mode) to read the CP each of these has reached. Indeed, undiscovered regions that are part of the colonial area will drag that average down.

I have already done this.

Eritrea and Abyssinia both display as seperate colonial areas in this map view and therefore should be seperate as far as playing the colonial options is concerned (at least that is what i assume). As I mentioned above i have 100% discovered all the regions of Abysinnia (I doubt I would have been able to declare a protectorate if I hadn't).

The game is telling me through the F8 screen that I have an average CP of 49 in Abyssinia (I haven't manually calculated it yet I will try tonight) and I meet all the other conditions of the colonial card

[czert2]

I tried this, but for some reason I then couldn't rebuild the outpost afterwards. It then got automatically rebuilt (not sure if I got CP) but then the Arab rebels in the region turned up and trashed it along with gem pits and everything else. Outposts are cheap though so it's worth a try.

Well, after you will play colonial card and it is fished you should get instatly improve in cp up to max 60% in 5% increases per build IIRC. And you can delete (just point mouse cursor on desired building and press delete buton on keyboard) builded outpost once he is fished (not sure if you can interupt building). To play this card again on same region you must have previous outpost deleted. You will see big minus in red circle as confiming taht you deleting that building (yes, it is sme as sigh that you have when you still building structure).

[czert2]

Yes the message I get when I mouse over Markos does mention the Average CP as being the problem. What I don't understand is that on my F8 Colonial screen the average CP for Abyssinia is showing as 49 which should be more than sufficient to play the colony card (the minimum average CP to play it is 40).

The average CP for neighboring Eritrea is 39 which in theory is a seperate colonial area and should have no bearing on Abysinnia. I am trying to raise the CP here to 40 to see if this is the problem.

I checked last night and I have 100% discovered all the provinces in Abyssinia. Am i right to assume other people have suceeded in getting Abyssinia as a colony?

Didn't know you could do that with the outpost. I'm not sure I would use it though as it feels a little "gamey" for my tastes

Well, i didnt have problems in making colonies/protectrates in any part of africa, except regions (mainly capital) in which have another european states big enought CP so i cant play colonial cards here and as result cant make protectorate here (and i control rest of regions). dammed portugals, mayby it time for little war....
And to be sure that you have enough cp in that region just in colonial mode look for capital name, and you will be sure if you need to increase CP here or not to be able to create colony.
If everthing else fail, just upload save here and we will load game and will tell you where is problem .

[powloon1]

If anyone is interested I think I sussed it.

To declare a colony in Abyssinia as well as having 40 average CP in the Abyssinian regions it looks like you also need to have an average of 40 CP in the neighbouring colonial area of Eritrea (even though this is a distinct colonial area in its own right where you can also play colony and protectorate cards). As soon as Eritrea passed 40CP I was able to place the colonial card in Markos (Abyssinia)