So i opened up steam to play some empire:total war a few minutes ago and it downloaded a major update for Sid Meier's Colonization.

Turns out all of the problems that i (and thousands of others) have had with the game (the hard as fuck difficulty even on the easiest setting, friendly native americans that never attack me. etc) have been fixed and improved.

Patch notes:

Enhancements

• Released PITBOSS executable
  
• The end of the game is extended once a colony declares independence
  
• 100 turns on Normal speed
  
• Missionaries now have a chance of failure to establish a mission.
  
• A failed mission angers the native chief
  
• Added the ability to sail from Europe to the west edge of the map
  
• Changed text for when natives abandon their settlements to be less confusing
  
• Missions now always send converts to the player who established them
  
• Added warning message for when a settlement needs more raw materials
  
• Added warning for when stored goods are nearing storage capacity
  
• AI tries to produce more defenders in their settlements
  
• AI tries to prepare better for revolution
  
• AI uses King to transport treasure if no Galleons are available
  
• AI knows how to pick up treasures without bringing them to a settlement
  

• The Royal Expeditionary force increases less rapidly as the game progresses, depending on difficulty level
  
• AI colony leaders are less friendly
  
• AI native leaders are more likely to declare war due to proximity of borders
  
• Changed Europe width to be a percentage of the map size
  
• Europe plots are now at least four tiles from the near land
  
• AI gets some free money depending on difficulty level
  
• Satisfying the King’s demands delays increasing his expeditionary force
  
• Great Generals are born more frequently on Marathon and Epic speeds
  
• Crosses levels required for immigration increase more slowly
  
• Education points required for graduation increase more slowly
  
• Enforcing a 20-turn peace treaty between colonies at the start
  
• Population no longer affects score – just Land and Founding Fathers
  
• Increased price of horses in Europe
  
• Natives change their desired good only when supplied with that good
  
• Military ships (Frigate, Ship of the Line, Man-o-War) cannot enter native settlements
  
• The price of hurrying immigrants never exceeds the price of buying them
  
• Starting location is now randomized every time you lose all your ships
  
• Domestic Advisor no longer available when the trade screen is up
  
• Exploration points no longer scale with game speed
  
• Converted natives can no longer be educated in native settlements
  
• Converted natives can no longer become missionaries
  
• Traded goods through warehouse expansion count towards tax raises
  
• Boycotted goods no longer count for tax raises
  

• Armed Mounted Brave does not receive defensive bonuses
  
• Armed Brave receives defensive bonuses
  
• Fixed lost production bug
  
• Fixed bug with two citizens graduating in the same turn
  
• Fixed reversed labels on assign trade route tooltip
  
• Fixed some starting location issues
  
• King no longer asks for money after you have declared independence
  
• King no longer raises taxes after you have declared independence
  
• King no longer adds to his expeditionary force after you have declared independence
  
• Units ungroup when traveling to Europe
  
• Units ungroup when being educated by the natives
  
• Terrain double movement from promotions now works properly
  

• Automated pioneers will not remove features from an improved plot being worked
  
• Removed cap on production overflow
  
• Colonists can join settlements even after they have moved
  
• Units left in Europe after the revolution are eliminated if Elections are chosen in the Constitution
  
• Education point threshold increases per city, as intended, rather than per player
  
• King is more likely to have a balanced REF (rather than all troops and no ships, for example)
  
• Fixed exploit where gifting a wagon full of goods in a city would double the goods(!)
  
• Fixed gifted cargo disappearing
  
• Fixed text bug dealing with incorrect token
  
• Slavery gives extra hammers as well
  

"I forgot about this game, is it still worth checking out?"

So the game is beatable now. That's the biggest problem I had with Colonozation was that it was unbalanced and hard to manage once things got a little complicated. I'm a big Civ fan and was able to beat Civ 4 on Monarch, but this game still was able to kick my butt even on the easiest difficulty. So I may check this out latter, but it's been a while and I've kind of moved on.

"So the game is beatable now. That's the biggest problem I had with Colonozation was that it was unbalanced and hard to manage once things got a little complicated. I'm a big Civ fan and was able to beat Civ 4 on Monarch, but this game still was able to kick my butt even on the easiest difficulty. So I may check this out latter, but it's been a while and I've kind of moved on."