A short cut scene plays and text reveals that only one ship in Morgan's party, the command ship Forever Hope, broke through the pirate blockade and made the New World. The ship reaches shore and disgorges its remaining crew of Morgan, the nephew, three villagers and a covered wagon. Unfortunately the Forever Hope explodes upon arrival due to damage sustained on the voyage. There's no turning back now!

The first objective flashes so open it up and read it carefully. Your goals are to reach colonial age and stay near the landing zone. Your enemies are the British and their allies the Natives (the Neechee). Your main enemy is the natives during the first part of the game although the British will engage you on both land and sea in the first part of the game. Immediately task the covered wagon to build a town centre near the claim flag that appears near your landing zone. Task a villager onto the wrecked Spanish ship near the water - it's worth 50 coin - and task the other two villagers to the deer herd near the claim flag.

Get busy with Morgan right away, assigning him on the nearby food and wood treasures. Be sure to use his special attack as often as possible, it has a huge bonus against guardians, fierce animals and enemy soldiers. There's a wood treasure a bit north of the claim flag and its wood is vital so you can build a house right away. But, don't approach that wood treasure until Morgan's special attack is rejuvenated since a British explorer and two dogs will try to steal the treasure. Move Morgan over to that treasure fast, kill the guardians with his special, and harvest the treasure. Once you collect the treasure the British explorer will move off but his dogs may attack so be prepared to fend them off.

You'll notice a pirate guarding a treasure near the water and he is protecting a chest that contains a valuable lost scroll. Use Morgan's special attack on the pirate and harvest the treasure. A scroll will appear and says the See-ath-ahee is true, it tells you to buy secrets and scrolls from the locals, and tells you that you’ve built your town on a burial ground that the natives fear. The message about staying near the landing zone is also given in the first objective and the warning is real.

You'll notice the landing zone is surrounded by fierce animals, entrenched native positions, and scouts. If the scout that runs back and forth to the east of the landing zone spots you, he'll send reinforcements. He'll continue on this path until you kill him. Also if the group of natives harvesting the gold pile to the north spots you, they'll run away and return with reinforcements. To get a sense of the surroundings you can scout around a bit, using the nephew's long LOS which reveals enemies before they see him. But until you reach colonial and train some military, stay close to the claim flag/ town centre. It depends what kind of game you want. If you start fighting up the middle early, the faster the enemy resistance will start. If you stay near your settlement at first, the enemy attacks won't be as intense until you move north.

As soon as your town centre is built start queuing villies. Pretty soon a native scout lights a signal fire near the claim flag. He may shoot at your villies but don't engage him since he moves off. In a couple of minutes a small band of native axe riders attacks your town. Immediately garrison your villagers in the town centre and use Morgan's special attack on the raiders - get Morgan in the middle of them and he'll damage them all. Then task both Morgan and the TC onto each raider one at a time until they're dead. You may loose Morgan, but it's okay, he comes back to life (immortality his curse, don't forget!).

Once you've beaten off the first raid return your villies to the deer herd and keep producing villies. Next a prospector visits your town and he'll ask for 100 gold in return for a secret. Purchase the secret by collecting 111 coin and tributing it to player 4. The prospector warns you about the diseased drunk which you'll see later. A short while later another prospector visits offering to sell you a secret for 200 gold. Don't buy it, he just takes the coin, laughs, insults you and runs away. Next the drunk comes wandering into your town. The drunk wanders around and when he stops walking, any units within 12 grids will start to loose hit points. He's not contagious if he's moving though. When standing, if the units near him don't move away, they eventually die. The drunk may look and walk funny, but he's deadlier than a group of native horse archers so stay clear of him. It is possible to loose all your villagers to this guy early in the game which would lead to an early defeat. There's a lot of warning when's around though, like text overlays and villagers will scream. When the drunk first appears you should just have enough food for colonial and about 17 villagers. Garrison your villagers and move them to the trees just south west of your town centre. They can safely harvest there until the drunk leaves. Then you can task all but 4 villagers to the trees near where the drunk was standing. You'll notice a gaggle of turkeys and eventually a herd of deer will wander into your town - a gift from benevolent spirits perhaps? Make sure to hunt those as they will eventually leave your area if not harvested.

Get a market up asap and get the first coin, hunting and wood upgrades. The blunderbuss and great coat are cheap also and boost your villies so they're good investments. Get a barracks up quick and try to get a stream of crossbows going. Task most of your villies to wood as you'll need it for the crossbows, houses, the barracks, and an outpost which I try to build early near my TC to the east – your woodies can garrison in it when more raiders show up. Getting out a few pikemen is also a good idea. Soon after you reach colonial you'll get an audio warning about canoes landing. To the south a canoe will deposit a large group of war dogs that attack your villagers. You can fight them with Morgan's special and villagers, or just garrison your villagers and the dogs will run away. Don't attack the dogs with your soldiers as the dogs get a bonus against them and you'll waste those precious early military units. Keep garrisoning your villagers then when the dogs' numbers are reduced due to your TC fire, dispatch the rest of them with Morgan's special and your villagers.

Next a hooker will come into your town offering to sell you a secret for 300 gold. Buy her secret as it gives you your next objective. If you don’t buy the secret the mission ends! When the hooker leaves your town she will invite your soldiers to the brothel. You'll notice you'll loose control of your military units for a little while. Just select them all and keep tasking them back to your TC. Her influence only lasts about 20 seconds but if left unattended, your military will wander off and get ambushed. The influence affects all your military units including Morgan, all your soldiers, and the nephew. Hey, the company of a nice lady is a powerful attraction for soldiers a long way off from home.