The goal here is to land the coot on Altalia Vista, an island that’s to the north-east of your settlement. Its location will be signaled on the mini map so it’s easy to spot. The coot will offer you a scroll so accept it. The scroll warns you about the British using hot air balloons for bombing attacks. It’s important to be ready for this attack to insure your villagers, army and most importantly the coot don’t get killed. When the balloons attack their pattern starts at the north west of your town, and cuts a wide swath that runs in an easterly direction. Keep your army and the coot away from your town, and when you hear the air raid warning sound, immediately garrison the villagers that are near your town center for protection until the attack ends. There is no defense for it but if you’re careful your losses should be limited to a house or two. I don’t want to tell you exactly where the balloons strike since in spite of the attack destroying a couple of your buildings, it’s actually fun to watch it happen!

At this point your attention will be split with docking and building up a small navy, and starting your fight up the middle of the map. We’ll deal with the water action first.

You’ll have to dock but don’t just send villies to the water since a few war canoes will take up station just off the shores near your town. Escorting your dock builders with a falconet is a good way to clear away the war canoes. Use one villie to build the docks and the other to put up at least one outpost for local defense – I like to build three outposts and an artillery foundry nearby as well and you’ll see why later. You'll see some turtles on a log by the shore, build the docks around there, close to your town and easy to protect. A few minutes after docking a landing party of assorted Native units lands near your docks so moving most of your army there is a good idea.

I make at least three caravels and a frigate, and garrison the coot and a few villagers inside one of the ships. Next fight your way to Altalia Vista. You’ll encounter light resistance, a few war canoes and perhaps two pirate ships – although the pirates may not attack until later. Make sure to protect the ship the coots in! Land the coot and the villies on the island, gather the treasures for the coin and stand the coot next to the flag. You can start making fishing ships to gather from whales now but be aware war canoes will constantly raid you. Either defend your fishers with a few war ships, or wait until you destroy the Neechee docks since that will prevent the Natives from producing any more war canoes.

If you decide to start fighting up the middle be prepared for some serious multi-tasking since you’ll be fighting on the water and on land. The first thing you’ll encounter just north of your town is a group of native villagers harvesting a gold pile. They harvest really slowly so there’s no panic that they’ll use up the gold there. When they’re spotted they’ll run away and return with a group of archers as escorts. That’s why it’s a good idea to start harvesting the gold by the coot first, then go after this northern gold pile later when you have an army. When you’re ready to move, build an outpost just out of the Indian villager’s LOS, and move your army to chase them away. They’ll come back soon with reinforcements, and as you kill the Native archers, more reinforcements arrive, about six horse archers and more foot soldiers. Once you’ve killed them you’ll notice two British outpost wagons start to build outposts near the gold and a small British army arrives to protect the outpost wagons. You can either wait until the outposts are built at which time the British forces leave, or attack. You probably have skirmishers by now and a couple of falconets so dealing with the British at this point isn’t too hard.

You basically repeat this pattern for each gold pile as you move north. You’ll have to destroy a British tower that has Native archers and a wall protecting it. Note that when you move your cannons to destroy that tower, the drunk will approach. Move your artillery away until he leaves. You’ll also notice when your villagers move onto the gold pile where the tower was, the drunk approaches them again. Move your villies away until the drunk leaves. Keep an eye on the drunk at this point since he’ll do a walk around of your town. Normally there’s lots of warning when the drunk arrives, like villagers screaming and text overlays. At this point, however, there are no more warnings so keep an eye on the drunk and keep a good distance between him and all your units. It’s not hard to loose 20 villies to this guy in the blink of any eye if you’re not paying attention. Also be aware there is a British culverin stationed in a dug in position near one of the gold mines. Using two culverins to destroy it is the best way to clear a path to the gold. Building an outpost near each gold pile is also a good idea since there are raiders all over the place. Using a couple of cavalry units to scout ahead is advisable. You'll notice once you move to the gold that's north of the one that is near the tower, more British will attack as will a large Native army. This will be your first serious battle so make sure you have 2 -3 barracks up and are replenishing your losses. If you loose to this army they will turn their attention to your town so be prepared!