What Conquest of the New World is
Conquest of the New World is a turn-based strategy game set during the Age of Exploration in the sixteenth century. You take command of either a native civilization or an expeditionary force from one of five European countries, and you compete against other players for control of the New World. Each game generates a fresh, computer-generated New World, so no two games play out the same way. The game does not attempt to simulate the actual discovery and colonization of the Americas; instead it gives you a new map to work with every time.
Your turn-to-turn work covers exploration, colony management, resource management, production and trade of goods, diplomacy, and turn-based combat. You explore the map, found and grow colonies, and either eliminate your opponents or hold on to what you have claimed.
Playing it together
Conquest of the New World is built around multiplayer competition, with each player setting their own objectives for the match. One player might aim to find as many landmarks in the New World as possible and put down a lot of colonies, while another might focus on trade or on military pressure. Because the map is generated at the start, everyone is working out an unfamiliar world at the same time, which keeps the opening moves from being memorized.
Remote Play Together is supported, so friends can join in through that feature rather than everyone needing their own copy. Diplomacy is part of the game, including trade alliances with other nations in the Deluxe Edition, so agreements and rivalries between players matter as much as the battles.
Before you start
The Deluxe Edition adds several features on top of the base game: you can create and play scenarios and customize the world, nations now have different bonuses, extra special resources and discoveries have been added, and trade alliances with other nations become possible. Check which version you have if those options matter to your group.
Expect a classic, turn-based 4X structure: explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate, with combat resolved on turns rather than in real time. Everyone plays at their own pace within a turn, and the game rewards planning your colony economy and your military moves together rather than treating them as separate tasks.