I've been continuing playing Civ 4: Colonization.  It is an interesting game so far, but it is hampered by some odd user interface choices (just now, it took me a while to find where the heck the "Governor's Tab" was hidden, so I could automate a trade route).  Here and there I have encountered a bug, but nothing major.

This game does have some major differences in "feel" than Civ games, even though this is a Civ mod.  I spend a lot more time managing my settlements in this game, and a lot less time moving units around.  I find myself much more concerned with economics and trade.  At least at this point in the game, I don't see a way to directly create units: populations grow at their own rate, and my ship picks up immigrants from Europe. 

By the way, my first game was a bit of a disaster: I was moving along with my first settlement, then I decided "what the heck" and created a second one.  Then, a native tribe declared war on me.  Silly me: I had no military, so my settlements were crushed without a thought.  Ugh!  I know that many of my strategy-game-addict friends would keep right on playing, and perhaps brag about a come-from-behind victory.  For me . . . I stopped and started a new game!

This game is very interesting compared to Civ.  There's a definite framework here.  As my colony improves, I start getting more demands from the King.  Rebelliousness is starting, and I'm seeing improvements in production . . . but now and then I get a message that the King is concerned, and is adding troops for his eventual invasion.  This game's framework is heading for a showdown -- the revolution.  This makes it a lot more focused than Civ, where the game can (theoretically) be played a variety of ways. 

Despite it being more focused than Civ, though, I am finding myself doing a LOT more micromanagement in this game.  I can see this becoming tiresome as I create more settlements, but let's see how far I get before that happens.

By the way, someone here suggested I try Alpha Centauri.  I bought that game when it came out, and I really enjoyed it.  Now, that disk is long since lost . . . and I am waiting for it to show up on something like Impulse.  Heck, while we're at it . . . how about Gettysburg and SimGolf?