When starting a new colony name it "Charlotte". This will allow you to see all maps instantly, other European ports, check other county's statistics, and gives you $50,000. When you access the other countries european ports you can spend all there money. Do this by recruiting loads of people, but you can buy anything.
If you rename your colony to something else you can then start another colony called "Charlotte" and get another $50,000.
When choosing a skill level remember that everyone will be less friendly and less tollerant of your mistakes the higher the skill level, even your king, so think before you choose. As to nationality, each has its pros and cons.
Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Its a close run thing between the english and the dutch. The french has no colonists because of immigration at the start and the Spanish can only hope to capture at the most 100,000 gold (thats only 100 points). The best place i've found is south america, lots of place to grow sugar, some tobacco which can be turned into proccesed goods.
When you meet the native population for the first time go for peace. Don't think that just because you've got a soldier you can wipe out an indian village, you might be able to but other unarmed colonists will be killed. If you can see a special resource square grab it, these can be rare and at the start of a game it never hurts to have a helping hand. Always lookout for an indian village and if you have an unskilled colonists, you can send them there to be trained. You dont always get the same skill from a village so beware, although dont send criminals there its a waste of time. If you can put colonists in the town hall to make bells, and thereby get a founding father fairly quickly making sure that your food supply doesnt suffer, if you can find a statesman on the dock grab him. Jefferson and Pocohontas are all usefull at the start depending on circumstances with foreign powers and indiains. Without a carpenter, a lumber mill is a good building to have for increasing hammers and speeding up subsequent building work. Another good building to have is a church. Why pay for colonists to come across to your new land when they'll come of their own accord?
When you've got you're first colony up and running bring more colonists in and put them to work in various jobs. A hardy pioneer is a bonus to have because of increased crop production and roads. If you want to trade in furs then Henry Hudson is your man to double production of fur trappers. When you feel your first colony can sustain itself, build a second not to near to the first, go inland if you want, wagon trains are very easy to build and dont worry to much about roads you will need to have a ship to every port ratio, but i find a ship to 4-5 colonies is ok(a merchantman or above). If you want indian land Then Peter Minuit is the fellow you'll want in the congress. You can take it by force, but watch out for angry indians. You may feel tempted to go out after rumours of lost cities because of been taken by other nationalities, don't, they only find them if they are going somewhere else, but be sure to have Hernan Cortes if you want to go after them, just have enough money to buy a galleon if you find lost treasure. As time passes you will be bound to meet other europeans, who will be persuasive to say the least. Hope that you have Benjamin Franklin in your congress, thats what. As long as you keep your distance they shouldn't bother till about 1580-1590. If you have to pay a fee to keep them out of your hair, grin and bear it, if you don't, depending on your difficulty level, you could be in for a tough time.
Mother england. Hmmmm. When his royal Highness decides to increases your taxes, there aint a lot you can do but save just before and hope you get 1-2 increase in your taxes, or else lose whatever you boycott. You could however chuck them into the sea (good job the colonists didn't get taxed for boats!), but then you can't trade in them. On the other hand, if you have Peter Stuyvesant you can trade with other europeans, and sometimes get a good price (but don't flood them, except with the Dutch) and don't forget Jakob Fugger (what a guy, gives a king memory loss). How do you know who you'll get on the docks. You can stop criminals and servants coming to the dockside by getting William Brewster in your congress, so that will narrow things down a little, but if you're waiting for someone (firebrand preacher, Elder Statesman,) you could wait 5 years, you could wait 50. Another good thing is to bless colonists as missionaries, they wont be effective as the Jesuit ones unless Jean de Brebeuf is in your congress, and be sure to have Bartolome de Las Casas so that you can squeeze a few more points from the game. Also Juan de Sepulveda can help to persuade the indians to join your colonies. If you do manage to see a soldier on the dockside (yes it does happen!) equip him with horses. He'll be better in battles and even if you don't use the horses, put them in a stable to breed (how do you know that you're not getting all mares?) If you are desperate, go to the royal university and buy a certain profession, If you've got money to burn they'll have the matches.
Back at the colonies, by 1600 you should have about 4-5 colonies each with about 7-8 colonists. Remember about religious unrest back in your homeland. These will come to dockside if you've got people in your churches, making your job easier in the colonies with more people (actually, its a snowball effect once you've got more people there, more will come. Its hard at first but persevere) HINT: William Penn can be of help here. Another good idea in this regard is to build cathedrals, which will speed up immigration, and by the way the program lies when it says you need 8 for a cathedral, you need 16, how do you remedy the situation, search and you will find. How do you increase your colonies quickly i hear you say. Attack other europeans cities thats how. Its immoral i know but without this you cannot hope to reach a high score. Francis de Corando helps you to highlight exactly where in the new world they're hiding otherwise youll lose years looking for them. As well Jan de Witt will tell you how many colonies everybody has got, hopefully you've got the most, if not put matters right pronto. When negotiating after taking cities of fellow europeans, choose peace, dont get cocky and push others around unless you want to wake up one morning and see enemy troops outside the city's walls. To trade or not to trade with indians is up to your discretion. It brings in money and if you make a gift of goods you can calm tension between you and them. The things the indians want goes from one thing then back to another, so be ready to find other things to trade with. Sieur de La Salle is good to have if things aren't going to well with the indian populace or fellow europeans. Having some protection is better than none at all. Want to get rid of those enemy frigates and troops nearby your colonies. It can happen if a european power wants another power wiped out at a price and offers ships and troops to help you, just don't get in too deep or you might lose it all, and use Francis Drake and George Washington and Paul Revere to help you if you want to start a ruccus. Why do ships take so long to make the crossing to the old world. Because you probably haven't got Ferdinand Magellan thats why, with him in the congress time will be halved. Also dont forget Hernando de Soto. Timely when you miss a colony by 1 or 2 moves. Very helpful.
We'll now fast-forward to 1670. By now you should have plenty of colonies and everything should be like clockwork (almost). If you haven't built schools by now, do it, and get those unskilled colonists a trade. Each time you do this you will gain 2 points. Not very much you say, but do this plenty of times and you'll be on to a winner. This is where the main body of points comes from so dont take it lightly. Simon Bolivar is great. Sons of liberty up by 20%. YES PLEASE. You should have most of your founding fathers in by now, but dont slacken off on the bells, you'll need them to keep all colonies at 100% independant from the home country. For that last bit of money, try Adam Smith in your continental congress, and you'll get 1 and a half goods for each raw unit (if only in real life).
Well this is it, what its all been building up to: INDEPENDENCE. Keep all ships out of europe and off high seas or they'll be captured. Now the kings troops haven't got much experience on the new world terrain, so you've got an advantage here and get a bonus when fighting. But the kings troops and cavalry is slightly stronger than you so select your terrain wisely. Also don't forget your custom houses which can give a little more cash, for some more points or whatever. On the water there's a new menace, Man of War, an absolute bruiser of a ship, 3 times more powerful than your frigate, Heellpp. If you can produce enough liberty bells another european power will send you Man o Wars, troops and cavalry, phew. The king will try and pull an indian tribe in to the fray as well, just to spice things up (isn't that nice) so just hope you're on good terms with our native friends. The REF will land at a port thats not 100% keen on independence, so you can try and turn things your way a bit by lowering independence in a colony, and hoping the kings troops will land there. Liberty bells produced after another foreign power has stepped in to help you will give a maximum of 100 points. Keep training unskilled colonists a trade, to keep those points rolling in, don't let the war completely take over the game. To win you need to destroy/capture all cavalry, troops on land, even those which have been reduced to colonist staus (even more points). If you don't do this there will always be more landings on your coastline. With this done you should win the battle, and now the king can kiss your pinky ring. After this sit back and enjoy your victory, you deserve it.