It looks like there is only one ending, a disappointed king, etc and only the ability to back side or the other in the civil war despite all the talk of weakening one then conquering it. Really kills replayability. So, is that all there is or m I missing something? Is there any reason at all to spend money on the fortress other then the bear minimum to keep the story line moving (I had some 350 troops plus Noriega's company who really did nothing)? i enjoyed the game but usually spend more time with one but, there really is no point unless i am wrong.

Speaking of no point, since I'm apparently the only person monitoring this forum, why am I asking :) ?

Yes the only thing that really "changes" is the end text and the status of the factions at the end of the game.

If you have enough troops and play your cards right, you can indeed conquer the very faction that you just helped out.

However, in order to really please the King - because "just" conquering a new territory in the new world is only the minimum of what's expected of you, apparently - you'll also need to bring more than 50,000 valuables back to your ship. Valuables which you've hopefully been stashing in the handy storage of your fortress, ready for the final trip back to your ship where you'll inevitably fail at least one camping check and lose 20% of whatever you're carrying - so to be safe I'd bring more than 60,000 to avoid major rage at that point... ;)

See my other post about Noriega's company - they're actually the troops from the fortress, he's just leading half of them so that you have less enemies to fight in the fortress defense mission.

I didn't realize you needed 500 men... I wish that was spelled out early, just finished the game, taking out Monctezuma with probably not even half of the map explored. but wansn't able to seize it as I didn't have enough troops to let me do so.

Interesting Game, but won't replay it.

For me I just kind of accidentally got the maximum men since I built a barracks pretty early, and didn't finish the main quest lines until I had discovered everything - and I had reached the max capacity of the barracks well before then.