Kardwill: I have another one!
In "Expedition : Conquistador", your main character has the opportunity to marry. Good way to secure the alliance of a local tribe or nation.
awalterj: That's cool to hear, I haven't yet gotten that far because I decided to start over. The pious and altruistic members of my expeditions were getting on my nerves. I thought that excluding characters with the racist trait would be enough to be able to chill with the locals but the pious characters object to that, as well. I wonder if it's possible to kick out everyone and replace them with natives, that would be fun. An all-native conquistador party, Colonel Kurtz style.
The marriage opportunities open up when you leave Hispañola and reach South America (so shortly after you finish the first "tutorial" campaign)
And yeah, having a mixed group in that game can be a mess, but it's not that crippling. I had one since I based my recruitment on "that guy/gal sounds cool" (racists, pious, aggressive, open minded, adventurers, cowards, you name it, I had them) and it wasn't so difficult to control them once I got a few officers. They grumbled a lot (especially the racist intolerant nun who was my "diplomat"), but desertion was not really a danger as long as I won most battles.
Cool game :)
Don't know if it's possible to go "full native", though. It's probably difficult to have a functional group like that. Especially since the natives themselves are not fluffy kittens either. And they may lack some support role (do they have a scholar-like class? Or an efficient medic?)