Europeans
Other European powers
They exist, and they shall develop a few colonies at the map. Depending on the starting scenario, they may already have a colonial empire (especially the Spanish later on).
AI / Simulation
The other European powers will not be simulated whatsoever by the game and will not adhere to game logic. They will have completely static colonies. For some reasons, maybe with timers or from other logic, they will grow their colonies magically, send troops or ships or have other scripted interactions with the player. They will not pursue a war against the player, unless when part of a scripted event triggered by the king or other global political events (for example the 7 year war).
Other European cities may trigger the following events
- Send trade ship towards player
- Send pirate ship towards player
- Send expedition to found new colony
- Send expedition to combat natives
- Send ship to and from Europe (can be pirated)
- Send ship between colonies (can be pirated)
- Send colonist between colonies (cosmetic)
- Send soldier between colonies (cosmetic)
War
Although it is theoretically possible to go to war with them and conquer their colonies, the player is not a free political entity and cannot just declare war and conquer, but has to adhere to scripted events involving the king and the international political stage. Possessions are generally not transferred by conquering, but by signing a peace treaty.