The Lone StARR, A Texas Great Power

Chapter 2: Ok, so now what?

Things are a bit easier now that I don't have to worry about invading Mexicans but now I have to focus on building my economy. Throughout the war I accumulated a large debt of about 500 and even after some cuts in spending I was still only profiting 0.03 a day which would of taken me about 50-60 years to pay off. I made a few more cuts, completely gutting the national stockpile and lowering military funding to just about nothing while keeping taxes about the same. I also knew I needed to get more people to move to Texas since my population was only about 14.93K when I started so I set attract immigrants as my national focus. Sure enough immigrants flocked to Texas and while I was still a very weak nation, I was able to pay off my debt in 4 years as well as increase my population by about 600%. I also was able to heal my two brigades which weren't able to replenish their losses at all during the war. This is just a screen shot I took once I got my debt down to 0.



After that things were pretty quiet. I still had an alliance with the U.S. And the United States of Central America so Mexico was really the only threat. I continued to try and build my population as well as my economy. I managed to create both a fabric and a cement factory which both did very well but after that my government went laissez-faire and capitalists started making a gazillion luxury clothes factories. One capitalist started a clipper ship factory that managed to hold its own, but everyone else failed miserably. Then in 1845 Sam Houston died. Ok that doesn't mean much game mechanic wise but he was the real life general of the Texian (yes Texian) forces during the revolution so he gets a shout out.



I continued to adopt some liberal political reforms, I didn't really know what impact these would have but I figured they'd be better to have. As for expansion I was kinda screwed, I had Mexico to the South and west who was still more powerful then me and the United States to the North and East who was even more powerful. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, if only some other country would jump into the picture to make things interesting...

Thanks everyone for the comments, sorry for the delay but my internet was slow in uploading the pictures here are chapters 3 and 4, chapter 5 will come later today and I'm still working on chapter 6.

Chapter 3: If we All Turn Out with a Rebel Shout!

Unfortunately I didn't get a screen shot of the start of the war (sorry about that) but in 1849 the American civil war broke out. I really like to ask “what if” (which is why im making Texas a power) so I really wanted to see the south win just to see what would happen. I dissolved my alliance with the Union so I could aid the confederacy however they didn't want my help apparently so I reloaded the game and answered the call of the Union.

Did you know the first battle of the civil war was actually fought in New Jersey in 1849?



I then built up my army so that I had 4 brigades instead of 2 and I invaded Louisiana in the hopes of expanding beyond my 5 original territories. Also, another civil war fact, The United States of Central America managed to occupy Mobile.



After conquering Louisiana without much resistance I decided to go on up to Arkansas hoping to annex them along with Louisiana and Oklahoma. Yes that is a USCA army in northern Mississippi (I think he might be lost)




Unfortunately I could only take two of those regions though since three would put me over the infamy limit (and I know that really sucks in EU3). Still, I managed to sign a peace treaty the with the Confederacy which gave me Louisiana and Oklahoma (Yay! I have more than one state now!)




After that I decided to outlaw slavery, I don't really know if that had much of an effect on the country though.



The war continued on for a while despite me taking two of the South's states. Over time the Union was able to gain the upper hand over the south and it looked like the war was wrapped up for the Union with the war score up at about 60% for the North. Then this happened



Yes, Mexico entered the war on the side of the south and invaded the United States through Kansas, much like in real life =p. Mexico's support was enough to tip the war in favor of the south and the Union eventually was forced to agree to a white peace meaning the South had in fact one the civil war. I guess you could say this was Mexico's way of getting payback at the United States for helping my revolution, allthough I doubt the AI is that vengeful. Anyway's this is what North America looks like at the conclusion of the American civil war.

Chapter 4: The South Shall Rise Again!



Only two years after the end of the civil war the South is at it again trying to take back the lands I took from them. At first I tried to just defend my lands while occupying a few confederate provinces and hope for a white peace but then I learned that in Victoria 2, unlike EU3, the leader of your side can give up your regions to the enemy even if you still own them so they gave away Louisiana despite them not controlling any provinces that even touched Louisiana. I ended up just reloading, knowing that if I want to keep my regions I'm gonna have to fight.

My strategy this time was a bit complex, I had 10 brigades at the start of the war as opposed to the Confederacy which had about 27 and the union which probably had a little less then that. I knew most of the heavy fighting would take place between Manassas and Washington so I divided my armies into two groups each with 5 brigades. At first I divided them up even further and had them sit on as many confederate provinces as possible to occupy them and get my war score up so the Union couldn't give away Louisiana (later I found out they never got leadership so I didn't have to worry about that). The stupid Yankee AI began to make things real difficult, even though the Union and the South had about equal numbers, the Union kept doing stupid things like launching an offensive against 10 confederate brigades with just two infantry brigades. I knew eventually I would have to gather up my brigades and join the fight rather than just sit on territories. I also made a war goal to take Arkansas since I really wanted that region from the first war.

I was able to occupy all of Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and parts of Tennessee before I finally accomplished my goal and got the attention of the South by trying to occupy Atlanta. By this time the Union had lost a lot of their troops due to stupidity and probably only had 60% of the troops that the South had. Luckily the south sent about a third of their brigades down south to push me out of Atlanta and retake a couple of regions so I relieved some pressure off the Yanks. Then I quit the province hopping and reorganized my army back into two 5 brigade units (I had another 2 brigades ready to fight by now but they were still on their way over) and I went to go assist the Union in their fight against the south in Bowling Green where, not surprisingly they were out numbered.

With a good portion of the Confederate army down south taking back their regions one at a time the numbers were clearly on our side.



You would think they would learn but then...


Again! (I may like Bowling Green more then El Paso)


Maybe a change of scenery will help the south?



Lets try Roanoke (by now I was fighting without American support



How about Lexington again?



The South: “ahh poop, we lost”



Basically in all of those battles except Roanoke our forces were taking way more casualties but we still managed to win every won. After that third battle of Bowling Green I was pretty much just following the retreating army to make sure they couldn't heal but in the end the number of victories we were having was making the war score raise faster then that one group of confederate troops down south could take back their territories. The South probably could've still won if they would of used their troops down south to fight us up north but they also began to have an issue with rebels. They continued to fight the union but it resulted in a white peace. In the end I wound up with another state, and this is how North America looks now, also notice that Im only one spot away from being a great power.

Chapter 5: Take Me to Mehico!

Note: The first time I did this I was able to liberate Mexican Texas but that wasn't really that fun and I thought I could get more out of Mexico so I went back to a save game about halfway through the chapter (after I had gotten pushed all the way back to LA) and did an alternate ending which I think you will enjoy much more. I might've gotten some of the screenshots mixed up from the time when I was fighting the Mexicans in Arkansas but it was pretty much the same sequence of events up until I started breaking out of Texas.

Despite further weaking the south I didn't want to go to war with them again but I really needed to expand just a bit more and gain prestige from a war to push myself into world power status. My only other option, Mexico. Mexico still held two texan territories that I had cores on (El Paso and Laredo) They had a much larger military then me (about 4X as big) but I was more advanced so I thought I might have a shot. The only problem was that the United States had a truce with Mexico so I couldn't call them in right away but I knew if I waited much longer Mexico would wind up in the United State's sphere so I had to act fast and I unleashed the gates of hell upon my country by attacking Mexico.



Not long after that I notice Mexican armies marching towards Lubbock, I try to move my defensive armies there but they just change course and head to Oklahoma City. Still, I manage to move my troops there in time to get the defensive edge and a strong victory. Another army manage to sneak through my line and take San Antonio though, I made a gutsy move to attack the province and was able to score another victory, this war was off to a good start.






All of a sudden, 10 Mexican brigades arrive from the west. One of my two armies tries to hold them off in Lubbock despite being outgunned 3 to 1 but loses and is forced to meet up in Austin with my other army. The Mexicans follow us into Austin though and although my combined armies make a brave stand, they are defeated and retreat to Houston, how quickly the tide of war has turned. I just hope the United States enters the war soon enough.





Then, after a brief rest in Houston, my armies find themselves under attack again by the same army that beat them in Lubbock, but this time they win. It's not any normal win either, pure domination, for every Texan that died, 10 Mexicans were killed. The Mexicans then attempt another attack on Houston this time with the general who won in Austin. Once again the Texan defenders stay strong with a win and a 5:1 KD ratio. It looks as if the Mexicans might not make it past the Texan defenders in Houston.





The Mexicans then attack Houston for a third time and despite being numerically inferior and suffering three times as many casualties as the Texans, they are able to force the battered and tired Texans to retreat into Louisiana. The Texans, down but not out, regroup in Louisiana and quickly launch a counter offensive and manage to retake Houston.





Things weren't looking great for Texas, we had managed to defend Louisana and keep Houston secure however the Mexicans had already occupied the rest of Texas and Oklahoma and were working on Arkansas. This screen is from my first playthrough but thats how far the Mexicans advanced, never mind the Americans out in Sacramento.



My combined armies then left Houston and fought a couple major battles in Arkansas. It appeared the Mexican war machine was starting to cool off. Within a matter of weeks I had managed to just about wipe out the Mexican occupiers and began to sweep up the pieces and regain some of my regions.





By now the United States is able to enter the war, in my first play through I call them in and they eagerly start an offensive out west and end up taking Colorado. In this rewrite however I won't call them since I don't really need their help as much and I want to retain leadership in the war.

My armies roll back into Texas and Oklahoma, reoccupying everything including the regions from Mexico we wanted to gain in Laredo and El Paso. With the Mexican army crushed we encounter virtually no resistance except for a small group of Mexicans who apparently haven't learned that you should never attack El Paso (I love that region now)



I then began to spread out my troops across New Mexico and Colorado hoping to raise my war score a bit. I didn't really encounter any resistance so I just kept going till I reached the Pacific.




Unfortunately I underestimated the Mexicans though and they did have a sizable army left. They tried to invade Texas again but I stopped them in San Antonio and then took back Laredo which they had recently reconquered. There were of course, the constant failed attempts by the Mexicans to retake El Paso.





Early on in the war I regained my world power status and when I was about to set war goals I noticed I had a new option with Mexico. I was able to launch a unification war which pretty much let me take all the regions in the present day southwest without an infamy hit. This was great because before that I was planning on just saying f-it it and going way over the infamy limit.



The war continued to rage on for a couple of years. Mexico often had to go fight the vast amount of jacobin/libero-anarchist rebels popping up in their country which helped me out a lot at the start. Later on though, as I began to take more Mexican provinces, the rebels started taking back the regions that I had already conquered. While they were real easy to beat in combat they were just popping up everywhere and since I only had 12 brigades I couldn't afford to send them all halfway across the continent to crush an uprising, especially when I had to contain the Mexican army as well.

I got the war score up to about 42, with the trouble the rebels were giving me I didn't think I could get it much higher. Mexico was too large to be patrolled with 12 brigades and the war had already dragged on for about 3 years. I didn't want to spend another 3 or more years in a war since that could make me vulnerable to outside invasion from the CSA or another great power. I then sent Mexico a peace treaty hoping to get Mexican Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. I wanted to get Utah-Nevada too but both Utah and California required 14 points so I had to pick one. Utah had a bunch of iron which I could've used to help build my industry but California gave me access to the Pacific so I choose California.



No longer divided into Mexican and Texan Texas (I always hate the way that name looked), is now unified and the southern border of Texas now has that distinctive shape. Mexico had been defeated twice despite overwhelming odds. I'm not quite sure what to do next things are probably going to be more difficult since I lost my alliance with the United States for some reason even though I never dishonored a call or let my relations get low. I still can't renew an alliance even though we have 180 relations, maybe its the great power thing.

I'd like to but they are in America's sphere and I don't have any influence right now, I'll have to try and figure out how this all works. I'm not used to playing as a great power lol.

Just the normal game, I didn't bother to patch it yet. I just wanted to play it as soon as I got it.

Also about 4 months after I won the war with Mexico the CSA declares war on me... again. Worst part is they are allied with Mexico and the U.S. but neither have come into the war. If the U.S. enters the war I'm probably gonna have to reload, there's no way I could beat them... yet.


Also will it kill my economy if I raise tarrifs to 10% for a short while? I've kept it at 0 since I became a world power but with another war being fought I think I need the extra income.