Isn't there a restore order CB on the CSA?
The U.S. gets one on both the CSA and Texas since they have CBs on all of our regions. Texas doesn't get one on the CSA though since Texas doesn't have cores on the south.
Chapter 10: Corn, Corn, and more Corn
So early on in 1886 I received an acquire state casus belli against the USA. I had to wait a few months before declaring war though since my truce didn't expire until July. The USA managed to sneak back under the infamy limit but they are still going to be contained for a few months, sadly their containment expires at about the same time as the truce so they will be able to rebuild their armies during the war. This seems like the perfect time for me to try and take Illinois with the U.S. short on armies however the U.S. still has one major advantage over me in that they can mobilize about 100 brigades while I can only mobilize 20 something. Taking this into account, I come to the conclusion that I won't be able to hold Illinois once the U.S. mobilizes, especially if they rebuild their armies.
After scratching off Illinois I had to find a new target which pretty much left me with Idaho, Iowa, and Nebraska. I didn't really want Idaho since I wanted to keep my border with the U.K. as small as possible and even though Iowa had 4 regions I only bordered two of them and Nebraska seemed to make more sense geographical. Having Kansas really helped me speed up troop movement since now I didn't have to have my troops walk all the way around the state to get from Colorado to Missouri. It will also serve as a spring board for my invasion to Nebraska even though it doesn't border any Nebraskan regions I didn't already border. Then after I take Nebraska, I can use my new territories to help supply my armies if they decide to invade Wyoming or Iowa. I spend the first half of the year positioning my troops and then as soon as the truce expires I DoW the U.S..
Almost immediately they mobilize which throws my entire war plan out the window. Previously I had planned to occupy as many regions as possible while they didn't have many armies but now that they have 100 brigades from the start I have to try and concentrate on winning big battles and taking Nebraskan regions first. I need to get my war score up fast before the U.S. starts building more professional brigades. Turns out this wasn't going to be as much of a cake walk as I thought. I've always been nervous about mobilizing but I decided I was going to have to here.
I decide to adopt a strategy similar to the one I used in the last war when I took Kansas. I sent about 20-30 brigades to defend my border in Missouri as well as 20-25 brigades out in the Northwest which I hoped would be able to crush the American army out there and take a few regions as well. I also split off a couple of brigades to go through CSA territory and attack Washington. I had no intention of them taking the territory but I figured it would at least draw some of the American forces off the front to come deal with them. Then I could always just move them back into the CSA for safety and attack again later. This strategy proved effective as I was able to keep about 10 brigades off the front line with my 3 brigades out in Washington.
My troops roll into Nebraska but there is one problem here that I didn't face in Kansas, and that is that I don't border one of the regions, Omaha. If I want to keep my army up there alive I am going to have to send a larger army and eat some of the attrition. I do lose some good men but the U.S. loses a few to as they constantly try and attack only to get beaten badly. These regions take a bit of time to occupy but I manage to take Omaha fairly quickly and then Alliance soon after. There were some bloody battles up in Nebraska but I managed to win up there to keep the occupation going.
On the western front I greatly outnumber the Americans and was tempted to roll into Idaho and crush their armies, however I didn't want to repeat America's mistake from the past few wars. I've found that the defensive army holds a huge advantage when fighting in the mountains so I decide to have my armies just stand there and wait for the U.S. to either attack or head east to fight out there. They soon decide to run east and I send in some of my units to occupy Idaho. This draws a few of their armies back but I now hold the defensive edge. Fighting in Coeur D' Alene continues for some time but with the incredible defensive edge I get from that region I am able to hold off all attacks, despite being outnumbered.
Back in Missouri it was mostly a defensive war. I knew I wouldn't really need to occupy any regions outside of Nebraska so I figured I would just sit back and let the Yanks come to me and I could just hold the line. This strategy worked really well and the Yanks lost a lot of troops and never managed to occupy any of my territory. This was the first, but not the bloodiest battle in Missouri.
By the end of the year I have the war score up to about 25 and the U.S. won't stop sending me offers for a white peace. Still, they won't be reasonable and give me Nebraska so the war continues on a bit longer. I eventually get Alliance and start working on North Platte. The USA is getting smart though (or so I thought) and has broken through my lines by getting military access from the CSA. Fortunately for me though they were just trying to reinforce their armies in Kansas city but wanted to take the long and go through the CSA, then enter the U.S. through Arkansas (which was completely defenseless along with the rest of the country) and head north to fight in a battle that the U.S. wound up losing badly, probably because there armies got lost. Funny thing is I had a similar situation earlier in the war where an American army in Boise decided that rather then just cross the border to attack Kalamath Falls, that it would be easier to walk around Nevada-Utah and take a scenic tour through my country. Anyway, one of these lost armies did stick around in Joplin which bothered me a bit but I just let him stay, I had almost taken North Platte and I figured the U.S. would surely cave after that.
By early April I had taken North Platte and all of Nebraska was under my control. I had a warscore of about 31 but the U.S. still wouldn't hand over Nebraska even though it only cost 13 points now that I had the whole state under my control. I got really nervous since I knew the U.S. was starting to pick up steam and if the war went on much longer they might take some of my provinces and ultimately win. I was about to throw my computer out the window but I decided to play a bit further and then I get this.
As you can see I really didn't have to occupy many American regions to take the state from them. Other then the three Nebraska regions the only other region I occupied was Coeur D' Alene and I had just retreated from there a couple of days before I got the peace offer. I kind of like the new shape of Texas, Nebraska kind of looks like a mohawk for my country.
After the war I was about 100 total points behind the U.S. and I managed to keep the gap at about that level for the next 5 years. I continued to build my sphere in South America by picking up Chile, Uruguay, and Ecuador, I think I will probably gain one or two more and then I will maybe look elsewhere or at least just focus on defending my current sphere. By this time I've finally researched ironclads so I'm beginning to build up a navy. It won't be able to compete with the U.S. navy yet, but it should allow me to at least defend my home waters as well as maybe move some troops around if the need arises.
Techonolgy wise I think I'm about to pull ahead of the U.S., I just finished researching all available techs that boost research points and I am working to research the ones that boost educational efficiency. It might be a decade or so before I am able to reap the benefits but my hope is that by the very late game I will have that edge. I've sort of given up on colonialism by this point. There is only one more tech I need to get to colonize Africa but I still need to upgrade my naval base and by that time that's done I don't expect there to be much left in Africa. Still I plan to have plenty of oprotunities to expand in North America so I don't really need Africa.
The CSA's industries fell hard and they eventually lost GP status for a while. I then managed to resphere them since I couldn't risk them going to the U.S. as an ally but now they are back and they may take the #8 spot again. The problem is they are in a dead heat with Mexico in terms of scoring and neither of them can maintain the lead over the other long enough to gain GP status. Just look at how close the race for the #8 spot is.
I'm pulling for Mexico since that may allow me to take Nevada-Utah and I am less worried about fighting them then I am the CSA who will probably attack me if they get unsphered. Either way I'm surrounded by 1 global power and 2 potential global powers, all of which have cores on multiple states of mine. This is gonna get interesting.