A newbie blunders forth - A Sardina-Piedmont PON AAR

It's always a matter of perspective Seriously though I have a couple of issues which have affected my planning. I have an army which is strong but brittle I do not have the replacements to recover from serious casualties. The enemy also undoubtably has other strong forces available in addition to the one I can see.

I need to be able to destroy his force in Venezia with minimum casualties so that I can withstand a counter attack. I know I will have French backing but I have no control or knowledge of how the French AI will perform.

loki100 said:

It is akin to the coding problem of making Japan attack the USA in a WW2 game - most computer codes are too damn logical, you sometimes need human stupidity

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I provide plenty of the human stupidity which should give the AI a good fighting chance

I know this is just a game but it is very interesting how it seems Italian unification was so finely balanced and in the end rested on a lot of other external factors going their way. I think I remember from another post you mentioned a book on the subject? I think its time I delved deeper into this fascinating piece of history.

1859 July to December

Diplomacy

Despite our recent provocations Austria seems unwilling to resort to the final sanction of war obviously unwilling to provoke France. We remain on full alert in case of an attack as the threat level remains high. In August Alfonso Ferrero La Mamora takes over as prime minister.

The American diplomatic corps has obviously been partaking in the Opium we export them by again refusing our requests for closer economic ties citing the reason that we are a threat to world security! Yes ickle Sardinia-Piedmont has the major powers quaking in their boots.

In November the Americans again take leave of their senses and decide the time is right to begin a civil war. We will take a pragmatic (read mercenary) approach to the conflict continuing our efforts to secure a commercial agreement with the North to enable our companies to exploit the new gold deposits



whilst trading goods with the South.



Elsewhere Spain continues to try and bring Morocco under its heel and French forces again clash unofficially with Tunisia. China continues to produce a sea of blood in its own civil war and the very low key Persian - Afghan war rumbles on.



Military

In September we design and begin mass producing a muzzle loading rifle able to use the new Minie ball. Soon afterwards all our military formations begin the process of upgrading to the new weaponry.



** In game terms we use replacements from the pool to upgrade our existing formations. As my military is obviously fairly small this upgrade process was surprisingly pain free with nearly all formations upgraded after 3 turns or so for the loss of perhaps 5 replacement points I had already stockpiled. My military score has significantly increased and my colonial formations have roughly double the power rating they had before

Majerteyn War Sept 1857 to June 1859

Forces loyal to the exiled Majerteyn chief appear from the interior to besiege our newly acquired outpost in Harar (captured previously from the Sheewa). Our relief columns find it extraordinarily difficult to march through the mountain passes.

Eventually in December General Fanti leading the 1st Brigata takes advantage of a break in the weather to cross the mountains unfortunately the main Majerteyn force yet again manages to slip away.

** In game terms I have acquired full military control of all the Majerteyn provinces and despite having a war score in the 70s I cannot claim any provinces from them. The only peace options available are to disband a portion of their army and ask for reparations (£1 a year maximum). As signing peace will mean I will lose all military control I will stay officially at war and keep de facto control of the area already secured (I do not appear to be suffering any noticeable war weariness). I will try to officially claim these provinces as a protectorate when the option becomes available after unification (I hope!). I have not been able to destroy the main enemy regular force despite several engagements and inflicting many hits on them. They have just been evicted from Harar and disappeared from sight but no doubt it will turn up again to harass me. So far no other powers have shown any interest in this region so hopefully I can unify and claim it before they pull the rug out from under me.

Sheewa War May 1859 to ?

Since the initial confrontations in May and June we have not seen hide nor hair of their army. With General Fanti’s march to relieve Harer we have gained military control of that province. Using reports from newly arrived traders in Goba we are able to build a fort and a mission station.

** In game terms you can’t build a fort until you have at least 10 points of colonial penetration therefore in Goba I had to wait 7 turns or so for a newly placed trader before I could secure the province with a fort.

Our explorers continue to probe the extent of the lands controlled by the Sheewa and have discovered the province of Negele

The extent of our holdings


We have added

• Field artillery regiment
• A garrison unit in Alessandria
• A garrison unit in La Spezia
• A coastal artillery gun battery for La Spezia
• Supply Wagon
• 1 x Cavalry; 1 x Elite Infantry, 1 x Line Infantry replacements

Economy

We will be tweaking our current economic policy in the next period. We will move away from internal industry development and attempt to secure an overseas source of each luxury good.

Currently we have guaranteed production of Opium from Mogadishu. Next we will attempt to build a silk farm in either one of the French provinces with this resource (this will cost about 4x as much as a regular farm due to the provinces being in rough terrain and in foreign control). Once this is done we will hopefully have concluded a commercial agreement with the USA or other gold producing nation to enable us to build a mine.

We reduced our Tariffs to 18%

We completed muzzle loading rifles and have begun sponsoring research into another military technology reserve formations.

We started the construction of the following:

• Coal mine in North West - Great Britain (July)
• Shipbuilding in Alpes-Maritime (October)
• Railroad in Ogaden - Somalia (November)

We completed the following

• Luxury Goods shop completed in Sardinia (July)
• Steel building completed in Alessandria (October)

Our internal demand is

• 20 Food
• 17 Common Goods (+1)
• 11 Luxuries

We supplied this demand at 100% over this period. Our average satisfaction is 100%; our militancy stands at 2%; literacy remains at 77%.

Organic Stockpile


Inorganic


Colonisation

This period has seen a change in how we have been using our merchants. For several years we have been attempting to build trading posts on resources which have high demand tropical fruits, gems, gold, coffee etc in an attempt to provide a steady stream of these goods. We are now back to using them strategically to push forward our colonial penetration into Ethiopia.



In August we complete a geographical study in Hoedeida and a natural history expedition to Lindi.

We are making progress in completing what will hopefully be a rail connection between Mogadishu and Harer passing through our depot in Ogaden. Three quarters of the track has been completed or is building

• Fort in Ogaden completed (October)
• Mission station in Harer is completed (October)
• A level 2 depot is completed in Ogaden (November) and an extension is ordered.
• Fort in Berbera is completed (December)

Prestige

In September we pass a mile stone as we overhaul Japan and move from 12th to 11th in terms of prestige.

loki100 said:

like your American policy, I wish I could have got a CA in time to exploit the various gold stocks that appear.

Very impressed with your colonial progress, you'll be an African power before you take N Italy at this rate

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Basically my sudden rush to acquire luxury goods is based on your experiences. The domestic requirements increase rapidly after unification it seems. With an unhappy mob to look after I think I will need to fully satisfy there needs and cut taxes to get them into line as soon as possible.

I've taken a risk in Africa I have no real control until I acquire these areas as protectorates which I can't do yet so any other major could come waltzing in and take them away. Hopefully I'm close enough to unification to get away with it

Stuyvesant said:

That's a very descriptive sentence.

Progress seems good - except that the Austrians stubbornly refuse to do the stupid thing and declare war. Oh well, you'll always have (bits and pieces) of Africa as your playground.

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Yes there is nothing like a good colonial war to pass the time whilst baiting a major power to do something stupid.

I still cannot see the point of scripting all the events for the 1859 war without the final script to get the war to actually happen. I would love to know if anyone has ever seen the Austrian AI make the final move and declare war and from that secure Lombardia and Venezia in the resulting peace deal?

I like both of those ideas particullarly the crises as from what I have read Britain was already manouvering to broker a deal and I think this simulates the situation very well without having a predefined outcome.

I can only guess the Austrians with a very ethnically diverse empire must have been worried about the spread of the unrest to their other unhappy nationalities and were looking to crush the protests by cutting them off from Sardinian support (please don't take this as read as it is pure speculation on my part). I will definately read up on this when time allows.

1860 January to June

Diplomacy

The new decade starts as the old one finished, waiting for our Austrian chums across the border to man up and declare war. If our intelligence can be believed the size of the main Austrian force in Venezia has more than halved so either the Austrians are preparing a devastatingly clever trap or they are not mobilising for war.

In February Carvour is reelected as prime minister and in June Garibaldi lands in Sicily giving us a Casus Belli on our ally.



With all this going on hawks talk of liberating Tirana from the dangerous revolutionaries currently controlling the city. Plans are underway to recruit a marine division with the express intention of bringing enlightenment to this benighted part of the world.

Our single diplomatic breakthrough this period consists of securing a commercial treaty with Mexico. The USA, Brazil and Chile all refuse similar requests.

The USA captures the Confederate capital Richmond in February and makes progress down the Mississippi river. Things are looking grim for the Confederacy



The Spanish have all but conquered Morocco and the Chinese civil war continues.

Great Britain declares Singapore as a colony



Military

We are funding new research into 2 military areas Breech Loading Rifles and Reserve Formations. This research is proving to be a heavy drain on the national coffers and a decision will need to be made later on in the year about which avenue to pursue.

Our shipyards produce 3 transport and 1 light naval replacement. Also private investors donate a flotilla of merchant steamers to the government.



** In game terms some of our excess transport replacements are automatically converted into a merchant steamer.

In January our marine brigade sails from Mogadishu to lead a punitive expedition against rebels in Mombasa. The city is quickly captured and the outlying province with its dye mine is secured. A garrison brigade sails from Liguria to secure the city while the Marines sail back to garrison Mogadishu



Sheewa War May 1859 to ?

One of our brigade’s advances into Negele and by April has gained military control of the province. Unfortunately this has left Goba vulnerable to attack. In late April a Sheewan force arrives and manages to surprise the garrison of the fort. In the ensuring slaughter our fort and mission station are razed and control of the province is lost.

** In game terms the Sheewan force appeared one turn and destroyed the fort the next. Unlike on other occasions there was no notification that fort was under siege or the garrison had been mustered. I’m not sure if this is WAD and a fort can fall to a surprise attack or a bug where the garrison was not triggered. Unfortunately this defeat also cost me a National Morale point

Sending a relief force to Goba has encountered similar problems to those we experienced in Harer. The mountain passes are continuously closed by snow and our forces suffer many casualties from exposure and exhaustion. General Fanti the hero of Harer is marshalling a force in neighbouring Ogaden in an attempt to reclaim the province and restore national pride.



** In game terms Goba is a mountainous province which has very harsh weather for many consecutive turns making it impossible to march a force there without it losing all its cohesion. Hopefully the weather will break and the force from Ogaden will be able to reclaim the province. I am finding it very tricky to take these mountainous provinces without any leaders or units with the mountain special ability.

We have added

• Expedition brigade
• 1 x Supply; 2 x Cavalry replacement

Economy

Alessandria’s population increases from 5 to 6 and Sardinia’s population also increases from 4 to 5.

In February we convert gold and gems to state funds and use the resulting funds to help improve our education system.

The turn of the decade sees a flurry of new thinking and innovations

We learn how to harness the following technologies

• Agrochemical Synthesis - (Improved chemical production efficiency)
• Gun turret theory - (Leads to Basic Gun Turrets)
• Coal cutting machines - (Allows us to build improved coal mines)
• Artificial fertilisers
• Sieman-Martins process
• 4 Stroke engines
• Pipelines

We are able to start researching the following technologies

• Hospital Ships
• Integration of marine engineers into navy rank structure
• Teaching steam engineering in naval academies
• Industrialised silk production
• Hard rock mining
• Ore extraction processes
• Structural steel
• Breech loading rifles
• Iron muzzle loaded artillery
• Military staff system
• Professionalism
• Basic Gun turrets

We start the following

• Railroad in Harer – Ethiopia (January)
• Silk farm - Marsaille (June)

We completed the following

• Coal mine in North West - Great Britain (January)
• Luxury goods shop – Alessandria (February)
• Railroad Alpes-Maritime (April)
• Commerce steamer (replaced merchant fleet in the Mediterranean which then moved to the Atlantic trade box)
• Railroad Hybyo (June)

Our internal demand remains unchanged there was a single 2 week period where we did not cover our luxury requirements. Our average satisfaction is 99%; our militancy stands at 1%; literacy remains at 78%.

Organic Stockpile


Inorganic


The strike in Tuscany is over and we regain production from our coal mine there.

Colonisation

Not a lot has changed over the period. We continue to try and hold the gains we have already made.

In February we complete a natural history and ethnographic survey of Zanzibar (+125 prestige)

In April we explored the province Garissa and gained military control of Negele

• Fort in Busaso completed (January)
• Trade post completed in Markos (March)
• Mission in Goba complete (April)
• Level 3 depot complete Ogaden (May)

Prestige

Thanks to various colonial endeavours we significantly close the gap on our next objective Prussia

Stuyvesant said:

I see you're making good use of the Men in Funny Hatstm, ferrying them up and down the coast of Africa and civilizing all those nice bits of real estate. Too bad the Ethiopians (or whoever those Shewans are) haven't quite gotten the hang of how this is supposed to work.

Good luck catching up with Prussia. I imagine they'll rocket up the prestige ladder in a few years, when the Prussians start to tangle with Denmark and Austria and France. Can you catch up before that happens?

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Yes the men with the dubious taste in protective headwear have there uses! Since the last update I have pretty much halved the gap to the Prussians so unless they go and unify Germany just to spite me I should overtake them in the next year. Whether I can stay ahead is another matter.

loki100 said:

good progress. You get some mountain troops when Garry's nice twin returns, but I'm not sure if that event is fixed in time (ie 1866) or in relation to whenever full or partial unification takes place. I've not risked tangling with Ethiopia yet as they also seem to have some pretty large armies to hand.

also, I'm not sure why/how, but in my game I now think the German unification chain has fallen over too ... you should be able to guess at this by the mid-1860s. If so Prussia is there for the taking (in prestige terms at least)

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Nice to know that they will available (even if not for a few years sigh!). Are these troops buildable in the normal fashion or are they part of the one off reinforcements you get when "Garry the not so evil" returns?

When you do decide to go for Ethiopia I would definately suggest they are included in your order of battle. Those mountainous provinces are tough going if they are defended and the weather is against you. That's not a complaint about the game in fact the opposite I really like how the game models terrain. These provinces should be difficult to pacify particularly without specialist mountain troops.

1860 July to December

Diplomacy

We conclude several important commercial deals with our trading partners in the Americas. The USA, Brazil and Columbia all sign commercial agreements which should give us preferential treatment in acquiring the rare goods these countries have in abundance. This is on top of the commercial agreement we signed with Mexico at the beginning of the year. In 1861 we will attempt to tie up similar agreements with the remaining main South American powers Chile and Argentina.

Repeated attempts to improve our relationship with Great Britain have mixed results. We commit ourselves to supporting them in an international crisis whilst they spurn any attempt for closer ties by rejecting our proposals for a state visit.

Austria makes no threatening moves in this period. It is felt that Austria must some how have gotten wind of the secret deal between Prime Minister Cavour and Emperor Napoleon III promising French support for Italian unification and will thus not spring our carefully laid trap. Our prospects for recovering the provinces of Venezia and Lombardy in the short term look bleak.

In Sicily Garibaldi has totally breached the defenses of Messina it looks like it is only a matter of time before it falls

** In game terms I have no idea what this means for the unification process if he is successful in taking Southern Italy but basing it on Loki’s AAR where Gary goes rogue it potentially is not good news.



In an attempt to influence and improve global opinion we lower our Tariff rate from 18% to 10%.

Morocco signs a peace accord with Spain ceding the provinces of Rabat and Tangiers.

There appears to be a very fluid war of movement occurring in America where Confederate forces appear to have reached the Canadian border whilst US forces have sliced the Confederacy into pieces with their armies reaching the Gulf of Mexico. All in all though it looks like the Confederacy will be consigned to the rubbish bin of history in fairly short order.

The Taipang uprising in China continues unabated.



Military

In August we drop our state funding for the research into Reserve Formations and decide to focus our efforts on Breech Loading Rifles as we simply cannot sustain 2 research projects at this time. We believe this branch of research gives us the maximum return on our investment and should give our armed forces a significant advantage over our enemies in the medium term.

In November Sardinian Marines under the command of General Filberto Mollard land in Tirana and quickly take control of the port. However after a standoff with local Ottoman forces on their own mission to reclaim the province General Mollard decides discretion is the better part of valor and re-embarks his landing force.

** In game terms I was hoping to seize this objective province from the rebels thinking that control would pass to me. Control of Tirana was accomplished but then it immediately reverted to Ottoman control. I’m not sure if there was already an Ottoman force in the province which I could not see or this is WAD. This differs to my experience in Mombasa which reverted to my control after the rebels were evicted.





Sheewa War May 1859 to ?

The war does not progress well with the loss of the provinces of Goba (August) and Negele (November). It is not so much the enemy as the terrain (and weather) which is proving difficult to overcome.

In August our first attempt to recapture the province of Goba ends in humiliating retreat as the enemy warriors easily defeat our rain soaked and demoralised troops.

** In game terms our force from Ogaden took 2 game turns to arrive in the province (mainly due I think to the weather which was rain) at which point our cohesion was pretty much shot. In a close fought stalemate (about 1000 casualties a piece) we were forced to retreat probably decided by the lack of cohesion.

In December the weather finally clears up and we are able to advance from Ogaden and chase the enemy from Goba (the enemy retreated without a battle). With the removal of the enemy we start to rebuild our position here by constructing a new fort and a mission station. Our marine brigade moves in to garrison the province whilst the Colonial Brigade led by General Fanti plans to move on to Negele taking advantage of the favourable weather conditions.

** In game terms the recent reversals have been my fault. I had not garrisoned the newly acquired provinces with combat units before moving on allowing the enemy back in. Instead I relied solely on the forts I had constructed. Both forts constructed in Goba surrendered after a couple of turns and I was unable to relieve them because of the terrain and weather. In future I intend to provide garrisons for provinces facing enemy territory and to that end have constructed (-ing) several Expedition brigades which are currently being transported to Africa. I will use the 2 larger colonial brigades and the marine brigade I have as offensive forces. I did start this war as a learning experience which is certainly proving to be the case.

We have built the following military units:

• 4 x transport; 1 x Light Warship; 1 x Line Infantry ; 1 x Cavalry replacements
• A marine division
• 3 x Expedition brigades

Economy

In November we convert Gems and Gold to state funds.

With the lowering of our tariff rate our internal demand for goods dropped to 19 Food; 16 Common Goods and 10 Luxury Goods. In August the demand for food picked up slightly from (19 to 20). We were successful in fully meeting this demand over the period.

With the introduction of coal cutting machines we have for the first time produced a (small) surplus of coal. As demand for coal rises through our ongoing industrial expansion we will upgrade our other coal sites as required.

The improved coal mining technology requires extra machine parts. We will build another machine parts factory in the coming year to meet this demand.

We learned how to harness the following technologies:

• Mine Warfare
• Air Brake
• First Trade Union Conference

We started the following industrial improvements:

• Coffee field - Harer (July)
• Railroad - Mombasa (September)
• Coffee field - Mombasa (December)

We completed the following industrial improvements:

• Upgraded the coal extraction site in Bourgogne (France) to a coal pit - (August)
• Upgraded the coal extraction site in Tuscany to a coal pit - (September)
• Shipyard in Alpes-Maritime (October)
• Railroad in Ogaden

Colonisation

In August our scientific exploits bear fruit again as we complete a natural history and anthropological survey of Dijubti. In addition our intrepid explorers bring back maps of the Wajin region.

We have completed three quarters of the proposed Mogadishu-Harer railway. The last piece of this rail link is due for completion in January 1861.

Our colonial interests


We completed the following Colonial buildings:

• Mission in Kismayu (August)
• Anchorage in Mombasa (September)

Prestige

In August our prestige passes 4000 points and we also move from 11th to 10th in the list of prestigious nations (The previous occupier of 10th position must be a minor nation as they do not show up on the score rankings). We have nearly halved the deficit to Prussia who are in 9th position.

PS futher screenshots to follow