Shining Stars - A United States Coming of Age Saga

[HistoryDude]

Congrats on your victories! What are your war goals for this war?

Are you at -22 warscore? How? You won most of the battles and are occupying their land. Am I reading the image incorrectly?

 

[Rensslaer]

Congrats on your victories! What are your war goals for this war?

Are you at -22 warscore? How? You won most of the battles and are occupying their land. Am I reading the image incorrectly?

Thanks!

I think my wargoals just changed. I'll explain in the next update.

No, the image showing -22% Warscore indicates the British (who initiated the war) are at -22% Warscore. So the US is basically 22 in the positive.

Rensslaer

 

[VILenin]

…And then I realize I was looking at the wrong set of flags.

Those are MY allies.

How very stereotypically American, to not be aware who our allies are. Although I imagine that Uruguay's contributions to the war, for instance, have been rather limited.

Yes, that numbers balance does explain a lot as to why you're locked in this never-ending dance with the UK. More than three times your population, too. Oof. I assume a large portion of that is coming from India? Is the subcontinent still a patchwork of vassal princely states, or has it started being consolidated under direct British rule?

 

[The Kingmaker]

Well, I’ve still got a fair bit of catching up to do, but from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like your America has gone full on A-Team here. “Coming of Age,” indeed!

 

[Rensslaer]

The Sixth Anglo-American War: The War in Europe



The first hints of this conflict, as the previous, spreading to Europe, occurred when American Admiral Chester Caldwell engaged a Royal Navy fleet north of Spain, in the Cantabrian Sea. It was July 1883, five months after the British declared war.

West Africa, to that point, had seen considerable fighting, but it had not yet moved to South Africa.

And a small Brazilian contingent, of all things, had initiated the first invasion of the British Isles at the end of July.

And just prior to that General Isaac Chapman, with 20,000 US soldiers, arrived offshore of British Portugal and began to disembark. These were mostly conscript miners and farmers, but they did not face a significant foe onshore.





By September the fighting was done, and all that remained was the mopup.

By then, 21,000 US soldiers had been landed in Scotland, where they spread out – some toward Aberdeen and the main force south to provide a blocking force against counterattacks. And Gen. Francis Mitchell had landed in Cornwall, northeast of Land’s End.





Mitchell’s force had to land under fire from the Royal Navy, but the transports were tough and withstood the hammering until the troops were ashore (for those who don’t know, transports in Victoria don’t have much combat strength to attack other ships, but they are very strong in withstanding attack, which is entirely silly – in reality, yes, they are large hulky ships, but they’re also weak and easy to sink).

A fleet of US Navy men-of-war guarded the Irish Sea to prevent the crossing of 69,000 Redcoats in Ireland to Scotland where they could oppose the American takeover of Scotland. But another 57,000 Redcoats were marching north from England and they would meet





The British arrived at the dug in American lines on 4 October and a furious clash began. The American entrenchments held, for the most part. But they could not stand forever. Reinforcements would be needed.

Fortunately for the United States, the 57,000 Redcoats at Stirling were apparently the entire British presence on the main island, and Gen. Mitchell had free rein in the south (an editor’s note to authAARs – I have seen twice in the past week or so someone use the phrase “free reign”, which is a common error and even makes sense because we’re playing conquest games, but the proper spelling of the phrase is “free rein” which is a horsemanship term).

By 5 October he had reached London with 6,000 men, including a contingent of engineers, who began dismantling the British defenses.

In the previous war the United States Army had not even reached London. Nevertheless, the British refused an offer of “white peace” on 13 October. The war must continue!





The British, frankly, suffered some terrible die rolls that enabled me to do better than expected against them. That’s 9 for the US, minus 2 for not having a commander, so effectively 7 versus the British 0 minus 2 (missing commander), 1 (fighting in hilly terrain) and 1 (the remainder of the US dig-in bonus) meaning their die roll is effectively NEGATIVE 4!!) – 7 versus negative 4 is bad bad mojo. I messed up the above screenshot by obscuring the date of the combat (Sep 27) and the US daily combat losses (40 for US vs 261 for the British).

The Battle (campaign) of Stirling was lost on 5 November and the Americans fell back on Inverness, where Gen. Michael Atkins took up the defense with his dug-in reinforcements for his Christmas campaign. Again, the British suffered terrible die rolls. That’s an effective -1 for the British and a 9 for Atkins. Basically only 1 better for the British than the previous shot at Sterling. Sheesh!





In December of 1883 the Royal Navy finally forced the blockade ships out of the Irish Sea and were able to make a crossing with 69,000 Redcoats from Ireland, who made landing at Glasgow where a small contingent of American soldiers attempted to prevent them storming the whole game.

But the British were at a serious disadvantage due to circumstances. That’s a 1 minus 2 roll for the US, meaning a -1 modified roll, which sounds terrible, right? But the British rolled a 6 which was then modified by -2 for no leader, -1 for the hilly terrain, -2 for an amphibious invasion and -3 from the Americans’ dig-in fortifications!! That’s a modified roll of -2 for the Brits! So they actually fared worse than the Americans.

That’s why you see 8 vs. 20 casualties for that day. Ho hum.

Right then the British realized they were in a pickle. They offered a White Peace (“sorry to have bothered you – could we go back to our starting positions and try again in 5 years??”).

I refused! I was mad by this point. And everything was looking good for America.

If you check the Outliner you’ll notice there are two combats still underway in Africa, two in Scotland. Some occupation progress notations at the top there, and look at how many ongoing naval battles we had at this point! That’s a worldwide war.





By January damaged US ships were sheltering and repairing in Plymouth Harbor, and Gen. Atkins was slowly depleting the northern British army’s ability to hold on.

Besides Plymouth, Bristol and Aberdeen had already fallen to the US.

By the end of January, Atkins sent half of his force south, since they had lost military effectiveness, and held on against 39,000 British with only 10,000. They could only hold on for so long. But reinforcements from the south arrived and suddenly it was the British who were unlikely to hold up. They were surrounded, and when their organization was ground down, they would be forced to surrender.

Which they did in mid-February. By which time the US soldiers at Glasgow had given up their holding action there and retreated to reinforced and entrenched positions in Dumfries.





By this time, besides having a rising troop presence in England, Wales and Scotland, the United States had landed troops in Ireland, which the British had recently left undefended.

Earlier (in the previous update) I’d mentioned that the British obstinacy, and the fact that after tremendous defeats by us they had sent embarrassing entreaties hoping we would accept a White Peace. It made me angry. And determined.

It seemed to me, especially after all this, and this being their SIXTH war against us, that we needed to do something to change the game. To make things change more substantially than they had changed after previous wars.





So we decided this time we were going to press for “Cut Down To Size” – a massive military sanction and substantial economic indemnities meant to keep them from restoring the power we’d so far destroyed.

The British won at Dumfries in March, and battle resumed at Edinburgh. Their surrounded British army – their last – was forced to surrender on April 10, and the British had no more ability to oppose our conquest.

London, by the end of Spring, was near to collapse.





You’ll recall (maybe) that previous screenshot showing nearly 200,000 British soldiers in the Malay Peninsula (aka British Singapore)? Well…

The British in June 1884 again offered to give British Singapore (the whole Malayan Peninsula) to us in return for peace.

We refused.

We wanted the “Cut Down to Size” also. They were not going to continue declaring war on us every 5-10 years without some serious consequences to their ability to wield such power against us.

In July 1884 they relented and accepted our terms.





The “Cut Down to Size” war effect causes them to lose 50% of their army and navy for 5 years, and they cannot rebuild armies.

The British are also required to pay 25% of their tax income to us for 5 years as an indemnity. That’ll sure help us, and make them weaker meantime.

Losing their tax income and trade from British Singapore can’t help their economy or manpower situation either.

Now all I have to do is wait for these 189,000 British soldiers to move out of my new lands.

I suppose you’ll agree that the British will come back to get their Singapore back. But they’ll be less capable when they do, and I’ll be ready for them.

 

[Chac1]

Looking forward to see if your stubbornness and resolve will hold you in good stead. Yes, stopping this cycle of attacks is paramount.

(an editor’s note to authAARs – I have seen twice in the past week or so someone use the phrase “free reign”, which is a common error and even makes sense because we’re playing conquest games, but the proper spelling of the phrase is “free rein” which is a horsemanship term)

Thanks for this reminder. Sounds like the type of sloppiness in my writing when I'm tired. If you ever see me do this, please nudge me. Thanks.

 

[HistoryDude]

That must be humiliating for Britain. Why haven't other European powers pounced on them yet? They must look really weak now.

Why did the British have more troops in Singapore than in the British Isles? Is it just the AI being incompetent?

 

[Rensslaer]

Looking forward to see if your stubbornness and resolve will hold you in good stead. Yes, stopping this cycle of attacks is paramount.


Thanks for this reminder. Sounds like the type of sloppiness in my writing when I'm tired. If you ever see me do this, please nudge me. Thanks.

@Chac1 thanks!

Tiredness mostly affects my motivation for writing, not my attention to detail. Though I was reading through one of my old AARs yesterday and noticed where I described two provinces moving into position to attack (rather than regiments).

That must be humiliating for Britain. Why haven't other European powers pounced on them yet? They must look really weak now.

Why did the British have more troops in Singapore than in the British Isles? Is it just the AI being incompetent?

Humiliating, yes. But Britain remains, by some amount, the most powerful country in the world. I also might note that they haven't added much territory, so ironically their Badboy is probably pretty low for a country that's always at war. Lol

I suspect the presence of so many British troops in India and Malaysia is because that's where they have a lot of POPs (population units, for those not familiar with the game), so that's where they can produce a lot of troops. Ideally they would then distribute these troops throughout the empire. But there would have to be an AI routine making them do this (might be our might not) and they would have to have transports to do it (and I'm famous for sinking every transport I can find).

But like I said in the update that was only 7% of their troops. It might have been reasonable to have that many sitting there.

Rensslaer

 

[VILenin]

Right then the British realized they were in a pickle. They offered a White Peace (“sorry to have bothered you – could we go back to our starting positions and try again in 5 years??”).

Well, there's no harm in asking, right? Those peace offers are clearly the AI's version of "It was just a prank, bro!"

It seemed to me, especially after all this, and this being their SIXTH war against us, that we needed to do something to change the game. To make things change more substantially than they had changed after previous wars.

Agreed. Unless something changes, you seem doomed to repeat this dance with the UK for the rest of the game.

Good job cutting the UK down to size! It must be a sad day for the Royal Navy to have fallen so far that it can't even protect its home waters from invasion. Given your naval dominance, and the fact that you occupied London, it's feeling like the Brits are something of a paper tiger. Their performance in the last couple Anglo-American Wars certainly tells a different story than the ledger does, although perhaps that's simply the AI not being able to use its strengths effectively.

 

[Rensslaer]

It appears I may have missed some people from previous comments. Apologies to @RELee , @Sanvone , @TheButterflyComposer , @jak7139 , @HistoryDude , @VILenin , @The Kingmaker and @Chac1, though I don't think I'm missing specific questions.

Thanks for your comments and encouragement!

Will be updating Rex Germania in the next few days. I'm going to try to get another update for this up in a couple of weeks.

Thank you for reading! Please everyone remember to vote in the Q1-2024 AARLand Choice AwAARds! I see I think 7 votes, but there are many of us who have not yet voted! Voting goes through the very beginning of May, I think, so the deadline is coming.

Rensslaer

 

[RELee]

Don't worry about me. I'm just in it for the notoriety.

 

[jak7139]

Oh, I missed this last update. Good job finally (hopefully?) breaking the British. Does Cut Down to Size release nations/puppets as well?

 

[MidKnightDreary]

Leaving a comment so that I follow easier and you can notice the support! Also nominated for an ACA.

6 wars seems like a lot, but there were 6 coalition wars against France. (7 if you count the 100 days)

 

[Rensslaer]

Don't worry about me. I'm just in it for the notoriety.

General @RELee, you don't lack for notoriety! Course these days I wonder... How many young people even know who Robert E Lee is?? Thanks for your readership!

Oh, I missed this last update. Good job finally (hopefully?) breaking the British. Does Cut Down to Size release nations/puppets as well?

@jak7139 great to have you caught up! Thanks!

Cut Down to Size, in Victoria, doesn't affect subject nations or anything, though perhaps it would be more realistic if that were an option. EU IV has a much more robust peace system than V2 did.

Leaving a comment so that I follow easier and you can notice the support! Also nominated for an ACA.

6 wars seems like a lot, but there were 6 coalition wars against France. (7 if you count the 100 days)

Thanks @MidKnightDreary and welcome! Thank you -- I definitely appreciate your support and readership!

Yes, 6 wars is definitely alot! I wasn't expecting this at all. And if they hadn't started the cycle early, I've seen games where the US and UK never fight each other at all! But because they started it, and perhaps (well, likely) because I took territory in revenge, they keep coming back at me.

So... I'm really hoping to get this updated before the end of the month. But I can't promise. I want to keep it moving. More likely the first week of May I guess, because I've been delaying alot of stuff until then.

Thanks for your readership! Remember to vote in the Q1-2024 AARLand Choice AwAARds (as @MidKnightDreary mentioned)! A disappointing number of votes this time around, so far. Maybe people think it's early, but only 2 weeks or less to vote! No pressure to vote for me or my AARs, but definitely support those hard working writers in our community!

Rensslaer

 

[jak7139]

I wonder... How many young people even know who Robert E Lee is??

It might be different depending on where you live, but 5th grade was when I learned about the ACW. And I think Lee, being one of the big names, is well known among most people. Though I am biased as a history lover and having been out of elementary school for a decade plus. Stuff may have changed in how that part of US history is taught.

 

[Rensslaer]

It might be different depending on where you live, but 5th grade was when I learned about the ACW. And I think Lee, being one of the big names, is well known among most people. Though I am biased as a history lover and having been out of elementary school for a decade plus. Stuff may have changed in how that part of US history is taught.

Yes but when was 5th grade for you?

We studied the Civil War probably in 5th grade and again in high school. But I worry whether they teach much history at all these days.

Rensslaer

 

[jak7139]

Yes but when was 5th grade for you?

Around 2011-2012.

 

[Rensslaer]

Well that gives me some hope for the younger generations then!

Rensslaer

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

It might be different depending on where you live, but 5th grade was when I learned about the ACW. And I think Lee, being one of the big names, is well known among most people. Though I am biased as a history lover and having been out of elementary school for a decade plus. Stuff may have changed in how that part of US history is taught.

He's the guy with all the really, really terrible statues.

 

[RELee]

Somebody should have told me my fly was open.