How to Win the American Civil War as the CSA?

[Grave461]

I find this bookmark [1861: A House Divided] literally impossible to win. I've tried every tactic I can think of, and the Union steamrolls over me every time. Their numbers are overwhelming, and I can never make it more than a year before I'm completely taken over.

I even enable the Cotton King CB event chain, but it doesn't seem to do anything (Britain declares war, but doesn't invade the USA).

Any tips/strategies I can do to survive this bookmark?

 

[Sadiregu]

Start in 1836, only build stuff in the south, only Dixie soldiers. There you go.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

Make all new states slave states and make a doomstack with all your best generals

 

[Grave461]

So in other words... the vanilla scenario is pretty much impossible?

 

[Grave461]

Actually, I just found a YouTube video where a guy stomps the Union army in the 1861 scenario. I'm going to give this a shot and see what happens.
(I'm still very new to V2, so some of the games features, like mobilization I'm still learning about)

 

[Tkoneke]

me gets steamrolled by US when i play the CSA aswell. tried a lot of times. will try again soon.

 

[Grave461]

Well, brief update... I was able to overcome the Union, thanks to following the example of the YouTube video. Basically, I had to create a doomstack with all my available military units, and then I just roamed the counryside attacking the Union invaders. I'd pick the smaller Union stacks (before they could merge with larger stacks and create doomstacks) to attack first, then tackle the larger stacks. I also enacted the Cotton Kings CB, and while it took a few months before the Brits landed on American soil and invaded the North, they eventually helped me force the Union to surrender.

During this campaign, I didn't invade any Union territory; I just played defense. Once the Brits invaded, they started occupying Union territory for me.

I wish I could have used a more plausible military strategy rather than resorting to doomstacks, but it did get the job done.

 

[Jamesmelt1]

You might also try the Freedom & Chains module that accompanies Pops of Darkness for Vicky 2. It adds a whole bunch of events for the CSA, among other things. It's great for flavour and for effect. It also triggers the Trent Affair, which as seems, is 25/75 against intervention.