US Demo - Early Civil War

[FrostPegasus]

Right, so this was my first attempt at the VicII Demo. Started out not knowing what the hell I was doing.

So I decided to go at it the old fashioned way; lower taxes on the rich. Worked out pretty nicely, factories and railroads begin popping up everywhere. The years progress, the Whigs take more and more power in the Upper House. All's good so far.

I decide to actively avoid war, so I don't go for the Manifest Destiny and don't go to war with Mexico, after all, it was my first game, still trying to learn the whole econmics engine (great work, by the way!). Managed to climb to 4th position in the Great Powers list. Incorporated Haiti, Mexico, USCA and Hawaii into the US's sphere.

1849 rolls around and bam, the American Civil War begins. At this point I'm "Ah what the hell, for Dixie!". Naturally, Dixie in my hands loses one battle after the other, and by 1850 the situation is entirely hopeless as I am at war with my northern AND southern neighbours, so I offer peace to the US and they annex me. Civil War began and ended in less than a year.

What I'm trying to say is; I love the game so far. Nothing too scripted, yet nothing too ahistorical either. I have to say, great work guys.

Oh, and I guess I discovered a way to play something else than the USA in the demo.

 

[jasonxfri13th]

Now you just need to figure out how to use the military correctly and encourage spending in the South and then lead the Confederates to VICTORY!!!

 

[Benandorf]

Now you just need to figure out how to use the military correctly and encourage spending in the South and then lead the Confederates to VICTORY!!!

Easy: Make all your units from Dixie pops.

 

[Temrek]

Easy: Make all your units from Dixie pops.

Easier said then done, maximizing military spending seems to make all yankees pick up a military career but do little to the dixies...

 

[Benandorf]

Easier said then done, maximizing military spending seems to make all yankees pick up a military career but do little to the dixies...

Maybe some national focus in southern states to promote soldiers? Somewhere fairly populated like Tennessee or Virginia could do it.

On an unrelated note, I'm a bit disappointed that there isn't much variability to the ACW. All slave states rebel, end of story, as opposed to in Victoria 1, where you could let South Carolina leave, and it was unlikely that any others would go.

 

[FrostPegasus]

Maybe some national focus in southern states to promote soldiers? Somewhere fairly populated like Tennessee or Virginia could do it.

On an unrelated note, I'm a bit disappointed that there isn't much variability to the ACW. All slave states rebel, end of story, as opposed to in Victoria 1, where you could let South Carolina leave, and it was unlikely that any others would go.

Actually, not all slave states revolted in my ACW version. Florida remained a Union province.

 

[Benandorf]

Actually, not all slave states revolted in my ACW version. Florida remained a Union province.

Really? That's what I get for only doing it once.

 

[Nikolai]

Actually, not all slave states revolted in my ACW version. Florida remained a Union province.

Same here. And I've seen it in pics from an aar before too I think.

 

[Benandorf]

Same here. And I've seen it in pics from an aar before too I think.

Well, you still don't get to choose to let them go quietly. A number of states would not have seceded had the US not declared war.

 

[von Sachsen]

Would just increasing the MTTH of the CON raising events put off the war until about the right time?

 

[stantz]

me too, Texas went union, and it would be kind of lame to have all that violent build up lead to parting ways in peaceful understanding.

 

[atmafox]

I think I noticed the big problem with the ACW in this one. I checked after they revolted and I tag-switched and it was as if they did not have all the techs that were listed for them.

Cases in point:
A) I could only build irregulars
B) All my factories that I had carefully nudged into existence pre-war in planning for a less agrarian confederacy... ceased to be, save for glass, liquor, and wine. As, somehow, it acted as if I did not have the techs for them
C) My troops, existing brigades that were proper infantry, engineer, etc seemed to lose the use of their muzzle loaded rifles, leading to heinous beatdowns from numerically inferior Union troops.
D) I was unable to build new railroads

All in all, it was good right up until that point.

Oh, and there's a balance problem with China. There's always a balance problem with China. It had #1 in military score due to the mass quantities of soldier pops, and with all its artisans it was #1 in most secondary goods last I looked (hadn't checked around 1849, mind, so that might have changed.) That said, China's tough. It always had so much potential and yet somehow managed to utterly fail at existing beyond a very decentralized 'empire'. Various history papers are still debating just why that is, so that adds even more difficulty to modeling it. Of course, I'll leave it at that so I don't hijack this thread. (=

Before I do a full bug report, can anyone confirm these issues? With irregulars and factories (and the ability to build railroads in un-railed provinces) it's fairly easy to test.

Regardless, good overall but the issues with the Confederacy are game breaking.

 

[Lauri]

I took the Dixie flag up when the event came just to check if they were playable or if PI had taken the choice out.. I hadn't planned on it, but as my first game was running towards an end, it was getting dull as I didn't have the amount of hang-of-it as I wanted, so all the "I'll cheat and only make yankees" army building turned against me..

My Florida didn't go CSA, it stayed Union, but I think that's because I upgraded it to a state (was a colony, like many other) and made it slave-free
What I didn't like was the CSA core on Washington DC (no idea if the DC is in the game, but you know where I mean) and that it was a slave province, with 40% Dixie and 55% Afro Americans, or something like that.. I though the Yanks had that area covered!

 

[shadow121292]

Historically DC like much of the Maryland region was very Southern to this day Maryland is borderline Southern.(Although this year they proposed a petition to the Federal Government to instead identify them as a Mid-Atlantic state alongside Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, and sometimes Connecticut.) DC is in the game as I had an event that I picked a very anti-Slavery decision and one of the places on the list of states was District of Columbia.

 

[Lauri]

Ah, in that case then
And I meant that I had no idea if it's called Washington DC, or just Washinton in the game.. But I didn't want it to be confused with the state of Washington

 

[Vox Imperatoris]

Yes, until the Compromise of 1850 outlawed the slave trade in Washington, D.C., one could allegedly hear the auctioning of slaves from Capitol Hill.

 

[Petrarca]

me too, Texas went union, and it would be kind of lame to have all that violent build up lead to parting ways in peaceful understanding.

Personally I would love to see a Cold War-esque rendition of the Civil War. The two sides can fight proxy wars in Cuba and Venezuela before the CSA crosses the American red line with an invasion of Mexico.

 

[Thormodr]

In my first game with the demo, I chose random answers to all the issues because I was concentrating on other stuff. The Civil War broke out in 1849.

 

[Petrarca]

Ah, in that case then
And I meant that I had no idea if it's called Washington DC, or just Washinton in the game.. But I didn't want it to be confused with the state of Washington

The state is actually labeled District of Columbia in-game, which is accurate, clarifying, and confusing all in one package.

DC and Maryland were slave territories, the latter state having strong Confederate leanings. Maryland's governor waffled on the issue, while Lincoln instituted martial law and suspended habeas corpus to ensure federal control.

 

[enf91]

Texas goes Union if you make it a free state. If you make it a slave state, it goes CSA. Florida stays Union because it starts as a colony, so you have to make it a state for it to secede.
And the Civil War started in Feb 1849 for me. I almost finished before the time limit because I had 40 brigades, 3 of which were from Dixie pops.