American Civil War

[EPH]

It is - finally and with much effort - done. Version 1 is up on the Scenarios page.

'From 1840 to 1860 you can build one of the great American railroad empires. After 1860 you will have to choose whether to support the Union or the newborn Confederacy. Your ability to deliver the supplies and troops needed for victory will determine the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and the fate of nations.'

Comments and constructive criticism will be much appreciated.



When the Confderacy forms, 7 states automatically join: South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas (off-map). Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas may - or may not - also go South.

The War is modeled by requiring the player to complete a series of 3 missions, one per year for 1861, 1862, 1863 and (if the war goes on that long) 1864. If the number of Confederate states falls below 5, it is assumed that the population and economy cannot sustain the war and the Confederacy will lose. Once lost, there is no way for the Confederacy to retake a state.

The game assumes that the historical stalemate occurs in the eastern theater, with Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia holding their own against the North. Victory will be decided in the vast theaters of the West.

The player who thinks ahead and builds a weapons and ammunition industry before the War breaks out will be well positioned to win. Remember always that you must not only build the arms and ammo but allow for enough time to deliver them.

The missions:

1861 - Deliver 2 weapons and 2 ammo to Kentucky OR Missouri, plus 4 loads of troops anywhere. At stake: Kentucky and Missouri (if Confederate).
1862 - Deliver 2 weapons and 2 ammo to Tennessee OR Louisiana, plus 6 loads of troops anywhere. At stake: Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, plus Kentucky and Missouri.
1863 - Deliver 3 weapons and 3 ammo to Mississippi, plus 6 loads of troops anywhere. At stake: Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and Missouri.
1864 - Deliver 4 weapons and 4 ammo to Georgia, plus 6 loads of troops anywhere. At stake: Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and Missouri.

The course of the war is dependent on how many states go South, which side the player joins and how the player handles each year's mission.

For example, let us assume that, as in history, the 7 original Confederate States are joined by Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas; Kentucky and Missouri stay with the Union. That means the 1861 mission does not have to be completed; doing so gains nothing for either side. We will also assume that the player chooses to support the South.

In 1862, let's say the Confederates deliver the goods to Louisiana but in 1863 fail to deliver the materials to Mississippi. That means 6 Confederate states move to Union control: Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Florida. That leaves the Confederates with 5 states and they must win the Georgia mission in 1864 or collapse.

Had the Confederates made the mission requirements in 1863 and failed in 1864, they would have lost 8 states (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida) and the War since they would have had 3 states (Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina).

It is possible for the war to end in April of 1864 or April of 1865.

[Gwizz]

I started playing the map. After playing the RT2 maps, I'm having to relearn the RT3 game play again. I never did play RT3 much anyway. I spent most of my time building maps.

I'm 11 months into the map. I started in New York and have 4 stations and 3 trains. But not making much money. Maybe later. :cry:

[Gwizz]

I sure get bogged down playing RRT3 maps. I think it is the slow, low income starts that most maps use. When I just play a map for fun and I'm not going for a win, I add some cash and skip the slow growth start.
Then the game is more fun for me. Just my play style I guess.

I wonder if I start the map 1860 to just play the wars years if the events will function correctly?

I may try this Civil War Map again later from the beginning. It is just too nice outside, not to take advantage of this weather.

[AZ Rail Rat]

Youa gona LOVE my NAZRR map then Gwizz. You start with $10M. :D :D :D

[EPH]

There is plenty of income in the 'heartland' of railroad development - the East Coast, Chicago, and Charleston for example. It is definitely a 'building' game; you will need to grow steadily and either block the AIs from cities or build your own stations to compete with theirs. In the early years you can deliver cotton, passengers, coal or grain (or corn) if you want the bonuses. From Chicago you can earn as much as an extra $750,000 per year. From the East Coast you need to cross the mountains and link to Pittsburg; lots of logs, pulpwood, iron and coal there.


Replay:

I just got through winning the war as the South; I started in Mobile ( :) ) with a textile mill (I like building industry but it isn't necessary for play) and a lumber mill in Pittsburg (extremely profitable - added a paper mill and expanded both ASAP). My Mobile-New Orleans-Baton Rouge line was quickly joined by a Memphis-Jackson TN-Nashville line (later extended to Louisville with much profit).

Line 3 linked Charleston Junction-Augusta-Columbia to Atlanta Junction. Then I linked the three parts with a Mobile-Meridian-Tupelo-Memphis line and a Mobile-Montgomery-Atlanta Junction line.

The last piece was an extension of Charleston Junction to link the AI stations in Raleigh and Richmond with my stations in Wilmington & Charleston Junction.

In 1855 I built a munitions plant in Montgomery, followed it in 1856 with a steel mill in Huntsville and a weapons plant in Tupelo in 1857 (or 58, I'm not sure). Income was running $3 mil or so per year which let me expand the military plants and retire my $8 million in bonds (I paid off $6 mil before the war hit) as well as improve my aging fleet of Baldwins to new Americans. Part of the money from this came from selling off the Pittsburg lumber and paper mills; I would have lost them when war broke out anyway. For industry I added a textile mill in Charleston and distilleries in New Orleans, Raleigh and Richmond.

I opted to 'go South' (no surprise, since all my rail assets were there). South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana (and Texas) all seceded on schedule. Missouri, Arkansas, North Carolina and Virginia all 'went South'. To my horror, Kentucky and Tennessee did NOT go south! :shock: I lost all my rail and industrial assets in those two states, and almost 20 locomotives vanished with the rail and stations. I was not surprised when my stock took a nosedive. :cry:

With the extremely high cost of rail in wartime, I wasn't able to build a line to St Louis (remember, Missouri did go South). I did rebuild the short line to Memphis but could not afford the cost of rebuilding it on to Nashville. I did set up 'express' trains for troops.

1861 - Since I could not ship any arms or weapons to Missouri, the union overran that state. I had no assets there and lost nothing.

1862 - made the deliveries to Louisiana and made the troop deliveries (6) with a month to spare.

1863 - made the deliveries to Mississippi; no problems except the steel mill produced so much steel (and the munitions and weapons plant had such a glut of it) that steel production and deliveries shut down.

1864 - made the deliveries to Georgia, foiled Sherman and delivered twice as many troops as needed.

April of 1865 - the Confederacy joins the ranks of world nations with Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas as members.

Postwar - rebuilt in Tennessee and Kentucky, built a line through Arkansas to Missouri as access to Illinois, etc was still closed. Connected Huntsville to Chattanooga, Knoxville and up the valley to Richmond.

I didn't play the stock market much in this game, so I had the second-or-third-highest fortune ($29 mil PNW, I think). I bought stock heavily during the Panic of 1857 and bought back a lot of stock with company cash.

[EPH]

Version 3 is up on the Scenario page. Improvements include: more grain in the Midwest, prospecting is cheaper but less certain, more events for the Civil War and a Union mission requirement after the 'Trent' episode.

[bc]

Well our previous postings are obviously under a different heading somewhere but I've now tried this as south and got nowhere at all - there weren't even enough troops to get the targets there. Did manage to transport weapons o/k from my solitary factory (I didn't make anything like as much money as I had in the north) but my ammo factory produced nothing at all so I dont think I managed a single load.

One funny thing. At the end of the 20 years bonds were cheap so I thought I'd take a lot out to prepare for what was necessary and took 10 at 7% - then, instead of going up, the rate for the last ten dropped to 6%!

[EPH]

All the way up to version 6 now. Fixed some problems with events and added more abilities to customize the game.

[bc]

Well I've downloaded it and will give it a try soon.

[bc]

Well I tried it again as the South and whilst all the events did work correctly and I'd plenty of money I still found it impossible to meet any of the haulage targets even starting a year early by seeing what was coming from the Almanac.

The maximum troop movements in any one year was 3 (and I'd custom consist trains from every place where there was a barracks) and not a single load of ammo or weapons got to its destination for two reasons (1) the factories I'd built in New Orleans produced a little prior to the war starting but nothing once it had and (2) the factories I'd built at one of the ports north-east produced a little (but not much) but the trains couldn't get to their destination even with 2 years to go - of course they didn't set off immediately because you have to have a minimum consist of 2 because o/w they go with 1 (say) 87% full and that doesn't count!

Ah well! Maybe I'll give it another try later on - but I'll go back to the North :o :o

[hawkdawg]

The most hated man in the Southern States.

Strike your interest?
EPH is doing an "After Action Report" of his map, "The American Civil War".
You can read this engaging story here (http://hawkdawg.com/Forum/index.php?showtopic=292).

[Wolverine@MSU]

I had no trouble winning this one on Expert as both the North and the South. North was much easier than South due to the greater abundance of resources, namely logs (to make lumber for weapons) and iron (for ammo and weapons). As the South, I had to watch both commodities closely and build the weapons and ammo factories close to the sources of the raw materials. I also took advantage of the prospecting for iron in TN (that's where my weapons and ammo factories were). I built the factories in the mid-1850s to make sure that I could get raw materials to them in time. In both cases, the only way to make the shipments was to use the "bait and switch" tactic. Demand for weapons and ammo will most often be lower at the destinations (KY/MO, LA/TN or wherever thay need to go each year). If you're not familiar with the tactic, what you do is load a train at the factory (I used the Compton loco for maximum top speed and acceleration and gave them top priority) with the required amount of cargo but have the destination set to a city with higher demand than the source (so the train will load). Once it is on its way, you redirect it to the target state. Of course your profit goes to zero, but at least you get the loads there. I kept close tabs on the trains and replaced the locos just before they ran out of water or were about to stop at a service tower. I also planned for upcoming years reqs. and sent trains on their way, stopping them before they reached their destination in December so the deliveries weren't made until the next year. The ledger is helpful in telling you what will be required in the following year.

Meeting the troop haul requires many trains and close attention to where they want to go. Although there are fewer troops in the South, I had trains set to go at all barracks with custom consist of 5 troops. It took about 8 to 10 dedicated trains (with Compton locos and top priority) to get the troops to their proper destinations. I only let those go each year (by resetting the minimum cargo slider in the custom consist screen) that were needed to meet the yearly requirement. As it turned out, my regular trains were also hauling a few troops so it was relatively easy to meet the goals. It was also helpful when playing as the South that I was able to place a large station in far northern Virginia that covered the two barracks in Washington D.C. Some of the troops there wanted to go to Richmond, and vice versa, so it was very easy to meet the quotas even in the last year of the war.

Well I thought I had a good thing going. I worked exclusively in the south. There was an upgraded port in Wilmington. This port accepts cotton but does not supply clothing. I placed a textile mill there and connected to Raleigh, which had a brewery. Expanded to Richmond then Greensboro. Greensboro was complementary because it had a lumber mill. I expanded to Washington DC, being careful not to ship them any cotton. The clothing run from Wilmington to DC became very lucrative. I expanded to get the cotton and the passenger rewards, and merged another southern railway.

Then I set to work on the coal haul. I set up a medium station in the little bight northwest of Washington DC, and set up a coal back-haul for the clothing run, then set up hauls in and from Tennessee.

Most years I got two out of three rewards between cotton, coal and passengers.

In 1850 I laid track like mad and connected to St. Louis, New Orleans and Mobile.

In 1855 I set up munitions and weapons side by side in rural Tennessee, followed by a steel mill in 1856. This mill became the destination for all coal and iron; and of course the steel was hauled back to the Tennessee factories. I set up trains to ship weapons and munitions, but held them in reserve waiting for the missions.

In late 1860, I evacuated all my locos from Missouri and Kentucky to Tupelo, and some from Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, the latter carrying as much strategic cargo as possible.

Tracks were destroyed in Missouri and Kentucky, but I still have access. It looks like all the individual states are for the south. All looks good, though I am a little behind making sure the troops are hauled.

Then the game crashed in May 1861 :(

[EPH]

Oh *&%#$. I'm not sure what to say; I've had the game slow down a lot when I hit a hundred trains or more but I've never had it crash. I do hate that - sounds like you were well on your way.

I like Wilmington, myself, because there are usually cattle ranches nearby and frequently a meat-packing plant as well. Wilmington also demands tobacco, and it makes a nice triangle with Raleigh and Richmond.

If you see fit to give this one another try I'd be interested in hearing how it all came out.

I thought that given the timing of the crash, it might be event related. Or maybe not. I had a lot of programs loaded at the time and maybe the comp couldn't take it.

The computer also bogged at year end at year end 1860-1864 and April 1861, but it made it thru if I just waited 10 seconds or so. I was a bit confused by some mission stuff.

Track was destroyed in KY and MO but the territory stayed open. I got no headlines so I wasn't clear whether they were for north or for south. I didn't do my missions to them. I completed the 1862 and 1863 missions but lost a ton of states anyhow. Then I failed 1864, lost everything except Virginia. Then was told I had won, and got gold. Not sure if that was the way it was supposed to go.

[EPH]

Um, no... are you playing version 6? There was a problem with events in version 3 that was fixed in version 6.

The bogging down in April of 1861 has to do with the large number of events that handle secession and its consequences; the slowdown at year end is related to the same thing as lots of events are being processed.

When each border state decides to stay Union or go South (all lumped together in time for ease of play), a newspaper is generated.

The border territories and the Southern states remain open for construction (the North could not win, otherwise), but laying new track becomes expensive, much more so for the South than the North. The only territory that is shut is the USA (if the player chooses the South).

If you make the load requirements (troops to anywhere, gunss and ammo to specific territories) you will receive victory newspapers at the end of the year. If you son't make the requirements, you get newspapers for that.

Judging from your comments you didn't get the newspapers, which sounds very odd and could be computer-related.

[Cliff Barney]

I managed to win this scenario on expert a month or so ago on my 2nd try, choosing the North. That was so much fun I played it again, but chose to be a Rebel this time. In both cases I set up weapons factories in Pittsburgh, and (I forget the actual raw materials sites) ammo factories in Cleveland and/or St. Louis. In the southern endeavor, I found that there was a port in Wilmington, N.C. that produced 3 ammos & 3 weapons. These I shipped to New Orleans at a tremendous profit.

Anyway, long story short -- in both cases I pre-positioned about 3 ir 4 each ammo & weapons trains STOPPED just outside Nashville in about 1859. (I had already made super profits on these cargoes delivering them from Pittsburgh). When the war broke out it was a snap to unload the necessary cargoes wherever needed. And after unloading in Tupelo, Miss., for example, I immediately reloaded them & headed for Atlanta -- stopping just short so that they wouldn't arrive too early.

Troops were never a problem. In 1860 I went through my entire train list (150 or so trains, I forget), and made every haul to/from every little burgh & big city include one troop in its custom consist (1 troop + 5 any cargoes). That way I never had to worry about moving troops and each year there were about 25-30 of them moved with no micro-management involved.

-- Cliff in Virginia

[EPH]

Hi Cliff,
Sorry I haven't seen your post before now.

Yes, once you understand what has to be done it isn't actually so hard, but I do enjoy playing this one. Glad you agree! :)