American Civil War

[KevinL]

Yes, American Civil War v6. I wasnt prepared for the stock market crash in the 1850's, so I ended up with negative 1 million dollars in PNW. And each year I ended up another 100k in the red. Not sure why that happened when I still got my salary and wasnt able to buy more stock. I had set up my trains in the south to hit all the cool ports, but I had only expanded as far as Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Once the war started and I was supposed to supply Missouri & Kentucky I was dead in the water. I lost every mission after that and watched my track get taken over and lost my trains. So I started over from a save point in 1859 and this time, North Carolina didnt seceed, so I had a broken track and no money to fix it. I stopped at that point and restarted, keeping my trains and track in the north. I'm currently up to 1859 and just waiting to see what happens when the war starts this time.

Its a great scenerio, I'm just not that good of a player! 8)

[EPH]

Okay, here area few tips:

The stockmarket crash in this game is historical. A large percentage of railroad companies went under when it hit, so the severity is intentional.

If you are playing as the South, industrialize. You will need the money and you will need goods for your railroad to carry. Passenger traffic pays well; think about dedicated express passenger/mail trains (these will automatically carry troops for you in wartime). Especially you will need large sums to invest in weapons and ammo factories. My advice is to start filling trains with weapons and ammo a year before the war breaks out because it will take a year or so to get the trains to their destinations. The key to this one is to be prepared for war before it ever starts. You won't be able to afford much track or new engines when the war begins.

The 'trick' in this one is that you don't have to win all the missions. In fact, you only 'have' to win the last one (Georgia). Given that most players are highly competitive, the urge to win them all is considerable. Remember the Gold goes to the victor in the final battle, and your railroad may pay a price for winning. You can write Missouri and Kentucky off (if they do go South) unless you are absolutely confident of winning the other contests. If Tennessee doesn't go South you can write off the next year, too, if you need the time. Winning Mississippi (1863) is good and winning Georgia (1864) is essential.

The % chance for Kentucky or Missouri to join the South is not high. Tennessee is more likely but not a sure thing. Building in KY, MO and TN is what we call a 'calculated risk' and it can go wrong... fortunes of war. North Carolina and Virginia almost never fail to go South, but bad luck can happen.


At the top of your page is a link to 'The Most Hated Man in the Southern States'. It will tell you how I played a game as the South and won.

Just remember - the best minds and soldiers of the age couldn't save the Confederacy. It is supposed to be hard. :D

Happy railroading!

[KevinL]

I think I found a bug. At the beginning of 1861, a box pops up asking me if I want to join the North or the South. After I choose, then another box pops up telling me why I should choose one side or the other and the consequences of my choice. Shouldnt the info box pop up before the choice box?

Second, when I played again in the North, the only goal I was able to achieve was moving 6 loads of troops each year thru New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. When it got to 1864 and Georgia's mission, I had built a station in Wilmington to capture the port with 1 load of weapons and ammo and take it to Atlanta. I also built an ammo dump south of that in Charlston (or Savannah? cant remember) to capture the steel from the port and also take it to Atlanta. The trains didnt make it in time, and all 10 states were still part of the South. But then in 1865, a box popped up and told me I had won the war. Then another box popped up and said since I didnt get gold, I had until 1870 to get silver or bronze. Then when 1866 rolled around, I got the GOLD win message. Whaaaat??

[EPH]

The events for this one are really, really complicated. And it has been a long time since I played it. But, yes, you are probably correct in your assumptions. Gold should only be acievable if you win the war.

If you are depending on the steel and weapons from southern ports you are likely not to make it. I suggest harnessing the iron (and perhaps coal to make steel if you have the money) in the Great Lakes region, or in Alabama/Tennessee if you play the South.

[KevinL]

What about the "searching for iron deposits" missions in the 1850's? If successful do they make more iron mines appear? I didnt pay attention.

[JayEff]

What about the "searching for iron deposits" missions in the 1850's? If successful do they make more iron mines appear?

Yes, one for each success, I think.

[EPH]

The 'Prospector' events have a percentage chance of creating new iron mines, but you pay for them months before you know if they succeed or not.

For the Southern player the Prospector events can be a nice bonus, or essential (depending on how much iron and coal you get otherwise). The North really doesn't need them - it has plenty in the Great Lakes ports.

[suj]

Did anyone else get told the lost the war and then the next year they won

[EPH]

Hi suj,

Not sure if there is a bug here or not. The only way to win a 'gold' medal is to win the war. If you lose the war you can still win a silver or bronze medal - those are tied to company value and possibly to personal net worth; I don't remember. Check the mission statement in the ledger (last page, link near the bottom).

To win this one you MUST build an armaments industry (weapons and ammunition) BEFORE the war starts. RT3 requires so long to get the shipments to the right place that you will never make it, UNLESS you build weapons and ammo factories in the late 1850's.

Please note that one quirk of the game is that you can LOSE all of the missions EXCEPT the 1864 deliveries to Georgia and STILL WIN the war. Winning all the missions is nice - it is great fun - but in the last analysis only the last mission counts.

[KevinL]

Did anyone else get told the lost the war and then the next year they won

Yes, see my post above, at 10:41 am.

[EPH]

I'll see if I can decipher the events and figure out what happened.

[EPH]

During the war, Game Variable 1 hold the number of Confederate states remaining - a number from 13 to 0. Player variable 1 holds the player's choice of side.

When the number of Confederate states is reduced below 4 (I think - the exact number doesn't matter) then four events are tested.

1) Union win, Union player - set Game Variable 1 to 100 (safely outside the previous 0 to 13 limit).
2) Union win, Confederate player - set GV1 to 0. Play continues.
3) Confederate win, Confederate player - set GV1 to 100.
4) Confederate win, Union player - set GV1 to 0.

Two more events test against company value and personal value, setting GV1 to 200 for silver, 300 for bronze and 400 for a loss.

After looking over the code I don't see anything that would trigger a Gold medal victory unless the Civil War is won by the player's side. Winning the Silver or Bronze is still possible.

[Canadian Viking]

Did anyone else get told they lost the war and then the next year they won?

I just finished Civil War and developed a very large railroad in the north. I failed in the first war mission (to Kentucky) but succeeded in the Tennessee and Alabama missions. Then I failed the Georgia mission (was 1 short of the required weapons delivery). In 1865 I received a message that I had lost the war, as a small Confederate country remained, and I could not win Gold. But mid-way through the next year I won Gold. How nice!

The war missions are interesting but I was surprised that there was no requirement to haul ammo or weapons to Washington, D.C., or Richmond since much of the fighting took place between those two cities. It is an interesting scenario even if there is a problem in the medal calculations.

[EPH]

I'm not disputing that there may be a problem with the Gold medal, I just can't see what it is. The events seem straight-forward; why they are acting as they are I don't understand. If anyone wants to take a look at this and offer a solution I'd be grateful.

I do agree with you that a military simulation would focus more on supplying the Eastern armies. Here, the emphasis on the West was deliberate. First, it encourages the player to grow his railroad to cover the westward states and maybe to risk building up in the border states (there's IRON in them thar hills! ). Secondly, the war was mostly a stalemate in the East with the sweeping campaigns of movement occurring west of the Appalachians. Third, counting deliveries of troops, organizing weapons and ammo shipments and running the railroad is - just my opinion, and I'd love to hear yours - about enough for the player to have to do. Adding shipment requirements to Virginia and/or DC would be another ball to juggle. And last, the Confederacy fell apart from its Western edge. Sherman's successful 1864 campaign in Georgia reduced it to a rump of Virginia and the Carolinas - as happens in the game - and collapse came a few months after. My opinion - and it is only opinion - is that losing Virginia earlier would have shortened the war by as much as a year. So for gameplay reasons, I concentrated on the events in the West and assumed Lee could keep the Union deadlocked in the East.

I enjoy playing this one because you can build a big railroad and then put it to the test and see how it works. I do think it is harder to win as the North because you have to lay so much new track into the Southern states.

Two tips - build weapons and ammo plants as early as you can and stockpile dedicated weapons/ammo on stopped trains. I suggest using Cramptons with the 'green arrow' priority for best speed. And one hint - blow off the early missions if you must but never fail in Georgia. That one is actually the only mission that finally counts.

Thanks you for your comments! I'm glad you enjoyed the game.

[EPH]

Well, I may have found it. The Union Gold event has 'any player' set instead of 'on screen player'. I'm going to kick a few changes around and see if I can get it ptoofed, then send it to Hawk.

This is your chance, guys - if there is something you'd like to see changed, let me know. Even if you asked before and I had reasons why not to do it, if I have to crack it open and rework it I will consider anything you ask for.

[jrbrockm]

Wow, great scenario! I just won as the South, and thought I'd share how I did it. First of all, if you don't find any iron, you're screwed, because you have to rely on the weapons and ammo coming from the Wilmington port which is not NEARLY enough. I exclusively searched in Alabama for iron with success almost every time. Montgomery is an excellent place to produce your weapons and ammo as it is right down river from your iron mines (all of them you should own). Before the barracks start popping up, I was making bank sending weapons and ammo from Montgomery down to Mobile and then on to New Orleans (double track). This made it fairly easy to save Louisiana in 1862 with four trains running. As 1862 drew to a close, I built a double track straight shot from Montgomery through Meridian to Jackson (where the barracks is). Before the year was up, I redirected my weapons/ammo trains to carry to Jackson instead of New Orleans (after I met the quota). Just in time, since the value of weapons and ammo in Montgomery starts to equal that of New Orleans, and your trains won't haul those goods anymore. The next year, do the same thing, except route your four trains to Atlanta instead. Also, have a train prepared to run from Wilmington to Atlanta right at the start of the year, as that distance takes awhile. Since Montgomery is pretty close to Atlanta, that one is the easiest.

One suggestion. It would be fun to be more specific with the troops, i.e. (send enough troops to Richmond for Lee's northern invasion of 1963, or to Atlanta to defend against Sherman's march, Grant in Vicksburg, etc.)

Great Fun!

[jrbrockm]

Just won as the North, thought I would do the same review that I did for the south.

Starting off in New England proved to be fairly lucrative early on especially hauling passengers. Hook up New York, Philly, Baltimore and DC, but no more than that to begin with. You may want to grab the Chicago and connect it to Rockford, just to keep the Windy City out of a competitor's hands. Next, I wanted to grab a central hub for my future weapons/ammo production center, so I hooked up Cincinnati to Dayton. I was able to do all that with my starting funds, before I started the game.

Now work your way north from Dayton to Lima and Toledo (a competitor may grab Toledo, but that's ok) This was my central corridor which I later used going south into Lexington, than Nashville, and finally Atlanta. I set up my Munitions factory in Cincinnati since there was plenty of iron floating on the Ohio River, and it seems to stay consistent. Weapons, however, I set up in Lima, as the lumber supply is much more reliable there, and you can get Iron from the Great Lakes ports up that way. While you're doing all of this, work your way south from Chicago to Peoria and St. Louis. The Chicago port will supply logs for a lumber mill (I built one in Rockford) as well as iron for your war materials (both of which I built in Peoria). Saving Missouri is easy this way, just make sure you don't ship TOO much stuff to St. Louis before the war, and thus decrease it's value.

You may want to prepare for troop haulage by connecting Chicago east to Fort Wayne and Lima, and connecting Cincy west to Indianapolis, Terra Haute, and St. Louis. This way you have a complete circle to haul troops on several trains during the war. One tip for just before the war breaks out: If you have purchased ANY industries in the south that need to remain there (i.e. iron mines in Kentucky) SELL THEM! Otherwise, not only will they be confiscated, they will disappear completely!

When the war breaks out, rush the weapons/ammo from Peoria to St. Louis, and down the central corridor to Lexington, KY. Cake. Connect to Nashville ASAP so you can run supplies down there during the next year (don't even think about Louisiana, you don't need to). If you can, send down as many weapons and ammo as your trains will allow, because after you fulfill the quota in Nashville at the end of 1862, wait for Jan 1863, and all of those supplies can then be used again!

You don't have to win Mississippi to win the war, but I went ahead and ran a straight shot from Nashville to Clarksdale, MS and ran one train with 3 weapons/3 ammo to save that state as well. During that year, prepare to send every last weapon/ammo shipment you've got from Chicago, Fort Wayne, Lima, Cincy, Lexington, and Nashville down to Atlanta by the end of 1864 and you've won!

I wasn't able to send enough grain up to Albany, but it turned out to not really be a big deal.

Have Fun!

[EPH]

I'm glad you enjoyed the scenario! Those are some great tips, and it sounds to me like you've got the elements of victory down pat. Like you, when I play as the South I focus on the iron in Alabama (there is a reason why Birmingham, Alabama became a major steel-producing town post-war). I have had problems with placing my weapons and ammo factories in the same town - one steals all the iron or steel from the other.

As you note, you don't have to win every year's campaign to win the game, but it is fun to do . As for hauling troops to specific destinations, I have found the game sometimes produces lots of troops and sometimes not... I don't usually have a problem moving 4 to 6 troops per year but I'm not sure the production and demand levels would allow you to move, say, six troops to Richmond.

Thank you for the replays! I'll have to look into that Lima-Dayton routing; I usually go Cleveland-Toledo-Chicago and Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati.

[Mastodon 229]

Oh you teases... XD Link and Link.

[RBMNfan]

I know this is an old post but I have a question for modifying the ACW map. I would like to have the ai have the same conditions as the player (ie, when their state surrenders, their tracks inside it are destroyed, property on the other side is destroyed when the choice is made). Is there an easy way to do this?