After many trials and errors, here are some ideas on one way to win as the Confederates!
Guide to Win as CSA
All credit goes to Chief Wiggum!
Early to Mid Policies
For starting Policies I like Southern Pacific Railroad, Industrialization, and King Cotton. This helps with the economy, and building weapons, and gives you more population!
My preference is turn off Automanage, Order Delays, and Feuds.
At the start of the game, resist the temptation to build anything. No new ships, no upgrading mines! You want money for buying weapons and paying to equip a large army, and to not go bankrupt!
For the first Policy, I go for Militia Act 1 (1 Year), as it’s quick at only 10.2 days, and it gives you a nice head start on building armies. Once it finishes, immediately recruit the max number of Volunteers. I build as many armies of 3x Inf + 3x Cab + 3x Arty as I can.
For the second Policy, I like Diplomacy for a (relatively) quick rush of the British Rifles Project. It takes a while to reach the $5 million Diplomacy, but then buy the max number (50,000) of the Enfield Rifles and 50,000 of the Enfield Musketoons for your Cav. Both are very good early-mid game weapons!
Your third, fourth, and fifth Policy will be Militia Act 2 + 3, and Military 2 + 3. The priority is Militia Act for the extra volunteers. After this go for Conscription Act as it extends the existing volunteer contracts to 3 years, which is huge.
After this go for Government Funding for the Print Notes and Tariff Act to help with cash flow for recruiting and weapon purchases.
Project Objectives
The next big objective Project wise is Sharps Rifles ($3.5 million Military) as they are arguably the best inf and cav weapons in the game. When the Project is enacted, go for 50,000 of the Sharps rifles and 50,000 of the Sharps Carbine for Cav.
What I found out about standardization, is that it will tick up as the order progresses towards completion. The Sharp Guns (Inf and Cav versions) are the only guns you need to produce. The Enfields will tide you over till the Sharps start to roll in.
OK now onto the army and navy management.
As CSA, I don’t bother about navy early to mid-game. To reduce your navy cost to zero, just put your ships in harbour (ie. don’t have Admiral Fleets). If you want to play the Navy game, I suggest getting Ironclad Gunboats, and building one small-ish sized Ironclad Gunboat fleet with some of your Frigates to hunt down the Union fleets. This is a cost effective fleet. By contract, a large wooden fleet will cost an arm and a wooden leg and is much less combat effective than an Iron Fleet (ie it wont get wiped out by Drogon during the Battle of King’s Norfolk Landing).
At the very start of the game, you can combine all of your Virginia armies into one bigger army (your armies can move). I usually combine in Richmond. Also, having a good Admin General like Johnson or Bragg will ready the army to readiness a little faster.
As already mentioned, when the Militia Act 1 finishes (10 days in), immediately recruit the max number of volunteers, as it gives you a head start on building armies. I build as many armies of 3x Inf + 3x Cav + 3x Arty as I can.
When these armies are green readiness, I move most of them (remember to allow fast travel by rail & water) to Alexandria. You should have your Armies ready a little faster than the Union, and from there you can pick and choose your battles. I like to outnumber the Union soldiers by as much as possible. A good starting rush is Frederick, MD for the Iron Mine next to Hagerstown. Try to win the first few engagements.
I like to build a Hospital near Leesburg (just west of Alexandria), and a Supply Depot near Alexandria as well.
Remember to keep recruiting as many volunteers as possible as you research each successive Militia Acts (each Act gives you more volunteers).
For out west, I like to focus on taking St. Louis and Louisville, and a bit later try for Covington and Cincinnati. Remember to build a few Supply Depots here and there.
One last thought – sometimes the enemy likes to engage at a distance for long auto-fights. That’s OK as long as you have the advantage. When you see additional enemy armies coming to join the fight, I often like to engage the existing army before the reinforcements arrive. Hope these tips help!
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