One feature a day series #9 : (not so) unexpected guest!

[Pocus]

One intriguing feature of Civil War is the foreign intervention of two countries of importance: Great-Britain and France. This interesting what-if outcome is not drawn from thin air either, as Great-Britain and Union had their shares of tensions during the struggle, culminating in late 61 with the Trent Affair, where USS San Jacinto boarded a British ship and captured two Confederates diplomats, on the ground that they were contrabands, as Union did not recognize Confederacy. The affair escalated with Great-Britain demanding that the envoys be released and a formal apology issued. Orders were sent throughout the British Empire in case war erupted, and for example in Canada alone, 38,000 men were conscripted, whereas a significant part of the Gibraltar squadron was being readied to sail to North America.


As for the French, they saw themselves involved in Mexico from early 1862, a war instigated in no small part by Napoleon III of France. With significant ground forces, and the support of both Spain and Great Britain (only in the first few months), while the Union supported the opposite side (President Benito Juarez), tensions rose high for several years, with a peak in 1863 and 1864. By 1864 Maximilian was enthroned Emperor of Mexico. Tensions continued with the Union (now again the United States of America) until 1867, when the French pulled out.


In Civil War 2, the intervention of Foreign Powers is called the Foreign Entry, a rating going from -100 to +100. To see both the British and French join the war, the value must reach or exceed +100. Should it crumble down to -100 at anytime, the Confederacy will never be able to get foreign help. This leads to several sub-games within the game, as each opponent try to move the value toward its own safe zone.


For that, you get two tools mainly. The main one is activating historical options, mostly from the Union side. The difficulty here for the Union is that most of the options can have a short term interest too, so it might be tempting to use them without an afterthought, but that would be an error as all may go the wrong way, and so timing is important. For example declaring complete blockade will allow the construction of many blockade ships, that will in turn, once deployed, reduce significantly Confederate trade outcome. As with all Foreign Entries options though, this can backfire, in the sense that it may raise tension with Europe, and thus augment Foreign Entry. The Union can also sacrifice long term prospects (i.e. lose VP) by giving away trade and territorial concessions, in exchange of a lowering of the entry.


The second sub-game is having a better morale than the enemy or more victory points (VPs). In this case, each turn, there is a chance you move the foreign entry value one notch toward your safe zone. So you'll often see players try to beat at least by one meagre point the tally of the opponent, either in national morale or in victory points (both is best!). This means that sometime you'll ask yourself if it is a good thing to produce more paper money or use this additional regional decision. Not because of the absolute cost of the option (for example 5 victory points) but because it might cause you to lose the lead, thus creating a side effect on foreign entry.


Last but not least, and this information will be of great interest to returning players. In CW2, both the British and the French are governed by their own AI. In American Civil War I, this was not the case, and the Confederacy would move, as if part of a unique integrated command (which is not really plausible), all units, in case of successful foreign intervention. Not so anymore, and now each country may have its own agenda and will also protect its own assets. Rest assured though, with a bigger playable area (going up to Quebec in the north!) and some extra reinforcements, things will still be very tense for the Union.


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[Lindi]

For me controle French Army for South is same in Rop When I play French Army and Austria, I prefere all control

But what not.

[ajarnlance]

That's a real improvement to have separate AI's for the British and the French!! Can't wait until this game comes out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Quirk]

Very cool that the foreign troops have their own AI now. I love having a NPC on my side and not having to control new masses of troops on my own. In my eyes this increases the immersion into the game!

[Kensai]

It will create great what if scenarios. Well done!

[vaalen]

Pocus, may I beg that you provide us with a scenario for the French intervention in Mexico, one that would allow us to play either side?

But for the major war, it is a stroke of genius to have the Britisn and French have their own AI.

[bob.]

Not sure if I really like having it AI controlled, I can imagine this being rather frustrating when the AI sends the troops somewhere they are more of a hindrance than an asset. And I guess this also means combined offensives are impossible? Well, I suppose it makes more sense than full control over them as the Confederate player.

Also, I realise this is way too late now to change, but have you ever thought about a step before full 100 that unlocks only foreign navies? It seems to me that before France and GB would send their armies they would first help the Confederacy break the blockade?

[cwegsche]

Just out of curiosity ... is there a way to make them Playcontrolled by editing the event in the propriate file - like for example unlocking a locked stack?

Cheers Chris

[PhilThib]

No, the only way would be to decide from start that they are playable (this also could be done via an event), but if you already play CSA or USA, then you can't take over. The idea would be to allow them from start in a PBEM and have a "player" run the foreign powers till they join (if they do).

It was a design decision not to allow British or French or Mexican to be played by one of the main contenders (USA or CSA) in order to avoid some weird and seriously unbalancing gameplay issues we had when they were "CSA-clones"