CSA production

[donagel]

Playing as USA in Jul, 82. I kept noticing that the cSA seem to be always buying industrial enhancements and the rather large stacks I seem to be facing. The stacks didn't bother me as much, but I just thought that the cSA would have difficulty upgrading their industry seemingly every turn.

I loaded the CSA and compared resources and was surprised to see that I was being outproduced
[table="width: 500"]
[tr]
[td]Side[/td]
[td]USA[/td]
[td]CSA[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Money[/td]
[td]326[/td]
[td]489[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Conscript[/td]
[td]122[/td]
[td]105[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]WS[/td]
[td]166(64)[/td]
[td]183(4)[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

(these are the base growth numbers, the numbers in () are what was produced by trade)

Their starting totals were 608/591/1328!
Does this seem right?
Is production affected by difficuty? More importantly,am I perhaps not doing something to keep ahead? I don't upgrade my industry because I assumed that I already had an advantage and that time would tell. MY blockade has sat at 35% the whole game, but I had not taken any other ports yet.

[Cardinal Ape]

It may have something to do with playing in the year 82'

Yes, the AI difficulty does affect production. By quite a bit if I remember right.

[donagel]

Im playing on Lieutenant

The roll over text nor manual mention anything about a production bonus. I guess I'll have to ramp up union industy to keep pace.. I was already maximizing the transport fleet for WS/$$, it made up for WS but they were making for money 410 to 491.

[Cardinal Ape]

Yeah, I didn't find any documentation on the AI bonuses from the difficulty setting. Its just my observation from a time when I went deep trying to figure out a way to play at the highest difficulty setting without having all the Union generals receiving a +2 strategic rating (Butler and Banks moving every turn kills the flavor).

Also, if I remember right the highest difficulty setting increases the AI's VP gain per turn.

Against the highest difficulty CSA I think the biggest difference compared to the lower settings is the size of the CSA navy around mid 63'. If you have neglected to improve your own navy you could find yourself losing a lot of shipping real quick.

[donagel]

AT first I thought this was a bad/ahistorical thing. Upon relection, this seems to work as it makes taking New Orleans and other port cities that much more important. Just taking New Orleans shifted the numbers dramatically to my favor due to all the industry that the AI built.

If I blockade a port city with mucho industry, say Charleston, does it affect the ammo/$/WS production as well as supply? Or do i have to take the city itself.

[Gray Fox]

I just ran a test in RC9. The total effect of my blockade was 50%. I then removed all of the blockading fleets giving a new blockade percentage of 10%, probably for Fort Monroe. The CSA income increased by about 20% for cash and WSU. Conscription was not affected. So I would figure that a total blockade of a port would reduce cash and WS production in that port by 50%. Richmond seemed to lose one third of its GS and ammo production due to the effect of Fort Monroe.

[donagel]

Thanks! One last question, is there any way to see who much supply/Ammo I am generating total versus how much I am consuming per turn? By "consuming" I mean that they that it made it all the way to units and was used (not just pulled to a depot, etc.)

[Gray Fox]

I don't know of a game mechanic that would quickly do this for you. You can add them up yourself, but they change with NM and loyalty each turn. The problem with supply is getting it where you need it more than producing enough.

[ArmChairGeneral]

I can confirm Gray Fox's observations, that blockades reduce the WS and $$ produced, but not conscripts. If the CSA commits to industrial building and the Union does not, the CSA CAN make up a significant portion of the deficit. The overall blockade number (Blue Water Blockade) DOES affect CSA production, as does direct blockading (Brown Water). Losing New Orelans is a major strategic blow to the CSA, just as taking Ft. Monroe (thereby lifting the brown-block of Richmond) is a big boost.

Also, as Fox said, there is usually plenty of general supply overall for both sides, the problem is getting it delivered....

[Captain_Orso]

Have a look at PhilThib's thread on The Blockade System Explained. Basically, Blockading will reduce production in coastal cities by up to 50% (that's at 100% blockade shown in the Blockade Boxes). AFAIK you cannot actually reach 100% blockade by Blue Water Blockade alone, and because of diminishing returns on blockading ships in the Blockade Boxes it will get exceedingly expensive to attempt it.

To more economically increase the blockade you can Brown Water Blockade each coastal port on top of the Blue Water Blockade. Each harbor Brown Water Blockaded will be reflected in the percentage shown on the Blockade Boxes and will add percentage points depending on the value of the harbor being Brown Water Blockaded. See the list of "Blockaded Harbors" in PhilThib's thread.

Brown Water Blockading can however also be expensive--you will need a lot of ships to Brown Water Blockade a lot of harbors--and will have to manage these--keep them in supply, return them to a friendly harbor to recover if they lose hits and cohesion through poor weather and possible attacks from the Confederate Navy, which means you need reserve ships too--and in the end it may be more economical to simply invade and capture some port cities to completely take them out of the equation.

Captured coastal cities are also reflected in the Blockade Box percentage. This is why the Blockade Box will jump to about 50% when the Union takes New Orleans, which is worth 16 points all by itself.

[Rod Smart]

Have a look at PhilThib's thread on The Blockade System Explained. Basically, Blockading will reduce production in coastal cities by up to 50% (that's at 100% blockade shown in the Blockade Boxes). AFAIK you cannot actually reach 100% blockade by Blue Water Blockade alone, and because of diminishing returns on blockading ships in the Blockade Boxes it will get exceedingly expensive to attempt it.

You can get it to 100%, because:

Captured coastal cities are also reflected in the Blockade Box percentage. This is why the Blockade Box will jump to about 50% when the Union takes New Orleans, which is worth 16 points all by itself

Trying the Anaconda Plan as the US, I didn't try to do any more than hold the line, and put all my new offensive divisions into amphibious assaults. By the time I won, the south didn't have any ports bigger than level 1 Tampa-sized towns, I had those blockade boxes up to 100%.

[Captain_Orso]

You can get it to 100%, because:

...of the "diminishing returns". All ships have a characteristic called a blockade value. Blockade ships, the six small light warships which can only be found in Blockade Flotillas, have the highest value, 10 IIRC.

Diminishing returns denotes a system in which the greater the size of that being implemented the lower the affect of each individual unit.

For example--and this is just for illustration purposes and has nothing to do with and game specific values--the very first blockade ship exerts a blockade value of 10. This might have the affect of increasing the Blockade 2%. This sets a ratio of 5BP's (Blockade Points) equaling 1 B% (Blockade Percentage). But the more ships with BP's you put in the Blockade Boxes, the less affect it has overall. By the time you get 500 BP's into the Blockade Boxes, the affect of each BP so reduced that you will need 10 BP's per B%. 500BP / 10 = 50B%.

Trying the Anaconda Plan as the US, I didn't try to do any more than hold the line, and put all my new offensive divisions into amphibious assaults. By the time I won, the south didn't have any ports bigger than level 1 Tampa-sized towns, I had those blockade boxes up to 100%.

Of course, that's called taking the horse by the reigns. Instead of trying to block commerce going on the harbor cities, which is based on some goods going into and others goods going out of the harbors, which allows for trade and industry to go on in the city, take the city and its harbor directly under control and the commerce is stopped completely in that city.

[Gray Fox]

Of course 100% blockade would only mean that per turn cash and War Supply production would be halved for the CSA. However, the CSA would still get 100% of the number of conscript companies. The blockade runners would still bring in all of their cargo, which would most likely be WS. Exceptional taxes, war bonds and printing paper money would also be available every 6 months for an extra $3600 per year. So for all of your effort, the Confederacy would have more than enough men, money and materiel to continue fighting.

[Captain_Orso]

I think one must view the situation less on how much direct affect it has on the Confederate economy and more on how the economy would look were absolutely no blockade enforced, which I don't think the game even allows for. The game simply assumes that the North will blockade.

Were the North, in some wild army-only strategy, to not even attempt a blockade with the fleets given to him per events and setup, the game would not give the South the income it would have had. With no restriction on shipping the South would have continued with its antebellum cotton trade and could have easily financed an army equal to the entire male population of the Southern States, were they so inclined to.

From my standpoint, it's not a question of either blockading or invading coastal cities, but of how much of each.