Although AGEod's American Civil War is not a civilization-like game, we felt it necessary to give some tools to the players so that they could experience some of the problems that faced Davis and Lincoln, relative to sustaining the war effort. The challenge was far more daunting for the Confederates, who started the war with less than 10% of the industrial potential of the North. The industrial output of the South in war materials amounted to nearly nothing in the summer 1861, with the Tredegar Ironworks (the most famous foundry in the South) unable to mount even a single gun at the start of the war. Still, four years later, their total production was above 1000 rifle guns (out of 2200-2500 actually produced in the South). Other famous accounts include stories of how the Southerners managed to grab every piece of metal available to be melted in rifles and gun (from bells and such), or how they managed to produce enough black power for their armies from basically nothing to start with.
In AACW you act at the State level to industrialize your country. Each state where you own at least a strategic city can have its output improved in supply, ammunition and war supplies (heavy materials). You just have to request the desired level of industrialization and as time passes you will get new factories, magazines and ironworks (simulated through the increased production of these 3 assets) in some chosen regions of the state. It is generally better to develop continuously, even at a slow pace, the industry in a given State but the North can afford to spend much more in this area and can engage in a heavy and fast industrialization process if this is the priority of the player (but the return on investement will be lower, for the same level of spending, compared to a slower pace).
Also to be considered is how fit is the choosen State for industrialization. Some were very biased towards agriculture with poor possibilities of sudden industrial expansion and this is also taken into account. As you can guess, some Union States have a very good potential and, on the other side, some Confederate States (Texas, Florida etc) won't give a good return on investment even with large investments (not that the CSA has the resources to spend anyway!).
The South won't be able to keep pace with the North here but significant progress can still be made during the war, and this will be needed as losses can be extremely costly to replace. You will have many guns or butter choices presented to you, between developping your industry, equiping your conscripts, replacing your rolling stock, forging new guns and mortars or perhaps even constructing some ironclads?
And let's not forget one of the wild cards of the South: Blockade Runners and Commerce Raiders... more later!
