Defending the Mississippi

[samba_liten]

I usually end up playing as the CSA. That means i have one big problem. The river. Forts alone don't seem to do it. Certainly not without improvement. Question is, is it worthwhile building more guns for the forts?

The river is too long to garrison all the cities along it, so i can't see that working. A reaction force might be able to throw small - medium size invasion forces back, but that means less forces on the front lines.

Gun boats are cheap enough, but the Yankees always seem to have more of them. Ironclads are expensive and take a long time to build. Cotton clads are more expensive than gun boats, but again are quite expensive.

So, fellow Rebs - how do you defend the Mississippi?

[ohms_law]

Good question.

I've found some success in using all of my gunboats to plug up the Mouth of the Mississippi, and then using Army of the West/Mississippi and a Corps (or two) to deal with the Union. I generally find Armies, Corps, and Divisions to be more useful than fortifications, if for no other reason then that they're mobile.

I do tend to fortify New Orleans, and stack all of the LA units (volunteer militia and zouaves) that I can purchase there.

[minipol]

As the CSA, you get enough ships at the beginning to form 1 big fleet and move them neer island 10 or more north towards cairo and paduccah if you control it.
It will stop most invasions.
Make sure you fortify New Orleans and have at least a division in reserver there.
I fought back several invasions that way around New Orleans.
As for Cairo, I try to take it as soon as possible and put a fort in Paduccah
If you entrench artillery beyond a certain level (3?) it will fire on passing ships and try to interdict supply.

[Mickey3D]

You can put small forces (e.g. one militia with a battery) along the Mississipi. Eventually they will entrench and any ennemy fleet moving in front of them will be fired upon (don't forget to click on the "bombard" order). Do NOT put an officer in the stack : if he turned inactive the "bombard" order will be inactivated too.

Paducah (KY) as well as Charleston (MO) are nice places where to install a large force to bombard any passing fleet.