Civil War multiplayer?

[McMonkey]

Tech

I have been reading through the playtester's notes, which are very good, but I have found something missing. The Confederate's victory objectives are quite clearly defined but the Union's are a little vague:

"As in history, the Union must conquer or lose. The object is to preserve the union, which can only be done by forcing the surrender of the Confederacy."

Does this mean you have to capture all of the south's cities (I guess the answer is no) or hope the opposition is not a die hard fanatic who will fight for the last town in the remotest swamp and will surrender when defeat is inevitable? I think the Union's victory conditions need to be defined a little more clearly.

[techumseh]

I'm sorry Drew. I didn't include the actual victory conditions in the Readme. Oops.

The United States is the protagonist. A decisive victory is 20 or more VPs at the end of the game. A marginal victory is 15-19 VPs. A marginal defeat is 7-10 VPs. And a decisive defeat is 6 or less VPs.

The objective cities are : Atlanta, Charleston S.C., Chattanooga, Columbia S.C., Houston, Little Rock, Louisville, Memphis, Mobile, Montgomery, Nashville, New Orleans, Norfolk, Petersburg, Raleigh, Richmond, Savannah, Springfield Mo., Wheeling, and Wilmington N.C.

As I look at these, they seem pretty tough for the Union in a 2 player game. Let me reconsider. I'll include new victory conditions with the fixed file this afternoon.

[McMonkey]

I would suggest cutting Houston, Little Rock, Montgomery and Springfield and including Vicksburg. What about making the capture of Richmond an overriding victory condition?

[McMonkey]

Also, what difficulty level would you recommend for multiplayer?

[McMonkey]

I have also noticed that the Confederates can capture Washington DC on their second turn with a little bit of luck on their side if they send all available troops to strike the first blow. The addition of a few more Militia units in both capitals will prevent any such unrealistic sneak attacks.

[techumseh]

Hang on Drew! I'm sending the fix files right away.

New Victory conditions:

The United States is the protagonist.

Decisive Victory: 16-20 objective cities captured
Marginal Victory: 12-15 objective cities captured
Draw: 9-11 objective cities captured
Marginal Defeat: 5-8 objective cities captured
Decisive Defeat: 0-4 objective cities captured

A Union Decisive Victory is a Confederate Decisive Defeat
A Union Marginal Victory is a Confederate Marginal Defeat
A Union Decisive Defeat is a Confederate Decisive Victory
A Union Marginal Defeat is a Confederate Marginal Victory

Play on Colonel level.

The Objective Cities were selected for a combination of historical importance and to ensure that both players fight for all regions of the map, including the trans-Mississippi. Vicksburg has strategic importance which is reflected in other ways, eg. events for the control of the Mississippi. Ditto Richmond, which contains several wonders vital to the Confederacy. Let's leave the discussion of objective cities until we've played a couple of games out to the end.

You captured Washington on the 2nd turn? Against who?

[fairline]

OK, who wants a game?

BTW Brian, that nasty old 1870's central-battery battleship graphic is bothering me. Is the warship supposed to represent ironclad warships like Warrior or is it more USS Ironsides? I need to change it

[techumseh]

I'm thinking USS Hartford, Adm. Farragut's flagship at Mobile Bay.

[McMonkey]

The Objective Cities were selected for a combination of historical importance and to ensure that both players fight for all regions of the map, including the trans-Mississippi. Let's leave the discussion of objective cities until we've played a couple of games out to the end.

You captured Washington on the 2nd turn? Against who?

I was thinking about the objectives and realized that if you made them too dependent on what happened historically you would limit the scope for alternative strategies to a point where the game was a virtual re-run of history, which kind of misses the point of a scenario. You are right, lets play a few tests and then think about tweaks later.

I captured Washington on turn 2 which is the first turn which the CS units can move. I guess the US can't move any units on turn 1 either so they cannot send any reinforcements to prevent the CS attack succeeding. I found this when running an initial test against the AI.

[techumseh]

I start the 2 person game by clicking the Union first. I should probably specify that in the Readme.

I caution playtesters against drawing any conclusions from single-player play. The scenario is designed from the ground up as a 2 player game. There are no events to support AI action for either the Union or Confederates. Given the size of the map, the AI is completely hopeless for these 2 civs anyway.

[McMonkey]

Ah, I just began as the Confederates as they were first on the play order. Will I have to start again? I hope not as it took me a while to play the turn!

I was going to ask if you have any preferences for the start of hostilities. Do they have to begin on a set date or be initiated by a set player (IE Ft. Sumter bombardment) or can the players take the initiative?

[techumseh]

I suggest you might want to start again and play both sides, rather than bothering against the AI.

You can attack any time. There is a 'makeaggression' event for both US and CS after they research 'Unionism' and 'Confederacy'. It was intended to keep allied civs from joining in when one player attacks the other. I don't know if it works or not.

[techumseh]

OK, who wants a game?

BTW Brian, that nasty old 1870's central-battery battleship graphic is bothering me. Is the warship supposed to represent ironclad warships like Warrior or is it more USS Ironsides? I need to change it

I'll have a go. Union or Confederates? Union goes first.

[McMonkey]

I suggest you might want to start again and play both sides, rather than bothering against the AI.

What I mean is I started the 2 player game as the Confederates and took the first turn as I didn't know the Union were supposed to start. Will this make a big difference or can we continue?

[techumseh]

It shouldn't make that big a difference, unless of course, you took Washington. If you did, then yes, you should start over.