Tani Coyote
Son of Huehuecoyotl
- Joined
- May 28, 2007
- Messages
- 15,191
Why yes, after a long period of inactivity, I have decided to start a new thread for all five people who will read it.
This has a more informal format, focusing on the action rather than creating a narrative. I will most likely be flipping between past and present tense like there's no tomorrow so bear with me.
This uses my modified map as usual, which has the Mahdists replacing Abyssinia and iron/coal on Cuba, Hispaniola and the Philippines. Other than that it is the same as the standard AoI 4.0 map.
...
1895-1900
1895 saw a dramatic reordering of the political order in Latin America. Colombia brokered a deal to form a confederacy with Ecuador and Venezuela, prompting Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay to form their own in response. This left five major powers in South America: the Granadine Confederacy (informally, Gran Colombia), La Plata, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The Central American countries formed their own confederacy, but it could not hold a candle to the South American powers.
A strategic overview. Gran Colombia has a smaller territorial size than other nations, but is rich in hills and resources that provide ample defense and production. We have one of the most secure positions in the world, as the rough terrain makes it hard for anything besides Cavalry to hit us in one turn.
Strategically, all our cities except Panama are linked by railway, another advantage that not every Latin American power shares. Our location is easy to defend accordingly.
Which brings us to the main immediate threat: Brazil. All of Brazil's cities are linked by railways, and they have an easy shot at Bogota. They have more cities than any other South American power, and they also have a powerful naval line to boot. They will be our first major rival that we must deal with at some point.
Compared to European powers, we lack industrial buildings and have slower technology, while we also have a much weaker naval line. The greatest weakness to a builder (yes, despite the ease at which I tend to roflstomp other countries, I'm actually a peacenik) like myself is the fact we are limited to one Civil Engineer (a worker, for those unfamiliar with AoI) every 13 turns, so we must protect them. We cannot build Colonial Conscript Workers like the imperial powers can, so workers must be allocated carefully.
Bolivar’s dream of a united South America was preempted by weak-minded fools too interested in localized power. We shall revive it!
...
The initial strategy of Gran Colombia is simple. Central America is the obvious target due to its small size and lack of reinforcements, and so the President's primary objective is to conquer the small territory and integrate it into the Colombian Confederacy. Central America also has valuable Silver reserves which can be used to keep the population complacent.
For most of the remaining 19th century, the Confederacy mixed raising troops with improvements, leaning towards improvements to increase production. As soon as production was up, the economy would be mobilized.
The President also raised large amounts of Militia units. While they were weak in battle, their numbers made the Colombian Army look far more intimidating than it actually was. The same can be said for field cannon artillery batteries, which helped a little in any campaign but were ultimately garbage.
There was also discussion of invading Guyana if the British ever were tied down in a war, but taking out Central America was a better goal so as to give the British time to improve the land of their colonies, making them more profitable conquests (and not requiring further investment of labor by Colombia's valuable workers).
...
By Week 33, 1898, all production-increasing improvements had been constructed, and the President gave the order for mobilization. The many hills, mines and improvements all came together with war mobilization to make Gran Colombia's economy a beast that could easily churn out troops and hardware.
In Week 49, 1898, the Germans declared war on Britain, creating an opportunity to attack Guyana. Advisers convinced the President that Guyana was not fully developed and so it made more sense to focus on Central America instead.
In Week 5 of 1899, Austria declared war on France, putting Germany and Austria at war with both Britain and France. As it would turn out, neither power would make any gains from the war, but Britain and France would expand their African territories.
Week 45, Gran Colombia had reached military readiness and so war was declared on Central America. To minimize losses, a defensive strategy would be adopted to let them make the strike into Colombian territory.
In spite of that, no Central American troops arrived by Week 49, indicating severe weakness on the part of Central America's forces; the President ordered all spare troops forward for the glory of Colombia.
Week 1 of 1900, the Central Americans landed a pitiful 1 Cavalry that was easily swept away.
In Week 5, a raid on Tegucigalpa killed 2 Central American units while Gran Colombia lost none; Central America later counterattacked and killed a single Gran Colombian rifleman. Regardless, the Central Americans lost their City Guard unit and so were much more vulnerable.
In Week 9, Tegucigalpa saw a second battle that killed 7 Central American and 1 Colombian forces, but the city still managed to hold out. It was not until Week 13 that Tegucigalpa fell with 5 Central American losses and no Colombian; the total death toll for the Tegucigalpa campaign was 14 Central American and 2 Colombian units.
In Week 21, as troops recovered in Tegucigalpa, the United States extorted 100 gold from Colombia. The President was not stupid and yielded given the American fleet would shred the Colombian coastline otherwise.
Week 37 and 41 saw attacks on Guatemala City, with 9 Central American and 1 Colombian units lost.
The Central American Republics were re-organized into states of a new Granadine Federation, which was born from the Confederacy using the momentum of the War to concentrate more power in the hands of the President and central government.
With huge economic gains, the President turned his eyes towards Brazil. The President did not desire an occupation of all of Brazil, but a short war to alter the balance of power. Numerous objectives would be served by a war with Brazil:
1. The conquest of Manaus would extend the Granadine border into the thick jungles of the Amazon, eliminating the most vulnerable point of New Granada's defenses (the grasslands of Bogota).
2. Given New Granada had designs on the European colonies in Guyana, conflict with Brazil was inevitable. It would be better to roll back the Brazilian border so the latter did not feel threatened when New Granada made its push into European territory.
3. A war in the field would allow New Granada to humiliate Brazilian military forces and assert itself as the prime power of South America.
The chart above illustrates the power differences between the various South American powers. Given scores proportionate to each other, they are roughly:
Brazil: 12
Argentina: 10
New Granada: 10
La Plata: 9
Chile: 7
Defeating Brazil and taking some of its territory would firmly establish New Granada as the leading South American power.
For the time being, efforts were focused on consolidation of Central America. But it would not be long before the New Granadine wolf looked for sheep to devour.
This has a more informal format, focusing on the action rather than creating a narrative. I will most likely be flipping between past and present tense like there's no tomorrow so bear with me.
This uses my modified map as usual, which has the Mahdists replacing Abyssinia and iron/coal on Cuba, Hispaniola and the Philippines. Other than that it is the same as the standard AoI 4.0 map.
...
1895-1900
1895 saw a dramatic reordering of the political order in Latin America. Colombia brokered a deal to form a confederacy with Ecuador and Venezuela, prompting Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay to form their own in response. This left five major powers in South America: the Granadine Confederacy (informally, Gran Colombia), La Plata, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The Central American countries formed their own confederacy, but it could not hold a candle to the South American powers.
A strategic overview. Gran Colombia has a smaller territorial size than other nations, but is rich in hills and resources that provide ample defense and production. We have one of the most secure positions in the world, as the rough terrain makes it hard for anything besides Cavalry to hit us in one turn.
Strategically, all our cities except Panama are linked by railway, another advantage that not every Latin American power shares. Our location is easy to defend accordingly.
Which brings us to the main immediate threat: Brazil. All of Brazil's cities are linked by railways, and they have an easy shot at Bogota. They have more cities than any other South American power, and they also have a powerful naval line to boot. They will be our first major rival that we must deal with at some point.
Compared to European powers, we lack industrial buildings and have slower technology, while we also have a much weaker naval line. The greatest weakness to a builder (yes, despite the ease at which I tend to roflstomp other countries, I'm actually a peacenik) like myself is the fact we are limited to one Civil Engineer (a worker, for those unfamiliar with AoI) every 13 turns, so we must protect them. We cannot build Colonial Conscript Workers like the imperial powers can, so workers must be allocated carefully.
Bolivar’s dream of a united South America was preempted by weak-minded fools too interested in localized power. We shall revive it!
...
The initial strategy of Gran Colombia is simple. Central America is the obvious target due to its small size and lack of reinforcements, and so the President's primary objective is to conquer the small territory and integrate it into the Colombian Confederacy. Central America also has valuable Silver reserves which can be used to keep the population complacent.
For most of the remaining 19th century, the Confederacy mixed raising troops with improvements, leaning towards improvements to increase production. As soon as production was up, the economy would be mobilized.
The President also raised large amounts of Militia units. While they were weak in battle, their numbers made the Colombian Army look far more intimidating than it actually was. The same can be said for field cannon artillery batteries, which helped a little in any campaign but were ultimately garbage.
There was also discussion of invading Guyana if the British ever were tied down in a war, but taking out Central America was a better goal so as to give the British time to improve the land of their colonies, making them more profitable conquests (and not requiring further investment of labor by Colombia's valuable workers).
...
By Week 33, 1898, all production-increasing improvements had been constructed, and the President gave the order for mobilization. The many hills, mines and improvements all came together with war mobilization to make Gran Colombia's economy a beast that could easily churn out troops and hardware.
In Week 49, 1898, the Germans declared war on Britain, creating an opportunity to attack Guyana. Advisers convinced the President that Guyana was not fully developed and so it made more sense to focus on Central America instead.
In Week 5 of 1899, Austria declared war on France, putting Germany and Austria at war with both Britain and France. As it would turn out, neither power would make any gains from the war, but Britain and France would expand their African territories.
Week 45, Gran Colombia had reached military readiness and so war was declared on Central America. To minimize losses, a defensive strategy would be adopted to let them make the strike into Colombian territory.
In spite of that, no Central American troops arrived by Week 49, indicating severe weakness on the part of Central America's forces; the President ordered all spare troops forward for the glory of Colombia.
Week 1 of 1900, the Central Americans landed a pitiful 1 Cavalry that was easily swept away.
In Week 5, a raid on Tegucigalpa killed 2 Central American units while Gran Colombia lost none; Central America later counterattacked and killed a single Gran Colombian rifleman. Regardless, the Central Americans lost their City Guard unit and so were much more vulnerable.
In Week 9, Tegucigalpa saw a second battle that killed 7 Central American and 1 Colombian forces, but the city still managed to hold out. It was not until Week 13 that Tegucigalpa fell with 5 Central American losses and no Colombian; the total death toll for the Tegucigalpa campaign was 14 Central American and 2 Colombian units.
In Week 21, as troops recovered in Tegucigalpa, the United States extorted 100 gold from Colombia. The President was not stupid and yielded given the American fleet would shred the Colombian coastline otherwise.
Week 37 and 41 saw attacks on Guatemala City, with 9 Central American and 1 Colombian units lost.
The Central American Republics were re-organized into states of a new Granadine Federation, which was born from the Confederacy using the momentum of the War to concentrate more power in the hands of the President and central government.
With huge economic gains, the President turned his eyes towards Brazil. The President did not desire an occupation of all of Brazil, but a short war to alter the balance of power. Numerous objectives would be served by a war with Brazil:
1. The conquest of Manaus would extend the Granadine border into the thick jungles of the Amazon, eliminating the most vulnerable point of New Granada's defenses (the grasslands of Bogota).
2. Given New Granada had designs on the European colonies in Guyana, conflict with Brazil was inevitable. It would be better to roll back the Brazilian border so the latter did not feel threatened when New Granada made its push into European territory.
3. A war in the field would allow New Granada to humiliate Brazilian military forces and assert itself as the prime power of South America.
The chart above illustrates the power differences between the various South American powers. Given scores proportionate to each other, they are roughly:
Brazil: 12
Argentina: 10
New Granada: 10
La Plata: 9
Chile: 7
Defeating Brazil and taking some of its territory would firmly establish New Granada as the leading South American power.
For the time being, efforts were focused on consolidation of Central America. But it would not be long before the New Granadine wolf looked for sheep to devour.