The FF Dom Pedro is the key to winning the battle with the REF when fighting a land war. Getting all your units the first star promotion (+10% overall strength) free, and gunpowder units the first colony defense promotion free, pretty much seals your victory.
Thus, you should choose the controlled arms option for your Constitution (as repugnant as that may be to die-hard Second Amendment fans), since that 50% boost in bells production gets you to Dom Pedro quickly, and also rapidly increases your combat bonuses from overall Rebel Sentiment.
Further, you should strategize your unit combat promotions in the late game to take advantage of the upcoming Dom Pedro free promotions. You should try to limit your units getting the star promotion to just those you make into medics for each port city exposed to attack by the REF. You should also avoid the city defense promotion. If you take either of these promotions prior to getting Dom Pedro, you've just wasted your free combat promotions. Rather, prior to Dom Pedro you should concentrate on promotions that won't get wasted, such as the double or triple bonuses for Hills or Forest combat (on top of the promotions from the Ethan Allen FF), depending on the mix of terrain around your port cities liable to be attacked by the REF. If you're trying to fight mainly on farmland with Dragoons, you might want to consider promoting those dragoons prior to Dom Pedro with the withdrawal promotion.
For example, my current game is in near-polar tundra, meaning almost all land squares outside my cities have forests growing. So, instead of using dragoons to kill the REF, I've got most of my militia units being promoted to the double Forest combat bonus, giving Gunpowder units a 45% boost for forest fighting (20% from the base Ethan Allen promotion, 25% more for the next promotion). Thus, for all but a handful of squares the REF can land on, my gunpowder units fare better in combat than dragoons.
In particular, the soldiers that got the Great General unit attached have, with just 5 experience points and Ethan Allen, TRIPLE forest combat, giving them a 75% Forest fighting bonus (20% plus 25% plus 30%), making them essentially unkillable when attacking on forested squares.
Thus, you should choose the controlled arms option for your Constitution (as repugnant as that may be to die-hard Second Amendment fans), since that 50% boost in bells production gets you to Dom Pedro quickly, and also rapidly increases your combat bonuses from overall Rebel Sentiment.
Further, you should strategize your unit combat promotions in the late game to take advantage of the upcoming Dom Pedro free promotions. You should try to limit your units getting the star promotion to just those you make into medics for each port city exposed to attack by the REF. You should also avoid the city defense promotion. If you take either of these promotions prior to getting Dom Pedro, you've just wasted your free combat promotions. Rather, prior to Dom Pedro you should concentrate on promotions that won't get wasted, such as the double or triple bonuses for Hills or Forest combat (on top of the promotions from the Ethan Allen FF), depending on the mix of terrain around your port cities liable to be attacked by the REF. If you're trying to fight mainly on farmland with Dragoons, you might want to consider promoting those dragoons prior to Dom Pedro with the withdrawal promotion.
For example, my current game is in near-polar tundra, meaning almost all land squares outside my cities have forests growing. So, instead of using dragoons to kill the REF, I've got most of my militia units being promoted to the double Forest combat bonus, giving Gunpowder units a 45% boost for forest fighting (20% from the base Ethan Allen promotion, 25% more for the next promotion). Thus, for all but a handful of squares the REF can land on, my gunpowder units fare better in combat than dragoons.
In particular, the soldiers that got the Great General unit attached have, with just 5 experience points and Ethan Allen, TRIPLE forest combat, giving them a 75% Forest fighting bonus (20% plus 25% plus 30%), making them essentially unkillable when attacking on forested squares.
