BIRTH OF AMERICA SCENARIO v.1.0
Designed by John Valdez
THE SCENARIO
This scenario is the American Revolutionary War: World Theater. The scenario is objectively scored and wonders count as objectives. Your goal is to capture as many cities as possible and create a nation or "empire" that scores at least 22 objectives before the game ends. The challenge is that the game is only 25 turns long or 1775 A.D. to 1800 A.D. You will not have time to conquer the world in this scenario. Don't bother researching technology, it would take too much time anyway. There are no goody huts as in the beta version, and there are several events that give and subtract units throughout the game. Nearly all the wonders are already built and most are in Europe. You should consider acquiring the barbarian cities (brown flagged) because some cities (often capitals of counties) have objective points. Americans, English, French, and Spanish are the most well rounded civs to play. It is possible to play the Portuguese or Dutch, but I want you to know that your strategy should change considerably and that this scenario will seem quite different. If you are into something weird and challenging, you might try the Russians-- I'm not sure what you would accomplish, but you might try a European front. The Russians are not really intended for play; however, they are there and you may wish to explore their play in this scenario.
The Americans
If you play the Americans, your goal is to free yourself of British tyranny and build the largest nation you can by the year 1800. The British will wage a massive naval war and they will get Hessians and local Indians to do some of their fighting. The loyal British colonies will be walled and fortified with plenty of troops, making your job more difficult. The Dutch are allied with the British, so be on the lookout for them. The Americans can rely on "Armed Colonists" to fight fiercely. "Washington" is their most powerful unit, but don't confuse this unit with "Benedict Arnold." He is also a unit used by the British--when Benedict gets killed for the first time on either side, both sides lose him.
The British
The Americans are going to be tough to kick out at first. You can do it, but your going to have to keep your head and get as many units to the Americas as soon as you can and pronto. You will get a lot of free units but they are not much in terms of effectiveness. The Hessians will be the best "free" units. The Americans have a lot of ingenuity and will send a lot of armed colonists and use the French to break down your defenses. The French will probably wage a massive naval war with you. Try to make peace with the Spanish, but stay allied with the Dutch. The Dutch will give you money and help you pay for your war against the colonies. Also, the Americans will likely have to fight the Spanish eventually, so take advantage of their weakness.
The French
If you play the French you are in for a treat. You may be able to choose your fronts. You are allied with the Russians but don't let that stop you. Also, you might even play it smart and wait until the Spanish attack. This will trigger a number of allies to come to your defense. PIERRE is your weakest colony, so you will have to try to protect it. The Dutch may go to war with you and don't be surprised if they try to buy your troops or cities (they CAN afford it!). Do not underestimate the Spanish. They are a very powerful civ with very powerful units. The only powerful unit that stands out for the French is the "Commandant" unit. Use this "Neopoleanic" wisely because you only get one.
The Spanish
The Spanish are a fun civ to play. You will need to be careful of the English because they will go to war with you and use the Dutch to fund their war. The added disadvantage to this is that they already have GIBRALTER, which means they will have a jump point into Spanish territory. The English navy is superior to the Spanish in terms of power per unit, but Spanish galleons are cheaper than the English MAN'O'WAR ships. The French are well fortified in the north and will activate their alliance with the Russians and Americans if you go to war with them. The French however, are easier to defeat than the English. If you can get to the Russians they don't stand a chance but they will use their alliance with the French, so you might as well prepare to fight them anyway. If you attack the Americans, it seems that all hell will break loose, so expect it. Since the Americans want North America, you can expect to see some action.
The Dutch
The Dutch are most likely the funnest civ to play. I say this because you get to do things with the Dutch you can't really do with anyone else. First of all, you get a large number of Merchants (Caravans) at the start of the scenario. You also get a lot of colonies (one on every continent). You are the only civ that can build DIPLOMATS. This is a particular advantage because you can bribe, steal and buy cities or units. The Dutch have virtually no appreciable army and their navy is nothing more than merchant vessels, meaning that they can't sit outside coast cities and attack by what I call "civ shelling." On the other hand, the English will fight their wars for them, and that can be a real pain. The Dutch have high economic potential and of all the civs to play, they could in the hands of the right player conquer most of the world by BUYING it. Also, everyone else pretty much will make peace with the Dutch except the SPANISH. Going to war with the Spanish is inevitable most of the time.
The Portuguese
The Portuguese are a completely different story. There is pretty much no way for them to go to war in North America and most of their colonies are in South America. You should try to either go to war with the Spanish or French to gain objective cities in Europe or look for objective cities in the Mediterrainian. You would also do well to capture Aruba and use it as a jump point to attack in the Gulf. Use Portuguese GENERALS to lead your troops to victory in South America and build as many cities as you can in South America before going to war. Unlike any of the other civs, the Portuguese start out with an unprecedented number of BUILDERS (Engineers) and you can automate them if you like by just pressing "k" on your keyboard. The Portuguese have the oldest, weakest and largest navy. Don't try duking it out in the seven seas; you will definitely lose.
The Russians
The Russians are...well, they are Russians. Their sole purpose in the game is to distract everyone else. Under the rule of Catherine the Great, the Russians will fight with their allies, attack and take objective BARBARIAN cities and mostly act as a pain in the arse to everyone except the Americans or Portuguese. If you play the Russians, good luck. I couldn't build a strategy to do a damn thing. You might try a European front because at one point I had taken some Dutch and French cities in a play test, but I was never able to repeat that success. If you can keep warm in Alaska, then you're doing pretty good so don't let me stop you. At the same time, if you develop any kind of strategy or useful info about the Russians, do me a favor and send it to me.
THE HISTORY
Simply put, Birth of America is a historical scenario that does what other revolutionary war scenarios fall short of doing: it literally focuses on both the historical events of the American Revolution and the world theater that revolved around the birth of the United States of America. It is silly to think that the U.S. came to be without any political influence which involved several other nations in Europe. The production of this scenario has merged two popular scenario concepts: the American Revolution as a struggle, and empire building through colonization or war.
Most would not see these as compatible concepts to be thrust together, but the history of America demands that many aspects be considered for the American Revolution to be played as a scenario and not as a simple- minded chain of battles that was as basic in outcome as one side versus the other. Truly, if the Spanish or Dutch had been more aggressive in the new world along the eastern seaboard, the boundaries of the U.S. might look quite differently today. At the same time, economics played an important role in the development of imperialistic empires that made a significant difference in political policy which led some nations to abondon or trade their operations in the Americas because it had lost its feasibility.
The fact that the British lost the war is merely a testiment to the interests of money and the costs of maintaining the colonies. Critically speaking, it makes little sense that Great Britain, the most powerful nation in the world in 1775, would lose a war to an unorganized, untrained, unarmed lot of debtors who depended solely on British imports to maintain a minimal standard of living. It was cheaper to let the colonists form their own country and pay a tariff than to continue to finance the costs of colonial government.
On the other hand, military costs were rising, and wars in Europe distracted these nations from their interests abroad anyway. Nothing is more important than what is going on at home and everyone had their own motivations. The American colonists took a big chance seeking their independence because it was probably the most unsound military advice one could practice. Without the protection of the British army and navy, the U.S. was vulnerable to attack from at least three different fronts. Most of the time, Americans were lucky to escape war through diplomacy and trade, making them the first new nation to expand in the new world under inauspicious conditions.
WHY PLAY HISTORY OVER?
Good question. The fact is, we always wonder what could have been done differently. In a way, we are challenging ourselves to see if a "different" approach or person or event might have influenced the outcome. We wonder if the SPANISH might have changed the revolutionary war with a different approach to their colonies; we wonder if things would have been the same if the FRENCH weren't our allies and so on. You see, the point is that we prefer NOT to play history over but to test it. The test is if we find new and different combinations of things that might have changed the outcome. Certainly, an unsuspected outcome is what intrigues us the most and civers thrive on it. It's most likely the point for playing WW2 over and over, in which everyone is usually playing the Germans or the Russians. We already know the outcome of the war, but "what if?"
It's the "what if?" that drives us into this frenzie of simulated war scenarios leaving us no choice but to test our own strategy and skill as an arm chair general. A good scenario offers an opportunity for you to have a lot of "what if's?" and if it doesn't, I'd say it probably isn't any good. Contemplating the possibilities of history is the only true freedom destiny to guide our freewill. If scenario authors and civers can keep this idea alive, I say more power to them.
FOR INFORMATION REGARDING THIS PATCH OR OTHER PATCHS, PLEASE CONTACT:
John Valdez |
Designer - Birth of America Scenario |
E-mail comments to me at: |
JValdezToo@yahoo.com |
Release 1.0 |
Dated: 31 June, 2001 |
For Civilization II versions: 1.08 thru MGE |