-Not sure, waaait, let me get my scope...
It came to our attention that possibly not all players know the sacred ways of Captain Embargo. We should notice that Confederacy convoy income is like 350 MPPs, with additional 100+ with Europeans MPPs when their mobilisation is rising. In general, trade can generate 20-35% of Confederacy income, and with full convoys in the first half of the game South can have income comparable to North, while having better generals.
So what brave Union can do about it? You can check the manuals and game, but well, going along the coast we see the targets:
Wilmington [60 + British]- garrisoned with fort (=weak). Can be attacked from many hexes, so would need screen of two brigades from CSA. Might be easy target to pick.
Savannah [40]- Fort Pułaski blocks it. Just need to blast this fort with 3 gunboats, 4 if you want to be sure. Just do it early and agree to the decision popup to land a brigade there. Frigates do not work, they shell a town, not fort.
Charleston [50 + Spanish]- well, might be hard to take. Best blockaded with a couple of gunships.
Jacksonville [50]- the port itself can simply be blockaded with two adjacent ships, so do it, just beware of monitors from mid 62'.
Mobile [50 + French]- can be taken by marines with help of ships, if not screened by brigade. But you can just blockade, lots of resupply ports around.
New Orleans [80]- this is far away target, but worth a lot of MPPs and tons of Fighting Spirit. Thus can be garrisoned, but real screening force requires a lot of units, like 4+. And units on swamps are vulnerable to mass gunboats shelling. But to just stop convoys, control of river hexes is enough (those where convoy lane is shown). If you can blast the first fort and park some boats on the river, there is no convoy even with Orleans in CSA hands. Gunboats can sail into river, and also river boats can be send there through a loop near New York. And if you can take the city itself, totally do it, FS reward is enormous.
Galveston [20]- well, just two gunboats suffice, not a big deal anyway.
Laredo TX [50]- taking this raises the Texas Volunteers, so attack might not be worth it.
Elizabeth City, Georgetown, New Berne, Norfolk, Pensacola- no convoys, but you can decrease European mobilisation by landing amphibs, even marines for just 1 turn... no way everything is garrisoned and screened. Thus, it should be easy to keep Europeans <10%, just land here and there if in trouble.
If you feel like it, you can also try landing at Petersburg near Richmond, if it is ungarrisoned. Easy access via river, and occupying it kills some industry + even ability to spawn units near Richmond. If there is garrison, just sail away to find easier targets...
Can Confederacy protect most of those locations? Well, yeah, but then ~10 units are not on the front, and you should be able to just push south. Realistically, some locations should be vulnerable. And most of the blockade can be done with just ships, no marines.
Gunboats cost 100 MPPs and blockade for 10 MPPs each turn (more when you get naval tactics), with need to resupply only every ~10 turns. They need to be set on raiding mode and on >0 supply, ofc. Frigates are weak at blockading, mostly obsolete warships you get to screen coasts etc. Just be aware that 1-2 Confederate monitors can shatter most of the blockade, so you probably should be ready for this with 2-3 of your own built preemptively. And if see more enemy monitors, gotta get more. Ironclads are killers, but take bit more time to built.
1-3 marines kill a fort (3 if you want to be super sure, they can be floating around ready to follow up the attack, or move to another target). Depends a bit on supply of a fort and maybe gets better if CSA do not modernise forts, just 1 marine is possible with superior Union tech. And amphibious transports have 1000 movement points, plus can check coastal hexes for garrisons before landing. Aaand amphibious heroes have >1 action point, thus can land, move two hexes, then attack. Or land, attack, move away to make place for another unit... it is just easy.
Counting up to the end of 1862, convoy income for Confederacy can easily be around 10k MPPs, if blockade is very weak. Such money can be used to fuel strong&dangerous offensives. And denying the runners should cost much less than losses for CSA. The best deal in history of deals, as says one scholar of american civil conflicts.
