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Just got clobbered playing as the Confederates in mid 1863. BTW hats off to the designers who've made a very competent AI. A rarity for strategy games!

In 1862 the war effort took a dramatic turn for the worse with a Union breakthrough in Virginia and the Mississippi. My Governors began to turn against me and by 1863 I had no allies left and most were in a rebellious state!

Despite the fact that most of my Governors had a rebellious attitude towards me, I didn't notice any carry-on effects such as states stopping production or dropping out of the Confederacy.

Can someone please fill me in on the actual effect of poor relations with State Governors (same goes for national will)?

They will most likely oppose more (e.g. musters or diplomacy), request more (e.g. brigades, buildings) and the troops you try to get in their state have a lower moral. Those are the points that come to my mind.

Take a look in the appendix for a list of the negative actions governors can choose to do if they are mad with you. Just because they're mad doesn't mean they will try to sabotage the war effort, but they can - the higher their temper, the higher the chance they will do something. Governor attitude alone will never cause a state to leave the Union or Confederacy (CSA Emancipation can do that though), but the net effect of lots of governors opposing your actions can cripple your economy, research and diplomacy.

Thanks for the kind words on the AI. With practice, you'll figure out how to beat it but I agree it's an outstanding sparring partner. What scenario and difficulty were you playing?

Regards,

- Erik

Thank you for the kind words regarding the AI.

Having poor National Will lowers the quality of incoming units.  It also lowers the April increase of available population.  Additionally it affects your game score, affects the amounts of resources available via impressment, and can lower your governor support every turn (below -6 and an additional lowering at -12).

I was playing Lieutenant at intermediate difficulty level with a few advanced options turned on. The Union just progressively wore me down. By mid 1862, around 100,000 or so men moved into the Shenandoah and then basically trampelled across the State and devastated its economy.

You might want to give Sergeant or First Sergeant level a try, where the AI bonuses are kept to a minimum for the most "fair" game. Then you can see how the AI fights on a more even footing, with the same resources a human player would get (note: it's still quite dangerous).