Campaign Guide: United States of America

Overview

An in-depth campaign guide for the United States of America.

Introduction: The United States of America

NOTE: Completion of the first 3 chapters of Road To Independence must be completed first before unlocking the American for the Grand Campaign.

This is an in-depth guide for the United States of America. This guide will include unique units and buildings and where to build them, starting position info, recommendations for first targets, tips for research, tips on how to use your agents best, and more.

NOTE: This guide will be taking units added by DLC into consideration.

Starting Information and Victory Conditions

Starting Year:
1783

Starting Regions:
Pennsylvania – Philadelphia (Capital)
Carolinas – Charleston
Confederation of New England – Boston
Georgia – Savannah
Maine – Falmouth
Maryland – Annapolis
New York – Albany
Virginia – Williamsburg

Starting Government:
Republic

Religion:
Protestantism

Starting Funds:
7500

Amount of Starting Generals:
3

Amount of Starting Admirals:
1

Amount of Starting Gentlemen:
1

Amount of Starting Rakes:
1

Amount of Starting Missionaries:
1

Victory Conditions:
Capture 22 total territories by the end of 1825 including the regions shown:
Texas (Owned by the Pueblo Nations)
Pennsylvania (It is the U.S. starting capital)
Upper Louisiana (Owned by France)
New Mexico (Owned by Spain)
Florida (Owned by Spain)
New France (Owned by Great Britain)
Michigan Territory (Owned by the Iroquois Confederacy)

Faction Strengths and Weaknesses

Map Position/Starting Stance Strengths: The United States has a strong starting position because they are in a theater that is full of primitive tribes and lightly defended European colonies. This means that you can dominate your opponents whilst having armies that are smaller than usual. Population is also quite small so converting regions to your religion will be extremely easy, so much so that your missionaries can convert roughly have the theater just by themselves with Hispaniola, New Grenada, and New Andalusia being the toughest regions to try to convert to Protestantism. The US also starts with two major cities, Philadelphia and Boston.

Map Position/Starting Stance Weaknesses: Now something that many might not know is that one big weakness that the US has is that a glitch causes every single other faction to instantly research the entire tech tree after the first turn, there is however one upside to this but I will cover that in a later section but for now all you need to know is that you will be at a disadvantage technologically for the entire game. Also, since you are the only major nation that’s home region is the Americas it will not be able to use gentlemen to go around stealing tech. Another weakness is that the US’s starting navy is literally 3 ships and the AIs will be quick to expand their navies, the US’s economy also can’t really support a significant naval expansion early so gaining 100% naval dominance is extremely unlikely and at most you will be able to fend off standard strength enemy fleets from any trade fleets you have. The US also cannot industrialize too fast or it will lead to public order issues, which would require one to lower taxes early which isn’t ideal.

Military Strengths:
The American land army for the most part is average but it’s strengths lie in it’s light infantry and militia. Long Riflemen (which benefit from not needing machine rifling to build) and Legion of the United States are very good units. Another good mention goes to the minutemen which despite being militia are still very good units. The US also benefits from having a handful of unique DLC regiments that can be used to add morale support to your armies that may be more militia centered. The US cavalry roster is below average however their regiment of horse and militia cavalry have the ‘good stamina’ bonus which helps make up for having a below average cavalry roster.

Now the navy, along with Great Britain, United States are one of only two factions to have a unique ship: the USS Constitution, a powerful and durable 24-pounder Frigate (which are also unique ships that are only available to the Americans). Their ships are also somewhat better than most other faction’s ships, with the exceptions of Great Britain and France: most American ships boast a +10 reload speed over their rivals (though inferior to Great Britain’s +15), along with better than average hull strength and morale. In addition, some American ships are cheaper than average to build and maintain.

Military Weaknesses: Besides being behind in technology because of the glitch mentioned earlier, the American army does lack a few things. They have no heavy cavalry without switching governments. Elite infantry is also a bit lacking, prior to the 6 royal/republican guards you can have once you acquire the tech, the US only get 2 regiments of US Marines as elite infantry along with the 1st Maryland, this is extremely meager compared to the fact that both Prussia and Sweden can recruit 15 units of Superior Line Infantry.

Unit Roster

The previous section covered the strengths of the American army and navy this section will simply list the full roster of units available to them.

Elite Infantry:
1st Maryland
US Marines
Republican Guards
Guards (Requires government change to monarchy)

Line Infantry:
Line Infantry
1st Delaware
2nd New York

Grenadiers:
Grenadiers

Light Infantry/Skirmishers/Irregulars:
Long Riflemen
Rangers
Morgan’s Provisional Rifle Corp
Legion of the United States

Militia:
Militia Infantry
Minutemen

Cavalry:
Regiment of Horse
Provincial Cavalry

Dragoons:
Dragoons
Light Dragoons
Lee’s Legion
2nd Continental Light Dragoons

Lancers:
Pulaski’s Legion

Heavy Cavalry:
Household Cavalry (Requires government change to monarchy)

General:
General’s Bodyguard

Fixed Artillery
Sakers
Demi Cannons
Mortars
Rocket Troop

Foot Artillery:
12-lber Foot Artillery
24-lber Foot Artillery
12-lber Howitzers
24-lber Howitzers
Puckle Guns

Horse Artillery:
3-lber Horse Artillery
6-lber Horse Artillery

Local/Colonial Units:
Colonial Light Infantry (Requires territory in India, Middle East, and North Africa with military buildings)
Company Infantry (Requires territory in India with military buildings)
Company Cavalry (Requires territory in India with military buildings)
Native Indian Cavalry (Requires territory in India with military buildings)
Native African Infantry (Requires territory in North Africa with military buildings)
Pandours (Requires territory in the Balkans)
Ghoorkas (Requires the Kashmir territory)
Dahomey Amazons Dahomey Amazons

Naval Warships:
Bomb Ketch
Brig
Sloop
Galley (requires territory in the Baltic Sea or the Mediterranean Sea)
Light Galley (requires territory in the Baltic Sea or the Mediterranean Sea)
Carronade Frigate
USS Constitution
24-lber Frigate
Rocket Ship
Sixth Rate
Fifth Rate (along with an Admiral’s flagship variant)
Forth Rate
Third Rate (along with an Admiral’s flagship variant)
Second Rate
First Rate (along with an Admiral’s flagship variant)
Heavy First Rate
Steamship

Merchant Ships:
Indiaman

The United States also starts out with a unit of ‘Light Cavalry’ which resembles a unit of Colonial Light Cavalry that the Europeans can build in their colonies, no others can be built not can it be reattained if completely killed.

Unique Units/Buildings and Where to Build Them

The US like every other major faction has two unique buildings along with a wide variety of unique units for it’s army, this section will detail the effects of these unique assets and where to build them.

Independence Hall
Built in your national capital (which should be Philadelphia)
Category: Government
Level: 6
Turns to build: 8
Building cost: 10000
Effects:
+1 Happiness (lower classes)
+1 Happiness (middle classes)
+5 repression in the region
+15% tax bonus to region tax income
Recruitment capacity (units in training):3
Enhances National Prestige
Recruits basic infantry and cavalry

The Smithsonian Institution
Apologies for the blurry image, was the only one I could find
Built in your national capital if it is a major city (wich should be Philadelphia)
Category: Culture
Level: 4
Turns to Build: 8
Building Cost: 10000
Effects:
+5 Happiness (Middle Classes)
+5 Happiness (Lower Classes)
Enhances National Prestige

Unique Units:
I mentioned America’s entire unit roster in a previous section but here I will explain where to build the more unique/DLC American units and any technology that is required to build them.
Note: Some of the buildings required to build some of these units do have technology requirements.

Minutemen

Technology Requirements: None
Building Requirements: Army Encampment or higher for major settlements, Military Governor’s Encampment for minor settlements.

Longriflemen

Technology Requirements: None
Building Requirements: Military Academy

Morgan’s Provisional Rifle Corp

DLC Unit
Technology Requirements: Light Infantry Doctrine
Building Requirements: Military Governor’s Barracks in the region Virginia

1st Delaware

DLC Unit
Technology Requirements: None
Building Requirements: Barracks in Pennsylvania

2nd New York

DLC Unit
Technology Requirements: None
Building Requirements: Military Governor’s Barracks in New York

Legion of the United States

DLC Unit
Technology Requirements: Light Infantry Doctrine
Building Requirements: Army Board or higher in major settlements, Military Governor’s Barracks in minor settlements

1st Maryland

DLC Unit
Technology Requirements: None
Building Requirements: Military Governor’s Barracks in Maryland

US Marines

DLC Unit
Technology Requirements: None
Building Requirements: Naval College

2nd Continental Light Dragoons

DLC Unit
Technology Requirements: Shortened Carbines
Building Requirements: Barracks In the Confederation of New England

Lee’s Legion

DLC Unit
Technology Requirements: Shortened Carbines
Building Requirements: Drill School

Pulaski’s Legion

DLC Unit
Technology Requirements: None
Building Requirements: Military Governor’s Barracks in Virginia

24-lber Frigate

Technology Requirements: None
Building Requirements: Drydock

USS Constitution

DLC Unit
Technology Requirements: None
Building Requirements: Drydock in North America

Opening Moves

In this Section I will be going over what are think the best first moves while playing as the United States. Including first targets, research, agent priorities, and diplomacy moves.

Government

The United States is a Republic and given that the campaign is significantly shorter than the others (87 turns compared to the other 200) I don’t recommend changing governments. So the only real advice is that if you get any significantly troublesome cabinet members that you simply fire them.

Diplomacy

Remember back when I stated that there is a glitch that caused all other nations to get the full tech tree after the first turn? Well this is where I’m gonna tell you about the upside to this. You can sell away all your technology for a great amount of money.

Here is the best way to go about this:

The United Provinces: Sell Separation of Powers for 3,000 then Rights of Man for 2,000
NOTE: Rights of Man won’t show up until Separations of powers is sold this applies to everyone

Russia: Sell all techs for 5,000

Maratha Confederacy: Sell all techs for 3,000

Sweden: Separation of Powers 1,000 and Rights of Man for 1,000

Prussia: Separation of Powers for 500 and Rights of Man for 500

Poland: Separation of Powers for 500 and Rights of Man for 500

Ottoman Empire: All techs for 5,000

Mughal Empire: All techs for 2,000

Great Britain: Rights of Man for 500

Austria: Separation of Powers for 250 and Rights of Man for 250

Wurttemberg: Separation of Powers for 100 and Rights of Man for 100

Westphalia: Separation of Powers for 100 and Rights of Man for 100

Punjab: All techs for 750

Pueblo Nations: Measuring tools and steam pump for 500 and coke blast furnace for 500

Plains Nations: Measuring tools and basic steam pump for 500 and coke blast furnace for 300

Persia: All techs for 500

Morocco: All techs for 500

Mysore: All techs for 750

Mamelukes: All techs for 300

Iroquois Nations: 20 turns of military access, measuring tools, and basic steam pump for 500, then trade coke blast furnace for a trade agreement

Now you should have a great amount of starting capital to get going, keep in mind that you don’t want to industrialize too fast nor waste too much on military which would be overkill for the weak natives and lightly defended European colonies. It is best to invest in your government buildings, trade ships and farms.

Research

As stated before the American grand campaign is significantly shorter so you want to prioritize military tech so you can get the most out of your DLC units. Go for the Reformed Naval Administration so you can get the US Marines then proceed down the military branch so you can get Light Infantry Doctrine and Shorten Carbines. Later in the campaign you will run into so much funds that you can spend the last few turns buying up any techs that you didn’t get to.

Agents

Rakes: Send your rakes into French and Spanish territory to assassinate their missionaries, Spain will most likely be stockpiling them in Central America.

Missionaries: As stated before religious conversion in the Americas is extremely easy so you should be sending your missionaries around to converting the theater to your religion, your starting one should finish converting Georgia then head off to the Cherokee regions that you should have conquered on turn two.

Gentlemen: All gentlemen should be sent to your colleges since there are no other nations that have colleges in the theater.

Army

The Cherokee are a prime first target for your forces in Georgia, combine the troops who are stationed in the regional capital with those led by John Sullivan standing in the country side and have them move as close to the border as possible. On turn two you should be able to go in and take out the Cherokee in one stroke.

As for your other armies, General Greene should be placed in New York and Wayne should be placed on the border with Acadia. Slowly build these forces up, roughly into stacks of ten total units.

Navies

You first naval task should be to churn out some trade ships so you can get some nodes in the trade theaters, be sure to build up the shipyard in Virginia so you can build up your navy, for the time being you should send one fifth rate to each trade theater that you have a presence in.

Second Move and Your Victory Conditions

Your Next target should be the Anglo-Iroquois Alliance, as stated before you should have forces ready, they should be at 10-12 unit armies and some forces should be sent to the army that conquered the Cherokee (I sent the 1st Delaware, Pulaski’s Legion, and 2 units of artillery to them). Now should be a good time to expand your navy, the shipyard should be around finished and cranking out some 24lber frigates along with the USS Constitution to defend your trade ports. To a new player this might be a daunting task however once you have a good grasp of fighting land battles this shouldn’t be too hard of a task. One thing to keep in mind is that the Iroquois might take Upper Louisiana from the French, it is worth sending a rake into the Michigan area to see if they will do this, them taking Upper Louisiana is a good time to strike. The reward for this War will be all of Canada, which includes on of your victory conditions and one or two victory conditions from the Iroquois (depending if they took Upper Louisiana). The British holdings in the Caribbean should also be secured, I suggest a 4th army for this task. After this war you should have an income level large enough to gain enough funds to buy lower Louisiana from France for 35,000 (sometimes 40,000).

The Rest of your Victory Conditions.
At this point you should still have Texas, Florida, and New Mexico to secure. At this point your economy should be able to support your armies being full stacks along with your navy being further expanded and a full scale invasion of all of Spain’s colonies should an easy task.

Victory and Beyond

Victory over the Spanish should result in all your victory conditions being met. What you do next is up to you. Personally I like to secure the theater entirely, all that should be left are a few Dutch and French colonies should be left which will be easy pickings for your now powerful military. Another thing You can do is buy up all the techs that you won’t get to.

One thing to consider is expansion into India, the Maratha Confederacy has a super aggressive AI and will send armies into the Americas

If expansion into India isn’t something you are interested in then be sure to have navies stationed near the theater’s enter points, they will keep sending armies.

A trade agreement should show their port so you can easily predict when they are gonna try for an invasion.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading, feedback and comments would be greatly appreciate. Leave any questions as well and I’ll be happy to answer them.

I plan on writing guides for all the other nations too once I get playthroughs of them done (I’m playing this game after a long time and am playing all the nations again), I’ll be linking them once they are done.
Link to the faction guides for Great Britain, France, Austria, and United Provinces:
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I also have a guide for Multiplayer, link to that one:
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