Secession Civil War: Presentation & Confederacy Preview

[Raph_VR]

Presentation

Secession Civil War

The purpose of this game is to propose realistic and epic battles between both belligerent camps. The first versions of SCW will be divested of campaign, although a campaign is foreseen and will be developed if the mod finds success because a real mod wouldn't be complete without a great campaign.

Actually the mod is for Kingdoms.

The team tries to create realistic and animated fights. The engine of Medieval II must be thus investigated and modified to allow a good balancing of the fights between modern units of marksmen. The improvement of the battle AI as well as mechanisms of morale is naturally at study.

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Secession Civil War 1.0 ;

• Two new factions
• an reworked interface for more dumping,
• military musics
• historic battles

The version 1.0 will allow to play quality battles with a minimum of dumping. Patches to come will enrich the content as much in term of dumping as in terms of gameplay.

Development and progress

The mod SecessionCivil War continue to grow on its way. The development advances rather effectively and soon the version 1.0, certainly rather basic (custom and historic battles only), should be released.


The team :
Raph_VR, team leader
Caulaincourt, second
F-ake, second
Germanicu5, bAI scripter
Elrond petit pas tapons, videos
Hephaestion & Faras, searchers
Pentecostal Knight, redactor
Keneticpest, special translator


Special Acknowledgments:
=> The submod "better water" has been implemented, thanks to davide.cool.
=> We use some content from NTW2, a great thank to the Lordz
=> The submod Swagger's Skies by Swagger
=> Burreck's Blood and Dirt by Burreck
=> Grapeshot by Gigantus
=> Thanks to all the modding community for its great research and work; the tutos and advices they give to modders since many years honor this website and the players. I particularly think to Gigantus, Jàn, Red_Evil, Inarus, Aradan, Ataegina, Cedric37, Lebre, advisors and special modders.

Visual overview

Please note that unless stated otherwise, ALL pictures, animations and other contents shown in this announcement are works in progress. We continue to improve SCW (all the units are actually being re-textured for example).

TRAILER 1

Pictures

History

Secession Civil War

Conflict Genesis
The question of slavery has divided the USA since its foundation.
Since the compromise of 1850 which had calmed for a while the violent fights within the Congress, in the press and in all the appearances of the political and social life between the opponents and the defenders of the slavery, the debate started again, now burning more than never, during the presidential elections of 1860, when the republican party of the North triumphed with its candidate, Abraham Lincoln. November 10th, 1860, when the result of the election was known, the legislature of the South Carolina ordered the election of an Convention asked to consider the question of the exit of the Union. It chose the split between the Southern States, partisans of the slavery, and the Northern States.

Eleven States declared successively (between December 20th 1860 - June 12th, 1861) to get out from the union and constituted a separate government, the Confederacy :

South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia

A new constitution was adopted and appointed Jefferson Davis as president. The Confederates adopted a new capital, Richmond, and set an army like the Union.

In Washington, the Congress, during the last weeks of the presidency of Buchanan (the predecessor of Lincoln), tried some measures of conciliation which were unable to succeed. He left the White House on March 4th, 1861, bequeathing to his successor what was going to be a horrifying civil war. The war was engaged from the bombardment of Fort Sumter, in April 12th.

The confederate Congress gathered the 20th of June at Richmond. The definitive constitution was ratified by all the Confederate States. Having henceforth the free hands, the confederate government, under the almighty direction of Jefferson Davis, led the war operations with an extreme energy and delivered letters to European Powers, without managing however to make recognize in Europe the Confederacy as independent power, in spite of the sympathies which it found on behalf of France and of England.

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The military status
The United States possessed only 15,000 men of regular troops, scattered on the extreme points of the territory, and a big part of them joined the South cause. So, Confederates at the beginning of the war, seemed to have numerous advantages, the best officers, a population been used to weapons, a big abundance of equipment and ammunition, thanks to the treason of the War Minister and the Navy Minister of Buchanan. They had taken up more than 40 million dollars of federal properties, and aligned approximately 20 000 men on the battlefield.

From April 15th, Abraham Lincoln called to arms 75,000 militiamen, and summoned the Congress in an extraordinary session the 4th of July. General Scott, seventy-five-year-old, was named commander-in-chief of the federal army, which he had to organize before thinking of fighting the enemy. Everything was to create one rather to recreate; the military administration existed hardly, arsenals and stores of the North were deprived, staff were lacking, a large number of officers from the military academy of West Point offering their service to the confederate government (200 approximately on 950), among them, the colonel Lee, a Virginian, and one of the officers the most distinguished among the American army.

The militias of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, with volunteers hastily organized, formed the heart of the federal army. On May 3rd, Lincoln's new proclamation called 82,000 volunteers (64,000 for the land forces and 18,000 for the navy) whose recruitment must be made for all the period of the war.

To be continued...

Some banners to support our team:

Thanks for having read this announcement until its end.

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Stay in connection for future announcements!

To come, previews of the factions!

[Nirnaeth Arnoediad]

The Confederacy Preview

Presentation

Secession Civil War is a total modification of Medieval II TW - Kingdoms, taking place during the American Civil war, called Secession War in Europe.
The 1.0 version will just be a battle version (historical, custom and multiplayer) but the 2.0 will be a great campaign.

Now, some weeks before the first release, the time has come to preview the vaillant -but defeated- confederates. Indeed, if the USA could use their already organized army and almost their mighty navy to fight, the south states have had to make a brand new start ; armies, constitution, diplomacy... The lack of uniforms, ammunitions and weapons, the lower level of industry development and the terrible blocade of their ports have gradually paralysed the Confederacy, causing its inevitable crash.

As you will see, we have tried to reflect this lack of uniformisation, and we hope you will like our work. Don't hesitate to comment and give historical advices !

Soon, the US preview.

Development :
The mod SecessionCivil War will certainly release in 1 month, so expect it for Christmas.
Menus, UI and units are now quite terminated !
Only some battle maps are needed.
If you are a mapper interested by our project, plz look this thread.

Visual overview

Please note that unless stated otherwise, ALL pictures, animations and other contents shown in this announcement are works in progress. We continue to improve SCW (all the units are actually being re-textured for example).

Pictures

Texan Infantry: Spoiler Alert, click show to read:  Texas has been a place of warfare for the last few decades from Spanish and American settlers fighting the native tribes like the Comanche or Apache to the Texas War of Independence, and even further, after its admission into the United States (1845), during the Mexican American War from 1846 to 1848. And now with the election of Abraham Lincoln as the 16th President of the United States in 1860. After the election came secession in 1861 and with the other southern states, Texas have formed the Confederate States of America and now again Texas is calling up its troops to defend itself again, against an aggressor who, some say, comes to destroy a way of life. So the Texan has become a skillful fighter over the years, with a tenacity unmatched in all North America, who will never back down from any fight that comes his way. From grandfather to father and now to son, all are ready to defend their rights as citizens of The Great State of Texas.\n When the War broke out, Texas raised infantry regiments right away. The Government of the State outfitted them with the best uniforms and weapons the State Arsenals could afford. Texas regiments fought in all the theatres of the war. A Texas brigade was formed and fought in the Army of northern Virginia, winning great respect in the early years of the war. The Texas Regulars are a force to take into account on the battlefield, because they will never retreat in the face of the enemy - or so as last. Confederate Sharpshooters : Spoiler Alert, click show to read:  Sniping, or sharpshooting, was a recognized psychological weapon at the outset of the Civil War. The first troop of sharpshooters in the civil war was recruited in the North, by the champion marksman Hiram C. Berdan of New York, in the summer of 1861. A Confederate sharpshooter unit similar to Berdan's was authorized by act of Confederate Congress in 1862. The sharpshooters used by both sides in the Civil War were less used as snipers, and more as skirmishers and scouts. These elite troops were well equipped (armed with Sharp's rifles, Whitworth rifles, sporting arms, and custom-made, privately owned target weapons -some weighing over 30 lbs) and trained, and placed at the front of any column to first engage the enemy. Marksmen were best organized in units no larger than companies and attached to regular regiments for special deployment at a field general's order in a specific action. An approximation of this system was adopted in both Union and Confederate armies. On the Confederate side, sharpshooter units functioned as light infantry. Their duties included skirmishing and reconnaisance. Confederate sharpshooters were often less well equipped, using British Whitworth rifles, rather than breech loading Berdan Sharps rifles. VIRGINIAN INFANTRY Spoiler Alert, click show to read:  Bushwhackers: Bushwhacking was a form of guerrilla warfare common during American Civil War. This was particularly prevalent in rural areas during the Civil War where there were sharp divisions between those favoring the Union and Confederacy in the conflict. The perpetrators of the attacks were called bushwhackers. In most areas, irregular warfare operated as an adjunct to conventional military operations. The most famous such "partisan ranger" (to use the title adopted by the Confederate government in formally authorizing such insurgents) was Col. John Singleton Mosby, who carried out raids on Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley and northern Virginia. In Missouri, however, secessionist bushwhackers operated outside of the Confederate chain of command. On occasion, a prominent bushwhacker chieftain might receive formal Confederate rank (notably the famous William Clarke Quantrill), or receive written orders from a Confederate general. They also assisted Confederate recruiters in Union-held territory. While bushwhackers conducted a few well-organized raids in which they burned cities, most of the attacks involved ambushes of individuals or families in rural areas. In areas affected by bushwhacking the actions were particularly insidious since it amounted to a fight of neighbor against neighbor. Since the attacks were non-uniformed, the government response was complicated by trying to decide whether they were legitimate military attacks or criminal actions. The conflict with Confederate bushwhackers everywhere rapidly escalated into a succession of atrocities committed by both sides. Bushwhackers frequently went house to house, executing Unionist farmers, while union troops often executed or tortured suspects without trial and burned the homes of suspected guerrillas and those suspected of aiding or harboring them. CSA zouaves: The Zouaves of the French Army were first raised in Algeria in 1831, initially recruited solely from the Zouaoua (or Zwāwa), a tribe of Berbers finding homes in the mountains of Kabyly, then they became a purely French body. The legendary bravery of these soldiers was famous all along the nations, and so many armies imitated the french regiment. Numerous Zouave regiments were organized from soldiers of the United States of America who adopted the name and the North African–inspired uniforms during the American Civil War. The Union army had more than 70 volunteer Zouave regiments throughout the conflict, while the Confederates fielded only about 25 Zouave units.Arguably the most famous Union Zouave regiment was from New York: the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry, "Duryee's Zouaves" (after its first colonel, Abram Duryee).The 5th New York thus suffered the highest percentage of casualties in the shortest amount of time of any unit in the Civil War. In contrast to the many Federal units, most Confederate Zouaves were not full "regiments": many were companies within larger units. The cognomen "Louisiana Tiger" dates from the Mexican War, and refers to any Louisiana state trooper ; but the earliest, and most famous Louisiana Zouave unit was White's Company B (the "Tiger Rifles") of Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat's First Special Battalion, Louisiana Volunteers, aka "Louisiana Tigers". The Zouave uniform was sometimes quite elaborate, to the extent of being unwieldy. Some Zouave regiments wore a fez with a colored tassel and turban, a tight fitting short jacket (some without buttons), a wide 10-foot-long sash, baggy pantaloons or "chasseur" trousers, white leggings, and a short leather cuff for the calf, called jambieres. The sash was especially difficult to put on, often requiring the help of another Zouave. The Zouave uniform was better suited for warm climates and rough terrain. The loose pantaloons allowed for greater freedom of movement than trousers, while the short jacket was much cooler than the long wool blouse worn by most armies of the time. One of the reasons for the smaller number of Zouave units in the U.S. and Europe was the expense of the specialised uniform over that of mass-produced uniforms of a single color and cut. Difficulties in supply and replacement meant that Zouave and other exotic militia uniforms tended to be replaced by standard issue uniforms throughout the conflict. Missouri Guard: Alabama Militia: A preview of the south interface:

History

Secession Civil War

A beginning...

Fort Monroe in Virginia, Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, and Fort Pickens, Fort Jefferson, and Fort Taylor, all in Florida, were the remaining Union-held forts in the Confederacy, and Lincoln was determined to hold them all. Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, troops controlled by the Confederate government under P. G. T. Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12, forcing its capitulation. Northerners rallied behind Lincoln's call for all the states to send troops to recapture the forts and to preserve the Union, citing presidential powers given by the Militia Acts of 1792. With the scale of the rebellion apparently small so far, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers for 90 days. For months before that, several Northern governors had discreetly readied their state militias; they began to move forces the next day. Confederate sympathizers seized Liberty Arsenal in Liberty, Missouri on April 20, eight days after Fort Sumter.

Four states in the upper South (Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia), which had repeatedly rejected Confederate overtures, now refused to send forces against their neighbors, declared their secession, and joined the Confederacy. To reward Virginia, the Confederate capital was moved to Richmond.

Winfield Scott, the commanding general of the U.S. Army, devised the Anaconda Plan to win the war with as little bloodshed as possible. His idea was that a Union blockade of the main ports would weaken the Confederate economy; then the capture of the Mississippi River would split the South. Lincoln adopted the plan in terms of a blockade to squeeze to death the Confederate economy, but overruled Scott's warnings that his new army was not ready for an offensive operation because public opinion demanded an immediate attack.

In April 1861, Lincoln announced the Union blockade of all Southern ports; commercial ships could not get insurance and regular traffic ended. The South blundered in embargoing cotton exports in 1861 before the blockade was effective; by the time they realized the mistake it was too late. "King Cotton" was dead, as the South could export less than 10% of its cotton. British investors built small, fast blockade runners that traded arms and luxuries brought in from Bermuda, Cuba and the Bahamas in return for high-priced cotton and tobacco. When the Union Navy seized a blockade runner the ship and cargo were sold and the proceeds given to the Navy sailors; the captured crewmen were mostly British and they were simply released. The Southern economy nearly collapsed during the war.

In the East...

Because of the public opinion, an immediate attack was tried at Manassas, Virginia, in July 1861; a march by Union troops under the command of Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell on the Confederate forces there was halted in the First Battle of Bull Run, or First Manassas, McDowell's troops were forced back to Washington, D.C., by the Confederates under the command of Generals Joseph E. Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard. It was in this battle that Confederate General Thomas Jackson received the nickname of "Stonewall" because he stood like a stone wall against Union troops. After Bull Run, it became obvious that the war would be longer than expected.

Alarmed at the loss, and in an attempt to prevent more slave states from leaving the Union, the U.S. Congress passed the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution on July 25 of that year, which stated that the war was being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.

Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan took command of the Union Army of the Potomac on July 26, and the war began in earnest in 1862. Upon the strong urging of President Lincoln to begin offensive operations, McClellan attacked Virginia in the spring of 1862 by way of the peninsula between the York River and James River, southeast of Richmond. Although McClellan's army reached the gates of Richmond in the Peninsula Campaign, Johnston halted his advance at the Battle of Seven Pines, then General Robert E. Lee and top subordinates James Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson defeated McClellan in the Seven Days Battles and forced his retreat. The Northern Virginia Campaign, which included the Second Battle of Bull Run, ended in yet another victory for the South. McClellan resisted General-in-Chief Halleck's orders to send reinforcements to John Pope's Union Army of Virginia, which made it easier for Lee's Confederates to defeat twice the number of combined enemy troops.

In the West...

While the Confederate forces had numerous successes in the Eastern Theater, they were defeated many times in the West. They were driven from Missouri early in the war as a result of the Battle of Pea Ridge. Leonidas Polk's invasion of Columbus, Kentucky ended Kentucky's policy of neutrality and turned that state against the Confederacy. Nashville and central Tennessee fell to the Union early in 1862.

The Mississippi was opened to Union traffic to the southern border of Tennessee with the taking of Island No. 10 and New Madrid, Missouri, and then Memphis, Tennessee. In April 1862, the Union Navy captured New Orleans without a major fight, which allowed Union forces to begin moving up the Mississippi. Only the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, prevented Union control of the entire river.

General Braxton Bragg's second Confederate invasion of Kentucky ended with a meaningless victory over Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell at the Battle of Perryville, although Bragg was forced to end his attempt at invading Kentucky and retreat due to lack of support for the Confederacy in that state. Bragg was narrowly defeated by Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans at the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee.

The one clear Confederate victory in the West was the Battle of Chickamauga. Bragg, reinforced by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's corps (from Lee's army in the east), defeated Rosecrans, despite the heroic defensive stand of Maj. Gen. George Henry Thomas. Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, which Bragg then besieged.

And in the East again :

Emboldened by Second Bull Run, the Confederacy made its first invasion of the North. General Lee led 45,000 men of the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River into Maryland on September 5. Lincoln then restored Pope's troops to McClellan. McClellan and Lee fought at the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17, 1862, the bloodiest single day in United States military history. Lee's army, checked at last, returned to Virginia before McClellan could destroy it. Antietam is considered an Union victory because it halted Lee's invasion of the North. This clear first success for the USA provided an opportunity for Lincoln to announce his Emancipation Proclamation ; it became obvious to all the nations that the Confederacy will never win the war.

To be continued...

Thanks for having read this announcement until its end.

* * *

Stay in connection for future announcements!

To come, preview of the Union forces !

[Horsa]

Looking good!

[T&D]

+rep for idea and for work!
PS do you will add some indians on future??

[Nirnaeth Arnoediad]

+rep for idea and for work!
PS do you will add some indians on future??

Of course .
And even Mexicans, French and Great-Britain. But the first version of the campaign will only contains the 2 basic factions.

[Hereje]

Amazing!!! This is a mod I have always been waiting! +rep!

[Shasqua]

How are you going to handle repeating rifles and Gatling guns? Will they work with the engine?

[Nirnaeth Arnoediad]

Good question. Repeating rifles are as the others, but with best reloading times.
For Gatling, there are 2 points :
1) they were never used in important battle of this war ; it's a classic "fantasm" of players, similar to congreve rocketts for the NTW period ;
2) they will not be implemented in the 1.0 version.
The 1.0 version will only be a battle version, and as we want to create and release it very quickly (it's not something all the mods can offer to players), the counterparts is that we won't be able to make an ultimate 1.0 version, but only a strong and fun base for future patchs adding more and more details.
So the 1.0, althought Germanicu5 is doing wonders for AI, will almost be a multiplayer battle mod, and so we try to balance it to insure an epic breath in the gameplay.

[toluas]

Surely looking good!

[Chlοë]

!!!!!!!
Looking awesome!

[Gigantus]

Impressive indeed!

[xcorps]

Very exciting!

[DMahoux]

Oh my GOD !! :-O I can't wait to play this mod !! It is for MT2 Kingdoms If I understand ? very nice work guys !!!

[Mr. Sorrow]

It seems that Medieval II is becoming ultimate platform for TW modding... Looking forward to this!

[jản]

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Very nice. +rep.

But a lot of guys (including me) can't view the video because you apparently
used licensed music (from Sony?). So it is blocked in several countries including
germany. There is a way to bypass that but it would be against the terms to
post it. But the easiest way is to used license-free music. always.

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[Raph_VR]

yes, i see that... It's only blocked in Germany.
We work on a second trailer with another music.

[angus young]

But the easiest way is to used license-free music

Ok but... how can you know when the the music is under license-free ?

[cedric37]

Very promising +rep

[Swagger]

nice stuff here


i wonder how the AI will handle just having gunpowder troops (infantry) and how it will react in order to take cover and such

becouse with all the respect, having squares of troops in formations just standing shooting at each other is kinda lame

[cedonxp]

Finalllllly someone is going to work the CW in to TW. Can't wait!