An Economic Guide to BATTLEGROUND USA - A Texas Adventure

CDRCrimson42 · Apr 7th 2022, 5:11am

I have decided to journal my new BG USA game as inspired by @Buckeyechamp
(Playing as Texas)

This is NOT a strategy or unit guide. I am merely going to use units that are easy for beginners to comprehend, while focusing on what drives a good economy, with applicable graphs to visually explain what happens to resources during the course of a normal game.
As such, please refrain from comments such as, "This Unit would be better" or "Why are you doing this when you could do this". Helpful suggestions are welcomed! But please gear them towards Economy tips for others.
Again, this is meant to be a general guide for brand new players, to help them get a better grasp of the different game mechanics at play.

Day 1
-----------
So you have just joined a game, the excitement is high, the CoN news articles are rampant, and coalitions are being formed left and right. You need to quickly analyze the situation around you. Some factors to consider:

What other states surround me? Do they deem a threat to me? Consider if they will be a better ally, than enemy.
What are your borders like? Generally speaking it is best to advance in one direction, so having allies on your back can be crucial
What level players are your surrounding states? Do they look like they join lots of games and then go AFK ?

For the start of this game I have aligned myself with Mexico and Nuevo Leon. This decision was mostly lead by them being some of the only really active people in this game.
(Again this thread is not intended to display epic battles, but rather give you economic knowledge that is applicable for every CoN game.)

So what does Day 1 look like? Let's dive in.
economy overview .jpg
Here we have our starting resources. Spend wisely!!
Day 1 Buildings Overview .jpg

The build chart should for max economy should look something like this. If you have the resources available then build army base level one in every city and just get that out of the way. It takes a few minutes only to build.
Next build a recruiting office (RcO) level 1 in all cities. This only takes around 30 minutes to make and drastically improves your manpower output, as you will notice in attached graph. Do not build above level 1 for manpower production increase, as it is a waste of time and resources. Only upgrade this further if you care about mobilization speed, but this is not the time to focus on that.
Queue Max Arms Industries!! Go straight for it. These buildings are expensive and you need to build them right away, in order to give yourself the most time to recoup your investment.
Research "Motorized Infantry Level 1" (Takes a few minutes only)
Research "National Guard Level 1" (Also takes a few minutes only)
Research "Combat Recon Vehicle Level 1" (Takes less than 30 mins iirc)

Why do I suggest researching those units? Because damage distribution firstly. A mixed stack of troops of different kinds will improve their survivability.
Also because the only building requirements for all these units is Level 1 army base, and level 1 RcO for National Guard.
Lastly these units are cheap and spammable, but the longer you can hold off on building any units, you will produce more manpower and resources / day, as all units have applicable upkeep costs daily.

Side note, you absolutely need to have Security Council membership, simply for the "building queue" feature alone.
(If not you will need to set reminders when these buildings are to be finished, otherwise you will fall massively behind.)

Day 1 Coalition .jpg
As I have already mentioned, I have started this game by an alliance with Nuevo Leon and Mexico.
(Players with no allies are deemed as weak, easy targets.) Especially if you are new. As the adage goes, "There is strength in numbers"

Day 1 Land Secure Plans .jpg

Next up, you need to identify nearby land that you can put to better usage. Find a border that is reasonable to obtain, and do NOT overextend yourself. Overextending your armies is the number one mistake a new player makes.

Now, that being said, if you have selected your allies wisely and you are monitoring the activity around you, it is unlikely that somebody will rush all their units into your homeland for the first couple days.
The above area is the one I have marked out, and secures my borders well, and will not leave me with any ongoing wars.
(Each war you start with a state has a -2 factor to your cities production and economy. 1-2 wars at a time is okay, but anymore than that, and your economy will suffer.)

Now let's get into the fun part, easy to read graphs !

Day 1-2 Hourly Chart.png
See the orange spike? This is why we build RcO level 1 right away. For levels 2-5 you will not see this kind of jump. It just flattens out, which is why I say it is a waste of resources and time at this stage.

Day 1-2 Volume Chart .png
Give this chart a few days more, and the trend flow of resources will become more apparent.
*Please note that the above graphs includes day 1 & 2*

It also should be noted that production rates are affected by game speed, so 4x games produce 75% of what 1x games produce.

And this about concludes the activities of Day 1. Stay posted for the updated graphs so you can inform yourself how to best prepare your economy for any Game Type.[/b]

Tifo_14 · Apr 7th 2022, 5:21am

I will be interested to see how this story unfolds. Good luck Crimson! :thumbup:

Hydralysk · Apr 7th 2022, 5:28am

Looking forward to your series.
Dunno if it will help me, but at a minimum, I get to see the logic behind another player strategy.

dfrost · Apr 7th 2022, 6:47am

yeeeeeeea! i love buckeye's thread so i will try to follow this one!

CDRCrimson42 · Apr 7th 2022, 11:19am

Well I started this right before the update to units FYI ~ so this is the older starting units.

xovault · Apr 8th 2022, 12:48am

"Army base in every city" – Past day 2 or 3, they’re just going to lay dormant. Waste of resources.

"Queue max arms industries" - Their output scales with city morale so no point rushing through the upgrades.

I don’t care how unlikely you deem an early rush to be, leaving the chokepoint at El Paso undefended like that, Nope.

CDRCrimson42 · Apr 8th 2022, 2:09am

xovault wrote:

"Army base in every city" – Past day 2 or 3, they’re just going to lay dormant. Waste of resources.

"Queue max arms industries" - Their output scales with city morale so no point rushing through the upgrades.

I don’t care how unlikely you deem an early rush to be, leaving the chokepoint at El Paso undefended like that, Nope.

This is NOT a strategy or unit guide." Looks like you didn't read.

Secondly dormant? You don't even know what you are talking about... Again I can tell you didn't bother to read. I implicitly said, for those who can read, that the focus of this game will be using units consisting of CRV, and INF, as well as NG. What do all those require? Army base level 1. Army base lvl 1 are cheap enough when you are not building anything else besides arms industries and RcO's.

Lastly, you didn't bother to ask what the diplomatic ties are between me and Chihuahua, (who is the only border) to that town. They are not a threat to me so this was an absolute F of a comment. Try harder next time.

Every single comment of yours makes zero sense and will only lead players to confusion. If you'd bother to read or let the story progress you will see how bunkers are the next move after arms industries. That addresses the issue of morale. If you were an experienced player, you would know this is the proper build order.

As I also stated, if you have helpful suggestions about economy, then feel free to add.

Otherwise don't taint this forum with unfounded peanut gallery comments. :rolleyes:

The Pale Rider · Apr 8th 2022, 2:43am

CDRCrimson42 wrote:

xovault wrote:

If you do not center text it would make everyones life better

Hydralysk · Apr 8th 2022, 3:17am

Buckeyechamp wrote:

If you do not center text it would make everyones life better

Yeah, right justified text is so much of an improvement.
Don't know why everyone doesn't do it.
Of course some people just have to be different.

CDRCrimson42 · Apr 8th 2022, 3:39am

Buckeyechamp wrote:

CDRCrimson42 wrote:

xovault wrote:

If you do not center text it would make everyones life better

The human brain is capable of amazing things. I worry for anybody who struggles to adapt to a minor change, such as the center appearance that is much more professional. Frankly I find your perpetual grammar and spelling errors far more distracting, than text alignment.

CDRCrimson42 · Apr 8th 2022, 3:42am

Hydralysk wrote:

Buckeyechamp wrote:

If you do not center text it would make everyones life better

Yeah, right justified text is so much of an improvement.

Don't know why everyone doesn't do it.

Of course some people just have to be different.

Anybody who’s ever gone down in greatness in history has been different. Conforming to others isn’t a “cool” thing. Not sure if that was supposed to be a dig, but your alignment on the right side is the only text alignment that looks bad. Centered looks balanced.

CDRCrimson42 · Apr 8th 2022, 3:47am

for the third time now, can we keep comments focused on the guide? This isn’t a Reddit comment section… thanks :rolleyes:

Hydralysk · Apr 8th 2022, 4:38am

CDRCrimson42 wrote:

Conforming to others isn’t a “cool” thing.

Sure it is.
Society has laws requiring conformance, those that violate them are generally considered not "cool".

And if you are really worried about keeping focused on the guide, try not attacking those who comment.
If you must respond, simply write "Thank you for your input."

CDRCrimson42 · Apr 8th 2022, 4:46am

Hydralysk wrote:

CDRCrimson42 wrote:

Conforming to others isn’t a “cool” thing.

Sure it is.Society has laws requiring conformance, those that violate them are generally considered not "cool".

And if you are really worried about keeping focused on the guide, try not attacking those who comment.
If you must respond, simply write "Thank you for your input."

I didn’t attack you though. I merely said I’m not sure if that was supposed to be a dig or not… as for the right centered it was just to point out that alignment does look off, unless you’re used to speaking Arabic.

Countries that encourage conformity are communist sh*tholes where the people starve once socialism inevitably fails. If you like conformity that much, I suggest North Korea. You will be spoon fed all the conformity your heart could ever muster. Again not an attack since apparently I need to clarify, just facts my dude.

Countries that encourage diversity tend to succeed much more. Conformity and unity are not the same thing.

In a world full of sheep, dare to be different.

Also funny how I said if you must comment, make it about the guide. Yet after ignoring that, you attempt to dictate to me how I should respond to you. Interesting.

But moving on

I would love to hear your input on the guide.

Tifo_14 · Apr 8th 2022, 5:13am

Quick question - are there advanced players in this game of yours?

If so, NG and CRV probably won't cut it for you.

CDRCrimson42 · Apr 8th 2022, 5:52am

Tifo_14 wrote:

Quick question - are there advanced players in this game of yours?

If so, NG and CRV probably won't cut it for you.

I am the highest level in the game so it’s quite ideal for an economic guide type run. There’s not even another active coalition. :rolleyes:

However I will be building some more advanced units, but will try to keep it simple to focus on which units are the cheapest and most effective.

The Pale Rider · Apr 8th 2022, 11:36pm

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The Pale Rider · Apr 8th 2022, 11:48pm

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Well, I guess if spawning Inf only, which is terrible advice.

_{^{But you should win as Mexico and Texas}} have like 7 or 8 cities.

You are right, this Creative Text is so much better!!!

Anna Jija · Apr 9th 2022, 1:12am

umm can you not spam

Hydralysk · Apr 9th 2022, 1:49am

CDRCrimson42 wrote:

Conforming to others isn’t a “cool” thing.

Conformity: 1+1 = 2
Diversity: 1+1 = 4

Conformity: Man + Woman = Baby
Diversity: Supreme Court Justice says she can't define what a woman is.

Conformity (like diversity) taken too far can be a problem.

U
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you

are

trying

to
~~c o m m u n i c a t e.~~

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