Belgium Start-Up

[The Rock Doctor]

One neat thing about Belgium is that I've never seen it as a PC in any previous sims.

So I'm clear, then:

-We're still doing half-year turns
-Our economy numbers are for half-year figures.
-Set-up funds are ten half-years worth of economy.

Yes?

[Tanthalas]

Yes 6 month cyclse so 10 turns or 5 years worth.

[The Rock Doctor]

Alright - so the first question is, how do Liberia and Congo fit into things?

I think Congo will, for lack of obvious reasons otherwise, retain its historical status as "Congo Free State" owned directly by good ol' Leopold II.  That extends to land military forces, the Force Publique.

Liberia is a non-historical acquisition, so that's a question mark.  The Liberian economy was in the crapper, and Liberia historically lost territory to both the UK and France.  I think the following options present themselves, and I'd appreciate feedback:

A)  We butterfly away "historical" Liberia and assume it was a Belgian colony all along.

B)  Liberia develops as historical, and Belgium takes it by force (bad debts?) in some unexpectedly glorious military campaign.

C1)  Liberia goes insolvent, and a conference of international powers decides Belgium is the least worst choice to take it over (USA, Iberia, Netherlands presumably not involved; France, UK, Germany not trust each other).  Liberia retains "protectorate" status.

C2)  As above, but Liberia is reduced to a plain ol' colony.

C3)  As above, but Leopold (not Belgium) gets it and operates it similar to the Congo Free State

Whatcha think?

[Tanthalas]

honestly I the great map maker like option A (just cause its simple) but any of the others could be fun to write, the most realistic atleast for the Nverse is proly B (We have a history in previous incarnations of nations going broke and getting taken over after all)

[The Rock Doctor]

Here's the starting economic data for Belgium and its African appendages:

Belgium:  6.694 Pop, 80 IC, 10 BP = $86.69
Liberia:  0.641 Pop, 1 IC, 0 BP = $1.64
CFS:  4.103 Pop, 4 IC, 0 BP = $8.10

This puts Belgium and Netherlands on a really even keel in Europe; but the Netherlands obviously has larger and richer colonies afield, and thus enjoys an overall much larger economy.

This gives me a theoretical pre-game budget of $866.90 and 100 BP. 

[The Rock Doctor]

NAVAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Historically, Belgium has no navy - zip, zilch, nada - in 1900.  This will not do for a sim called NAVALISM.

Belgium Proper

Antwerp (Class 3)
-1xS2, 1xS1, 1xS0
-1xD3, 1xD2, 1xD1

Oostende (Class 2)
-1xS1, 1xS0
-1xD2, 1xD1, 1xD0

Brussels (Class 1) (River)
-1xS1, 1xS0
-1xD1

Ghent (Class 1) (River)
-1xD0

Niuewpoort (Class 1)
-Depot only

Liege (Class 0) (River)
-1xD0

Namur (Class 0) (river)
-1xD0

Bruges-Zeebrugge (Class 1)
-Depot only


LIBERIA

Monrovia (Class 1)
-1xD1, 1xD0


CONGO FREE STATE

Matadi (Class 1)
-1xD1, 1xD0

Boma (Class 0)
-1xD0

Banana (Class 0)
-Depot only

Leopoldville (OTL Kinshasa) (Class 0) (River)
-2xD0, both configured for dual-ship construction

TOTAL COSTING:  $190 and 21.5 BP for the ports, $198 and 17 BP for the slips/docks

"Still", you say, "Not a lot of slips and docks there, Rock.  How you gonna build and operate a navy?"

And my answer is:  Belgium's not much for ship-building.  There isn't likely to be a huge navy, and I think anything larger or faster than an aviso is going to be ordered from overseas.  Which, of course, means design competitions for y'all to bid on.

The plethora of ports in Belgium reflects a lot of commercial river usage.

The plethora of ports in Congo reflects river geography.  Banana's near the coast, so is the logical hang-out for guard forces.  Matadi's the principal port.  Boma is historically the capital at this time.  The Congo River becomes impassable for a while, and then you reach Leopoldville, from which river boats and portage railways can access something like 80% of the state. 

[The Rock Doctor]

NAVY

As noted, there is no historical Belgian Navy at this time.

I'm not entirely sure who's going to have a navy here - the Kingdom of Belgium, the Congo Free State, or both.  It really depends on whether Belgium or just Leopold II controls Liberia.  If the former, I anticipate two navies.  If the latter, I expect strictly a CFS naval force - Belgium itself would not really need a navy and would probably refuse to fund one.

But I am going to allocate $20 and 20 BP to buy stuff.  I'll edit in a precise force mix later, but figure we're looking at several avisos, a few transports (civilian standards), a couple of colliers (civilian standards), a royal yacht, and a few other small stuff.  Possibly a couple of small protected cruisers if the budget allows for it. 

I'm going to hold off on Congo river forces until we're "in-game".

Edit:  Okay, here's the initial "fleet", which I invite you to snigger at.  Conceptually, its prime functions are:

-Customs inspection around major ports

-Maintain communications with, support troop movement to and support exports from, Congo Free State.

-Maintain Monrovia as a stop-over for coaling; I assume resource exploitation here is less advanced.

Fleet would be:

-2 small protected cruisers for intimidating the locals and protecting high-value shipments (troops, etc).  Laid down 1898, light displacement 2,525 t.  I'm assuming they're foreign built.

-6 avisos for general trade protection and station command functions.  First trio laid down in 1895 and probably foreign-built; 1,006 t LD.  Second trio laid down 1898, probably some domestic-builds; better VTE meaners room for more coal, so LD dips to 979 t.

-12 gunboats for coastal and riverine patrols (in Belgium) and customs inspections.  Built domestically from 1897 onward.  LD is 125 t.  Armed just enough to intimidate smugglers and Africa pirates.

-1 royal yacht so Leopold II can cruise in style.  Built to civvie standards, so cost is 0.383 BP.  Probably built at lavish expense in some foreign yard.

-2 colliers, to keep Monrovia and the CFS ports stocked.  Limited passenger/freight capability to fill gaps between packet runs.  Civvie standard, so cost is 0.480 BP each.  I'm assuming these are requisitioned vessels so gave them an engine year of 1890.

-4 packets, serving the Antwerp-Monrovia-Matadi run.  Primary function is regular passenger/light freight service to the colonies, with CFS officials, scientists and missionaries and families as primary customers.  Laid down from 1897 onward, with civvie standard costs of 0.499 BP.

-4 transports, for inter-colony movement of troops or for reinforcement of the colonies from Belgium.  Two pairs laid down in 1895 and 1898, civvie costs of 1.049 BP and 1.056 BP. 

So that's 20.054 BP and $20.05 in expenditures.

[The Rock Doctor]

FORTIFICATIONS

This is where Belgium stops looking like innocent pacificists and instead begin to resemble paranoid survivalists.

I've decided to make use of the historical Belgian approach to national security, namely BIG GODDAMN FORTS.  We know historically this didn't work out so well for the Belgians in either world war, but the Belgians did do themselves some disfavors:

1)  They didn't keep modernizing their forts

2)  They didn't build proper defensive lines between forts to prevent their isolation and envelopment.

3)  They didn't build the forts to stand up to prolonged artillery fire

4)  They build the forts with a weak side to allow their recapture.  Have another look at 2) above and think about that.

The fortified cities will be:

Antwerp

Antwerp is the "national redoubt" that will hold out when all else fails/falls.  Supposedly, it will be impregnable, and the port will allows craploads of allied (read:  British) troops and gear to be landed to save the day.  Historically, 21 forts with a garrison of 60,000 when mobilized, built 10-15 km from the city centre.

I'll make this:

-18 Citadel Fort (Baseline):  49,500 men
-40 km Fortified Line (Baseline):  50,000 men

Brussels

Brussels is the capital, so it's only fitting that it be defended.  However, it doesn't seem Brussels had "recent" fortifications, though it's marked on maps as such.  I'll give it:

-6 Citadel Fort (Baseline):  16,500 men
-10 km Fortified Line (Baseline):  12,500 men

Liege

The function of Liege is to make the Germans think twice about coming by on their way to Paris.  Historically, Liege had twelve forts.  Proposals for proper fortified lines between forts were rejected.  I think I'll reject the rejection:

-12 Citadel Fort (Baseline):  33,000 men
-40 km Fortified Line (Baseline):  50,000 men

Namur

Historically, Namur is intended to make the French think twice about coming through on their way to Berlin.  It had nine forts - six on one side of the river and three on the other, with the same problem regarding fortified lines.  I'll split things to reflect this geography:

-6 Citadel Fort (BL):  16,500 men
-10 km Fortified Line (BL):  12,500 men

-3 Citadel Fort (BL):  8,250 men
-10 km Fortified Line (BL):  12,500 men

But what about Africa?

Monrovia, Matadi, and Boma can each have a 1 Citadel Fort, with 2,750 men. 

TOTAL COSTING:  $172.01 and 14.75 BP, with manpower commitments of 253,150.  Presumably, some chunk of these guys are going to be reservists. 

[The Rock Doctor]

ARMY

Things get thrown off a little bit by the huge fortifications but suffice to say, there's still a need for some mobile forces to go out and about.  I'll give the Belgian Army:

1 x Infantry Corps, Baseline

1 x Cavalry Corps, Baseline

This is 100,000 men - historically about the size of the actual Belgian army.

FORCE PUBLIQUE

This would be the army/police/enforcer entity of the Congo Free State.  They are mostly native Congolese, led by European officers, and their main opposition will be unarmed civilians or poorly-armed slavers (up in the NE).  I'm going to purchase this as 0.5 Dated Corps.

TOTAL COSTING:  $19 and 2.38 BP, with 125,000 manpower commitment

[The Rock Doctor]

COASTAL BATTERIES

Conceptually, the Royal Navy is Belgium's coastal defence battery.

We'll put 6 x 6" casemates and 6 x 57mm QF Casemates at each of Monrovia, Matadi, and Boma. 

COSTING:  $1.44 and 1.44 BP

[The Rock Doctor]

COSTING SO FAR

Available:  $866.90 and 100 BP
-Ports:  $190 and 21.5 BP
-Slips/Docks:  $198 and 17 BP
-Navy:  $20 and 20 BP
-Forts:  $172.01 and 14.75 BP
-Army:  $19 and 2.38 BP
-Coastal Defence:  $1.44 and 1.44 BP
Total Spent:  $600.45 and 77.07 BP

Total Remaining:  $266.45 and 22.93 BP

So - any suggestions on where to spend the rest of this?  Are there rules for civilian infrastructure that I should look at, such as cables, railways, and such?

[Tanthalas]

not realy... we the mod crew could never actualy agree on them... might want to think about a few coastguard cutters or somthing this is Navalisim after all =P

[KWorld]

River gunboats in the Congo would also make some sense.  For most colonial powers, I'd have suggested some sea-going gunboats, but the Belgian colonies are mostly interior so they'd be less useful.

[The Rock Doctor]

There'll be some boats on the river, just as I had some in my previous iteration as Congo's owner.  I see Germany has some gunboats on the Great Lakes, so that may also be responded to.

[Nobody]

There'll be some boats on the river, just as I had some in my previous iteration as Congo's owner.  I see Germany has some gunboats on the Great Lakes, so that may also be responded to.

Guilty as charged. ;D

It's a bit unfair though. In contrast to the other players you not only know that there are ships, but also how they look like.