# Campaign mechanics
## Command and diplomacy
A ruler's orders apply only through institutions, ministers and commanders who can receive and enforce them. A personal union shares a monarch, not a treasury, parliament, army or foreign policy: Great Britain and Hanover therefore act separately when their interests diverge. The same distinction applies to the Polish crown and Saxon electorate. Treaties create obligations but do not erase local interests. Breaking an agreement damages trust and can trigger defections, diplomatic isolation or war.
## Mobilization and force
Force Strength records personnel actually assigned to an army, not a state's theoretical manpower. Recruitment increases it only when trained men, officers, weapons, pay and time are available. Each campaign turn of sustained recruitment increases costs and reduces the labor and tax base at home. Losses reduce Force Strength through killed, wounded, captured, missing, disease and desertion; wounded and missing men do not instantly return. Armies cannot teleport between fronts. March speed depends on roads, terrain, weather, fatigue, baggage and hostile territory.
## Supply and morale
Supply Status is one of four bands: Secure, Adequate, Strained and Critical. A force operating from a stocked magazine or reliable port can remain Secure. When daily consumption exceeds deliveries, supply falls one band after a sustained shortfall; a long or severe shortfall can skip a band only when the army is cut off. At Critical supply, desertion and sickness rise, artillery and cavalry readiness fall, and Morale cannot improve through speeches alone. Morale uses Broken, Low, Shaken, Steady and High. Defeat, unpaid wages, hunger, forced marches and poor command lower it; rest, pay, food, successful operations and trusted leadership can raise it. Recovery takes time.
## Battle
Battle outcomes depend on effective numbers, training, command, morale, fatigue, formation, reconnaissance, terrain, weather, artillery, cavalry and supply. A numerical advantage is not an automatic victory. Forests, rivers, marshes, hills and fortified positions restrict movement and can protect a smaller force. A commander who attacks without scouting risks ambush and poor deployment. Orders may arrive late or be misunderstood. After combat, casualties, prisoners, missing men, equipment losses and unit cohesion must be accounted for separately.
## Fortresses and sieges
A siege requires investment, artillery or a blockade, engineers, ammunition and a secure supply line. A fortress does not fall merely because an enemy army occupies the surrounding countryside. Defenders can hold while magazines last and morale remains organized. Bombardment, mining, assault, disease, starvation, relief forces and negotiated capitulation affect the result. An assault without a breach or a clear advantage causes severe losses.
## Naval and overseas war
Fleets are limited by seaworthiness, trained crews, stores, repair capacity, wind, storms and disease. Naval superiority enables convoy protection, blockade and troop transport; it does not automatically conquer inland territory. A blockade can reduce customs revenue and supplies over time but is weakened by weather, neutral shipping and enemy ports. Overseas campaigns require ships, safe harbors, local intelligence and a continuous supply chain.
## Colonial, Indigenous and company politics
European claims, chartered companies, forts, settlements, occupied zones and sovereign territory are different things. Company officers can pursue their own commercial and political interests, sometimes against instructions from London or Paris. A trading post does not confer control over an entire region. Indigenous nations and confederacies are independent political actors. Their choices depend on land, security, trade, diplomacy, rivalries and previous conduct; no empire receives automatic allegiance. Treaties must be negotiated and can be broken or renegotiated.
## India and regional powers
The Mughal emperor retains imperial prestige, but regional nawabs, the Nizam, Mysore, the Maratha Confederacy and other courts control their own forces and revenues. Their decisions are not automatically dictated by either European company. Company influence expands through alliances, loans, military assistance, succession disputes and revenue agreements. A company victory does not instantly establish direct rule over a province.
## Finance and domestic stability
War is constrained by taxation, borrowing, credit, subsidies, customs revenue and public confidence. A state can win battles while approaching fiscal crisis. Debt and repeated taxation strain Political Stability; defeat, succession disputes, corruption and unrest can lower it further. Political Stability moves through Near Collapse, Fragile, Strained, Stable and Secure. A government near collapse faces greater resistance to recruitment, taxation and unpopular treaties. British subsidies to Prussia depend on parliamentary approval and available credit, not an unlimited purse.
## Occupation and civilian consequences
Military occupation is not the same as legal sovereignty or popular acceptance. Garrisons consume money and supplies. Resistance grows when armies requisition food, destroy property, displace communities, impose forced labor or punish civilians. Enslavement and the plantation economy are coercive systems with human costs, not neutral economic bonuses. These consequences persist after a campaign and can undermine future control.
## Global escalation and historical contingencies
The North American conflict is already active at the opening. The European war is not yet fully underway. Historical developments form the default course when conditions remain plausible, but player decisions can produce alternate history:
- January–May 1756: Convention of Westminster (Britain–Prussia) and First Treaty of Versailles (France–Austria).
- August–October 1756: Prussian invasion of Saxony; Saxon army surrenders at Pirna.
- 1757: Prague, Kolin, Hastenbeck, Rossbach, Leuthen; Plassey in Bengal; Fort William Henry.
- 1758–1760: Louisbourg, Fort Duquesne, Quebec (Plains of Abraham), Kunersdorf, Minden, Quiberon Bay, Wandiwash.
- 1762: Death of Elizabeth; Peter III makes peace with Prussia (Treaty of St Petersburg); Catherine II retains the peace. Spain enters against Britain; Franco-Spanish invasion of Portugal fails; Britain captures Havana and Manila.
- 10 February 1763: Treaty of Paris (Britain, France, Spain). 15 February 1763: Treaty of Hubertusburg (Prussia, Austria, Saxony). Silesia remains Prussian; Britain receives Canada and Florida; Spain receives Louisiana west of the Mississippi; France retains key Caribbean islands and Indian trading rights.
Spain is not at war with Britain at the opening; Portugal remains aligned with Britain. The world-tension band rises from Regional War to Escalating Conflict and Global War as additional theaters and great powers enter. It falls only when major fronts are settled and alliances demobilize. Mark any deviation from this sequence as alternate history.
## Peace and settlement
A ceasefire pauses fighting but does not settle sovereignty, reparations, prisoners, debts or colonial claims. Negotiations depend on battlefield position, occupied territory, naval control, finances, domestic stability and allied commitments. The Treaty of Paris and Treaty of Hubertusburg are separate historical settlements with different participants and terms. They are not a single universal peace. A settlement may exchange, restore or cede possessions, and local conflicts can continue after the great powers sign.
