These are a few principles to guide your CSA strategy, as opposed to giving specific goals. Each player should tailor his or her own strategy to suit themselves.
In general, a Confederate victory centers around the following principles:


In short, the CSA probably will not win a war that lasts more than a couple of years. The Union is too strong economically and industrially, and too many factors favor them in a long war. The Confederacy must drop Union morale quickly by winning battles and, eventually, capturing Border States and Union cities.
You'll do this by fighting defensively - think 'zone' defense, to use a sports term.
Locate your armies in cities where they can defend invasion routes but are close enough to support each other in case of attack. This is easier in the east than the west. In the west do the same but retreat if you're outnumbered and don't have supporting armies nearby. Trade land for time.
In Tennessee bounce your armies between Nashville and Memphis. Expect an invasion towards each city by September 1861.
If you're outnumbered in Arkansas, you'll need to shift some forces from Tennessee over (river transport?) to fight the battle, then move them back to Tennessee when done.

You're outnumbered, so your armies need to be responsive and mobile. Telegraph stations are a good idea to keep response times down. Let the Union armies come to you and gang up on them when they do. Try to fight defensive battles for lopsided casualty ratios.


As stated above, the CSA will never compete with the USA industrially, and industry is necessary for a strong navy. Further, the Confederate player can completely ignore the navy and still win the war.
Any money, policy, or resources spent on the CS Navy would be better spent on the CS Army.


The northern states of the Confederacy will naturally be the first targets of the US forces, and a strong defense here can rack up battle victories and give you some initiative to conduct your own offensives into US territory.

i. Virginia

Virginia will be invaded in 3 areas: West Virginia from Ohio and Pennsylvania, the Shenandoah Valley from Maryland and W. Virginia, and coastal Virginia from Maryland and by sea aiming towards Richmond. Coastal Virginia should be your first priority, followed by the Shenandoah Valley, and West Virginia last.
- Maintain control of Staunton to keep a foothold in the Valley. You can quickly reinforce Staunton from the east if the Union marches a large force south.
- Protecting Richmond can be done by holding Culpeper and Fredericksburg, but watch for an amphibious invasion from the east! (we're watching you, Peninsular Campaign). Never leave Richmond undefended for long!
- West Virginia is relatively unimportant, is difficult to supply, and it is easy to be flanked and surprised thanks to rail lines from Pennsylvania and Ohio. Beverly is a good spot to camp an army to protect Staunton, and Grafton can be targeted if you control the entire Valley and Harper's Ferry.
You can invade West Virginia once the rest is secure.

*note, if the CSA player controls Harper's Ferry, the Union will target it furiously. This can be good or bad, depending on how ready you are for it.

ii. Tennessee and Arkansas

IMPORTANT!
Don't waste time fighting in Missouri in early 1861. Retreat into Arkansas for now, concentrate your troops, and plan on returning soon.

The critical points in Tennessee and Arkansas will be Nashville, Memphis, and NW Arkansas. Quickly build your forces and move to defend those areas. A supply depot in Ft. Smith, AR, and areas near to Nashville and Memphis will be very helpful.
Since the Union will need to move long distances to invade these areas (particularly Arkansas), a battle victory can buy you several weeks or even months to build up your defenses and organize your forces.
Don't let the Union march a big army into your areas and build a depot!


If the CSA has successfully defended Tennessee and Arkansas, the next goal will be to conquer Kentucky and Missouri, and invading the US. To conquer Kentucky and Missouri, the CSA player will need to run the Union armies completely out of the states while keeping Confederate forces there.
Invading across the Mississippi and Ohio rivers will be feasible after this.
Invading Maryland and especially capturing Washington, D.C., and Baltimore will bring a furious response from the Union. Hold off an invasion there until you are prepared for it.

*note, I'm uncertain how the 'conquest' mechanic works, but after capturing Lexington and Louisville and forcing the Union to retreat into Ohio, an event triggered where Kentucky seceded, even though the CSA did not control all of Kentucky. The CSA player gains full control of Kentucky and can build armies and infrastructure there.

Very simply, the CSA can win the entire war while completely ignoring the sea domain. Conversely, CSA domination of the sea domain will not result in a victory.

The CSA is limited in every way relative to the USA, and the CSA player must make the best use of their resources to win the war. Instead of spending precious resources on ships, use it on armies, infrastructure, agriculture, industry, and trade, and focus upon winning the war on land.


As soon as the war starts, build your armies. Hopefully you've passed Militia I by this point.

Build many small armies with small brigades/battalions to start, for a few reasons:
- smaller armies muster sooner than large ones, and you need them fast.
- smaller brigades/battalions muster sooner than large ones.
- you need to cover a wide area. You want to place your armies along likely invasion routes, such as Nashville or Fredericksburg, to protect them and watch for Union movement.
- these numerous small armies can 'swarm' the big Union armies and give you numerical superiority at times, and are easy to control on the battlefield - in fact, they make it easier to flank the enemy.
- 1500 man infantry brigades do fine, even against large units, if they are used properly.
- the small brigades/battalions will grow over time

Aim for starting armies from 7000-15000 men. Each army needs at least 4 brigades of infantry.
I give each army 3-4 cavalry regiments as well to perform flanking maneuvers and neutralize enemy artillery.

Every decision and policy made by the CSA government should be intended to help the army win the land war.
Therefore, any policy or act which increases manpower, armaments, or supply items is beneficial.

Purely political acts and policies are secondary and can be largely ignored. I'll be more specific later, but in general this includes things like foreign relations, public support, trade, and anything related to the navy.
Instead, seek to increase manpower pools for recruiting, supplies of weapons to outfit your armies, and essential supplies such as food, horses, and other important war materiel.
Only invest in acts to increase domestic support if there is a crisis.

*note, I prefer industry to agriculture because I focus on arms manufacturing. Focusing on agriculture helps to supply your armies, but you will need to invest in foreign trade and/or arms agent policies to receive weapons from foreign powers. Improved weapons are essential to winning!


Subsidize Projects in Military, Diplomacy, Industry/Agriculture, and Economy.

The CSA player must choose to pursue either Industrial goals or Agricultural goals.

Beans, Bullets, Bandages, and Cold Hard Cash
For Industrial, you'll want to start with Southern Industrialization and pursue Industry I,II,III, and IV. This will give you plenty of money and domestic arms manufacturing to win the war.
For Agricultural, King Cotton is fine (and historical) but you'll desperately need Arms Agents and Diplomacy I,II, and maybe III to supply your nation with arms. Pursue all of the King Cotton Policies. Augment the agricultural policies with trade and arms deals.

Manpower!
Militia Act I, II, and III are vital, as are Military I and II and probably the Conscription Act as well.
The CSA is outmanned and needs every available person equipped and in the field.

Buildings
Forts are expensive but useful, as addressed in another section.
Hospitals are important, and help with the morale of your troops. This matters in battle!
Farms and industrial buildings can be built as required to meet needs and achieve goals. I tend to automanage these because for a brief war, it isn't critical to get them right.
Prisons keep Union manpower levels down - down in Southern jails - if you're winning a lot of battles.
The rest of the buildings aren't vital for the war aims addressed here.

Focus
Ignore projects related to ships
Focus on acquiring weapons and gaining manpower.
Civil Projects that benefit infrastructure and foreign trade are best, ones that benefit the economy and either agriculture or industry (whichever one you picked) are important.

A key component of strategy is the Organization of your armies using the Order of Battle (OOB) mechanics.
Each army will have a commander assigned to it who can be either promoted or replaced.

Utilize the yellow '++' button to create new divisions or corps under the commander.
Utilize the green '+' button to create new brigade/battalion combat units. Brigades can be under division commanders or under direct control of the corps commanders.


Each brigade/battalion also has its own commander who can be promoted or replaced.
Try to keep commanders to units with their own specialty, if they have one (infantry, cavalry, artillery).

*note:I recommend keeping divisions limited to no more than 3-4 brigades/battalions. If they get larger than that they become difficult to manage in battle.

OOB example


This is an example of a unit I used called the "Corps of Texas".
The Corps commander is a LTG (3 star) with 4 divisions underneath him: 2 of infantry and 1 each of artillery and cavalry. Each division commander is a MG (2 star).
The division commanders each have 4 brigades/battalions under them, all of the same unit type.
Each brigade/battalion commander is either a BG (1 star) or below. Infantry and cavalry commanders begin as Colonels, artillery commanders begin as Captains.
New commanders assigned to these units will automatically be promoted to the lowest permissible rank, and will not suffer any malus when assigned. Manual promotions often 'cost' the officers valuable skills (to symbolize new learning responsibilities) so be careful when promoting manually.

Corps or Army?

I recommend that the CSA player saves his money and does not invest in the upgrade to field armies. Maintaining forces at the corps level works well enough.
Separate corps can be more easily supplied and still support each other when required.

Example:

In this image you can see 3 Corps, one in Louisville, KY and 2 in Lexington, KY.
The 2 Corps in Lexington are using a supply depot while the 1 in Louisville is using a separate one and also defending a fort while it is being constructed. If an enemy attacks one area, the other Corps can easily march to assist.
However, because they are separate, supply and reinforcement is easier, and they can hold more area and perform more actions.

A Corps from each state

I also advise that the CSA player forms corps from the same state and keeps brigades/battalions from the same state together. If a state is too small for its own corps, form brigades/battalions in the corps of another state (ex: New Mexico/Arizona under Texas, Kentucky under Tennessee, etc.)

These are the pros and cons that I have seen using this system:

PRO:
- It makes it easy to form new units
- It's a convenient way to monitor troop/recruit levels in specific states
- Things that affect the support in a specific state are kept isolated to a single Corps
- Recruitment times are much lower for units close to their home states.
- It allows officers to shine that otherwise would never have an opportunity.
- It makes it easy to keep Corps within a specific theater (ex: Missouri/Arkansas in the West)

CON:
- It's not historical
- Not all Corps will be equal sized. Florida, Mississippi, and West Virginia will be undersized, while Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia can get very large, because of the population of those states.
- States and territories with insignificant populations can't form a Corps and will need to be added where they can, although this would happen regardless.

See attached example:

Winning battles is the single most important factor for winning the game, and that's as it should be.
This game is not set up so that you can win economically or industrially. You have to win it on the field.
As you defeat enemy armies, enemy morale drops and their armies are forced to retreat, giving you control over the land within your army's command radius - including economic structures and supply depots. Use these to springboard to the next objective.


Hit your enemy's flank and watch yours.
Flanking is a crucial concept to learn and master. In battles, units form in lines, and attacking these lines from the side or rear causes high casualties, losses to morale, and will quickly break units.
When outnumbered, make spaces between your units to avoid being flanked.

Tip: Use cavalry as a quick-strike flanking force, but never use cavalry to attack infantry head-on.
Also, disable the 'cavalry charge' option (see picture) and force cavalry to use their firearms instead. You can also do this by selecting the Cavalry Division commander, rather than individual cavalry units.



Learn how and when to utilize your infantry, cavalry, and artillery.

An infantry brigade will overpower a cavalry unit, but will get pulverized by artillery.
Artillery can decimate infantry brigades, but it is no match for cavalry.
Cavalry makes quick work of artillery battalions, but it can't withstand many volleys from an infantry brigade.

Also, learn to use skirmishers. When your infantry is in defensive positions, your divisional commander can command all brigades to send out skirmishers to keep an eye out. Do it!
Skirmishers are also great for flanking brigades and taking out artillery.


KEEP. IN. SUPPLY.
Keeping your armies in supply is critical to a successful war.

An army low on supply is unable to move into enemy territory, conduct raids, or even scout, and it will exhaust ammunition and morale quickly in a battle.
Your army's supply status can be monitored in two places (see pictures). Build depots or move your armies to cities in friendly states to resupply quickly.


Build depots when conducting any offensive into enemy territory since this will prevent long supply lines. Note that enemy supply depots can be captured and used.

Be sure to toggle depots 'ON' when you need them. This will be shown by a green circle when looking at the depot. If the circle is blank, red, or yellow, click the LMB on the circle until it shows green.


Forts are expensive (~$35 million) but can be worth the money.
Building a fort at a key location can force your enemy to lay siege for weeks or months to get past a choke point while giving you time to take the initiative and/or send for reinforcements.
Consider a fort on the Mississippi River and the Shenandoah Valley to prevent easy Union access to your interior. Forts can be sieged down, but they buy you time.
Note that forts take some time to build, so plan on defending them while they are being built. Enemy forts become yours once captured.

This fort keeps the Union from moving units downriver.

Pressing it will send your men home on furlough to rest and recuperate and will allow your brigades to recover strength and return stronger, but the process takes time.
During that time, your effective strength is lower than your authorized strength.
In this image you can see the Authorized Strength on the left, but the Effective Strength is in parenthesis on the right.



This is important to know, because if you go into a battle, you fight with whatever your effective strength is. The faded brigades are not present for duty - they're away on furlough visiting their wives and girlfriends - and your manpower may be lower than you think.

I got obliterated in my first campaign until I learned this.
Also, the enemy will target any field army that has many units away on furlough. They can smell blood in the water!

GOOD LUCK!

Using this strategy I managed to win a game as CSA in August 1862 by conquering Kentucky and capturing Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and St. Louis. My economy was in the toilet and my credit rating was a B, but I had a large and well-equipped army in the field!

Historically, the CSA was faced with numerous disadvantages which are fairly accurately reflected in game. The CSA player must aim for a quick victory! The longer the war goes on, the dimmer the prospect of victory becomes as the economic and industrial might of the Union bear more fully upon the South.

I hope this helps you, and if you have questions or recommendations, please put them in the comments!