South Africa

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South Africa
South Africa.png
Government type Varies (HM's Government, Absolute Monarchy or Presidential Dictatorship)
Ruling party Varies
Capital Varies (Bloemfontein (ID 2101), Pretoria (ID 2105), Durban (ID 2111) or Cape Town)
Population Varies
Primary culture British
Literacy Varies
National value Order
Tech school Traditional academia
Status Civilized
South Africa is initially divided into British cape colony, Zulu, Oranje and Transvaal

The area which is now South Africa begins at the start of the game as: Zulu Zulu, Transvaal Transvaal, Oranje Oranje and the British Cape Colony. The area was unified after the second Boer war and was released as a British dominion in 1910.

To play as South Africa the player must release the nation from the United Kingdom United Kingdom, Oranje, Zulu or Transvaal. South Africa starts off with no available brigades and low literacy, it also lacks its accepted cultures (Boer and British) so it is unlikely that there will be much more than one national focus points available throughout the entire game. What South Africa does posses are cores on Oranje, Transvaal and Zulu as well as bounteous supplies of precious metals.

As a released nation South Africa starts with no money and high taxation. This taxation should be maintained until the player either opens a successful factory which produces more than 15 gold a turn or until some precious gold pops up. Until then keep taxes high to maintain your military. As the primary culture (British) is a tiny minority; bureaucrats may be hard to come by so some research into Tax efficient techs would be wise.

It has the unique national decision Adopt 'Die Stem', which gives it prestige when it invents Mass Culture & the Avant-garde.

South Africa, when released by United Kingdom

Retaking South Africas cores

The player should first concentrate their national focus on encouraging soldiers to conquer her neighboring states. Oranje and Transvaal don't usually have a military larger than 1 units so having an army of about 2 units should suffice.

Zulu has a much larger army, but it has no techs.


Zulu should be the players first target for unification as it offers a solid soldier population which should give the player an advantage in later wars. Zulu should easily be crushed by a two unit brigade and the country can be absorbed in no time at all. It should be noted that Zulu has poor literacy as it is an uncivilized power.

Oranje and Transvaal

Both the Boer republics posses valuable resources (Oranje has iron and Transvaal has some precious metals) but both nations are civilized and have healthy economies. Oranje usually falls pretty easily but Transvaal has a nasty habit of building forts on its borders, because of this it is imperative that the player should conquer Transvaal as soon as possible. Once Oranje and Transvaal have been conquered, South Africa will posses all her cores (and the entire Boer population). South Africa should be at least a secondary power by the time all cores have been captured.

Further expansion

Portuguese Mozambique is to the north and usually is left virtually undefended by Portugal Portugal. Madagascar Madagascar is to the east of South Africa but usually has a medium sized army (about 7 units) so should not be tested until the player has a sufficiently large army and transport ships. Colonization is an option to South Africa and the player can make a substantial empire (providing France France doesn't steamroll the continent).

The rest of Africa

One have to be at least a secondary power by 1870 to participate in the scramble for Africa. The prestige from beating Oranje, Transvaal, Zulu, Madagascar and Portugal should be enough to do so, but one migth have to research culture techs to be entirely sure. From the start of the game, one will also have to invest in education and naval capacity to get the best position for the scramble.

South Africa, when released by Oranje, Transvaal or Zulu

South Africa is much weaker when it is not released by Great Britain. It will have a lot less landmass and United Kingdom is still in control of most of the South African land making it very hard to conquer. The country, from which the player chooses to released will still keep its capital and it is unlikely that one can produce an army.

South Africa will start as a presidential dictatorship when released from Oranje or Transvaal and as an absolute monarchy when released from Zulu.

It is almost impossible to take South Africas rightful cores from Great Britain. The most likely way is to use crisis if one plays HOD. One can with a little effort take the cores in the smaller states.