[quote=Giant]
Understatement of the year.
[/quote]
To be expected, I think.

The game is enjoyable, and there were a few things I didn't like (the British blockade against the Union, the sudden end to the Taiping Rebellion, just to name a couple...), but I didn't come in here expecting to simulate history either. I'm under the impression that most of us have a passing understanding of this century and the politics of the era, if that, so, again, I joined like I would any other game. Play the game, see what everyone does, react accordingly, and then carry on.