Blockade Questions?

[Submariner]

After many hours of play in my first campaign, I still do not fully understand blockading.

For inland ports do you blockade the zone where the rivers or estuaries exit to the sea (which seems to make sense and is what happened historically) or do you need to put the units in the areas listed in the tool tip when you hover over the city's harbor symbol (it is not very realistic or practical to put a blockade fleet far upstream in an estuary)? I put sufficient units to blockade the only exit zone to the sea for Charleston, but received no blockade icon for the city .. without this icon the city is not really blockaded, correct ? In the same vein, New Orleans harbor lists Lower Mississippi River and Bayou Run as exits. Do two zones cover Lower Mississippi River (North and South Delta?) or just one? Following Bayou Run around seems to indicate an ocean exit at Lafayette Sound .. should this also be blockaded? Maybe I am just overthinking this thing, but the mechanics are not entirely clear.

When blockading in a zone near an enemy fort, what governs if the fort opens fire? I blockaded Charleston for several turns and the garrisoned Ft Sumter never opened fire once. The fort near the entrance to Mobile Bay, however, opened fire the very next turn when ships arrived.

All in all, a very good game, but it still has some rough edges that need to be smoothed and grey areas in significant rules that need to be much better explained .. a greatly expanded manual and improved tool tips should be developed for future patch releases.

[Rafiki]

You need to blockade the regions listed in the tooltip for the city's harbor.

[Le Ricain]

You need to blockade the regions listed in the tooltip for the city's harbor.

With regards to forts, it appears that they fire upon ships as they arrive or leave an area. They do not seem to bother the ships while they are there.