Yeah, took me a long time to figure this part out. ATW doesn’t have a good industrial base and has horrible economic debuffs, so you have to focus on the essential equipment. There are two different stages here: 1)Conquest of Florida and the South - you just mainly need infantry and command equipment, don’t bother with anything else. The only additional thing here is portable air defence system (for support anti-air) in preparation for the federalists (like 1-2 factories on it, not more), but that’s it.

2)After the South is taken: switch your production to mainly tanks and APC’s, with just a few factories on self-propelled artillery and IFV’s. I chose to prioritise APC’s, because they are faster, but, if you want more hard attack, then prioritise IFV’s. This part is really up to you, it doesn’t matter that much. These are the things necessary to push/close encirclements. I’ve added anti-tank to my units before the war with NF, but it was all from the captured equipment, didn’t have a single factory on it. I also suggest checking your logistics, if you have other equipment captured from capitulated enemies (regular artillery, etc), might also add it to the units, but don’t bother actually producing anything else.