Pre-LizNES6: Fortune Favors the Brutal

Alaska Joins Pacific Co-Prosperity Agreement

By Venus Asawasithithaworn

Friday, January 16h, 2071,
Bangkok, Siam, Outside the Union of Unfederated Pacific States Co-Prosperity Agreement Headquarters


A historic milestone has been achieved today with the incorporation of the nascent state of Alaska into the Pacific Co-Prosperity Economic trading group. The Alaskan finance minister spoke to the assembled crowds and shook hands with the president of Siam and representatives of many Pacific Union states including Korea, Japan, Manchuria, Sarawak, Ceylon, Sumatra, and China. Also in attendance were observers from California, Mexico, Panama state, India and Australia who, while not part of the union no doubt recognized the importance of this milestone to their own trade and economic development. While some have suggested that both California and Panama, who had previously taken a 'wait and see approach', may be interested in joining, now that a fellow American state has joined the union, this has not been the official line heard from diplomats of these nations.

Later the representative from Alaska would be toured around the various ancient Buddhist temples of rural and urban Siam, the towering city-scapes of Bangkok and its world-reknown financial districts and finally “Bangwood”, where filming of the new “Super Budha” comedy was in full swing.

Said the Alaskan financial minister of the treaty, “After debate, Alaska believes that the benefits far outweigh any downturns.” Benefits indeed.

Kozmos said:

I don't particularly like them too, but I just cant see any common sense justification why it should be impossible so I don't like the idea of banning it or making it needlessly difficult either.

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A suggestion on this. We do tech alliances, but a nation must either wait a few turns or spend some money (less than what it would cost to learn it on your own, of course) to learn a tech from an ally. This way, we get tech alliances, but it doesn't become easy as in previous games, as nations that didn't come up with a technology but get the idea from other nations have to learn everything about it at the same time as they know what things are correct or not.

I vote no on tech alliances..

Omega124 said:

To: North America
From: Republic of Alaska

We wish, after our securment of freedom, to establish diplomatic ties to your nations. Your ambassadors are welcome in Juneau, and we wish the same for you.

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The Dixie Republic will send an ambassador to Alaska, and shall make the necessary preparations to open an embassy there. We also invite you to send diplomats to our capital.

GamezRule said:

To: Dixie Republic
From: England

Might I suggest working out a border about halfway in between the old Missouri borders? The populace has had rather split ties, with the north section being rather un-Southern I would say.

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That is a very true point. The Dixie Republic would not hesitate to allow town-by-town votes on the subject.

Kozmos said:

To: Republic of Ezo, Republic of Korea, Japan, China, India
From: The Project

Greetings esteemed ladies and gentlemen, scientists and engineers. We are interested in completing the work of our collective ancestors, the ITER project for constructing commercially viable experimental thermonuclear powered reactors. In short fusion reactors for supplying all of our foreseeable energy needs in the conceivable future. Putting the power of the sun in a box that our nations can use for the good of our people. Are you interested in this joint R&D project over the next 30 years?

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Repeat for NPC countries response. Also Alaska joining an Asian Bloc? Oh well...I can see right where this game is going to.... EU vs this Pan Asian Coalition.

Kozmos said:

Repeat for NPC countries response. Also Alaska joining an Asian Bloc? Oh well...I can see right where this game is going to.... EU vs this Pan Asian Coalition.

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They contacted me first. I thought it was a great idea. I'm just part of the economic bloc, not the MMP.

The mpp has been removed from the economic Asian bloc. Any mops are seperate.

@Everyone: I ain't happy that no one has even tried to guess what was the joke on the book I wrote about...

(see also Rise of Zensunniism)


A Description Of Siamese Culture

OOC: The following is description of some events that I envision happening in the background, very organically and without government intervention in the republic of Siam. The description should properly take place after the update but by writing about it now, it can perhaps be used to better understand the culture and people of Siam in the coming Between Times. The description takes for granted that the cooperation between Sarawak, Sumatra and Siam and to a lesser degree Indochina, Ezo, Manchuria, and Korea continues at its current pace. This is based especially on the free and unabated flow of people, ideas and culture especially between Sarawak, Sumatra and Siam due to the Union of Unfederated Pacific States.


Linguistic Evolution

The cataclysm divided the world and the people of the nations formerly known as Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Shared trade, mutual economic and development interests and close government cooperation reunited them. This reunion, led to massive migrations as people were free to move between the states of the Pacific Economic Cooperative like never before. Some fled hardship or violence, some sought economic opportunity, others pilgrimaged to holy sites, and still others were sent as colonists. Both the division and reunion of people from the years 2015 to 2100 led to great changes in the languages spoken in the south-east Asian states.

Beginning with the cataclysm of the twenty-teens, previously united areas were suddenly and very definitively divided from one another. This isolationism, which took some time to reverse and was first felt, in the area, in the region of Siam, led to a rapid fragmentation and ‘creolization’ of the various languages such that the Indonesian and Malay languages, already very similar, broke into a thousand different dialects some of which were completely incomprehensible to the speakers of one island to another.

During the reunion, the nascent state of Siam, and by 2050, the states of Sarawak and Sumatra were uniting the various far-flung people who’s parents and in some cases grand-parents had suffered the cataclysm and who had never truly spoken to others within the greater geographical south-east Asian region not of their village or their neighboring village. What occurred as a result was a natural and organic process that, in retrospect would have benefited from government involvement but which, unfortunately, did not.

The languages of the region, especially the dominant Malay, Thai and to a lesser extent Vietnamese and Indonesian tongues evolved, sharing vocabulary and structure in a way never before experienced. In fact, they evolved very rapidly and within one generation many traders, colonists, or travelers spoke one tongue, a unifying language made up of words from the thousands of dialects that had formed but with a dominantly Tai-Kadai and Austronesian linguistic family background.

As governments and nations formalized and the Pacific Economic Cooperative agreements led to easy and frequent migrations and colonizations within the area, the people brought not only a unifying culture, but the trade tongue that all seemed to find most useful for communication in the post-cataclysmic world. Eventually, in 2072, recognizing the reality of an already existing situation, the government of Sumatra, Sarawak, Siam and even Indochina, who’s geographic position vis-à-vis the cooperative’s trade routes and borders ensured many spoke the new unifying tongue, met to officially recognize the nascent language and call it Maii. Today Maii is spoken by 95% of the citizens of south-east asia and business representatives and government officials all over the world who do business in the region have even learned the language.

Likewise I am more of a sci-fi books kinda guy.

To: Alaska
From: California, Sonora, Rio Grande Republic, Deseret, Canada, Quebec, Atlantic States, Carib League, Antillean Confederacy, Cascadia

We'd be happy to send officials to Juneau, and you may send representatives to our capitals.

To: The Dixie Confederacy
From: The Atlantic States

We have taken over the city of St. Louis, and the surrounding area to restore order to the region. We have left you, and your southern regions alone, and hope you can and will do the same for us. We are not opposed to letting the people of what was the Missouri River Valley chose between us, of course.

To: The Project
From: Republic of Ezo, China

Our decision will mirror that of Japan and Korea's respectively.

To: The Project
From: India

No thank you.

I don't particularly like them too, but I just cant see any common sense justification why it should be impossible so I don't like the idea of banning it or making it needlessly difficult either.

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This is ultimately the issue I face. Because I know if I say no sharing, a bunch of players will complain. If I sad you are allowed to share, massive multinational WTFtech sharing agreements will arise, which I don't want either.

The focus of this game isn't, and was never going to be on the tech. Obviously some players are going to focus a lot on that, and others won't focus on it at all. The plague, and the fact that technology is modern was simply a means for me to make a messed up map, with somewhat customizable nations, rather than giving everyone a set 'plot', and nation. Now, if some people want to focus on expanded tech, and weapons, that's fine. And I'd be happy to work to find a middle ground with that. But the last thing I want is a game where you have to be avidly tech savy to stay with the pack. Yes, tech is part of history, and part of what separates Super Powers from backward nations. But my want for this game, is war and diplomacy. I don't want players to be forced to sit around, and study how effective firewalls work, to simply be able to send in orders. INES III I found to be largely boring, and tiring after awhile, because of that very thing. It's differing play styles is all. And if you want to design new tanks, new planes, or hell, even somewhat futuristic weaponry, that's fine. But if you are looking to create a Dyson Sphere, or a Scarab from Halo, it's probably not going to happen.

Looking back, I had wanted to make the tech for this originally World War 2 based, however, for the simplicity of the 'world wide plague' thing, I figured that would have been an even bigger stretch.

@Everyone: I ain't happy that no one has even tried to guess what was the joke on the book I wrote about...

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No clue.

To: The Project
From: The Greater Japanese Empire
We will aid in this endeavor you call ITER, a clean, reliable and domestic fuel source is desperately needed for our growing Empire.

TheLizardKing said:

This is ultimately the issue I face. Because I know if I say no sharing, a bunch of players will complain. If I sad you are allowed to share, massive multinational WTFtech sharing agreements will arise, which I don't want either.

The focus of this game isn't, and was never going to be on the tech. Obviously some players are going to focus a lot on that, and others won't focus on it at all. The plague, and the fact that technology is modern was simply a means for me to make a messed up map, with somewhat customizable nations, rather than giving everyone a set 'plot', and nation. Now, if some people want to focus on expanded tech, and weapons, that's fine. And I'd be happy to work to find a middle ground with that. But the last thing I want is a game where you have to be avidly tech savy to stay with the pack. Yes, tech is part of history, and part of what separates Super Powers from backward nations. But my want for this game, is war and diplomacy. I don't want players to be forced to sit around, and study how effective firewalls work, to simply be able to send in orders. INES III I found to be largely boring, and tiring after awhile, because of that very thing. It's differing play styles is all. And if you want to design new tanks, new planes, or hell, even somewhat futuristic weaponry, that's fine. But if you are looking to create a Dyson Sphere, or a Scarab from Halo, it's probably not going to happen.

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You see I don't get that. Tech is an integral part of a proper civilization and nation. It is part of war, especially in modern war. None of my tech in INESIII required immense tech saviness that couldn't be obtained by scrolling through a few wiki articles or a google search. I will focus on more down to earth weapons in this one per your request, but if I present my research well I see no reason why I shouldn't have an advanced VTOL airforce or plasma cannons on tanks (plasma is not so different than any other weapon [assuming technological difficulties are surmounted] except that it just melts stuff instead of blowing it up, me I like having that option simply for psychological warfare purpose) or transgenic goats producing spider-silk for bulletproof vests and ABM systems.

TheLizardKing said:

This is ultimately the issue I face. Because I know if I say no sharing, a bunch of players will complain. If I sad you are allowed to share, massive multinational WTFtech sharing agreements will arise, which I don't want either.

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I'd say playability takes precedence over a few player's complaints. Anyway, I think taking a middle path might be best. Allow tech sharing agreements, but maybe limit the number of nations you can share with at any one time, and only have the costs be reduced by a few percentage points.

TheLizardKing said:

The focus of this game isn't, and was never going to be on the tech. Obviously some players are going to focus a lot on that, and others won't focus on it at all. The plague, and the fact that technology is modern was simply a means for me to make a messed up map, with somewhat customizable nations, rather than giving everyone a set 'plot', and nation. Now, if some people want to focus on expanded tech, and weapons, that's fine. And I'd be happy to work to find a middle ground with that. But the last thing I want is a game where you have to be avidly tech savy to stay with the pack. Yes, tech is part of history, and part of what separates Super Powers from backward nations. But my want for this game, is war and diplomacy. I don't want players to be forced to sit around, and study how effective firewalls work, to simply be able to send in orders. INES III I found to be largely boring, and tiring after awhile, because of that very thing. It's differing play styles is all. And if you want to design new tanks, new planes, or hell, even somewhat futuristic weaponry, that's fine. But if you are looking to create a Dyson Sphere, or a Scarab from Halo, it's probably not going to happen.

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For the tech focus issue I agree that knowledge of some future tech shouldn't inherently give a large boost over others. I think the main difference between players should be what areas they want to improve or focus on, not necesarily what tech will be used to improve those areas. I guess what I am saying is that a when a player invests an amount in "improving weaponry" and another player invests the same amount in "antimatter weapons" they should have similar results. Perhaps a few bonuses here or there for some interesting future tech ideas, but nothing major. My two cents at least.

Personally I'd like to limit tech so that the game is more playable. I liked the training/equipment stats for military or a simple quality stat per branch.

I have seen too many neses get bogged down in the tech issue. My 2 cents.

I agree fully with what Adrogans said if that counts for anything.

Frozen In Ice said:

I guess what I am saying is that a when a player invests an amount in "improving weaponry" and another player invests the same amount in "antimatter weapons" they should have similar results. Perhaps a few bonuses here or there for some interesting future tech ideas, but nothing major. My two cents at least.

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Don't be ridiculous. Antimatter is horribly expensive and completely out of our reach. Stop reading Dan Brown

I see no reason why should vagueness be rewarded. If someone says drop chemical gas on them. What is the mod supposed to think? Do I use tear gas, mustard gas, LSD?
Where as a player that says use VX nerve gas to make their troops begin uncontrollably seizing, urinating, defecating and vomiting until they die from complete respiratory depression and since it tasteless and odourless and sticks for some time in the environment use it as area-denial weapon should get properly better results.

(see also linguistic evolution)


A Description Of Siamese Culture

OOC: The following is description of some events that I envision happening in the background, very organically and without government intervention in the republic of Siam and its neighbors. The description should properly take place after the update but by writing about it now, it can perhaps be used to better understand the culture and people of Siam in the coming Between Times.

When considering this particular description, I considered that 80 years of time is still relatively short for the development of a new religion (the topic explored here) but that, at the same time, we have seen a remarkable number of “new religionist movements” arise in the last hundred years and some of them have flourished. It only takes a small imaginative leap to assume that in a post-cataclysmic world, especially one where isolation and lack of communication compounds religious ignorance but where violence, hunger and sickness evoke religious sentiment and faith, a new religion might arise meteorically.

The following is based largely on the wok of Frank Hubert but I think it’s a great idea and I will steal it for this NES


Rise of Zensunniism

Zensunniism is a blending of the popular Zen Buddhism of mainland south-east Asia and the Sunni faith of Indonesia and Malaysia and Indonesia. It arose as a syncretist system to meld the beliefs of disparate faith groups isolated form the rest of the world for up to two generations.

They were originally founded, as most faiths are, by a charismatic speaker who claimed divine inspiration in former Malaysia in 2014. Their prophet was known as Ali Ben Ohashi, though some ascribe the movement more to his second wife, Nisai. He broke away from the teachings of the Muhammed and built a faith based on mysticism, meditation, and ‘holy wandering’.

Practitioners are known for their kōan, sayings, stories or dialogues that sound like gibberish but also like they might be incredibly profound, provided you think about it long enough. A kōan generally contains aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet may be accessible to intuition. Zensunni masters "developed this trick to 'open up' the mind of their students without filling it with their own opinions." This is largely taken from the Zen Bhuddist tradition.

They are also known for their morale and ethical code, derived both from Buddhist and Islamic teachings, as well as a belief in the God of the Judaic, Christian and Islamic faiths. They also believe in angels, saints (origin unknown, perhaps evolved from Islamic prophets), jurisprudence and the Islamic thirst for knowledge and to critically examine as a holy mission. They also observe the five daily prayers though supplant these with meditation. Like the Buddhist, they soon developed a strong monastic tradition, especially upon converting several isolated temples and monastaries.

Within a generation of its founding, Zensunni holy wanderers had travelled throughout the majority of rural communities in Siam and its neighboring nations where the charisma and energy of its preachers as well as the relative religious ignorance of the people (due to the cataclysm) helped it spread rapidly and far.

Upon its introduction into the cities it soon came into conflict with both traditional Buddhists and Islamic scholars. Islamic thought and theology had been retained much more stably in the cities where, despite the relative destruction, the greater number of immans and knowledgeable Islamic scholars helped ensure the purity of the faith. None-the-less, the energy and charisma of the new faith won many converts and so while Islam and Tharavada Buddhism remains dominant in urban areas amongst those who practice religion, the Zensunni faith none-the-less accounts for 20-40% of the faith of the people. In rural areas it is much greater with parts of mainland Siam rising to approximately 90% in certain provinces.

The Second Khate of Khiva
Absolute Monarchy: Khiva
Stability: 90%
Economic Power: 2
Industrial Power: 20(+1)
Military Grade: 1
Army: 1 Regiment, 4 Militia Regiments
Navy: None.
Airforce: 1 Fighter Squadron
Interest: None.

The Republic of Occitania
Presidential Republic: Marseille
Stability: 71%
Economic Power: 4
Industrial Power: 100(+2)
Military Grade: 3
Army: 5 Regiments, 2 Armored Brigades
Navy: 3 Gun-Boats, 1 Destroyer
Airforce: 5 Fighter Squadrons
Projects:
Interest: Reunification of France

The Portuguese Free-State
Constitutional Monarcy: Lisbon
Stability: 64%
Economic Power: 6
Industrial Power: 130(+2)
Military Grade: 4
Army: 7 Regiments, 3 Armored Brigades
Navy: 6 Gun-Boats, 5 Destroyers
Airforce: 6 Fighter Squadrons, 1 Bomber Squadron
Projects:
Interest: African Empire

The Atlantic States of America
Federal Republic: Philadelphia
Stability: 61%
Economic Power: 9
Industrial Power: 300(+3)
Military Grade: 5
Army: 10 Regiments, 4 Armored Brigades
Navy: 6 Destroyers, 2 Cruisers, 1 Carrier
Airforce: 10 Fighter Squadrons, 2 Bomber Squadrons
Interest: North American Peace

Military Grade: Will represent the skill and equiptment your military uses. In order to up ones military grade, foreign advisors from a higher grade military must be present in the nation, and money should be spent on new training and equiptment. Military victories, and losses will effect this grade to an extent. The lowest grade is 1, and the highest is 5.

Militia Regiment: 1 EP, 5 IP, will get you 5 Militia Regimets
Regiment of Infantry: 1 EP, 10 IP will get you 2 Regiments (Doubled if Grade 1 or 2)
Armored Brigade: 2 EP, 10 IP will get you 1 Armored Brigade (Must be Grade 4 or 5)

Gun-boat: 1 EP, 10 IP will get you 2 Gun-boats
Destroyer: 1 EP, 20 IP will get you 1 Destroyer (Doubled if Grade 1 or 2)
Cruiser: 2 EP, 40 IP will get you 1 Cruiser (Doubled if Grade 1 or 2)
Carrier: 5 EP, 100 IP will get you 1 Carrier (Must be Grade 4 or 5)

Fighter Squadron: 1 EP, 10 IP will get you 2 Squadrons (Doubled if Grade 1 or 2)
Bomber Squadron: 1 EP, 20 IP will get you 1 Squadron (Must be Grade 4 or 5)
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Thoughts?

Looks good, glad there's only one bt left .