Humanity- 2016 and on (A simulation)

[jjslocum]

Hello, I've always had a weird fascination with how games play out when left to their own devices. A while back, I created a Civ 3 scenario, which can be found here. Basically, it's designed to try to be similar to what the current world is like as best I can imagine.

I was curious how the game would play out if I just sat back and let it play out, so that's what I'm in the process of doing. I added an extra generic Civ with one city in Antarctica, a ton of gold and a bunch of stealth fighters to allow me to watch how the game plays out. I won't interfere and only occasionally interact with the others (to get new maps or to spy).

I don't plan to chronicle every single thing turn-by-turn, but each post will be written from a historical perspective, chronicling the relevant events as they happen. I also might take a few creative liberties in trying to present the story as well.

I suppose I'll go with this as long as I feel up to it and engaged. I hope you enjoy!

 

[jjslocum]

First off, before I begin, I should set up the basic parameters of the game. I'm on a slightly edited version of the TETurkhan 256x256 world map. The game begins in January of 2016, each turn is three months, making a year pass every four turns.

The game is "won" by one of three conditions. The peaceful route is via spaceship, but for added difficulty, each piece of the ship is far more expensive than the game's defaults. The other two means of victory are domination or conquest, although since there are locked alliances, I suppose conquest can't happen. Or is at least very difficult.

There are 24 civs in total with three sets of locked alliances, trying to somewhat mimic real life allies. (And to prevent stuff like America invading Canada on the first turn).

The three alliance groups are as follows.

GROUP 1: United States, European Union, Canada, South Korea, Israel and Australia/New Zealand

GROUP 2: Russia, China and North Korea

GROUP 3: Arab League and Pakistan

The other civs are all stand-alones. They include the nations of Mexico, Brazil, Ukraine, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India and Japan.

The remaining civs are collections of nations; such as:
Southeast Asia (The countries in ASEAN).
The African Union (Basically all of Africa that isn't part of the Arab League).
South America (Everyone on the continent but Brazil)
Central America (Them plus some of the Caribbean nations)
European Neutrals (Switzerland, Norway and Greenland)
Eastern Neutrals (Mostly the former Soviet states plus the other leftovers like Sri Lanka and Taiwan)

The starting world map looks like so:

 

[jjslocum]

Chapter 1: A Prelude to War

In the years 2015 and 2016, tensions began to grow with the world's most powerful nations as economic woes reared their ugly head again. Of the world's powers, perhaps the one most impacted was Russia. Russia had built up distrust among many nations after the 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. The move brought anger from many sources, however, no one wanted to risk a larger conflict over Ukraine.

Into 2015, Russia began to leave Ukraine alone, but remained aggressive, making overtures at the Baltic states and Finland. To further Russian strength, they needed the support of China and over the next two years, the two nations grew incredibly close, much to the concern of the United States and Europe. China's government also began to show more aggression, creating stronger tension between their trading partners.

By the start of 2017, the sides became clear if a conflict were to begin. Although not beloved by every member nation, the European Union strengthened their bond with the United States. Other allies; such as Canada, Australia, South Korea, and Israel; made their alliances together clear and they were ready to fight if an EU member state was attacked. Russia, China, and the ever unpredictable North Korea would be on the other side.

By the end of 2016, many other nations noticed the tensions and started to search for military alliances if a massive war broke out. Existing groups, like the Arab League, began to focus less on trading between the member states and more on armament and protection. The Arab League broke from the rest of the African Union, however the African Union also started strengthening ties, knowing that a resource-rich continent could become a target. A truly unified Africa would be a powerful force.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also started to look more into protection, with worries that China could look to expand at their expense. The nations of South America also began to build their defenses together, albeit without the continent's major power in Brazil, who opted to stay neutral of the time being.

Tensions had reached heights not seen since the peak of the Cold War. It was beginning to seem that World War III was becoming more of an 'when' than an 'if.'

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

Can't wait for more, subbed.

 

[Atoll]

Interseting idea Subbed.

 

[jjslocum]

Chapter 2: The First Shots

On April 4, 2017, the world ceased to be at peace as the combined forces of Russia and China invaded eastern Europe. Russian troops attacked the Baltic states and Finland and within a few weeks, the Finnish capital of Helsinki was captured by Russian forces.



The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and South Korea all quickly declared war on China, Russia, and North Korea. European troops moved eastward to meet the Russian troops and mostly held them at bay. However, the pure numbers of Chinese troops put Europe at a disadvantage. With southern Finland occupied, the ability to bring reinforcements to Finland and Sweden was compromised. By January 2018, Chinese troops had advanced to Stockholm, Sweden, and controlled most of Sweden and Finland.



In July 2018, Russian troops destroyed Riga, Latvia, the largest city among the Baltic states, and had control of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. In November, Russian troops marched into Gothenburg, Sweden.

Elsewhere, the ASEAN countries aligned with China, if nothing else but to prevent their Chinese neighbors from attacking them. The Arab League and Pakistan declared war on Russia and China, although the fighting was initially limited with the offensive in eastern Europe.

The fighting did also lead to a break in the cease fire between North and South Korea. Both nations fought at their border with neither side seemingly getting a decisive advantage. The South Koreans, with financial support from the United States, did strike a surprise blow against Russia. In August 2018, the small city of Okha, located on the Sakhalin island off the Pacific coast of Russia, was destroyed.

By the start of 2019, all of the offense had been from Russia and China. To the surprise of some, the United States hadn't gotten too involved in the effort beyond financial support. The US was one of the few nations who when isolated could still support themselves. Many Americans had taken a more isolationist stance, wanting to stay out of the conflict. Being on the other side of the world kept them protected from the front-line fighting. But soon, the United States found that the war would move to their southern border...

 

[jjslocum]

Chapter 3: A Changing Of Locales

Russian and Chinese troops had found nothing but gains since they started their offensive in 2017. With their pure numbers, they knew they had a solid advantage over much of Europe and Asia in any conflict. But they both knew that their biggest threat was the United States. As such, keeping the Americans occupied would be a major help to their efforts.

Corruption had increased in the previous few years within Mexico, causing some friction between the Mexicans and United States. The Chinese started to use their money and influence within the Mexican government and eventually found enough support to sign a military alliance. In January 2019, Mexico declared war on the United States and sent a surprise attack to cities along the border.

The Americans survived the attack and soon began a series of border skirmishes with the Mexicans. The US was never in danger of being conquered by any means, but it was enough to keep them busy.

In March 2019, the European troops had reached a stalemate with Russian and Chinese troops. Sensing that they wouldn't be able to advance any more, a cease fire was signed in April between the major world powers, ending what was believed to be World War III without a single nuclear weapon fired.

However, the peace came with Russian and Chinese troops keeping their gains. Many within the European Union were upset that they didn't fight harder for their allies in Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic states. Many of the smaller nations in the east were very weary that they wouldn't have the full support of the likes of Germany, England, and France if the fighting resumed. But at this time, there wasn't much they could do.

The Chinese and Russians still planned to expand and they continued offensives away from the European Union. They knew that the EU wanted peace and weren't going to fight for non-member states. This meant that China and Russia could attack Ukraine and Turkey without fear of penalty. Russian troops destroyed Kharkiv and advanced into eastern Ukraine. In April 2020, the Russians captured Gaziantep in southeast Turkey.

With all of their attention in the west, the Russians again neglected some of their eastern properties. The fighting allowed Japan to take the Kuril Islands, which had been a long disputed territory between the two.

Elsewhere, while the European Union was preoccupied, Arab League troops expanded off the western coast of Morocco by taking the Canary Islands, which had been a territory of Spain.

Seemingly unrelated to the larger global picture, fighting started in the south Pacific between Indonesia and Australia. In late 2019, Indonesian troops attacked and destroyed Port Hedland, a small city in the sparsely populated northwestern part of the nation. Australia responded by conquering Merauke, a small town in the Papua province. A few months later, Indonesia reclaimed the area and by May of 2020, the hostilities ceased between the two.

Although the world's largest powers weren't directly fighting each other anymore by 2020, there was no doubt that the world had changed forever...

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

Looking Good!

 

[jjslocum]

Chapter 4:

With their largest opposition getting out of the way, the Russians and Chinese looked to continue their territorial gains. In the summer of 2021, the Turkish forces couldn't hold off the Russian advance any longer and the Russian troops captured the Turkish capital of Ankara.



In November 2021, the Turkish government signed a cease fire with Russia and China, but the fighting didn't end within the nation. The Arab League's battle with Russian troops continued and many of the citizens within Turkey supported Arab troops as a better alternative to the Russians, who had been increasingly hostile toward any Muslims they encountered. In April 2022, Arab troops liberated the occupied cities in Turkey, including Ankara and Gaziantep. However, even with troops coming in from the south, by the fall, the Russians had reclaimed the territory.

Elsewhere, without much support from their neighbors, Ukraine was vulnerable. The Russians brutally pillaged eastern Ukraine, destroying the large cities of Donetsk and Odessa before ceasing hostilities in October 2022.

While Russia continued in western Asia, the Chinese troops switched their focus to southeastern Asia. In August 2021, China had conquered Laos as well as the Philippine island of Palawan. In February 2022, Chinese troops raised Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Soon after, the ASEAN countries were able to come to a peace agreement.



Indonesia also had to deal with Papua New Guinea, which had attacked and captured Merauke, near the two nation's border on the New Guinea island.

In the Western Hemisphere, the United States and Mexico had come to an agreement to end their border ways. This allowed American troops to travel through Mexico to fight with the Central American nations, which had started causing troubles for America. In May 2022, the United States had occupied Guatemala. However, American forces couldn't advance nearly as quickly as their rivals. China and Russia had used their influence to block the US from acquiring sufficient amounts of rubber to build to their mechanized forces, leading the US to rely exclusively on standard ground troops...

 

[jjslocum]

Sorry I haven't updated this, I actually got busy making a new scenario that I hope to release in the coming days. I might start a similar type thread with that. As for this, I am farther along than I've posted and the locked alliance system I fear will lead to little intrigue too much beyond where I'm at. So this might get discontinued, stay tuned.