The vibe is The World Turned Upside Down, people.
Background
In the beginning was Napoleon. He, at the crest of the heroic French Revolution, sought to overthrow the old and oppressive Ancien Régime, and succeeded. The Holy Roman Empire was destroyed. The Iberian Empires, bowed. Italy, united. Russia, negotiated; and Britain, excluded. By 1819, none could stand to contest the domination of the French Empire, and the Code Napoleon swept the continent on the back of seemingly invincible armies.
Of course, nothing is by coincidence. Napoleon moved carefully, his enemies blundered, and all were blinkered by the shades of their time. One might point to the narrow and successful negotiation of alliance with Russia as the most decisive factor, which even by 1815 had petered out, but had bought enough time for Napoleon to secure a decisive position. As leader of the Revolution, he espoused the vision of a new Europe, united by France's revolutionary ideals. By 1827, the United Kingdom had quietly lifted its total embargo on French markets, and Napoleon graciously adapted the Blocus continentale to match.
The new age promised a unity that seemed stubborn to arrive. War and revolutions spread, upstarts espoused visions of new nations and new ideals, and France tightened its control with the help of its British and Iberian business partners. This age of revolutions was the age of a new imperialism, where the leaders of the old revolutionary class gave way inexorably to the captains of industry. New scions arose in nations once handily defeated by Napoleon, irreducibly studied in the ways of the new empire.
In an age of industrial politics and unmatched exploitation of resources, France was inevitably driven to war with those selfsame scions. By 1909, nations which had not existed 100 years before now vied with the Western Bloc for the power of Europe. The Empire of Italy, a confederation of republics united by an elective Emperor; the United Republics of Germany, a very young confederation which sought to build its own industry and separate from the economy of France; and what remained then of the Russian Empire. Against them was arrayed The French Empire, and its beholden allies, the British Republic, the Spanish Empire, and the Ottoman Empire.
The Russian, Spanish, and Ottoman Empires were annihilated in this 10-year war, and Britain and France were rocked dearly from within. The Empire of Italy was forced at length to accept a humiliating peace, and fell to a liberal revolution which nevertheless voted to keep the Italian Imperial system. The German union collapsed into civil war and chaos.
Outside of Europe, a consciousness is rising as to the relationships of the nations of the world. As the industrial powers spread their dominion and seek ever more resources to uncover, the revolutionary Republic of China has finally overthrown the Qing, and the Empire of Japan was forced to capitulate to the French at the hands of a German Treaty Force (German Union splitters who signed an "early" peace treaty with France in 1917). The newly established Legation State of Manchuria and Korea is woefully underprepared for the mandate placed on it by Paris.
It is 1919 and the world is changing once more.
Intro
I will give you the intro words EQ used in 2007 to intro his game about a world without Britain:
Let us meditate on these and contemplate the way of things.
Rules
You will most likely play as the government of some state or empire, and you will endeavor to expand the power and basis of your mandate and prove the glory of your nation. Vive la révolution.
If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you will see rules that allow you also to play as a rebellion or revolutionary movement, and endeavor to liberate an oppressed nation. Bonne chance! Tu en auras besoin.
Sample Nation Statistics
The French Empire
Constitutional Congressional Empire: Parti Radical (election in 1925)
Capital: Paris
Dissent: 35%
Jingoism: 10%
Reputation: Admired
Industrial Capacity: 35 (+15)
Military Industry: 12 (+3)
Public Services: 8
Private Enterprise: 15 (+12)
Army: 20 Guards Divisions, 15 Infantry Divisions, 5 Cavalry Divisions, 5 Armored Divisions
Army Quality: Veteran
Navy: 28 Capital Ships, 30 Cruiser Groups, 50 Destroyer Groups, 10 Submarine Groups
Navy Quality: Elite
Air: 18 Biplane Squadrons, 7 Dirigible Divisions
Air Quality: Veteran
Background: The French Empire stands at the center of the Western Commission, the artifact created by the European Social War Treaty after the Great War. The Western Commission is plagued by economic dysfunction, popular dissent demanding more socialist reforms, and ever-expanding chaos in the imperial periphery. The French are divided by the Parti Radical, which seeks peace in our time, and the Front Populaire, which seeks reform.
Empire of Italy
Federative Republican Empire: National Front
Capital: Rome
Dissent: 45%
Jingoism: 55%
Reputation: Feared
Industrial Capacity: 30 (+6)
Military Industry: 5 (+2)
Public Services: 4
Private Enterprise: 21 (+4)
Army: 10 Guards Divisions, 22 Infantry Divisions, 7 Cavalry Divisions, 2 Armored Divisions
Army Quality: Elite
Navy: 9 Capital Ships, 9 Cruiser Groups, 39 Destroyer Groups, 48 Submarine Groups
Navy Quality: Veteran
Air: 18 Biplane Squadrons, 12 Dirigible Divisions
Air Quality: Elite
Background: The Empire of Italy formed out of a successful peninsula-wide rebellion against the French Empire in 1839, which eventually led to the continent-spanning rebellions and revolutions of 1844. Although many of those ultimately were defeated, the Italian rebellion triumphed over all comers and became the very symbol of meritocracy. This irresistible vision of the new Italy brought both the nobles and capitalists in line, and seemingly came to an end with Great War, when Rome was occupied and the government, scattered. Although a provisional government made peace with the west, it too was overthrown by revolution from within and the imperial system was reestablished. The newly-elected National Front now promises to ensure peace with the west, but it will have to submit to very unpopular reparations to truly satisfy Paris...
State and Politics
Government
The government of a nation represents the political approaches available to people to legitimately take control of the state. Generally, it is designed in such a way as to protect some inherent privilege or advantage of the ruling class. Often, it is reliant on the promulgation of popular ideas in order to manufacture consent, which is why most governments steep themselves in tradition. Appeals to tradition can be conservative or innovative, as they can relate what are or are not, for example, "rights" or "entitlements." No matter the situation, people generally expect governments to maintain order.
Ruling Party/Faction/Monarch
To the right of your nation's government in the stats is the ruling party, loose association or faction, or the titular or absolute ruler of your government. This will tend to be who people blame when things go wrong. Whether the Head of State or Head of Government is listed here is contextual; in reality, the two offices are not that loosely connected. Elections are also held contextually, and governments with electoral authority will have their control-taking election listed here.
Dissent
Dissent is the key indicator of your success and the stability of your government. Dissent rises in the following circumstances:
1. When you shift policies to an influential political class' detriment.
2. When you politically move away from an influential political class.
3. When something confusing happens to something procedural and expected, like an election.
4. When you lose a war, or one of your influential political class' loses a proxy war, or you are fighting a war with low jingoism.
5. Other types of unfortunate events which can surprise you.
Dissent falls in the following circumstances:
1. When a government successfully implements publicly preferred policy.
2. When spending in social services is increased.
3. When you win a war with high jingoism.
4. When a party is re-elected to government.
5. Other types of fortunate events.
Jingoism
A measurement of public support for war and hostile activity in general. This can be dressed up any number of ways, what matters is the bottom line and whether people will tolerate your expenditure of their lives and treasure for war or not. Low jingoism in times of war can result in rebellion. High jingoism in any time can also backfire, as influential violent psychopaths take things into their own hands, but is generally the type of problem you prefer to have if you like to fight wars.
Economy
Industrial Capacity / Base IC
The Base IC is NOT the IC you spend each turn. This is the total combined IC your nation produces or imports through exploitation and favorable exchange, and is a collection of the production and development of military assets, the spending put into welfare and other public projects, and the amount of industry and economic activity in general controlled by private enterprises such as corporations and wealthy individuals. IC cannot be banked or saved over time, and all must be spent on the turn it is earned or else you will lose it. Once again I'd like to repeat that Base IC is NOT the IC you spend each turn.
Shifting IC Emphasis and Spending IC
Shifting IC
Your Base IC determines the total amount of IC per turn you gain, and from that the IC is divided into different aspects of your economy. For each category, you can shift 1 point to any other category once per turn. Beware, however, the consequences that a shift will have upon your people and your dissent rating. For example, Ethiopia has 1 IC per turn in all three of the different sections, the first part of which gives them the industry and resources to sustain a modern military, the second part of which creates a sturdy government with a steady flow of magistrates, and a third part of the economy is produced as a result of private domestic commercial activity. However, ruining this peace, the Italian Empire determines to annex the other nation. In order to mobilize for a war, Ethiopia shifts IC from Public Spending and Private Enterprise in order to triple its production of military equipment in the fight against Italy. Even though Ethiopia now has 0 Private and Public IC, a rudimentary amount of both still exist within the nation, but not enough to produce any political activity with. The longer an imbalanced circumstance like this persists, the worse the circumstances of the Ethiopian state's control will become.
In most nations, the ruling class will prefer to have as much private enterprise as possible. This is because they can generally do whatever they like with private enterprise, and usually you have no reason to stop them - unless they're foreigners, trying to crowbar away your resources.
We may stereotype the imbalanced edge cases like so:
Max Military Industry: A nation wholeheartedly committed to fighting a protracted people's war.
Max Public Services: The utopian ideal for those who seek to provide the material needs of all society.
Max Private Enterprise: The preferred circumstance for landowners, bourgeoisie, and syndicalists.
Max State Enterprise: A nation entirely characterized by steel and cement plants.
"Is Balanced just equally distributing IC to the three main categories?"
Yes, for the most part; but you may wish to seek additional advantages. Evenly splitting your IC is just a strategy to ensure you can handle whatever you need to, but if you really want to multiply your advantages, you should attempt to take advantage of the following dynamics:
Capitalist nations should always ensure their Private Enterprise is not less than either of the other two categories. Capitalist nations with colonial empires should ensure their Private Enterprise is greater than or equal to their Military Industry, and should regularly train new Guards Divisions for security.
Socialist nations, or nations that seek some degree of separation for their economies from the global or western ones, should do the following: Always ensure their Public Services budget is equal to or greater than the combination of their Private and State Enterprise. Ensure Private Enterprise is less than State Enterprise. Ensure State Enterprise be greater than Military Industry. Do these things, and you will be on your way to autarky - and maybe even liberation.
Spending IC
Military IC can be spent on military units. Public Service IC can be spent on Special Projects. Private IC you must leave to its own devices, but can attempt to influence through political means. State IC is beholden to certain economic roles defined as necessary by your state planners.
Virtual and Imported IC
Imports or virtual quantities of IC are indicated in a parenthetical statement following the quantity, such as (+2). These are considered real industry and a real part of your economy. They count towards your totals for the purpose of unlocking units and infrastructure.
You can end up in a circumstance where you "import" a virtual quantity of IC, usually to private enterprise but sometimes to the other categories where it is spendable, and this is generally the result of favorable international circumstances whereby you have privileged access to another nation's markets. This is almost always the heritage of past conquests and the victory of imperialism, but sometimes results from honest trade. Virtual IC does not necessarily subtract from that which another nation has access to, as it is considered "outside" of their ownership. However, it usually is taking space that that nation cannot.
Public Services Spending, and Special Projects
Your public services budget can be spent on a 1:1 basis on Special Projects. A Special Project is more broad than "build Hoover Dam" and represents a national strategy or political undertaking to bring about a specific end, accomplished with the financial resources being allocated to the project. For example, suppose Japan wants to build its industry so that it can be more economically competitive. It may undertake to directly build and manage the industry (see State-Owned Enterprise below), or it may attempt to scaffold the development of private enterprise with public resources. Public services are also automatically spent maintaining ongoing expenditures related to the essential functions of the state (see Maintenance below). These expenditures you cannot easily reduce, and are shown in a parenthetical. These expenditures must be paid before you spend Public Services budget on anything else.
Private Enterprise
Private Enterprise is the most essential aspect for a long term game plan. This is the age of industry and development, and private enterprise represents the commercial activity and exploitation that is driving that development. The downside, of course, is that there is an increasingly powerful stake of bourgeois business-owners in the management and destiny of your nation. Sometimes, your Private Enterprise score will represent industry that is owned by a class of bourgeoisie from a foreign nation, who serve a different state. This still benefits you as Private Enterprise, but it benefits the foreigners as well, and they told you that was the standard market price for cardamom...
State-Owned Enterprise
State-Owned Enterprise is available for any nation, but is generally not an efficient option for capitalist empires, which are not configured to support state-owned enterprise really. This enterprise must be supported by an equivalent or greater amount of Public Services Spending. You cannot spend or allocate State Enterprise like other spending, as it is assumed to be automatically allocated by your planning commissions to certain necessary activities. In your strategic orders, you may specify such goals as they should work on, and according to their ideology and the priors you give them, they will seek to shape your economy to fit those goals.
Maintenance
Your public services budget is charged a bill every turn for maintaining the bureaucratic functions of the state. You can effectively only reduce the maintenance amount with directed policy - which usually means the expenditure of additional public services stat. An example is trying to reduce a "bloated" red taped-up bureaucracy's operating budget. Indeed, reducing the overall cost is the goal, but you will still need to put effort in to identifying which parts of the bureaucracy are really bloated. Corners may get cut in this process, for all the more carnage you may accidentally or recklessly end up doing to your state.
Military Spending
Military spending IC is the only IC that you can specifically spend on production and military research. Any IC not spent on the turn it is earned is lost. You may spend any virtual or imported Military IC as if it were normal Military IC.
When you recruit new forces, it is assumed you are recruiting those forces - the people and the equipment and organization necessary to assemble them into divisions - from your population. This may or may not be desirable, for you or for your population. Therefore, you should take care to try to "sweeten the deal" when pressing new soldiers into battle. If nothing else, give them a symbol and an ideal to fight for. Then maybe you don't need to do that much sweetening.
When recruiting new Guards, there will be less disgruntlement than when recruiting Infantry. However, if you have, say, some Guards Divisions already failing in a theater and you recruit new Guards to send them in, beware that it will be really important to the people back home how well you do in that theater, and all the more so when you decide to commit new Infantry. Therefore, you should generally try to make do with what you have.
As a rule of thumb, divide your jingoism stat by 10% to find the number of new land divisions you can recruit without stepping on anyone's toes.
Recruiting new naval and air forces is much less impactful on your population, so you can ignore this rule of thumb, but it is still very impactful on your economy. Be mindful of the effects that constant militarization can have and stay vigilant.
Stockpiling Weapons
If you don't want to raise any new forces but you still wish to build your military advantage, you may always use any military IC to stockpile weapons. This will add to a hidden stat that only you may see indicating your weapon stockpiles. The types of stockpiles and the effect they will have on your readiness will vary according to the programs that you as the player wish to undertake. However, in general it is better to have some stock than none especially if you are raising new divisions. By default, everyone's stocks are assumed to be sufficient until proven otherwise. Insufficient stocks will not necessarily stop you from raising new divisions, but it may impact those divisions' combat readiness.
...Selling Weapons?
Yes, you just need to find a buyer. Whatever deal you work out, your buyer will benefit from improved readiness and the technical advantages conferred by your stockpile, however sophisticated and well-equipped it may be.
Ground Forces
Guards Division: 1 IC for 2 Divisions. These divisions represent garrisons or local guards forces that are not equipped to go on the offensive.
Upgrade Guards to Infantry: 2 IC for 3 Divisions. A way of preparing new combat forces without recruitment. These divisions are significantly more combat-ready than fresh recruits. Consider this move like dipping into your active reserves.
Infantry Division: 1 IC for 1. These forces provide the standard military forces to most nations. Consisting generally of infantry equipped with rifles, mortars, and bombs.
Cavalry Division: 1 IC for 1: These dragoon forces move much faster than infantry and can fight just as well. All they require is a functioning horse economy.
Must have 5 or more Military Industry:
Armored Division: 2 IC for 1: These expensive divisions assemble armored fighting vehicles and state-of-the-art battle equipment.
Naval Forces
Destroyer Groups: 1 IC for 1 Group. These forces provide protection for sea-lanes and larger ships against marauding enemy submarines and raiders.
Submarine Group: 1 IC for 1. These groups of submarines assault convoys and merchant ships which provide vital lifelines for many nations.
Cruiser Group: 2 IC for 1. These forces fill the niche for open sea control between capital ships and destroyer groups. Cruiser groups are crucial for naval supremacy.
Must have 5 or more Military Industry:
Capital Ship: 3 IC for 1 Ship. These behemoths represent imperial might. They have large guns and are expensive.
Carrier: 3 IC for 1. These ships are built specially for naval aviation and combat.
Air Forces
Biplane Squadron: 2 IC for 1 Squadron. This is a group of about 100 wooden-and-canvass biplanes equipped with machine guns, trained to dogfight as a squadron. They are vulnerable to anti-aircraft artillery, but make short work of dirigibles.
Must have 5 or more Military Industry:
Dirigible Division: 3 IC for 1 Division. This is a division consisting of ground and aircrew, infrastructure, and support for a few combat dirigibles and war-balloons. They are much faster than ground forces and can show up with considerable firepower, but they are expensive and easily destroyed by biplanes.
Reputation
Your nation's global opinion is the reflection that your empire gives to the other governments of the world. The better this is, the more you can snow people into doing what you want, say make it easier to make alliances or trade deals, or get them to listen to your insane megalomaniacal rants. On the other hand, if your nation is feared or hated, all those things will be that much harder to do.
Attacking a nation which is more globally hated than your own will have a less negative effect on your own global opinion. If you attack a nation that is far more beloved, you will bring the wrath of global opinion down upon ye.
Oh, and remember: People love an underdog.
Scale:
Admired-Respected-Liked-Neutral-Disliked-Hated-Feared
Military and Its Use
Warfare
I must ask that when you send orders, describe your plan for the whole war, and leave the specific strategy to the generals in charge. On a related note, your generals can and will get better over time, so remember their names and keep them fighting to get a better military.
Artillery and early armor will both be considered automatically a part of divisions which are in your army, supporting part of Infantry and Cavalry divisions only. Research into these aspects of war will significantly increase the strength of your divisions in comparison to your enemies. These effects are reflected within your Military Quality section of the stats.
Military Quality
Your military quality demonstrates how well advanced, experienced, or trained your armed forces are. Good circumstances can be fostered by investing additional resources, but in general experience is the best teacher. The best military quality can only be maintained by constantly remaining at war all across the globe, in one form or another. It exists on the following scale, from bad to good:
Mutinous*-Incapable-Green-Regular-Veteran-Elite
*Mutinous does not technically indicate combat quality, as it is not actually worse than Incapable, which assumes your military is perfectly unequipped for fighting a modern war. Rather, this value will be used to indicate a military that is totally disorganized and splintering. Expect coups and counter-coups, and expect even a once-invincible fighting force to be reduced to nothing by mutiny.
Hidden Green
Generally, when your army quality is Green, your officers are not aware of it. Therefore, your military quality may be reported as Regular when it is actually Green. The only way to reveal this is to either blow the lid off your army's unpreparedness (difficult as the officers will indeed attempt to keep a lid on things) or go to war and let the meatgrinder grind. Note that after a sudden or emergency draft, Hidden Green becomes a very possible scenario.
Revolutions & Nationalism
Ever since the Revolution, new nations just seem to crop up all the time. Here's how to play as one. Fill out this form:
Organization Name:
Base City:
Objective:
Here's what your stats will look like when they are complete:
Organization Name:
Base City:
Reputation:
Legitimacy:
Base IC:
Army:
Navy:
Objective:
Reputation refers to your global reputation in terms of how seriously people take you. You prefer for this to be on the left side of the following scale:
Fearsome-Respected-Upstart-Indifferent
Legitimacy exists on a 1-100 scale. If it is 50, then 50% of the organization's objective is said to have been fulfilled.
Ground Forces
Militia Division: 1 IC for 2 Divisions. Improperly trained or equipped and with poor morale, fate calls them to war anyway.
Revolutionary Division: 1 IC for 1. Slightly worse than standard infantry, but with very good morale.
Mercenary Division: 2 IC for 1. Slightly better than standard infantry.
Naval Forces
Barque: 1 IC for 1 Squadron. Consider these ships worse than any regular navy vessel. Can traverse rivers and lakes. Better than no navy at all.
Air Forces
Revolutionaries can have air force equipment gifted to them, but presently it is not generally possible to bootstrap an air force.
Military Quality
Army/Navy Quality for player rebellion armies, nationalists, or revolutionaries is considered to be always around Veteran.
Objective
This is vital to creating your nation, you must state an objective for your organization. When this is achieved, or if a convincing impression of achievement has been made, the group ends with victory. If you are nationalists you create a new real nation. If you are rebels attempting to change the government, you get control of that nation and form a new government. The former government is driven into exile.
Background
In the beginning was Napoleon. He, at the crest of the heroic French Revolution, sought to overthrow the old and oppressive Ancien Régime, and succeeded. The Holy Roman Empire was destroyed. The Iberian Empires, bowed. Italy, united. Russia, negotiated; and Britain, excluded. By 1819, none could stand to contest the domination of the French Empire, and the Code Napoleon swept the continent on the back of seemingly invincible armies.
Of course, nothing is by coincidence. Napoleon moved carefully, his enemies blundered, and all were blinkered by the shades of their time. One might point to the narrow and successful negotiation of alliance with Russia as the most decisive factor, which even by 1815 had petered out, but had bought enough time for Napoleon to secure a decisive position. As leader of the Revolution, he espoused the vision of a new Europe, united by France's revolutionary ideals. By 1827, the United Kingdom had quietly lifted its total embargo on French markets, and Napoleon graciously adapted the Blocus continentale to match.
The new age promised a unity that seemed stubborn to arrive. War and revolutions spread, upstarts espoused visions of new nations and new ideals, and France tightened its control with the help of its British and Iberian business partners. This age of revolutions was the age of a new imperialism, where the leaders of the old revolutionary class gave way inexorably to the captains of industry. New scions arose in nations once handily defeated by Napoleon, irreducibly studied in the ways of the new empire.
In an age of industrial politics and unmatched exploitation of resources, France was inevitably driven to war with those selfsame scions. By 1909, nations which had not existed 100 years before now vied with the Western Bloc for the power of Europe. The Empire of Italy, a confederation of republics united by an elective Emperor; the United Republics of Germany, a very young confederation which sought to build its own industry and separate from the economy of France; and what remained then of the Russian Empire. Against them was arrayed The French Empire, and its beholden allies, the British Republic, the Spanish Empire, and the Ottoman Empire.
The Russian, Spanish, and Ottoman Empires were annihilated in this 10-year war, and Britain and France were rocked dearly from within. The Empire of Italy was forced at length to accept a humiliating peace, and fell to a liberal revolution which nevertheless voted to keep the Italian Imperial system. The German union collapsed into civil war and chaos.
Outside of Europe, a consciousness is rising as to the relationships of the nations of the world. As the industrial powers spread their dominion and seek ever more resources to uncover, the revolutionary Republic of China has finally overthrown the Qing, and the Empire of Japan was forced to capitulate to the French at the hands of a German Treaty Force (German Union splitters who signed an "early" peace treaty with France in 1917). The newly established Legation State of Manchuria and Korea is woefully underprepared for the mandate placed on it by Paris.
It is 1919 and the world is changing once more.
Intro
I will give you the intro words EQ used in 2007 to intro his game about a world without Britain:
EQandcivfanatic said:
Let us meditate on these and contemplate the way of things.
Rules
You will most likely play as the government of some state or empire, and you will endeavor to expand the power and basis of your mandate and prove the glory of your nation. Vive la révolution.
If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you will see rules that allow you also to play as a rebellion or revolutionary movement, and endeavor to liberate an oppressed nation. Bonne chance! Tu en auras besoin.
Sample Nation Statistics
The French Empire
Constitutional Congressional Empire: Parti Radical (election in 1925)
Capital: Paris
Dissent: 35%
Jingoism: 10%
Reputation: Admired
Industrial Capacity: 35 (+15)
Military Industry: 12 (+3)
Public Services: 8
Private Enterprise: 15 (+12)
Army: 20 Guards Divisions, 15 Infantry Divisions, 5 Cavalry Divisions, 5 Armored Divisions
Army Quality: Veteran
Navy: 28 Capital Ships, 30 Cruiser Groups, 50 Destroyer Groups, 10 Submarine Groups
Navy Quality: Elite
Air: 18 Biplane Squadrons, 7 Dirigible Divisions
Air Quality: Veteran
Background: The French Empire stands at the center of the Western Commission, the artifact created by the European Social War Treaty after the Great War. The Western Commission is plagued by economic dysfunction, popular dissent demanding more socialist reforms, and ever-expanding chaos in the imperial periphery. The French are divided by the Parti Radical, which seeks peace in our time, and the Front Populaire, which seeks reform.
Empire of Italy
Federative Republican Empire: National Front
Capital: Rome
Dissent: 45%
Jingoism: 55%
Reputation: Feared
Industrial Capacity: 30 (+6)
Military Industry: 5 (+2)
Public Services: 4
Private Enterprise: 21 (+4)
Army: 10 Guards Divisions, 22 Infantry Divisions, 7 Cavalry Divisions, 2 Armored Divisions
Army Quality: Elite
Navy: 9 Capital Ships, 9 Cruiser Groups, 39 Destroyer Groups, 48 Submarine Groups
Navy Quality: Veteran
Air: 18 Biplane Squadrons, 12 Dirigible Divisions
Air Quality: Elite
Background: The Empire of Italy formed out of a successful peninsula-wide rebellion against the French Empire in 1839, which eventually led to the continent-spanning rebellions and revolutions of 1844. Although many of those ultimately were defeated, the Italian rebellion triumphed over all comers and became the very symbol of meritocracy. This irresistible vision of the new Italy brought both the nobles and capitalists in line, and seemingly came to an end with Great War, when Rome was occupied and the government, scattered. Although a provisional government made peace with the west, it too was overthrown by revolution from within and the imperial system was reestablished. The newly-elected National Front now promises to ensure peace with the west, but it will have to submit to very unpopular reparations to truly satisfy Paris...
State and Politics
Government
The government of a nation represents the political approaches available to people to legitimately take control of the state. Generally, it is designed in such a way as to protect some inherent privilege or advantage of the ruling class. Often, it is reliant on the promulgation of popular ideas in order to manufacture consent, which is why most governments steep themselves in tradition. Appeals to tradition can be conservative or innovative, as they can relate what are or are not, for example, "rights" or "entitlements." No matter the situation, people generally expect governments to maintain order.
Ruling Party/Faction/Monarch
To the right of your nation's government in the stats is the ruling party, loose association or faction, or the titular or absolute ruler of your government. This will tend to be who people blame when things go wrong. Whether the Head of State or Head of Government is listed here is contextual; in reality, the two offices are not that loosely connected. Elections are also held contextually, and governments with electoral authority will have their control-taking election listed here.
Dissent
Dissent is the key indicator of your success and the stability of your government. Dissent rises in the following circumstances:
1. When you shift policies to an influential political class' detriment.
2. When you politically move away from an influential political class.
3. When something confusing happens to something procedural and expected, like an election.
4. When you lose a war, or one of your influential political class' loses a proxy war, or you are fighting a war with low jingoism.
5. Other types of unfortunate events which can surprise you.
Dissent falls in the following circumstances:
1. When a government successfully implements publicly preferred policy.
2. When spending in social services is increased.
3. When you win a war with high jingoism.
4. When a party is re-elected to government.
5. Other types of fortunate events.
Jingoism
A measurement of public support for war and hostile activity in general. This can be dressed up any number of ways, what matters is the bottom line and whether people will tolerate your expenditure of their lives and treasure for war or not. Low jingoism in times of war can result in rebellion. High jingoism in any time can also backfire, as influential violent psychopaths take things into their own hands, but is generally the type of problem you prefer to have if you like to fight wars.
Economy
Industrial Capacity / Base IC
The Base IC is NOT the IC you spend each turn. This is the total combined IC your nation produces or imports through exploitation and favorable exchange, and is a collection of the production and development of military assets, the spending put into welfare and other public projects, and the amount of industry and economic activity in general controlled by private enterprises such as corporations and wealthy individuals. IC cannot be banked or saved over time, and all must be spent on the turn it is earned or else you will lose it. Once again I'd like to repeat that Base IC is NOT the IC you spend each turn.
Shifting IC Emphasis and Spending IC
Shifting IC
Your Base IC determines the total amount of IC per turn you gain, and from that the IC is divided into different aspects of your economy. For each category, you can shift 1 point to any other category once per turn. Beware, however, the consequences that a shift will have upon your people and your dissent rating. For example, Ethiopia has 1 IC per turn in all three of the different sections, the first part of which gives them the industry and resources to sustain a modern military, the second part of which creates a sturdy government with a steady flow of magistrates, and a third part of the economy is produced as a result of private domestic commercial activity. However, ruining this peace, the Italian Empire determines to annex the other nation. In order to mobilize for a war, Ethiopia shifts IC from Public Spending and Private Enterprise in order to triple its production of military equipment in the fight against Italy. Even though Ethiopia now has 0 Private and Public IC, a rudimentary amount of both still exist within the nation, but not enough to produce any political activity with. The longer an imbalanced circumstance like this persists, the worse the circumstances of the Ethiopian state's control will become.
In most nations, the ruling class will prefer to have as much private enterprise as possible. This is because they can generally do whatever they like with private enterprise, and usually you have no reason to stop them - unless they're foreigners, trying to crowbar away your resources.
We may stereotype the imbalanced edge cases like so:
Max Military Industry: A nation wholeheartedly committed to fighting a protracted people's war.
Max Public Services: The utopian ideal for those who seek to provide the material needs of all society.
Max Private Enterprise: The preferred circumstance for landowners, bourgeoisie, and syndicalists.
Max State Enterprise: A nation entirely characterized by steel and cement plants.
"Is Balanced just equally distributing IC to the three main categories?"
Yes, for the most part; but you may wish to seek additional advantages. Evenly splitting your IC is just a strategy to ensure you can handle whatever you need to, but if you really want to multiply your advantages, you should attempt to take advantage of the following dynamics:
Capitalist nations should always ensure their Private Enterprise is not less than either of the other two categories. Capitalist nations with colonial empires should ensure their Private Enterprise is greater than or equal to their Military Industry, and should regularly train new Guards Divisions for security.
Socialist nations, or nations that seek some degree of separation for their economies from the global or western ones, should do the following: Always ensure their Public Services budget is equal to or greater than the combination of their Private and State Enterprise. Ensure Private Enterprise is less than State Enterprise. Ensure State Enterprise be greater than Military Industry. Do these things, and you will be on your way to autarky - and maybe even liberation.
Spending IC
Military IC can be spent on military units. Public Service IC can be spent on Special Projects. Private IC you must leave to its own devices, but can attempt to influence through political means. State IC is beholden to certain economic roles defined as necessary by your state planners.
Virtual and Imported IC
Imports or virtual quantities of IC are indicated in a parenthetical statement following the quantity, such as (+2). These are considered real industry and a real part of your economy. They count towards your totals for the purpose of unlocking units and infrastructure.
You can end up in a circumstance where you "import" a virtual quantity of IC, usually to private enterprise but sometimes to the other categories where it is spendable, and this is generally the result of favorable international circumstances whereby you have privileged access to another nation's markets. This is almost always the heritage of past conquests and the victory of imperialism, but sometimes results from honest trade. Virtual IC does not necessarily subtract from that which another nation has access to, as it is considered "outside" of their ownership. However, it usually is taking space that that nation cannot.
Public Services Spending, and Special Projects
Your public services budget can be spent on a 1:1 basis on Special Projects. A Special Project is more broad than "build Hoover Dam" and represents a national strategy or political undertaking to bring about a specific end, accomplished with the financial resources being allocated to the project. For example, suppose Japan wants to build its industry so that it can be more economically competitive. It may undertake to directly build and manage the industry (see State-Owned Enterprise below), or it may attempt to scaffold the development of private enterprise with public resources. Public services are also automatically spent maintaining ongoing expenditures related to the essential functions of the state (see Maintenance below). These expenditures you cannot easily reduce, and are shown in a parenthetical. These expenditures must be paid before you spend Public Services budget on anything else.
Private Enterprise
Private Enterprise is the most essential aspect for a long term game plan. This is the age of industry and development, and private enterprise represents the commercial activity and exploitation that is driving that development. The downside, of course, is that there is an increasingly powerful stake of bourgeois business-owners in the management and destiny of your nation. Sometimes, your Private Enterprise score will represent industry that is owned by a class of bourgeoisie from a foreign nation, who serve a different state. This still benefits you as Private Enterprise, but it benefits the foreigners as well, and they told you that was the standard market price for cardamom...
State-Owned Enterprise
State-Owned Enterprise is available for any nation, but is generally not an efficient option for capitalist empires, which are not configured to support state-owned enterprise really. This enterprise must be supported by an equivalent or greater amount of Public Services Spending. You cannot spend or allocate State Enterprise like other spending, as it is assumed to be automatically allocated by your planning commissions to certain necessary activities. In your strategic orders, you may specify such goals as they should work on, and according to their ideology and the priors you give them, they will seek to shape your economy to fit those goals.
Maintenance
Your public services budget is charged a bill every turn for maintaining the bureaucratic functions of the state. You can effectively only reduce the maintenance amount with directed policy - which usually means the expenditure of additional public services stat. An example is trying to reduce a "bloated" red taped-up bureaucracy's operating budget. Indeed, reducing the overall cost is the goal, but you will still need to put effort in to identifying which parts of the bureaucracy are really bloated. Corners may get cut in this process, for all the more carnage you may accidentally or recklessly end up doing to your state.
Military Spending
Military spending IC is the only IC that you can specifically spend on production and military research. Any IC not spent on the turn it is earned is lost. You may spend any virtual or imported Military IC as if it were normal Military IC.
When you recruit new forces, it is assumed you are recruiting those forces - the people and the equipment and organization necessary to assemble them into divisions - from your population. This may or may not be desirable, for you or for your population. Therefore, you should take care to try to "sweeten the deal" when pressing new soldiers into battle. If nothing else, give them a symbol and an ideal to fight for. Then maybe you don't need to do that much sweetening.
When recruiting new Guards, there will be less disgruntlement than when recruiting Infantry. However, if you have, say, some Guards Divisions already failing in a theater and you recruit new Guards to send them in, beware that it will be really important to the people back home how well you do in that theater, and all the more so when you decide to commit new Infantry. Therefore, you should generally try to make do with what you have.
As a rule of thumb, divide your jingoism stat by 10% to find the number of new land divisions you can recruit without stepping on anyone's toes.
Recruiting new naval and air forces is much less impactful on your population, so you can ignore this rule of thumb, but it is still very impactful on your economy. Be mindful of the effects that constant militarization can have and stay vigilant.
Stockpiling Weapons
If you don't want to raise any new forces but you still wish to build your military advantage, you may always use any military IC to stockpile weapons. This will add to a hidden stat that only you may see indicating your weapon stockpiles. The types of stockpiles and the effect they will have on your readiness will vary according to the programs that you as the player wish to undertake. However, in general it is better to have some stock than none especially if you are raising new divisions. By default, everyone's stocks are assumed to be sufficient until proven otherwise. Insufficient stocks will not necessarily stop you from raising new divisions, but it may impact those divisions' combat readiness.
...Selling Weapons?
Yes, you just need to find a buyer. Whatever deal you work out, your buyer will benefit from improved readiness and the technical advantages conferred by your stockpile, however sophisticated and well-equipped it may be.
Ground Forces
Guards Division: 1 IC for 2 Divisions. These divisions represent garrisons or local guards forces that are not equipped to go on the offensive.
Upgrade Guards to Infantry: 2 IC for 3 Divisions. A way of preparing new combat forces without recruitment. These divisions are significantly more combat-ready than fresh recruits. Consider this move like dipping into your active reserves.
Infantry Division: 1 IC for 1. These forces provide the standard military forces to most nations. Consisting generally of infantry equipped with rifles, mortars, and bombs.
Cavalry Division: 1 IC for 1: These dragoon forces move much faster than infantry and can fight just as well. All they require is a functioning horse economy.
Must have 5 or more Military Industry:
Armored Division: 2 IC for 1: These expensive divisions assemble armored fighting vehicles and state-of-the-art battle equipment.
Naval Forces
Destroyer Groups: 1 IC for 1 Group. These forces provide protection for sea-lanes and larger ships against marauding enemy submarines and raiders.
Submarine Group: 1 IC for 1. These groups of submarines assault convoys and merchant ships which provide vital lifelines for many nations.
Cruiser Group: 2 IC for 1. These forces fill the niche for open sea control between capital ships and destroyer groups. Cruiser groups are crucial for naval supremacy.
Must have 5 or more Military Industry:
Capital Ship: 3 IC for 1 Ship. These behemoths represent imperial might. They have large guns and are expensive.
Carrier: 3 IC for 1. These ships are built specially for naval aviation and combat.
Air Forces
Biplane Squadron: 2 IC for 1 Squadron. This is a group of about 100 wooden-and-canvass biplanes equipped with machine guns, trained to dogfight as a squadron. They are vulnerable to anti-aircraft artillery, but make short work of dirigibles.
Must have 5 or more Military Industry:
Dirigible Division: 3 IC for 1 Division. This is a division consisting of ground and aircrew, infrastructure, and support for a few combat dirigibles and war-balloons. They are much faster than ground forces and can show up with considerable firepower, but they are expensive and easily destroyed by biplanes.
Reputation
Your nation's global opinion is the reflection that your empire gives to the other governments of the world. The better this is, the more you can snow people into doing what you want, say make it easier to make alliances or trade deals, or get them to listen to your insane megalomaniacal rants. On the other hand, if your nation is feared or hated, all those things will be that much harder to do.
Attacking a nation which is more globally hated than your own will have a less negative effect on your own global opinion. If you attack a nation that is far more beloved, you will bring the wrath of global opinion down upon ye.
Oh, and remember: People love an underdog.
Scale:
Admired-Respected-Liked-Neutral-Disliked-Hated-Feared
Military and Its Use
Warfare
I must ask that when you send orders, describe your plan for the whole war, and leave the specific strategy to the generals in charge. On a related note, your generals can and will get better over time, so remember their names and keep them fighting to get a better military.
Artillery and early armor will both be considered automatically a part of divisions which are in your army, supporting part of Infantry and Cavalry divisions only. Research into these aspects of war will significantly increase the strength of your divisions in comparison to your enemies. These effects are reflected within your Military Quality section of the stats.
Military Quality
Your military quality demonstrates how well advanced, experienced, or trained your armed forces are. Good circumstances can be fostered by investing additional resources, but in general experience is the best teacher. The best military quality can only be maintained by constantly remaining at war all across the globe, in one form or another. It exists on the following scale, from bad to good:
Mutinous*-Incapable-Green-Regular-Veteran-Elite
*Mutinous does not technically indicate combat quality, as it is not actually worse than Incapable, which assumes your military is perfectly unequipped for fighting a modern war. Rather, this value will be used to indicate a military that is totally disorganized and splintering. Expect coups and counter-coups, and expect even a once-invincible fighting force to be reduced to nothing by mutiny.
Hidden Green
Generally, when your army quality is Green, your officers are not aware of it. Therefore, your military quality may be reported as Regular when it is actually Green. The only way to reveal this is to either blow the lid off your army's unpreparedness (difficult as the officers will indeed attempt to keep a lid on things) or go to war and let the meatgrinder grind. Note that after a sudden or emergency draft, Hidden Green becomes a very possible scenario.
Revolutions & Nationalism
Ever since the Revolution, new nations just seem to crop up all the time. Here's how to play as one. Fill out this form:
Organization Name:
Base City:
Objective:
Here's what your stats will look like when they are complete:
Organization Name:
Base City:
Reputation:
Legitimacy:
Base IC:
Army:
Navy:
Objective:
Reputation refers to your global reputation in terms of how seriously people take you. You prefer for this to be on the left side of the following scale:
Fearsome-Respected-Upstart-Indifferent
Legitimacy exists on a 1-100 scale. If it is 50, then 50% of the organization's objective is said to have been fulfilled.
Ground Forces
Militia Division: 1 IC for 2 Divisions. Improperly trained or equipped and with poor morale, fate calls them to war anyway.
Revolutionary Division: 1 IC for 1. Slightly worse than standard infantry, but with very good morale.
Mercenary Division: 2 IC for 1. Slightly better than standard infantry.
Naval Forces
Barque: 1 IC for 1 Squadron. Consider these ships worse than any regular navy vessel. Can traverse rivers and lakes. Better than no navy at all.
Air Forces
Revolutionaries can have air force equipment gifted to them, but presently it is not generally possible to bootstrap an air force.
Military Quality
Army/Navy Quality for player rebellion armies, nationalists, or revolutionaries is considered to be always around Veteran.
Objective
This is vital to creating your nation, you must state an objective for your organization. When this is achieved, or if a convincing impression of achievement has been made, the group ends with victory. If you are nationalists you create a new real nation. If you are rebels attempting to change the government, you get control of that nation and form a new government. The former government is driven into exile.
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