LizNES5: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying, And Love The Bomb

[Dreadnought]

@Dreadnought: Your stories have been really interesting to say the least. I love the very realistic take you have on your nation. I always get excited when I see the Stars and Bars at the top of one of your posts, knowing you've create yet another story.

Thank you very, very much. I'd also like to thank you for bestowing President Forrest with Man of the Year honors. It is truly an honor.

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One Week Before The Election of 1962​

With the election rapidly approaching, it seems both candidates have taken a one day rest for Thanksgiving before a final weekend of campaigning for the election on Monday. The campaigning season has been quite a show, and illustrates the multifaceted nature of Dixie politics at both the state and national level.

This election is so appealing for both sides because victory is achievable for each candidate. Senator Jordan has pulled off the, previously impossible, notion of denting the O'Neill-Forrest political machine. On the other hand, O'Neill handled the pressure masterfully, rallying his campaign and driving harder than ever before. The momentum is still on Senator Jordan's side, but his political gains have not resulted in a total rout for O'Neill's campaign.

O'Neill still holds the "heartland of the Dixie Party" -- Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina -- with ease. Jordan also holds his political base, mainly Kansas, Arkansas, and Florida, securely. Between them, the swing states are up for grabs. O'Neill's native Kentucky is not an easily obtainable goal for Jordan, but Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi are within his grasp. The latest poll for Louisiana shows Jordan half a point ahead of O'Neill, with Mississippi not far behind. Jordan has also made inroads into Alabama and Virginia, though in those states O'Neill still holds a lead.

East of the Mississippi, this election was beautiful to behold, with both sides maneuvering for key areas of states while attempting to blunt their opponent's advances. West of the Mississippi, however, is chaos compared to the east.

Besides Missouri, which was historically secured by the Democratic Party at the end of the 1940's, there seems to be no continuity with the polling results of these states. This phenomenon owes to the restructuring of these areas, and the acquiring of new western territories a few years ago. Nebraska seems to favor O'Neill, but he cannot seem to make much headway within the other states of the region. Jordan spent a significant amount of time last month attempting to win these states, but to date only Aurora has seemed to lean towards the Democratic candidate. Quite literally, "the west is anyone's guess," a phrase made popular by The Atlanta Journal.

However, Jordan's lead in Aurora is seem as the beginning of a domino effect by some political anaylsts. By securing a slight lead in Aurora, that pro-Jordan sentiment may resonate into nearby areas. Jordan's hard work in these areas also supports this claim, though the new western territories are predicted to be much more politically volatile than the eastern states.

The restructuring of these states has also lead to an increase in the electoral votes of several Democratic-leaning states, which gives Jordan a small bonus. These electoral votes cannot be balanced until the census is given in 1968.

Preliminary polling for the election of 1962. Dark blue areas represent states favoring Jordan, while light blue areas are states slightly favoring Jordan. Dark red are states favoring O'Neill, while light red are states slightly favoring O'Neill. Grey states are undecided.​

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[TheLizardKing]

First off, welcome to the game Lighthearter. Since you're a new NESer, I'd be happy to give you any help to need, should you come across a question or problem in regards to this game, or NESing as a whole. I suppose you may take France, I don't have an issue with it. No nations are.. 'important' or too strong, at least this far in the game. All nations have a fairly equal chance of being important. That being said, at least in reference to the argument which I hope ends soon, a Franco-USMA alliance at this juncture would be a bit OOC. Over time, sure. Stories help in that regard. Ultimately, the decision as to what OOC and IC actions are comes down to me as the moderator. Convince me, and give me reason as to why an alliance will happen, and why your respective people's wont be upset by it, then I have no issue with it. However, an alliance this turn, and probably next turn, and even the turn after may be a bit premature. But we'll see how things are. It's too hard to forsee how things will go.

Now, moving on.

@Immac

1) Awesome update.
2) Happiness went down?
3) Salvage?

1.) Thank you.
2.) From the annexation of a sovereign people, who clearly don't want it. Young Colombians are dieing every day for the 'wrong' reasons.
3.) You got two squadrons, and an armored brigade. It wasn't update worthy in my opinion. There isn't really much to say about it .

@TheFarrow

I'd love to have you play. There isn't really anything I want filled in particular, all nations have some sort of importance as of now. I do feel like the Communist players are a bit under-represented, so if you wanted to take a Communist nation, that may help balance things out a bit. Past that, their is only 1 African player, and I feel like Southern Europe is lacking something too.

@arya

I'm fairly sure I tacked a bonus onto your stats last turn when you said I didn't mention the completion.

@zelet

Working on it.

From: The Maritime Provinces
To: Gran Colombia

The support is very much appreciated. You can have the Leeward territories you have taken, though we would like Santo Domingo.

From: The Generals of New England
To: The USMA, Gran Colombia, Canada, whoever else

We will surrender. We ask for some sort of lenience, as it was not the people's choice, merely the government. Past that, it's all you.

To: Russia
From: Crimea, The Kazakh Soviet, The Bayern Soviet, Daghestan, Azerbaijin

We support this inclusion.

To: Russia
From: The People's Republic of the Caribbean

We would love the opportunity to join hands with your cause. So long as you help us end the imperialist threat that remains in our territory once and for all..

To: The Ukraine
From: Romania

What business is this of yours? We have removed our soldiers. No harm has been done.


I'll answer all PMs now.

 

[TheLizardKing]

Map fixed. Any other NPC diplomacy?

Stats will be up either tonight, or tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Karalysia]

I couldn't send orders last turn, not sure if you're banking the ep or wat, but Bolivia would like Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to join our club.

 

[Lighthearter]

OOC: For a moment I thought "People's Republic of the Caribbean" was "Pirate's Republic of the Caribbean" Made my night.

Anyway, I'll try to get a story up tonight, but I might not pull it off. Just no one start lambasting me over decisions I haven't made!

-L

 

[arya126]

TLK- Was it a one time boost of IP or something similar? I just checked the stats, and the per turn EP and IP are 7 and 5 like always. You didnt mention anything in the update either, so I assumed you had forgotten about it.

 

[TheLizardKing]

Is it? Then it'll be fixed when I post the stats.

 

[arya126]

K thanks . Besides that, it really was a good update as always. Yours are always very thorough, but they arent walls of text that make my eyes hurt.

 

[TheLizardKing]

Good to hear.

To: Bolivia
From: Argentina

We'll join!

To: Bolivia
From: Uruguay

Why should we join?

 

[The Farow]

I think I will join as Poland. Seems like a fun nation given their position in Europe. Was going to join in Africa or as a communist nation but I just could not seem to find myself keeping interest in those nations.

 

[TheLizardKing]

Sounds good! Try to send in orders for this update!

Orders due by this.. Monday please.

Stats will be up shortly.

 

[Commander Gorma]

Great update TLK and I will be more clear with my spending next time.

 

[TheLizardKing]

Stats have been posted. Tell me if anything is wrong. I know as a fact that a majority of you guys don't have the correct techs, at least when it comes to alliance tech trading. If you tell me who is in what tech trade with who.. that'd make my life a lot easier.

 

[Milarqui]

All the members of the Entente have a tech-sharing agreement.

Also, I'm wondering, what the heck do I have to do to improve my happiness?

 

[TheLizardKing]

Make your people happy. Your orders have been mostly military related, if I recall correctly. Few domestics, if anything, short of offering incentives and trade have been mentioned. At least off the top of my head.

 

[Dreadnought]

CSS Allatoona Sunk In The Bahamas​

As the Caribbean Crisis rages to the south, the Confederacy faces another assailant, though this event is far more devious and unknown than even the Communist forces.

On November 21, the destroyer CSS Allatoona was sunk in shallow waters off the coast of The Bahamas. The vessel had been deployed to investigate several attacks on merchant shipping in the region before meeting the same fate.

Fortunately, the attacker was hunted by Dixie forces, and was sunk nearby. As the Confederate navy moves to investigate the wreckage, however, several USMA ships arrived to commandeer the evidence, stating the attacker was a rogue New England submarine.

Naturally, the Confederate commander in the area, Captain Robert Franklin, refused to leave the premise. When USMA vessels attempted to secure the wreckage, Captain Franklin went so far as to park his destroyer directly over the sunken submarine, refusing to allow the USMA forces to proceed with their actions.

As soon as President James Monroe Forrest learned of the tension, he immediately contacted Captain Franklin and ordered that, under no circumstances, should the situation escalate any further.

In an emergency address, President Forrest urged all parties to remain calm. "Cooler heads will prevail," he stated. "We need to solve this issue legally and diplomatically."

Polls conducted this week show the Dixie population very concerned over the sinking of the Allatoona. Over nearly seventy percent of those questioned felt that the USMA's actions regarding the wreckage were suspicious, while over ninety percent felt the Confederacy should have a dominate role in the investigation.

President Forrest agreed. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he said. "I can assure you, I will do whatever it takes to see justice for those men murdered by this attack."

What justice, you may ask? "For starters, reparations for the sunken ship," the President clarified. "At the same time, an apology, both to the Confederacy and to every family affected by this attack, should be issued."

Casualty figures released place forty individuals killed in the attack. The destroyer was already on heightened alert, due to the crisis in the Caribbean, so the crew was able to react quickly and efficiently when the attack occurred.

The CSS Allatoona​

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[Heraclius49]

Can I take Argentina?

 

[TheLizardKing]

Absolutely!

 

[arya126]

Hate to nag even more, but shouldnt I have 4 more fighters due to the sale? Also, as I have had 2 turns of relatively intense warfare, did I gain any mil experience?

 

[Lighthearter]

France

France's last prime minister's recent abdication caused quite a stir in the country. Many wondered what had brought it on and what would happen next. As it happened, with no clear succession in sight, a chain of events unfolded that many are still grappling with.

First, the French Army took control of the country and instituted an election, determining to gain a new leader fairly. However, this move was taken poorly by many, with the first to speak out being the Parti Communiste de France. Though the Parti Communiste de France had little standing in the country, France being one of the founding partners of the Entente, their standard was taken up by the Parti Libéral, the Parti Bonapartiste and the Parti Libertarien. This clamor worried the military, which tightened its grip and prayed for a quick election.

The first group to forward a candidate for Prime Minister was the Parti Bonapartiste, with Luc Carrere. Ironically, in spite of the legacy of the former Bonaparte emperor, the coalition that brought a Napoleon to the table was the Parti Libéral with Napoleon Durand. Soon afterward Charles Sabatier threw his hat in the ring with the Parti Libertarien, surprising few - the former general's agenda would clash rather furiously with that of the Liberals or the Bonapartistes. The Parti Communiste de France did not submit a candidate at this stage, withdrawing to brood as it knew it could not gain power in the nation.

The race began to get heated after a few weeks, with Carrere and Durand slinging furious insults at each other every debate. At this point Sabatier began a massive funding blitz, managing to outdo both his rivals, who promptly turned their attention to attacking him. The King remained in nominal control for this period - he was quoted as saying: "Dieu ait pitié de ces imbéciles. . . est-ce la politique moderne?"

The race is continuing, and slated to conclude early next year. However, there are rumors that the Parti Communiste de France is dissatisfied with the refusal of the other parties to oust the military from power. There have been public speeches from communist leaders claiming that they are preparing their own action to return France to glory - but major leaders in the army believe nothing will come of it.

-L