I have a love/hate relationship with Harry Turtledove's Worldwar series, where lizard people from Tau Ceti invade Earth in the middle of World War II. Mostly I love the first four books, and I hate everything else that comes after it. The British should have had a nuke, they should have nuked Jerusalem if the Zionists did that they would mark Jews as traitors to humanity for anyone undecided, the US/British alliance would NEVER end, everything about the Nazis is moronic, including Hitler's trying to set off a nuke during peace negotiations (even if drug-addled, the other senior Nazis wouldn't DARE allow Hitler to do it).
Obviously I don't want to create a Worldwar Scenario, that is completely faithful to Turtledove's vision. But the reason I give this story a second thought, unlike Guns of the South or the How Few Remain series, both of which are stupid, there's enough going that I want to reimage it.
Arsenal of Humanity: I wanted to change the setup of Worldwar; that the Lizards invade not on May 30, 1942, but May 30, 1944, when the US war machine has become a Juggernaut. It's also by far the strongest year for Imperial Japan by a long shot in terms of the Army, AND there's a CRAPTON of American troops in both Britain and North Africa.. Best of all, Italy is divided between the Allies and the Germans,
But I'm well aware that this might leave Germany too weak and the Soviets too fragile to both fight the Lizards and remain potential rivals of the United States. In that case, I could do a World War 43, which would be just after the surrender of the Afrika Korps in Tunisia. But I don't want it in 43, yes, more civilians will be saved is the Lizards invade in 1943, but Hitler will be much harder to dislodge, and I'm not sure of US and the Allies military strength in 1943 versus 44.
I don't want this to be a war game, I want this to be a political game. Because this scenario is not about holding off the invasion and ending with a Peace in Cairo, The Worldwar is just the opening act. The scenario ends when you send an FTL ship to Tau Ceti with all the bombs in the world and you politely ask the Home to GTFO of the Sol System. That or completely retake Earth. I want flipping events; the world of Colonization is way WAY too static, I want power struggles between Kruschev and Molotov, the ability to overthrow the Nazis both as a German and an Allied player, a way to flip Japan democratic, or cripple it post-war. I want to wage an ideological struggle, to free Europe from the Nazis and/or restore the Russian monarchy, or flip the US Communist. Most of all, I want to portray the survival of remanets of nearly all the conquered states on relatively small islands the Lizards never thought to bother to conquer. Portugal survives in the Azores, Free France on Madagasgar, as well as Polynesia, Spain in the Balearics and Canary Islands. Most
I wanted to make use of TOT's multiple map system, but I'm not sure how. I have three ideas, two requiring a lot more work than the other, and maybe for not sufficient payoff:
1. Maps are Earth (biggest one, modified to include Antarctica), Space (including a European powers map on the side) Venus and Mars, where the post-game, should you like, would be all about terraforming those planets and building space infrastructure. Both maps exist, including a wonderful map where Mars has massive ocean in the north
2. The Big Map of Europe, and an equally big map of Asia, and an equally huge map of North America and a horrible map that somehow combines Soth America and Australia in a Split Screen fashion. The way I figure it, they don't have to be to scale.
3. A Map involving the World map of Imperialism TOT, the biggest possible where Europe is Unpassible terrain except to teleport you inside the big European map. And then you'd have space but no Venus, and maybe Mars cause WTH, the map exists it just needs to be resized. I think such a thing can be done in Lua, I think.
The other thing is I'm not seeing a real reason to have the US and Britain be separate factions. I'd actually called them the United Nations, and have lots of minor power units like Anders Army Poles, Free French, Mexican remnants, Royal Candians,etc. etc.
I also wonder if I can get away with making the Lizards Barbarians or not. This would give me latitude for more factions, in theory at least.
I was thinking of eliminating pollution and using the population devices to be a marker for unit building al a Napoleon. Like one would be a minor power, and with say Germans you could build Romanian, Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian units, whereas with allied tech you could build Frech troops, Greek Troops Polish troops and if you conquered Germany (somehow) Bundeswehr troops, given what's reasonable give the 127 unit limit. There would be a separate British Empire facility that allow you to build British/Canadian, Australian/possibly Indian troops.
I was thinking of making the trade units expensive and giving every time a human destroys a Lizard unit, they get an interrogation unit, which is a caravan, home rule it that it's not allowed to be re-homed, but you can trade it it with another power and get a science boost
I was gonna have armored cars by the spy unit with ZOC and alpine, with the ability to bribe and sabotage units. Ideally, Armored cars would just spy and sabotage units, and ginger dealers would bribe units and subvert cities and steal technology, but other than a house rule, I don't think that can be done.
I wanted to have infrastructures like OTR, mostly war plants and refineries, which the Lizards can and will bomb. Tech in this era would mostly be about which options to pursue. Unlike modern-day and the books, I think the rational thing to do to compare equipment and copy the best, which means in practice the Germans have the Me-262 and everyone else getting Meteors as Lend-Lease. Or, the Allies swallow their pride and accept the only thing that cripples the Me-262 is material shortages. Either way one or two jet fighters alone. I was thinking to just Strategic bombers all together and just inform the player they were used and all shot down by Lizard SAMs, as in the books. Things like biplane fighters and maybe even the Mosquito might be viable, albeit with a very, very low defense score.
I keep thinking that in the case of World War, all the humans are gonna have to think like Finns: never give pitched battle outside of wintertime. Look for targets of opportunity, screw up their logistics, make them afraid to leave the cities. I also believe the Chinese did this to the Japanese.
How could I organize the factions? I know there's a command to re/create factions from the Red October scenario, so while initially I only see the need for five factions, I have another three up my sleeve just in case. How best to organize them,I don't know.
The thing is, I'm gonna start the scenario not in May, but in June, while the Lizards are overrunning everything, so the human powers start out as allied. But it might be cool to give the player a couple of turns, not to prepare for the invasion as such but to play the last few rounds of World War IIas we know it. Cause in the books, people knew things were happening. I don't remember if they could see the ships in orbit or infer their existence but they sure did note the recon flights and in places, the enemy simply could not be. OTOH, starting in June eliminates the need for neutrals. Because of where Allies are, there's a very clear line how counties fall in:
Switzerland and Turkey go German. There are Allied troops in Syria and Iraq, but not a lot. German troops are a lot closer and less interdicted by Landing sites.
Nobody goes Japanese, nobody goes Soviets. Both are hated and feared and seen as far more permanent menaces than Hitler, who's a Johnny come lately.
The only issue is Scandinavia. Thing is, I'm not Hitler. but I'd be more than glad to leave Norway and Denmark and get my 400K troops back, now that I know for the foreseeable future the Allies won't dream of cutting off Narvik, and that's probably what I'm gonna do for the setup. If that happened, Sweden and Finland go Allies. If Hitler promises to respect the monarchy and such of Norway once the war is over, it might quell Norwegian resistance. In this instance only, no realistic way. And that means Sweden and Finland also fall into the German orbit by default.
Spain goes Allies, as does Portugal. With Lizard landings in central France, the Wehrmacht CANNOT reach Spain in a timely manner, even if the Italian Navy and merchant marine aren't shot to pieces. The Allies have complete control of the seas and ungodly troops transport capacity. This is especially true in 1944, where the entire D-Day army can be shipped to Spain in a matter of days.
Everywhere else it's all Allies, all the time. And this is as much of seeing the Allies as the decent ones as much as British and the American navy's troop transport is the only hope most of these countries have.
I also wanted to experiment with building up islands as production centers as the Lizards tend not to invade them. Sure you can't do the infrastructure as easy, if at all. So places lie Iceland and Hawaii to say nothing of the oil riches of Java. Also, I wanted as many minor nations as possible to have island redoubts, rallying points of resistance and the last toeholds of sovereignty> it's not just Free France that ends up on islands in the middle of nowhere, almost all of the conquered nations
Any thoughts so far?
Obviously I don't want to create a Worldwar Scenario, that is completely faithful to Turtledove's vision. But the reason I give this story a second thought, unlike Guns of the South or the How Few Remain series, both of which are stupid, there's enough going that I want to reimage it.
Arsenal of Humanity: I wanted to change the setup of Worldwar; that the Lizards invade not on May 30, 1942, but May 30, 1944, when the US war machine has become a Juggernaut. It's also by far the strongest year for Imperial Japan by a long shot in terms of the Army, AND there's a CRAPTON of American troops in both Britain and North Africa.. Best of all, Italy is divided between the Allies and the Germans,
But I'm well aware that this might leave Germany too weak and the Soviets too fragile to both fight the Lizards and remain potential rivals of the United States. In that case, I could do a World War 43, which would be just after the surrender of the Afrika Korps in Tunisia. But I don't want it in 43, yes, more civilians will be saved is the Lizards invade in 1943, but Hitler will be much harder to dislodge, and I'm not sure of US and the Allies military strength in 1943 versus 44.
I don't want this to be a war game, I want this to be a political game. Because this scenario is not about holding off the invasion and ending with a Peace in Cairo, The Worldwar is just the opening act. The scenario ends when you send an FTL ship to Tau Ceti with all the bombs in the world and you politely ask the Home to GTFO of the Sol System. That or completely retake Earth. I want flipping events; the world of Colonization is way WAY too static, I want power struggles between Kruschev and Molotov, the ability to overthrow the Nazis both as a German and an Allied player, a way to flip Japan democratic, or cripple it post-war. I want to wage an ideological struggle, to free Europe from the Nazis and/or restore the Russian monarchy, or flip the US Communist. Most of all, I want to portray the survival of remanets of nearly all the conquered states on relatively small islands the Lizards never thought to bother to conquer. Portugal survives in the Azores, Free France on Madagasgar, as well as Polynesia, Spain in the Balearics and Canary Islands. Most
I wanted to make use of TOT's multiple map system, but I'm not sure how. I have three ideas, two requiring a lot more work than the other, and maybe for not sufficient payoff:
1. Maps are Earth (biggest one, modified to include Antarctica), Space (including a European powers map on the side) Venus and Mars, where the post-game, should you like, would be all about terraforming those planets and building space infrastructure. Both maps exist, including a wonderful map where Mars has massive ocean in the north
2. The Big Map of Europe, and an equally big map of Asia, and an equally huge map of North America and a horrible map that somehow combines Soth America and Australia in a Split Screen fashion. The way I figure it, they don't have to be to scale.
3. A Map involving the World map of Imperialism TOT, the biggest possible where Europe is Unpassible terrain except to teleport you inside the big European map. And then you'd have space but no Venus, and maybe Mars cause WTH, the map exists it just needs to be resized. I think such a thing can be done in Lua, I think.
The other thing is I'm not seeing a real reason to have the US and Britain be separate factions. I'd actually called them the United Nations, and have lots of minor power units like Anders Army Poles, Free French, Mexican remnants, Royal Candians,etc. etc.
I also wonder if I can get away with making the Lizards Barbarians or not. This would give me latitude for more factions, in theory at least.
I was thinking of eliminating pollution and using the population devices to be a marker for unit building al a Napoleon. Like one would be a minor power, and with say Germans you could build Romanian, Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian units, whereas with allied tech you could build Frech troops, Greek Troops Polish troops and if you conquered Germany (somehow) Bundeswehr troops, given what's reasonable give the 127 unit limit. There would be a separate British Empire facility that allow you to build British/Canadian, Australian/possibly Indian troops.
I was thinking of making the trade units expensive and giving every time a human destroys a Lizard unit, they get an interrogation unit, which is a caravan, home rule it that it's not allowed to be re-homed, but you can trade it it with another power and get a science boost
I was gonna have armored cars by the spy unit with ZOC and alpine, with the ability to bribe and sabotage units. Ideally, Armored cars would just spy and sabotage units, and ginger dealers would bribe units and subvert cities and steal technology, but other than a house rule, I don't think that can be done.
I wanted to have infrastructures like OTR, mostly war plants and refineries, which the Lizards can and will bomb. Tech in this era would mostly be about which options to pursue. Unlike modern-day and the books, I think the rational thing to do to compare equipment and copy the best, which means in practice the Germans have the Me-262 and everyone else getting Meteors as Lend-Lease. Or, the Allies swallow their pride and accept the only thing that cripples the Me-262 is material shortages. Either way one or two jet fighters alone. I was thinking to just Strategic bombers all together and just inform the player they were used and all shot down by Lizard SAMs, as in the books. Things like biplane fighters and maybe even the Mosquito might be viable, albeit with a very, very low defense score.
I keep thinking that in the case of World War, all the humans are gonna have to think like Finns: never give pitched battle outside of wintertime. Look for targets of opportunity, screw up their logistics, make them afraid to leave the cities. I also believe the Chinese did this to the Japanese.
How could I organize the factions? I know there's a command to re/create factions from the Red October scenario, so while initially I only see the need for five factions, I have another three up my sleeve just in case. How best to organize them,I don't know.
The thing is, I'm gonna start the scenario not in May, but in June, while the Lizards are overrunning everything, so the human powers start out as allied. But it might be cool to give the player a couple of turns, not to prepare for the invasion as such but to play the last few rounds of World War IIas we know it. Cause in the books, people knew things were happening. I don't remember if they could see the ships in orbit or infer their existence but they sure did note the recon flights and in places, the enemy simply could not be. OTOH, starting in June eliminates the need for neutrals. Because of where Allies are, there's a very clear line how counties fall in:
Switzerland and Turkey go German. There are Allied troops in Syria and Iraq, but not a lot. German troops are a lot closer and less interdicted by Landing sites.
Nobody goes Japanese, nobody goes Soviets. Both are hated and feared and seen as far more permanent menaces than Hitler, who's a Johnny come lately.
The only issue is Scandinavia. Thing is, I'm not Hitler. but I'd be more than glad to leave Norway and Denmark and get my 400K troops back, now that I know for the foreseeable future the Allies won't dream of cutting off Narvik, and that's probably what I'm gonna do for the setup. If that happened, Sweden and Finland go Allies. If Hitler promises to respect the monarchy and such of Norway once the war is over, it might quell Norwegian resistance. In this instance only, no realistic way. And that means Sweden and Finland also fall into the German orbit by default.
Spain goes Allies, as does Portugal. With Lizard landings in central France, the Wehrmacht CANNOT reach Spain in a timely manner, even if the Italian Navy and merchant marine aren't shot to pieces. The Allies have complete control of the seas and ungodly troops transport capacity. This is especially true in 1944, where the entire D-Day army can be shipped to Spain in a matter of days.
Everywhere else it's all Allies, all the time. And this is as much of seeing the Allies as the decent ones as much as British and the American navy's troop transport is the only hope most of these countries have.
I also wanted to experiment with building up islands as production centers as the Lizards tend not to invade them. Sure you can't do the infrastructure as easy, if at all. So places lie Iceland and Hawaii to say nothing of the oil riches of Java. Also, I wanted as many minor nations as possible to have island redoubts, rallying points of resistance and the last toeholds of sovereignty> it's not just Free France that ends up on islands in the middle of nowhere, almost all of the conquered nations
Any thoughts so far?
