The Sword of Damocles - (Sign Up Thread) - Closed, 2017 Game Next

[Cranberry]

One thing I forgot; Poland and the Baltics were instituted as German puppet states last game. If I might again pop in my two cents here, I would propose that they all have practically full autonomy on the internal (Poland as Kingdom, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as duchies), but together with Germany proper have some sort of "Common Foreign-political Council" (Gemeinsamer Außenpolitischer Rat) with 1 representative each from the duchies, five from Poland and ten from Germany; so that Germany in fact controls everything related to foreign policy. Also, I would have the Kaiser rule all five of these entities in personal union (Kaiser Wilhelm III, Emperor of Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) with a local ruler that we established last time serving as Kings and Dukes under him (similar to how Bavaria and Saxony had Kings themselves).

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I believe one could apply such model to Ottoman's "satelites" as well. IIRC it was Bulgaria, Armenia and Crimea, though the latter is playable now. I imagine Ottomans expanding some influence in the Caucasus due to Russia breakup.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

So, just to clarify, I shall be Enver Pasha, oficially just a Minister of War and acting* Commander-in-Chief. Unoficially, of course, I'm the leader of military government.

* ^{Yes, Sultan is a formal C-in-C}

[Lumine]

Some of what has been proposed will be implemented, but as puppet states there will still be opposition and varied levels of discontent to German and Ottoman control (so yeah, Eastern Europe and the Middle East won't be chaotic, but it won't be a silent area either).

I'm not fond of giving Austria to Germany, but it's been very hard to select an outcome to what might have happened in Austria-Hungary. Any thoughts?

[windjammer]

Regarding France,
I don't think a new "Restauration" would be likely. The "republic" issue was settled  since the end of the XIXth century. However, what would have likely happened is the rise of a populist rightwing dictator, like Boulanger, basically a fascist. Probably antisemite (Dreyfus happened not a long time ago), although nothing compared with Hitler. Extremely germanophobic obviously.

So I should play a random dictator bellicist etc etc. If this monarchy or not, it shouldn't affect really the game.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Some of what has been proposed will be implemented, but as puppet states there will still be opposition and varied levels of discontent to German and Ottoman control (so yeah, Eastern Europe and the Middle East won't be chaotic, but it won't be a silent area either).

I don't expect everything being easy

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Hungary would probably be an independent Kingdom. Austria is a bit tricky. It would be hard to explain it wasn't annexed given no post-WWI treaties prohibiting it.

Could be simply Austrian Kingdom, still rules by the Habsburgs to preclude outright German annexation. Hungary could be rules by another branch of the dynasty (and the two may actually dislike each other).

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I suppouse Abdülmecid II would be now a decorative Sultan-Caliph.

[Lumine]

Galicia will go to Poland, yes.

I suppouse Abdülmecid II would be now a decorative Sultan-Caliph.

Indeed, Mehmed V and VI are dead by now, so Abdülmecid II is the figurehead.

I'll probably grant Austria to Germany the way we're going now, and compensate by making Serbia, Hungary and Romania very powerful while having a lot of minor states.

Current List of Heads of State:

USA: Commander in Chief General Douglas MacArthur (Ind)
UK: Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Con)
Germany: Chancellor Wilhelm Marx (Zentrum)
Ottoman Empire: Minister of War Enver Pasha
Russia: Russian Provisional Government (no leader selected yet)
Yusupov Crimea: Prince Felix Yusupov
France: Revanchist Dictatorship, no leader selected
Italy: No government selected
Japan/China: Bit of an issue as we have Spamage, Kingpoleon and Dereich interested in this area, I would ask them to choose among themselves who is to take what (remember that there are still European countries available, and China can perfectly be split in two).

We're making progress!

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I think we may have overlooked Sevastopol issue. It remained a Russian enclave after Snowstalker lost Crimea, but now with Russia breaking up, at least partialy, I don't suppouse it remained as such.

I see three interesting possibilities:
1. Ottoman territory
2. Incorporated into Crimea
3. City-state, either vassal or somehow independent

[Lumine]

Sebastopol will be the capital of Yusupov's state. That said, his presence there is a blatant breach of an international treaty, so expect it to be an issue in the game.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Sebastopol will be the capital of Yusupov's state. That said, his presence there is a blatant breach of an international treaty, so expect it to be an issue in the game.

I suspect there's still Ottoman military presence in the Crimea, especially naval bases (it appears that we're not, by pure deflaut, major naval power in the Black Sea).

[Spamage]

Actually, it Spain playable? I realized they haven't been mentioned yet.

[Lumine]

Actually, it Spain playable? I realized they haven't been mentioned yet.

Yes, sir! Spain is a wildcard, too, you get to choose government, ideology and leader.

[Cranberry]

Galicia will go to Poland, yes.

I'll probably grant Austria to Germany the way we're going now, and compensate by making Serbia, Hungary and Romania very powerful while having a lot of minor states.

Great, many thanks!

One other thing that I thought might be interesting (I must be getting on your nerves pretty heavily by now, Lumine xD), is if one of the German colonies in Africa had a pretty large presence of German white settlers (say similar levels to South Africa in the 1920ies, so ~20%) - would you be on board with that, and if yes, which one would you think is most likely? South West Africa would be pretty easy to get a pretty large share of Whites as there were maybe half a million blacks there at that time at most, but the country is pretty desertous and so not a top target for migration... So Tanzania, or that Cameroon-Congo colony I have on the west coast (would probably be called Deutsch-Kongo, I'd assume)?

[Lumine]

Surprise, surprise! Updated World Map!

[windjammer]

Great job Lumine!
What the hell happened to Russia?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Great job, though I believe Bulgaria has been partioned last time.

Russia... itr's just great XD

[Lumine]

Galicia will go to Poland, yes.

I'll probably grant Austria to Germany the way we're going now, and compensate by making Serbia, Hungary and Romania very powerful while having a lot of minor states.

Great, many thanks!

One other thing that I thought might be interesting (I must be getting on your nerves pretty heavily by now, Lumine xD), is if one of the German colonies in Africa had a pretty large presence of German white settlers (say similar levels to South Africa in the 1920ies, so ~20%) - would you be on board with that, and if yes, which one would you think is most likely? South West Africa would be pretty easy to get a pretty large share of Whites as there were maybe half a million blacks there at that time at most, but the country is pretty desertous and so not a top target for migration... So Tanzania, or that Cameroon-Congo colony I have on the west coast (would probably be called Deutsch-Kongo, I'd assume)?

Approved, it will be Tanzania.

Great job Lumine!
What the hell happened to Russia?

The country was very, very unstable by the time our game ended, and not even Snowstalker could save Nicholas II for himself. Thus, the country quite literally went to hell in a long civil war since the late 1910's. Among other things, my ideas are:

-Finland declared independence, later on captured Karelia and Murmansk once it became clear they could do it with no answer from the weakened Russian states.
-Central Asia is hell on earth. Having been put in chaos by the Russian invasion, the area is home to warlordism, famine, war crimes, and so on.
-The Caucasus is divided among Georgia and Azerbaijan to the South, and an undetermined state to the North (possible Cossack or Anarchist).
-German Volga is now independent, although it's a fairly weak state.
-Up in Arkhangelsk we have another government, possibly a warlord one.
-Blair's Russian Provisional Government has the color of old Russia, controlling Moscow, St. Petersburg and most of the industralized Russia.
-Towards the east we have four more states, plus Mongolia. At least one of them will be Tsarist if the Tsar is not part of the provisional government, one will be revolutionary, possibily two will be  made of warlords or ethnic groups.

Great job, though I believe Bulgaria has been partioned last time.

Russia... itr's just great XD

Bulgaria recovered its lands on a previous incident on the late 1910's. Sadly, it's not an Ottoman Puppet anymore, xD (Greece is not an Italian vassal either, all because of balance)

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Bulgaria recovered its lands on a previous incident on the late 1910's. Sadly, it's not an Ottoman Puppet anymore, xD (Greece is not an Italian vassal either, all because of balance)

OK, thanks for an explanation.

(am I left without any puppets? )

[Cranberry]

Uuuh that's brilliant!

Do I see this correctly and is Vilnius a part of proper Germany in here? (I guess I could have given the two provinces east of East Prussia to Lithuania by now, with the Russian threat seemingly out of the way)

Galicia will go to Poland, yes.

I'll probably grant Austria to Germany the way we're going now, and compensate by making Serbia, Hungary and Romania very powerful while having a lot of minor states.

Great, many thanks!

One other thing that I thought might be interesting (I must be getting on your nerves pretty heavily by now, Lumine xD), is if one of the German colonies in Africa had a pretty large presence of German white settlers (say similar levels to South Africa in the 1920ies, so ~20%) - would you be on board with that, and if yes, which one would you think is most likely? South West Africa would be pretty easy to get a pretty large share of Whites as there were maybe half a million blacks there at that time at most, but the country is pretty desertous and so not a top target for migration... So Tanzania, or that Cameroon-Congo colony I have on the west coast (would probably be called Deutsch-Kongo, I'd assume)?

Approved, it will be Tanzania.

Alright, great, thanks! This could certainly become interesting at a point!

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Did I hear German here? *exerts influence among expatriates in a chronically unstable region*

[Cranberry]

Bulgaria recovered its lands on a previous incident on the late 1910's. Sadly, it's not an Ottoman Puppet anymore, xD (Greece is not an Italian vassal either, all because of balance)

OK, thanks for an explanation.

(am I left without any puppets? )

High time to make new ones?

[Lumine]

Bulgaria recovered its lands on a previous incident on the late 1910's. Sadly, it's not an Ottoman Puppet anymore, xD (Greece is not an Italian vassal either, all because of balance)

OK, thanks for an explanation.

(am I left without any puppets? )

Just Crimea, I gave you annexed Armenia and Northern Persia (as you said you planned to go for that) to compensate. There's still ample room for the Ottomans to expand, although be warned, there's going to be a lot of ethnic strife (same goes for Germany, their current empire is very large, but it's going to be hard to maintain).

[windjammer]

By the way Lumine,
I think France would have lost much more colonies after a defeat with Germany, but that's your call.

[Lumine]

By the way Lumine,
I think France would have lost much more colonies after a defeat with Germany, but that's your call.

They did lose virtually everything, they got to keep Algeria and Northern Africa because defeat was not total and the British were able to put pressure to prevent further loss. Who will you play as, by the way?

Update: World building is growing large, so I can adventure we'll have several threads for this (perhaps by continents). Chances are I'll put a NO WAR rule among players for the first few turns so we can balance things out and let the scenario grow.

[Cranberry]

By the way Lumine,
I think France would have lost much more colonies after a defeat with Germany, but that's your call.

They did lose virtually everything, they got to keep Algeria and Northern Africa because defeat was not total and the British were able to put pressure to prevent further loss. Who will you play as, by the way?

Update: World building is growing large, so I can adventure we'll have several threads for this (perhaps by continents). Chances are I'll put a NO WAR rule among players for the first few turns so we can balance things out and let the scenario grow.

But, but.... that's the fun part

No, seriously, this really makes sense - it will take some time for us just to get used to this completely divergent and different world.