[Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

Eternal_Freedom wrote:That strikes me as an extremely annoying game mechanic - you literally have the French at your mercy, not being able to demand the whole country be annexed is frustrating.
I mean, I could annex all of France via event cheat but I'd rather not.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

Weltmacht Part III - On foreign shores

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We had reclassified most of our commerce raiders as screening vessels for the massive troop convoy, which was now assembling at Dunkirk.

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The news were still working through the backlog of German victory dispatches over the French.

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The French meanwhile concluded an entente cordiale with the Russians. Bah. Nothing will come of it, I am sure.

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Good, we need more naval direction.
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Next up: Better Naval NCO training.

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And finally, our secret weapon to be used against the Americans was finished.

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A rousing speech was made by the Emperor while accepting the parade of the invasion forces.
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215.000 soldiers from the former French front were loaded into the troop convoy.
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Fleet flagship was to be the newly commissioned Derfflinger.
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And so, in January 1917, our invasion force left for the west coast of the USA.

At home, things were improving, with more and more people embracing the liberty guaranteed by the German state.
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Indeed, we are - thanks to our reforms - the most prosperous, most social and most liberal of all nations.

Finally, after a long trek to the Caribbean to resupply and refuel at our bases there....
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"Guten Tag, Massachusetts".
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From "Infanterie greift an - commanding Sturmtruppen in the Americas" by Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, Stuttgart 1936:
"On April 18th, our troops waded ashore into the fire of the entrenched Americans. It was thought that the US would make a valiant stand and many of my men prepared for the worst. Fighting was very fierce, as our Sturmtruppen and Pioniere who were first ashore took severe casualties.
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But as soon as a foothold was taken and we could land the first of our tanks, the poorly-equipped US soldiers, which neither had a lot of machine guns nor any tanks broke. This had to be the first battle in history where one army had stormed a fortified beach, with the enemy having over half a year to dig in, and taken less losses than the defending enemy.
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Soon, we pushed into Lexington and then into Vermont and Maine. Canada, which was hostile to the USA over territorial disputes (that US colony smack-dab in the middle of Canada), had closed their border and were silently supporting the invasion. Thus, the US forces in Maine and Vermont were cornered....
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....and crushed. Everything above Concord was now occupied by German army units, who immediately worked towards converting the fishing villages of Maine to supply bases.
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Meanwhile, on the home front, the economy was booming due to the hard work of our people.

In June, the USA started a counter-offensive in Concord.
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One can hardly imagine what the American infantry thought as they, without any protection against gas, were ordered to advance into No-mans land. For we had spent almost three months to prepare for them, with lessons learned on the Russian and French fronts being implemented.
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The result was an unmitigated slaughter. Of the 20.000 cavalry participating in the attack, scarcely more than 3500 survived. Of the 32.000 infantry pushing against our machine guns and tanks, less than 5.5k survived. The american advantage in artillery was nullified by our counter-battery fire, which blanketed their artillery positions with gas and destroyed a quarter of the US guns. Thus, the US Army learned the hard lesson the Russians and French had learned - one should not give Germans several months and a huge supply of barbed wire and then attack that position head-on. The USA thus learned that the corrupt Mexican army was not the same as beating seasoned soldiers.
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Having lost all their "professional" forces at Concord, it took the USA until October to assemble another army to oppose us, largely by instituting a nation-wide draft. They also transferred the Great White Fleet to Boston to oppose any further landing. Our forces meanwhile had dug in and not wasted supplies in an assault on Boston. For a second wave was coming.
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And reinforced by the second wave, A push was made for Boston. It was easily taken, with the US fleet now trapped and shelled by our artillery. On January 10th, the USA had its own Santiago de Cuba while trying to run the German blockade of Boston Harbour with their whole fleet. Torpedoes and mines took a heavy toll, only to have the largely outdated US ships run into this very harsh greeting:
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Germany did not lose a single ship, whereas every US ship was sunk, surrendered or foundered on the rocks of Massachusetts Bay. The US meanwhile had assembled a gigantic army - almost a million strong drafted army - but was not attacking.
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For their poor Infantry had no chance against reinforced and dug in Germans. For if push came to shove, we could concentrate over 500k of forces in one battle as a response - and they would have stood no chance. Thus, a stalemate developed, with a huge no-mans-land stretchning from Boston to Albany and Pittsburgh.

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By August 16, 1918, the front had not changed.
And on August 17,1918, the third wave arrived.
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Long Island, New York and Newark were taken, trapping 567.000 US soldiers in a giant Cauldron. With their supply routes cut, facing constant bombardement from the sea and Winter fast approaching, it was clear that those soldiers would have to break out or freeze/starve to death.
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However, on August 30th, the attempted breakout was called off as the German troops had now had two weeks to prepare trench defences - enough to make their positions impregnable against anything but a tank assault - and the USA had no tanks, no machine guns and artillery that was still on civil war level.
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With the prospect of a fourth wave arriving to trap the other army in the North - and a fifth wave then marching all over the rest of the USA, President Woodrow Wilson capitulated and made a very generous peace offer, in which the USA was promising to turn all their pacific possessions over to us, including the state of Hawaii.
- End of excerpt.

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We accepted, of course.
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Construction work at Hawaii and the pacific islands immediately began to turn them into German bases. The USA, now a union of 49 states, meanwhile started a long sulk and reevaluated the reasons for their defeat.

What else happened while the war was raging:
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Naval NCO training is good.
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And electric furnace is even better.

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Ugh, Beatty. What a despicable creature that man was. Vainglorious, permanently having a throatache, treating conquered foes with contempt and being a general ass and sociopath. Poor Jellicoe, having to put up with that glory-stealer who almost lost the battle for the British.
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Our Navy now enjoyed bigger and better turrets, while our women now enjoyed Nylon stockings.

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Communists seized power in New Zealand. Of course Britain immediately went to war against them.

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We went from electric furnace to shift work.

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Switzerland was added to our sphere of influence.
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We decided not to organize safaris.
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Tech work.


While we were in the process of transporting our troops back from the USA...
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...Britain crushed the communists.
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Meanwhile, the Qing Empire was receptive to a peace offer as they had no chance to really hurt us anyway.

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We conducted a new census of our new (formerly American) citizens.
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...I wonder if we can build better rifles with that...

And on 7th November, 1919, the last of the troops arrived back home.
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[End of this update]



Tl, DR: USA had massively neglected army tech (no wonder, they could crush Mexico with sheer mass alone) and thus could not break through our lines if we had 7 days to dig in.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by phred »

Do you get aircraft at some point?

Also, all the US pacific holdings, not bad for a couple months sitting around in New England.
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

phred wrote:Do you get aircraft at some point?
I got some tech like reacon aircraft for ships but I haven't really build any aircraft brigades yet for the army, so no.
Also, all the US pacific holdings, not bad for a couple months sitting around in New England.
Yeah, sometimes I do not understand the AI. For example, Britain has few naval technologies for a naval power. The USA has few land technologies. I fully expected this to be another mass raid instead of a full-blown invasion, but once I realised the USA could not actually dislodge me due to inferior army tech....well.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Dominus Atheos »

The next time you post an update, I'd be really interested in seeing your budget menu, and the production tab of your production menu. (this)
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

I played a bit ahead so I can't really give you one of those for the current timeframe....
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

The Neverending war

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With peace finally reigning, our industry could kick into a higher gear.

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And the nations of the world chose Berlin to host the world fair again. Hooray.

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Pole sitting? But why? A pole tends to squirm if you sit on him.

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I hope you all get the reference of that oddball duo.

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GTFO of my barracks, fascists. The army is apolitical.

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In her case, it really was a problem of papa and penis.

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Lovely. More industry, more tech. We need all the industry.

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Yes, please. This could be the dawn of a golden age.

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Horney's basic anxiety theory was just as important as the polyphase system.

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All athletes must come to Berlin.

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Long live Tesla.

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There was a fascist revolt in Switzerland, which got crushed. And our forces are back to pre-war strength.

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The Uk smashed another revolting Indian principality.

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FUCK YOU BRITAIN.
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Of course...
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Yep. Come one, come all.

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The war started with our forces quickly teaching the Danish that joining a land war against us was a bad idea.
Russia, weakened by the wars, was a glutton for punishment. "no no, this time it will be different, I swear" probably was the British proposal.
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Within two months, we had pushed deep into Russian territory.
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At Gomel, a Russian counterattack was defeated.
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And an attack to relief the encircled city of Luhansk failed in a hail of shellfire.

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Industrial farming was now a standard throughout the empire, thus allowing more farmers to join the army and ensuring our people would not starve due to the British blockade...

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After the debacle at Luhansk, the battle of course went even worse for the Russians...
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..which the news promptly trumpeted all over the world.
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By March, we had taken St. Petersburg, Sevastopol was close to falling and we were already approaching Moscow and the Donbass.
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As always, the British send mass reinforcements. Which promptly keeled over and died.

The fascists tried to take advantage of the war:
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Better red than brown, so we banned them.

By May, all of Jutland was ours.
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We promptly took their caribbean possessions, Greenland and Faroe Islands.

Good bases for our High Seas Fleet, which now had 20 state of the art dreadnoughts.
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And we also secured Persia to make sure we had enough oil.

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In June, we detached half our army to attack the Russian caucasus...
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...while in Ukraine, 10 men were all that were left of 20k British corps.

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Thanks to our reforms, our people were the healthiest of all nations. Who knew socialised medicine was that good?

In July, the Russians and British started a counteroffensive, their last attempt to try and break our push.
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They lost 3:1 and 10:1 soldiers respectively and called off the offensive within days.

In August, Spain tried to invade Heligoland.
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...and lost all their marines.

In October, while our forces were preparing to push towards Omsk, there were some more news, this time from the west:
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Oh well.

(continued below)
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

(continued from above)

The french started an attack towards Amiens.
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They were much tougher fighters than the Russians and British, I give them that. Nevertheless, they failed to move our lines.

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The British meanwhile still lost 10 soldiers for one of ours.

By december 17, we had penetrated deep into southern france as a response to them focusing on the North.
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And then the Spanish threw nearly their whole army into the fight. 150.000 of their soldiers attacked 90.000 of ours. It was a most glorious battle, lasting for over 44 days.
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Spain lost its whole army to a force half its size. Their entire artillery train was lost and only 751 infantrymen survived the meat grinder. This defeat caused enormous shockwaves through spain.
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We quickly offered Spain a deal - Puerto Rico and their pacific island possessions in return for peace.
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They accepted.

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By February, we had pushed deep into the Caucasus.
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At the battle of Chalons, near the site where the great Roman Aetius had stopped Attila the hun, we were victorious.
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We decided to not ask for too much, just their bases and colonies in the pacific. We could have taken more french provinces but decided against it, as we were already busy enough with integrating those.
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I predict that Vietnam and Cambodia will be great colonies, never giving us any trouble.

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By February 1922, the Caucasus was close to falling.
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Russian counterattacks failed.

Meanwhile, in Berlin:
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The World Fair started. The British and Russian delegations were not able to attend for some reason.

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By May, we had penetrated beyond the Ural mountains and were now marching towards the Siberian Taiga.

In response, Britain tried to invade our "soft underbelly" of Savoy.
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We lost about 21k men.
Their entire invasion force of 110k men perished.

In Berlin, the world fair came to an end.
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Don't you see how much better everybody gets along if you bar the Russians and British from attending?

At the end of May, Russia completely collapsed, having not a single force left to oppose us.
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We enacted very harsh terms, forcing them to cede over all their pacific colonies as well as the Crimea, Kharkov, the Donbas and Zaporizhia. In short, Ukraine was now ours.

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In good German fashion, we renamed the colonies to something more....tasteful. Yeah, let's go with that. Tasteful. IT IS TASTEFUL.

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Hey, critical theory.
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Post-colonialism was our next research target.
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With the British seeing that they could not beat us - and fearing retribution - we exploited the situation to offer them harsh peace deals as well.
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The Indian Ocean and the Caribbean were now German seas.

[End of this update]

Tl, dr: Britain broke the peace to backstab us and got what they deserved.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

......fuck. That's one hell of a result for a war someone else started.
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by LaCroix »

Wow...

By that rate, you'll never get to actually punish them for their transgressions. They always misbehave even before you have applied the spanking you planned for them... :D

Any bets how long they'll wait before they try, again? Put me down for two years...
A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay

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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by phred »

I give them 5. They need time to repopulate their country to the point where they can support another army. They're not Russia after all.

can we get a look at the full map at some point? It would be fun to see just how much you actually own.
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

LaCroix wrote:Wow...

By that rate, you'll never get to actually punish them for their transgressions. They always misbehave even before you have applied the spanking you planned for them... :D

Any bets how long they'll wait before they try, again? Put me down for two years...
In some way it is impressive - the AI keeps building coalitions, builds up forces etc. Much better than other AI in Paradox games.
phred wrote:I give them 5. They need time to repopulate their country to the point where they can support another army. They're not Russia after all.

can we get a look at the full map at some point? It would be fun to see just how much you actually own.
Yeah I try and take a map screen shot within the next two or three updates. Problem is that I am like 10 years ahead of the update on the LP as I am a lazy bastard. Sorry.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by LaCroix »

It'S fun that they do that great a job - in the earlier versions, the biggest threat were the constant rebellions if you got infamy too high. It's refreshing that this game doesn't need to cheat like this, but can actually build coalitions that could work if they were just to coordinate their assaults a bit better.
A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay

I do archery skeet. With a Trebuchet.
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

Speaking of rebels....


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Sure. More trade is always a good thing.

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More immigration and assimilation. Good. I just hope they replace that idiotic sentence with something more suitable.

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Of course we will attend. We are guaranteed to be #1 with all the athletes we have.

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Yay, new research. Bonus pic: Paris and the German border next to it.

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More infrastructure.

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Ah, Ghandi. A man full of contradictions. Both utterly creepy and utterly humbling.

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The Dutch, Ottomans and French had some squabble over some piece of Ghana. Meh.

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Hooray for trade.

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Of course we will help the fellow liberals.

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At home, our training regimen had already produced 72.000 Panzertruppen.

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We quickly sent two brigades to each Korps on the French frontier. Oh, and more research finished. Honestly, this were a few boring years.

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Neoliberal Theory was our next target for research.

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A great speech.

Watch it in full, you won't regret it.

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Our culture is enriched by immigrants from Asia and our new citizens from Eastern Europe. Great.

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300 million German citizens. We are now the second-largest nation on Earth (after China, of course).

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What? France has lost control of its colonies?
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Heh. Part of Senegal freed itself. Somewhat amusing.

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The typical structure of a German attack force now.

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GREED IS GOOD.

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We want to build a mathematical society, a society of science and culture.
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Sure....but who is the candidate?
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An Ottoman Prince....meh, alright. It will piss of the fascists for sure.
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Our diplomats concluded an alliance with the biggest power in South America, Chile.

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We had so many immigrants now that we needed to speed up housing construction.

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The address to the nation was performed via radio, carrying the voice of the Reichskanzler to every continent of the Earth.

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We had pretty much cornered the market on tank production now, with our armed forces using and possessing 90% of the World's Tank Strength.

While we watched the Panzers rolling up and down the square, something happened in our colonies.
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A massive rebellion erupted in Deutsch-Südostafrika and Vietnam/Cambodia.
What was even more infuriating was that those rebels weren't even locals for the most part. No, they were conservative/fascist German rebels. A major force immediately set sail for Africa to crush them.

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Meanwhile, our research finished and we next researched new army doctrines.

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German soldiers meanwhile were beating the German fascist rebels with the liberal application of Senfgas.

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Our new colonies in South America meanwhile got their banana production in gear. Hooray.

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The Ottomans suffered a major blow when Crete gained independence.

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NOOOOOOOOO. Vietnam and Cambodia declared independence. (I love this new mechanic in the mod, for it adds a lot of realism. If you lose territory to the rebels you have to reconquer it within a few months or a new nation arises).

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Well, at least we got new army doctrines.

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By September 1929 the last rebel stronghold in Africa was close to falling.

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Our soldiers meanwhile learned the new doctrines. Good.
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"There is no problem that cannot be solved with a liberal application of firepower" - German Artillery Handbook, 1929 edition.

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By December 1929 we had managed to close in on the territories in Asia we managed to hold on to, with them having nearly all been taken over by rebels.
Also, research finished. Oh, and you can see the nations that have declared their independence from us.

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While our soldiers fought in the jungle, we started researching better artillery.
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By March 1929, we had recovered Cambodia, but Conchina was permanently lost to us....for now.
Have I mentioned I really like this rebel mechanic from the mod? It adds a tremendous flavour to the experience of colonial rebellions.


(End of this update)
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Dominus Atheos »

For anyone interested in this game, it's available on steam with all dlc for $10 until January 4th.

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/29109/
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Steve »

....I hate you Thanas.

You got me playing this again. And I got sucked right back in... and only had less than five hours of sleep before I had to get up for work. *shakes fist*

Although my game is weird. Russia is a Democracy now (1870s), so is Prussia, liberal revolutions turned Austria into a ConMon and Britain into a Democracy, then a Communist Revolution took over Britain and formed the Worker's Commonwealth, then a Liberal Counterrevolution fired a few years later and restored the democratic Great Britain. Also, Austria lost Hungary in the 1850s from a Crisis where they backed down to France, but has still effectively prevented Sardinia or Two Sicilies from forming Italy, and Prussia - perhaps due to that liberal revolution - hasn't yet even formed the NGF. And they're due for trouble soon as France has claimed Savoy and they're allied to Sardinia... while France is allied to Russia.
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"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

Death to Fascists

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"Alright, we will lay claim to Tuscany"
"But your majesty, we don't have any claim to that land"
"It was part of the HRE and we are the successor state to it"
"But...the HRE was dissolved"
"That is what a Frenchman would say. Are you a dirty cigarette-smoking frenchie?"
"No, your majesty"
"That's what I thought".

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Of course we will want to compete for the seat.

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It would be perfect to showcase our new guns.
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...and maybe a few new planes?

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After a short war, Italy ceded Tuscany to us. Took us less than two months.

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Hey, useful news for once.

Now, time to deal with other annoyances before we focus on the great enemy again.
Remember how we told the rebellious South Vietnamese we would be back?
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Surprise, rebel scum.

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Perfidious Albion protested but they and their Russian lapdogs were too busy getting their teeth kicked in in east Asia. Now Wladiwostok was a chinese city once more.

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Meanwhile, Operation Himmelsschlag was going as planned.

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But the last one in Berlin was a resounding success. Oh well.

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Order was restored. Though now they were no longer colonial subjects, but states.

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Somalia accepted our guiding hand and became a member of our Sphere of Influence.

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On December 11th, the British public got word of our plans for them.
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Let them cower in fear of our new weapons.

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We continued to transform our colonies into full states of the German Empire.
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The first to be turned into full states were Tahiti and Hereroland, with all citizens having the same rights. Also note our religious toleration, for the old animist faiths are not stumped out but tolerated and still having significant believers.

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More useful inventions were made.

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Is this the consolation prize for missing out on the world fair? We'll take it.

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Now to research more army tech and build a fully functioning Luftwaffe.

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France and the Ottomans fought a war over a piece of desert. Let's check what France won...
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Lol. You start a war about a worthless strip of desert inhabited by less than 5000 people? Never change France.

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This surely must be part of Britain's infidious plan to gain more manpower. Also, Rhodesia...ugh.

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Luftwaffe. Not Luftwaffel.

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Sure, we will talk to them.
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Yeah, there might be "some issues" between our country, what with us taking two thirds of their heartland and all that.

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The Ottoman marriage bore fruit. Literally.

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Good news. The Netherlands have lost the heart of their colonial empire. We immediately started influencing Java.
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Oh yes, heavy artillery will be most useful.

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Spain conquered the last independent nation of Africa. The Conquistadors reign supreme.

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But to us, Africa was old news. We had better things to do, like...
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...furthering the cause of German Culture.

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Oh, they will be going out in Britain all right.

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Tremble at the might of the fully operational Hochseeflotte, now sporting 71 capital ship (#72 currently in process of being built at Germaniawerft).
And say, can you see Dover from that army assembled near Dunkirk? Good.

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On March 1932, the German people chose to oust the Socialists, who had ruled our country for nearly 40 years, and replaced them with a coalition of conservative and reactionary forces. Makes sense, with all reforms passed and the conservatives now being more of a liberal than a conservative party such a change was bound to happen sooner than later.

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Meanwhile, our Luftwaffe (not Luftwaffel) was taking shape. 84.000 soldiers were detailed to her, with 28 air brigades being formed.

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More culture is needed. MORE GERMAN CULTURE.
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This allowed us to make a decision to support precisely that. Also, we could now reconstitute the German order, but why? No need.
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These were truly influential. Everybody should know those names or learn them.
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Yes indeed. Such progress.

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A new school gained prominence in our doctrine. Do I hear the word Blitzkrieg?

Meanwhile, news reached us from the fascist dictatorship of Romania:
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Dafuq you do?
....
Not smart, fascists. Not smart.
Especially not when our troops need training.
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We shall restore the president in exile who fled your uprising.
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Before the first battle was even decided our tanks were already rolling through Bucharest. Turns out killing civilians is a lot harder than killing a Panzer division.

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Let's hope he becomes another Bismarck.

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Good, good. *rubs hands excitedly*

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Turns out when you give people full citizenship and a stake in the nation, they are far less disposed towards throwing stones. Who knew.

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Shortly after we took Bucharest, shot the fascists and installed a democracy. Let's hope they do not elect fascists, as that would be self-defeating.

And then:
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Our planners finished the plans for the destruction of the British Nation.

The Showdown could start.


(end of this update)
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Steve »

I see that insatiable German hunger for conquest still burns strongly even in the most democratic and enlightened soul.... :twisted: :lol:

*Hides maps of the massive Imperium Americana*

Ah. Britain. *shakes fist* East Borneo is mine, you limey tea-slurpers! Just wait until my ironclad fleet gets another few years to finish building, you'll rue the day you crossed me! And your little Iberian dogs too! (Spain and Portugal are allied to the UK).
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Borgholio »

Luftwaffe (not Luftwaffel)
What's the difference?
You will be assimilated...bunghole!
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

This is a waffel, and waffe is weapon.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

Weltkrieg Part I - The East

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1932 ended the usual way. We sent a delegation to the World Fair....
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...but somehow other nations did not like us.

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A look at the Great powers of the world.

It was time to end one of them.
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Operation Albion was ordered to be carried out.

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Not surprisingly, the ever loyal Russians joined their allies, despite having the greatest military power on earth camped next door. For their part, Britain tried to help them out by assaulting our Black Sea holdings via an invasion.

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Maybe they should have picked a time when our strategic reserve was no longer nearby to do that though.

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Russia joining the war had a domino effect and soon other nations followed suit.
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Including the USA and its satellites. In short, the entire Russian and Anglo-speaking world was united against us.

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Finland however soon recognized the error of its was as its entire Navy was caught escorting a troop convoy to St. Petersburg.

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The British invasion ended in a bloody disaster.

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The Netherlands joined the war against us.
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"The Germans got 700k troops camped near our Borders. We got a standing army of 50k. What can go wrong?"
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In response, we ordered 336k troops to overrun the Netherlands.

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In the east we smashed through Smolensk....
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..and started besieging St. Petersburg.
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A British Expeditionary Force was finished off.

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Superior air power and artillery meanwhile helped us achieve those breakthroughs.

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By April 1st, Operation "Seize the cheese" was successful.

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In the east, nothing could stop our advance.

From "The War against Britain. Official History of the Armeegruppen Ost", by Erich von Manstein, 1952:
The war in the east was in some respect a foregone conclusion. While our forces there barely had any air cover, each of our Korps had at least two tank brigades attached to it. It were those tanks that caused the Russian inability to resist our advance, for their anti-tank artillery was nonexistent and their tank force in its infancy. Thus while the brunt of the fighting was still borne by the infantry and cavalry forces, tanks enabled us to break through and hold positions at will, with only the Russian mud and winter slowing the advance.
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On April 22nd, our northern groups had overrun Byelorussia and were closing on Moscow.
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Meanwhile Army Group Centre had taken Kursk and Army Group South was pushing towards the Caucasus.


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We finished our cultural research and decided to focus on the Navy next.
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German culture reigns supreme
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...but not as supreme as the German Eagle over the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg.

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The Fins tried to stop the subsequent advance at Tula and were crushed.
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A typical German Korps. 2 tank brigades, 2 Pioneer brigades, 2 mobile artillery, 6 non-motorized infantry brigades and two hussar brigades as scouts and flank protection. Due to supply reasons and because of the size and scale of Russia, forces in the east do not carry much heavy artillery and few airplanes. Heavy artillery, motorized infantry and air power is concentrated in the west as we rather trust the individual superiority of German training, drill and equipment against the Russian bear.


With the loss of St. Petersburg, there was no way out for the Russian Navy, which had concentrated in the baltic after the loss of Sevastopol. Having only 16 capital ships to pit against 72, the result was a foregone conclusion.
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There were now a lot more shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea.

Britain meanwhile committed large parts of its army again to hold the Donbas.
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They were not successful.
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They however did start to take over our african colonies, but those were non-essential to the war effort.

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We decided to add a bunch of wargoals.

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On May 18th, the war in the east was all but over. However, as we were mostly fighting it with unmotorized forces, our advance was slowed by the marching speed of our soldiers.

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Oh no. The Seal-clubbers have joined the war. SEAL CLUBS CAN'T MELT TANK STEEL.

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We were now beating the Russians where they stood.
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In July, we pushed into Karelia and Kola.

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As the Brits were not coming out to play, our Navy was getting bored. So we decided to invade Norway to knock it out of the war.

The Front in July:
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(ignore the french they are travelling to fight a pointless war with China).

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We increased our garrison in Italy to keep the Italians from getting any ideas. Also, tremble in fear of our new tankettes, world.

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Fascists in Romania again?

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By the end of August Moscow had long fallen and our troops were now besieging the important railway station of Nizhny Novgorod.

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Norway had a fleet. Then the Hochseeflotte came and took it away. The End.

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After German Sturmtruppen landed in Oslo, Norway quickly was ready to sue for peace and we gave them what they desired - in exchange for Eritrea. (Yes, they really colonized part of it).

By October we had reached the Ural mountains again.
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...and after we pushed past them....
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Russia completely surrendered.
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We did not take any territory from them. Instead we forced them to release their conquests of the past centuries.
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Sweden, which had fallen under their sway, was now under our benevolent influence.
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Finland, a puppet, was now free - and under our influence as well.

We demanded that Russia end its overlordship over the Cossacks - therefore not only robbing Russia of its most important coal fields, but also of their best cavalry.
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We now had some very dependable allies who would be willing to play the rule of our Numidia against their Carthage.

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And finally, we gave our partner the Ottoman Empire a big shot in the arm by forcing Russia to release all their conquests to them.

With the east now settled - and with us not being forced to take on new ethnicities for we did not conquer any new land - it was time to look to the west.
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Tremble before the might of the fully operational Landing force, perfidious albion.

[End of this update]
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Coop D'etat »

Does anyone want to talk about how Canada and Norway came to be considered great powers in this world? Because that seems somewhat remarkable.

Also on that note, is Japan the white flag with the red circle in Canada's sphere of influence? Because that also appears interesting.
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Borgholio »

So Thanas, having played Vic2 for awhile, how do you find it compares with CK and EU? Which game do you find to be the most entertaining of the series?
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Steve »

Coop D'etat wrote:Does anyone want to talk about how Canada and Norway came to be considered great powers in this world? Because that seems somewhat remarkable.

Also on that note, is Japan the white flag with the red circle in Canada's sphere of influence? Because that also appears interesting.
Looking at the screenshot, they both have fairly high prestige. I'm guessing that between national events and maybe focusing on culture and economy techs that grant prestige, , they accumulated enough to make it into the GP ranks. Although Canada looks to be fairly industrialized, enough that their industrialization score further pads them into the lower tier of GPs.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: [Vic2 LP] How Bismarck got his herring - game thread

Post by Thanas »

Steve is right.

Borgholio wrote:So Thanas, having played Vic2 for awhile, how do you find it compares with CK and EU? Which game do you find to be the most entertaining of the series?
Victoria II is IMO the one that is most like taking crack. It grips you and won't let you go. Great fun, but it doesn't last long and the endgame can be very boring unless you take steps to make it more interesting.

CKII Is IMO the best of the series mainly due to the HIP mod, which adds so many things to do that you will never really get bored.

EU is...neither the best nor the worst. The gameplay is IMO worse than Victoria II and CKII, but it lasts longer than V2 and is not as boring as V2 in the endgame.

If I had to recommend one I would suggest CKII with the HIP mod as it is by far the most entertaining out of the series.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------
My LPs
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