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I am so tempted to just rip out the old CSR order of battle for my own, with lots of tweaks of course.

Thanas wrote:Ah, so it is like Venice in that regard, only without the military.

Exactly like that. The largest PMCs can muster several brigade combat teams each but they're almost universally light mechanized / airmobile infantry. They're very good at certain things like bush fighting, urban combat and hit-and-run tactics, but in the vast majority of circumstances a mercenary outfit can't possibly hope to resist a push by a well lead division-level combined arms formation, even if it's one using relatively outdated technology.

The city itself is well defended, but I'm not playing a nation with serious military clout. Instead I want to play one whose influence is entirely economic. That does mean I really hope players will work with me on that front because my influence will be a lot more 'fuzzy' than, say, sailing a battleship formation into someone's territorial waters. But hopefully shadowy businessmen in expensive suits warning a government not to do a certain thing if they don't want the value of their country’s currency to take a nosedive will be a nice change of pace from military posturing.

(Also the fact that San Dorado is almost completely covered by city-scape means I get to have fun with ridiculously impractical amounts of VTOL equipment. Because every megacorporation needs the ability to rappel their elite commando teams into another corporation's skyscraper HQ, dammit! Or launch fighter squadrons from hidden warehouse airfields! )

Map Update: NPCs all drawn in, all as a unique color







Layered source files:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/829 ... ames_6.pdn

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/829 ... ames_6.psd[/quote]

I'm not feeling too hot at the moment, but I want to put in a claim on two or three ex colonies in "South America".

Then you may have to deal with Orion, we see that as "our" continent. We;re the only major power in the region after all.

...and Tiangguo, Cascadia, Komradistan and whatever San Dorado is up to.

is that more NPC's then players? I wonder what the orange country I have as a neighbour will be like.

Unless the NPC layout met mod approval already, let's hold off on jumping to conclusions about it.

I'm not clear on whether they were something Steve/Siege asked for, or something TimothyC put in on his own initiative.

Eternal_Freedom wrote:Then you may have to deal with Orion, we see that as "our" continent. We;re the only major power in the region after all.

You're an island with, like, fifty million people. You can't possibly be singlehandedly dominating a whole continent. Life only works that way if you have breechloading rifles and everyone else has spears.

[More generally, I approve of the logic that large PC states are powerful figures in regional politics, but the smaller a nation is in absolute terms, the less sense it makes for that nation to somehow carve out a large sphere of influence just by virtue of being isolated in its own corner. I don't think anyone meant for Orion to dominate a continent indirectly when they parked it off the coast of a previously uninhabited continent...]

I think it makes sense for Orion to be a regional player because unlike other nations (e.g. Rheinland) they actually are only surrounded by NPCs and unlike the poor nations (e.g. Umeria) they actually have the wealth to exert influence. But dominating 15 or so NPCs? Nah.

Simon_Jester wrote:Unless the NPC layout met mod approval already, let's hold off on jumping to conclusions about it.

I'm not clear on whether they were something Steve/Siege asked for, or something TimothyC put in on his own initiative.

I was asked to draw a map. Other than some broad directions on who had former colonies and broadly where they were, the India situation, & Steve's direct comments I was a bit stuck, so I spammed out countries. Don't get me wrong - reducing the number of NPCs would make my job easier - but if people want something they like more (which seems to be a simpler map) Then they must tell me so, and not ask for so many 'former colonies'.

Right now there are ~30 NPCs & ~20 PCs. Do people want a 20/20 split?

I would probably say they have a controlling influence in the one nearest them and are a major player in continental politics, even seeking that hegemony of "this continent is our play area only!", but that doesn't mean they've achieved it.

And I'm fine with more NPCs than PCs, honestly.

I don't mind more NPCs than PCs, but what if for example in IC I move forward with a proposal to ban landmines? I'll assume approval by NPCs if PCs all agree, but how do we handle it if one PC disagrees? Does that lead to a percentage of NPCs agreeing with them?

I'd prefer it if NPCs would be assumed to sign it if there is a resolution to such a conflict and otherwise stay out of it.

I'm non too bothered, but a little unsure what sort of model NPC's will follow? Defensive? Aggressive? Flexible? Puppeting 30 countries will be a huge administrative load on you and Siege, or are we expected to honestly* write them up if we're interacting with them?

*under threat of later mod dickery

EDIT: nija'd by thanas, although I will go on record as saying I like landmines. I am far more likely to behind them then advancing over them

The two nations marked with Cs are the ones I consider to be "spheres of influence", so to speak. The one on the extreme east of the Eurasian continent is New Britonia; essentially the "Canada" to which the Loyalists moved after being defeated in the War of Independence; two centuries later it was overrun in hard fighting during the Pacific War by Cascadia. Today it's an independent Republic aligned to Cascadia with a major Britonian exile population, including die-hards who embrace the idea of eventually reclaiming their homeland. It's just south enough to not be completely Siberian in environment, but it's still a fairly open country even with the influx of Britonians during and following the war.

The one on the northwest tip of the Southwestern Continent was, like Fuso, a Cascadian colony, established during the Imperial Republic period of the last half of the 19th Century. During the Second World War it endured heavy bombing by Britonian-trained Klavostani bombers and, in turn, provided the airbases that allowed for bombers to attack strategic targets in the South of Klavostan and the New Olympia Naval Base, which was vital to securing naval strength in the Panama Strait and preventing a Klavostani invasion of the colony. I've yet to name it, but I figure the population will be a mix of native religions in the interior, Christians on the southern and western coastal plains, and in the major cities of the north Shi'a Islam is a major religion due to exiles from Mesopotamia during its period of Omnian rule. Native troops served bravely in the war and preparations for an independence-or-statehood plebiscite were finalized post-war; independence won by a fair margin. In the modern day the interior nations provide the greatest strain in this country, favoring further distance from the old Imperial Master and stronger alliances on the continent. The coastal plains are the center of pro-Cascadian sentiment and the northern cities are in the middle, roughly, favoring continued trade ties with the Cascadians but in favor of an independent foreign policy.

Also, to explain... the island to the west of Alaska is called Nova Scotia (heh). It was a Britonian colony founded by Scotians (yes, Scotsmen) fleeing a failed revolt against the Britonian majority culture. They were detached from the empire in the 19th Century by Cascadia during the period of the Imperial Republic as a result of the war that saw Fuso brought into Cascadian control as well (Cascadia aided a local revolt to establish control of the island). Unlike its other colonies, the Nova Scotians voted for statehood and became a full state of the USC.

Local players can take part in determining NPC behavior as well, mods will just make sure nobody's setting up a strawman for an easy conquest. Preferably with an in-story approach.

madd0ct0r wrote:EDIT: nija'd by thanas, although I will go on record as saying I like landmines. I am far more likely to behind them then advancing over them

Are you purposefully trying to be the opposite of Rheinland in every which way?

As for Rheinland's former two colonies, I'd like one of them to be the Pseudo-ceylon (brown state on pseudo India) as that would fit in well with the sealanes to Ostrheinland. The other one can be someplace else, even in Pseudo-South-America for all I care if need be.

I'd imagine Pseudo-Ceylon to be a fledgling democracy suffering from poor GDP and overpopulation, the other a presidential dictatorship ruled by an Ex-general, but rich in minerals. Probably decent GDP, but dependent on resource exports. If possible, primarily African populations for the latter.

No, honestly. I'm a small and not exactly rich and not exactly militant country. The richest nation on the planet with one of the most capable armies wanting to ban land mines? Dude, what else do I have to avoid being steamrolled in the 2nd turn?


right, well I need to do a lot of rewriting and name my neighbour then. Quite possibly Hakistan to complete the set of 'not china', 'not bangladesh' and 'pre-raj india' that we have along that coast.

Meh, I probably have at least one, probably two neighbours that have larger armies than me, so it is not as if I wouldn't find a use for them either. Just a general idea.

It's UOCSR, not UCOSR!

EDIT: What's that blue country next to mine?

Steve : I'll add numbers to those like I did for the GPR

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:It's UOCSR, not UCOSR!

Blame Steve - I just copied the name. I'll get that fixed

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:EDIT: What's that blue country next to mine?

An NPC.

I fingured it can be some Communist or at least Left Wing regime carved out of local native populations. But you and Zuk get first dibs on who they are.

A thought occurs Thanas, Champa would happily sign up to banning landmines if said agreement was concurrent with a mutual defense pact involving at least three major countries, one of which could be Rhineland.

We should discuss this in IC then, I'd suspect one of the first trip of my main characters will be to go to Champia to discuss things like whaling etc anyway.

TimothyC wrote:

Simon_Jester wrote:Unless the NPC layout met mod approval already, let's hold off on jumping to conclusions about it.

I'm not clear on whether they were something Steve/Siege asked for, or something TimothyC put in on his own initiative.

I was asked to draw a map. Other than some broad directions on who had former colonies and broadly where they were, the India situation, & Steve's direct comments I was a bit stuck, so I spammed out countries. Don't get me wrong - reducing the number of NPCs would make my job easier - but if people want something they like more (which seems to be a simpler map) Then they must tell me so, and not ask for so many 'former colonies'.

Right now there are ~30 NPCs & ~20 PCs. Do people want a 20/20 split?

I beg your pardon; my point was simply that I literally did not know what parts of that NPC layout were mod-dictated, what parts you had created on your own, and what was to be done about it, so any upsetness would be premature.

Thanas wrote:I don't mind more NPCs than PCs, but what if for example in IC I move forward with a proposal to ban landmines? I'll assume approval by NPCs if PCs all agree, but how do we handle it if one PC disagrees? Does that lead to a percentage of NPCs agreeing with them?

It would seem logical.

Umeria would probably disagree on the land mine ban too. It's easy to sign them when you are:
1) Rich enough that you don't really need land mines to deny territory, or
2) Poor enough that you are far more likely to become someone else's minefield than you are to need to lay minefields of your own.

Neither of those really applies to Umeria.

Of course, Umeria also thinks chemical weapons are just dandy, for historical reasons. So maybe it's just that the technocrats are bastards.

They are not even remotely into biological weapons, though, and would be very enthusiastic supporters of a ban on those, by contrast.

I'd prefer it if NPCs would be assumed to sign it if there is a resolution to such a conflict and otherwise stay out of it.

Most likely, although there may be a few countries that are basically Sonofabitchistan and break every international law on the books.

I will only sign a landmine ban if Klavo and Beo do, otherwise I need the landmines to deal with the COMMIE HORDES of Klavostan.