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And so it has come to pass; the final playtest for the scenario is well underway. Following this and the final modifications that shall take place as a result, the scenario will be released in full as a proper full playable version.
I have been playtesting as the British Empire, and this game, so far, has been quite different to my last playtesting session, though what remains is quite hard to tell.
As Great Britain and the Empire, I inherited the worlds largest single economy at the onset of the game. Previous games playing as Britain had seen me become lax and apathetic; confident in my unmatchable position, I would do little to further it and would inevitably be overtaken.
-This time would be different. I already had an economy significantly larger than those of Germany, France and the United States, my chief economic competitors. I intended not only to keep it that way, but to expand my economic influence to an even greater extent.
The Rubber Wars.
-The first order of the day was the global rubber market. Rubber was a strategic resource of great importance, needed to produce modern infantry units. The markets were the US, almost all of Europe and Russia.
-The main competitor for my hold on the global rubber market; France. Only France had the far-flung tropical colonies with access to rubber resources that would equal mine, and this needed fixing.
In 1908/ 1910 the first significant act of British Imperialism on the 20th century occured; the invasion and domination of Borneo. Borneo contained one British settlement and two Indonesian ones. The Indonesians controlled no less than two rubber resources and one coal resource on Borneo, and I wanted it.
After a swift military campaign, I had dominated Borneo. I then went on to invade and occupy another Indonesian settlement in Guinea, adding another rubber resource, along with some dye, to my stocks.
The peace treaty was easily arrived at, and the main condition was a permanent British presence in Timor as well as the 38 gold in the Indonesian coffers (representing less than 1% of total British gold reserves).
This was the first act of economic imperialism by what was to become a revitalised and aggressive Britain, insistent on placing under its control as many essential resources worldwide as possible.
In the years that followed, British domination of the rubber market was to continue. France was sidelined and selling for reduced profits as the lucrative German and US markets went to Britain. Britain adopted close ties with the major powers of the United States and Germany, and they amounted to significant amounts of trade and income for the Empire; almost 1/3 of Britain's total annual income was represented by income from these two nations. The Empire was wide awake and raking it in, but more was to come.
The Oil Rush.
When the technology of refining was realised by Britain, it was sold to both Germany and the United States for a considerable sum, each adding to Britain's income. With oil resources now open and available to the world's major powers, the oil rush was about to begin.
-Initially, oil resources near to the British region of Ad Damman were exploited and a harbour, at tremendous cost, was rushed into production there, allowing trade with the Empire as a whole. Efforts were made on encouraging cultural growth in Ad Damman, in the hope that a second nearby oil resource in the oil-rich middle-East might fall under it's control.
Meanwhile, oil exploitation was to continue out of the middle-East as well. Africa was the key to this and it was known that the Saharan desert region contained several key oil deposits which could be colonised, mined and utilised by the hungry British Empire. A massive road-building and colonisation program began from various British African colonies towards the Saharan region.
Unfortunately, these colonies proved vulnerable. Barbarians and terrorists were rife in this region, and after the first massacres of British Saharan workers, a sudden flood of money and resources was directed at the British military contingent in Africa, to protect the new colonies of oil, along with the ivory and incense resources of the region which were also proving extremely lucrative in the export market.
Colonisation continued in Canada too, with rubber and coal resources there also becoming available, though much credit is deservedly given to the United States and it's cavalry, which with British permission flushed out the terrorists and barbarians of the icy north.
By the end of the oil rush, Britain controlled the oil market in much the same way as it had dominated the rubber market. Britain itself utilised one oil resource, but it possessed five, divided between two near Ad Damman and three in the Saharan oil fields. The Empire restricted its oil supply and hoarded it, and this did not earn it many friends. Apart from Britain, only France and the United States had the ability and resources to mine their own oil and only the United States had oil spare to export.
But things were not all wonderful for the Empire. Bad things were happening in the world, and Britain could easily have been said to have caused some of them itself by its complacency.
The Colonial Revolts.
There were, in the space of eight crowded years between 1914 and 1922, three revolts where settlements revolted against Britain and threw off the Imperial yoke.
One was in East Africa, where a British colony turned to Germany, having become alienated by Britain's 'lack of culture'.
Another was in India, where one of the settlements revolted and turned back to the independant Indian faction. This caused significant worry in Britain, as it raised the distant possibility that Bombay, the administrative heart of Britain's Indian economy, might go too. If that were to occur, the effects on the Imperial economy would be catastrophic.
A third was in Aden, where a revolt stripped the British governors of power and Islamics reared up to rebel and join the Arabian culture.
These three revolts were unfortunate, but hardly disastrous, given the gains made in Indonesia and the colonial success in Africa, but they were starting a worrying trend, and more was to come.
The Central American Statement.
In 1918, the Central American Republic, infuriated and disgusted at British arrogance, complacence and global economic imperialism, decided to make a stand. It declared war on Britain, and launched an attack (via US soil, which they were allowed to travel through) on British Canadian settlements. The 'invasion' was a failure, but an iron resource was taken from the empire as roads were pillaged in the region.
Britain felt that it needed to make an example of the Central Americans. It simply did not have the manpower to perform a successful invasion on such a distant region straight away, so a compromise was reached.
-At exhorbitant cost to Britain, the United States was bribed into war. At the same time, a taskforce was prepared and set off from Belfast, complete with destroyers, Ironclads and a small contingent of artillery and elite British infantry, bound for Central America.
As it happened the war was a tremendous success. The US attack on Chihuahua, Mexico City and other Central American strongholds had caused a mass movement of troops to the North of the Central American Republic, comfortably away from the cities the British taskforce arrived at, which were left completely unprotected.
Thousands of workers fled to Belize from the British invasion force, but were not followed. It was decided that Belize would be left for the United States, and all cities South, numbering four, would be taken by Britain. Two were completely undefended and two put up token resistance. Cali, the Southernmost region, was razed to the ground as a statement.
It was a great victory for Britain, showing it could effectively project its power to far-flung lands, even if foreign assisstance did prove useful.
And yet, something terrifying was about to occur in the East.
The Bear Awakens.
In July of 1922, for whatever twisted reason of misplaced pride, the Ottoman Empire made a decision so stupid one can only gape at it's idiocy.
-It declared war on Russia.
Russia, the giant of the East.
Russia, the economically stalled and technologically backwards joke of Europe.
Russia, with probably the worlds largest army.
Within one year, half the Ottoman Empire and almost all of Turkey had fallen to the Russian hordes. Constantinople was coming under fierce artillery attack, Baghdad was preparing to be overrun and Europe was gaping at the spectacle of an unleashed Russian army.
For all it's lack of technological sophistication and it's stalled and inefficient economy, Russia had one thing on it's side; sheer numbers.
It also had possibly the world's largest industrial base. With many estimates putting the collossal industrial output of Moscow alone as equaling the entire Ottoman Empire, there could only ever be one victor.
And Europe in general was terrified. The Ottoman Empire had always been a useful block of Russian influence. If it fell, then Russia would surround Eastern Europe completely, and would be a stone's throw away from Ad Damman, source of much British oil.
Britain, as the world's foremost power, had to make a stance.
-It performed the most awe-inspiringly massive trade embargo the world had ever seen upon Russia.
The United States, China, India and Japan were included, along with almost all of Europe, save the Balkans, who refused to take part in Russia's punishment.
On the one hand, this was a wise strategic decision. It cut off, for an extended period, Russia from the world's rubber suppliers; France, Britain and China. It thus prevented the training of modern Russian infantry and the export of Russian resources worldwide.
But on the other hand, it was a horrifically irresponsible decision. Russia was a largely insular country in trade terms, unlike Britain, Germany, France and many others. It could handle this handicap without collapse.
-But it did make Russia furious, and a furious and spiteful Russia is not what Europe needs.
It slowly began to dawn, in the present time of July 1925, that Russia borders six regions; Scandinavia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Arabia, the Balkans and the remnant of the Ottoman Empire.
Of these, only Germany could actually win a prolonged war against Russia, it was estimated.
Has Britain just awakened the bear to the East?
-Well that concludes the playtest thus far. After it is done, I will make the following alterations:
*Individual modern armoured units.
*Preventing barbarians from getting modern infantry.
*Naming the African factions properly.
*Fixing British fighters.
*Strengthening the smaller factions.
And it will then be released to all and sundry!
What we now have is:
Placement of all major factions and settlements: 100% complete.
Addition of new units of various types, including World War 2 units: 95% complete. (Modern Armour variants still need adding.)
Addition of Fascism and Corporate Republic government forms: 100%
Addition of Forced Labour Camp industrial improvement (Communism only): 100%.
Modification of Civ characteristics: 98%.
Potential extras:
Modification of diplomacy text. Not attempted.
New civilopedia icons for buildings, governments and units. Not attempted.
All is going well.
I have been playtesting as the British Empire, and this game, so far, has been quite different to my last playtesting session, though what remains is quite hard to tell.
As Great Britain and the Empire, I inherited the worlds largest single economy at the onset of the game. Previous games playing as Britain had seen me become lax and apathetic; confident in my unmatchable position, I would do little to further it and would inevitably be overtaken.
-This time would be different. I already had an economy significantly larger than those of Germany, France and the United States, my chief economic competitors. I intended not only to keep it that way, but to expand my economic influence to an even greater extent.
The Rubber Wars.
-The first order of the day was the global rubber market. Rubber was a strategic resource of great importance, needed to produce modern infantry units. The markets were the US, almost all of Europe and Russia.
-The main competitor for my hold on the global rubber market; France. Only France had the far-flung tropical colonies with access to rubber resources that would equal mine, and this needed fixing.
In 1908/ 1910 the first significant act of British Imperialism on the 20th century occured; the invasion and domination of Borneo. Borneo contained one British settlement and two Indonesian ones. The Indonesians controlled no less than two rubber resources and one coal resource on Borneo, and I wanted it.
After a swift military campaign, I had dominated Borneo. I then went on to invade and occupy another Indonesian settlement in Guinea, adding another rubber resource, along with some dye, to my stocks.
The peace treaty was easily arrived at, and the main condition was a permanent British presence in Timor as well as the 38 gold in the Indonesian coffers (representing less than 1% of total British gold reserves).
This was the first act of economic imperialism by what was to become a revitalised and aggressive Britain, insistent on placing under its control as many essential resources worldwide as possible.
In the years that followed, British domination of the rubber market was to continue. France was sidelined and selling for reduced profits as the lucrative German and US markets went to Britain. Britain adopted close ties with the major powers of the United States and Germany, and they amounted to significant amounts of trade and income for the Empire; almost 1/3 of Britain's total annual income was represented by income from these two nations. The Empire was wide awake and raking it in, but more was to come.
The Oil Rush.
When the technology of refining was realised by Britain, it was sold to both Germany and the United States for a considerable sum, each adding to Britain's income. With oil resources now open and available to the world's major powers, the oil rush was about to begin.
-Initially, oil resources near to the British region of Ad Damman were exploited and a harbour, at tremendous cost, was rushed into production there, allowing trade with the Empire as a whole. Efforts were made on encouraging cultural growth in Ad Damman, in the hope that a second nearby oil resource in the oil-rich middle-East might fall under it's control.
Meanwhile, oil exploitation was to continue out of the middle-East as well. Africa was the key to this and it was known that the Saharan desert region contained several key oil deposits which could be colonised, mined and utilised by the hungry British Empire. A massive road-building and colonisation program began from various British African colonies towards the Saharan region.
Unfortunately, these colonies proved vulnerable. Barbarians and terrorists were rife in this region, and after the first massacres of British Saharan workers, a sudden flood of money and resources was directed at the British military contingent in Africa, to protect the new colonies of oil, along with the ivory and incense resources of the region which were also proving extremely lucrative in the export market.
Colonisation continued in Canada too, with rubber and coal resources there also becoming available, though much credit is deservedly given to the United States and it's cavalry, which with British permission flushed out the terrorists and barbarians of the icy north.
By the end of the oil rush, Britain controlled the oil market in much the same way as it had dominated the rubber market. Britain itself utilised one oil resource, but it possessed five, divided between two near Ad Damman and three in the Saharan oil fields. The Empire restricted its oil supply and hoarded it, and this did not earn it many friends. Apart from Britain, only France and the United States had the ability and resources to mine their own oil and only the United States had oil spare to export.
But things were not all wonderful for the Empire. Bad things were happening in the world, and Britain could easily have been said to have caused some of them itself by its complacency.
The Colonial Revolts.
There were, in the space of eight crowded years between 1914 and 1922, three revolts where settlements revolted against Britain and threw off the Imperial yoke.
One was in East Africa, where a British colony turned to Germany, having become alienated by Britain's 'lack of culture'.
Another was in India, where one of the settlements revolted and turned back to the independant Indian faction. This caused significant worry in Britain, as it raised the distant possibility that Bombay, the administrative heart of Britain's Indian economy, might go too. If that were to occur, the effects on the Imperial economy would be catastrophic.
A third was in Aden, where a revolt stripped the British governors of power and Islamics reared up to rebel and join the Arabian culture.
These three revolts were unfortunate, but hardly disastrous, given the gains made in Indonesia and the colonial success in Africa, but they were starting a worrying trend, and more was to come.
The Central American Statement.
In 1918, the Central American Republic, infuriated and disgusted at British arrogance, complacence and global economic imperialism, decided to make a stand. It declared war on Britain, and launched an attack (via US soil, which they were allowed to travel through) on British Canadian settlements. The 'invasion' was a failure, but an iron resource was taken from the empire as roads were pillaged in the region.
Britain felt that it needed to make an example of the Central Americans. It simply did not have the manpower to perform a successful invasion on such a distant region straight away, so a compromise was reached.
-At exhorbitant cost to Britain, the United States was bribed into war. At the same time, a taskforce was prepared and set off from Belfast, complete with destroyers, Ironclads and a small contingent of artillery and elite British infantry, bound for Central America.
As it happened the war was a tremendous success. The US attack on Chihuahua, Mexico City and other Central American strongholds had caused a mass movement of troops to the North of the Central American Republic, comfortably away from the cities the British taskforce arrived at, which were left completely unprotected.
Thousands of workers fled to Belize from the British invasion force, but were not followed. It was decided that Belize would be left for the United States, and all cities South, numbering four, would be taken by Britain. Two were completely undefended and two put up token resistance. Cali, the Southernmost region, was razed to the ground as a statement.
It was a great victory for Britain, showing it could effectively project its power to far-flung lands, even if foreign assisstance did prove useful.
And yet, something terrifying was about to occur in the East.
The Bear Awakens.
In July of 1922, for whatever twisted reason of misplaced pride, the Ottoman Empire made a decision so stupid one can only gape at it's idiocy.
-It declared war on Russia.
Russia, the giant of the East.
Russia, the economically stalled and technologically backwards joke of Europe.
Russia, with probably the worlds largest army.
Within one year, half the Ottoman Empire and almost all of Turkey had fallen to the Russian hordes. Constantinople was coming under fierce artillery attack, Baghdad was preparing to be overrun and Europe was gaping at the spectacle of an unleashed Russian army.
For all it's lack of technological sophistication and it's stalled and inefficient economy, Russia had one thing on it's side; sheer numbers.
It also had possibly the world's largest industrial base. With many estimates putting the collossal industrial output of Moscow alone as equaling the entire Ottoman Empire, there could only ever be one victor.
And Europe in general was terrified. The Ottoman Empire had always been a useful block of Russian influence. If it fell, then Russia would surround Eastern Europe completely, and would be a stone's throw away from Ad Damman, source of much British oil.
Britain, as the world's foremost power, had to make a stance.
-It performed the most awe-inspiringly massive trade embargo the world had ever seen upon Russia.
The United States, China, India and Japan were included, along with almost all of Europe, save the Balkans, who refused to take part in Russia's punishment.
On the one hand, this was a wise strategic decision. It cut off, for an extended period, Russia from the world's rubber suppliers; France, Britain and China. It thus prevented the training of modern Russian infantry and the export of Russian resources worldwide.
But on the other hand, it was a horrifically irresponsible decision. Russia was a largely insular country in trade terms, unlike Britain, Germany, France and many others. It could handle this handicap without collapse.
-But it did make Russia furious, and a furious and spiteful Russia is not what Europe needs.
It slowly began to dawn, in the present time of July 1925, that Russia borders six regions; Scandinavia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Arabia, the Balkans and the remnant of the Ottoman Empire.
Of these, only Germany could actually win a prolonged war against Russia, it was estimated.
Has Britain just awakened the bear to the East?
-Well that concludes the playtest thus far. After it is done, I will make the following alterations:
*Individual modern armoured units.
*Preventing barbarians from getting modern infantry.
*Naming the African factions properly.
*Fixing British fighters.
*Strengthening the smaller factions.
And it will then be released to all and sundry!
What we now have is:
Placement of all major factions and settlements: 100% complete.
Addition of new units of various types, including World War 2 units: 95% complete. (Modern Armour variants still need adding.)
Addition of Fascism and Corporate Republic government forms: 100%
Addition of Forced Labour Camp industrial improvement (Communism only): 100%.
Modification of Civ characteristics: 98%.
Potential extras:
Modification of diplomacy text. Not attempted.
New civilopedia icons for buildings, governments and units. Not attempted.
All is going well.
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