The Drums of War

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Czernobog
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The Drums of War

Post by Czernobog »

Imagine a world a few centuries ahead of our own. A world driven by rivalry and competition, a world where mighty superstates struggle and compete against each other. A world of chaos, terror, rivalry, madness, competition, presidents, generals, princes, kings, hegemons...

..A world that marches all too readily to the beat of the Drums of War...


The Players

The year is 2149, and the world is dominated by many great powers, or 'Superstates' in the common political-scientific parlance. The key defining feature of a Superstate, is overwhelming economic and military superiority, to the point where it cannot be defeated except by the actions of another Superstate. The most well known Superstates are the United States of North America (a union of the former Canada and the USA) and the European Alliance - a group of smaller nation-states that when combined form a Superstate. These two powers are perennial rivals, and it is only a matter of time before this rivalry becomes violence...

There are two other nations defined as Superstates - the People's Republic of China, and the Russian Federal Union, successor to the old New Russian Soviet Union. Of the two, China is firmly allied to Europe, and Russia to North America.

There are also several other multi-national bodies - the North African Confederation is seen by many as a fledgeling Superstate, one that needs only the right econo-military conditions to rise up and tear apart the status quo. India is also seen as a fledgeling Superstate, one that has no attachment to any of the established powers, and is thus courted by several.

Aside from that, there are multiple small and minor nations that either have no connection with the Superstates, or are firmly in one's sphere of influence.

Finally, one reaches the Failed States, that have completely ceased to function as anything resembling nation-states, but remain to exist as they are, as no one wishes to have anything to do to them. Tyrannical dictators, anarchic militias, terrorists, all lurk in the shadows produced by the flame of Western Civilisation.

Technology

After many long and tired studies, the technology of the world has increased. Fusion power is the dominant form of power generation, and most vehicles run off miniature fusion reactors. Space travel to the moon is cheap and easy, owing to torch-drives, and Lunar and Martian colonies exist, although the Martian colonists' situation is like that of the first Europeans in the New World. Energy weapons have not supplanted projectiles as sci-fi predicted, but remain in their own niches. Rail-and-gauss weapons are relatively common, with a scale ranging from an officer's side-arm to planetary bombardment batteries.

Cybernetic implants abound, although they are mostly designed to look like natural parts of the body, rather than what Hollywood envisioned. Medical technology has massively improved, and medical nanotechnology makes stuff like cancer a triviality worth, perhaps, a visit to the local doctor for a nanobot injection.

Pure fusion nuclear weapons have been invented, although fission weapons are still commonly used in the European Alliance and the PRC.

But for all this technology, Man himself has not changed...
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Mobius 1 »

What about the fourteen other verse concepts you've spammed on the forum? I mean, if you're not actually going to truly work these verses out, then the Random Ideas thread is the place for you.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Czernobog »

Mobius 1 wrote:What about the fourteen other verse concepts you've spammed on the forum? I mean, if you're not actually going to truly work these verses out, then the Random Ideas thread is the place for you.
I plan to truly work this one out.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Magister Militum »

Well, the whole 'imperialism in SPAAACCE!' concept has been done before (that is not to say that it's a bad thing; I'd be the biggest hypocrite on the board if I said otherwise), but if you are truly interested in working fully on this then I guess it does have some potential. I would suggest you flesh out your polities, though, as they seem pretty bland at the moment.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Malchus »

Okay, this is a bit generic, but I actually have no problem with this. Like Magister said, it could use some fleshing out, which is true for most of your stuff. Whether you actually have the drive to do so and not just leave this as yet another one of you many spammy posts is the question.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Blackwing »

Yesss!

It may be generic, but generic as a basis for a setting is perfect, it lets you add details to the setting until it stops being generic and starts becoming unique.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Czernobog »

Finally, after many delays, the first article for this 'verse is complete. I now present...

The United States of North America


Governmental type: Presidential Democracy.
Short form/colloquial: USNA/North America
Head of State: President.
Current Head of State: President Alfred F. Jones.
Population: 600,000,000.
Nationality: American.

History


The United States of North America was founded after the Third World War ended in 2080, and after New Soviet forces had rampaged through Canada for half a decade, devastating the country. An agreement to merge the two nations was quietly made, and after a number of plebiscites (which are rumoured to have been faked or otherwise rigged), the United States of North America was declared, even as the New Soviet Union was dissolved in the Treaty of Philadelphia. The USNA spent approximately 15 years rebuilding its Canadian territories.

The USNA was the first nation to switch to fusion after the Fusion Breakthrough of 2099, and was later involved in the War of Korean Unification in 2115-16, crushing North Korea utterly. Today, it is equalled only by the European Alliance in economic and military might, and is first among the Superstates of the world. Its sphere of influence comprises Britain, Greece, Japan, the Pacific and the Atlantic.

Military and Technology



The USNA’s military is a state-of-the-art efficient fighting machine, with a standing army of 2,000,000 men and 3,000,000 reservists, second only to the PRC’s wartime army of ten million men. It is divided into seven branches – the United States Marine Corps, the Continental Army, the United States Aerospace Force, the National Guard, the United States Navy, the Coast Guard and the United States Spacefleet.

The USNA makes great use of fusion power, and practically all its vehicles are fusion-powered, from the Eliphas-pattern tanks to the Lexington class of Aircraft Supercarriers. Its Shining Star aerospace fighters are guided by experimental pseudo-sapient AIs, enabling them to complete whole missions without human involvement.

The United States Navy is another example of its generous defence budget, with massive missile-battleships and immense supercarriers, overshadowed by the looming spacecraft of the United States Spacefleet, armed with fusion cannons and immense mass-drivers that can reduce cities to naught but ash and dust.

Standing at Lagrange Point 2 lies the immense space-station Discovery, a great shipyard for the United States Spacefleet and a staging post for exploration of the solar system and missions to the USNA’s extraterrestrial colonies, its immense size belying its powerful defensive systems, designed to protect it against anything short of nuclear weapons.

Against this terrible might, no nation on Earth save another Superstate can stand. Whether this is for better or worse is up to you.

Politics, Culture and Economy


There are two main political parties in the USNA – Progressives and Conservatives. The currently ruling party is the Progressive Party, under President Alfred F. Jones, but aside from these two, there are many fringe or third parties, such as the Libertarians or the Republicans.

The economy is free-market capitalism, but certain prohibitions and legislations have been passed into law in order to prevent major financial crises.
The culture of the USNA is pretty much like that of the old United States, but somewhat more conservative and disapproving of things like biomods and genetic engineering. In some respects, this is good, in others it is bad.
But aside from that, the most popular forms of music are rock music, metal or popular music.

Conclusion

For better or worse, the USNA is amongst the most powerful nations on the planet, and this cannot be denied. The most sensible thing to do is not to panic, for at least the keys to world domination are in safe hands.
Last edited by Czernobog on Sun Nov 01, 2009 8:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

It's pretty okay, though I notice the tanks and carriers share the same name as O1World stuff. The army seems to be pretty big, outfitting all those soldiers must be costly. Do they send these soldiers to foreign wars? Since North America is pretty isolated from foreign powers, they might not need to HUEG a standing army unless Mexico was a powerful regional rival.

This looks odd:
But aside from that, the most popular forms of music are rock music, metal or popular music.
Popular music is a popular form of music? :)
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Siege »

There is so much wrong with that article it's difficult to find a place to start. First off - the United States apparently allowed the 'New Soviet Union' to "rampage through Canada for half a decade". So what the hell happened to NATO? What happened to the Commonwealth? What happened to American common sense? Did they just stand by twiddling their thumbs as the commies poured into Canada? Hell, what happened to geography? 'Cause in case you didn't notice, Alaska is sort of in the way of a Russian invasion of Canada.

Also, frankly a Soviet invasion of North America should by rights devolve into a nuclear shooting match seconds after the first Russian soldier set foot on North American soil. Probably the minute the Americans notice the inevitable Soviet armada sets forth from Kamchatka or wherever, in fact.

Anyway, then after doing zip for five years the Americans apparently got off their asses and kicked the Soviets out -- and the Canadians, as their way of thanking them for doing nothing for half a decade, decided to join this USNA? Uh, yeah, right.

Then: if the USNA is 'equalled' by this European Alliance place, how in the seven hells did the USNA end up with a sphere of influence including Britain and Greece? Those are parts of Europe, don'tcha know? They should fall within the EA's sphere of influence by virtue of economic inevitability alone, not to mention all the other factors (historic, political, you name it) that ought to come into play.

Little if anything about this article makes sense to me, and that's not exactly a good thing.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

I just didn't really think of that part's, y'know, implications since we're dealing with some alternate-history stuff and if other alt-history can result in Tzteentchians and Lovecraftianoids, then I guess this particular alt-hist can end up with RED DAWN or something and it really won't make more or less sense than the former. :lol:
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Siege »

Actually that's demonstrably false. When an alt-history kicks off with "in year X, the stars were right and the Great Old Ones awakened", you know the finer details of international geopolitics were just chucked out the window because, well, transatlantic power politics don't matter that much when there's eldritch starspawn rampaging through the countryside.

Meanwhile when you presume to claim that this is the 22nd century where no such thing has happened and the world has developed - technologically, economically, geopolitically - from our 21st century, then such things do matter. If you want people to accept your vision of the future as even remotely plausible you're going to have to put some effort into convincing them -- and extraordinary claims like a Soviet invasion of Canada not resulting in an immediate military response from the USA require extraordinary effort.

The last time I tried writing a semi-plausible alt-future I read a whole bunch of books and studies on the possible future of things as diverse as economics, warfare and political relations between different parts of the world before I even started. Now you don't have to put that much time and energy into it, but I do expect a certain minimum effort at least when it comes to explaining the odder details of a setting (i.e. "Greece resides within the sphere of influence of a North American polity, rather than the European superstate I just mentioned in the previous sentence").

This goes back to the introductory post as well, which claims that China is allied with Europe and Russia with America. Why on Earth woud this be the case? For heaven's sake, Russia and Europe share a land border. What could possibly lead Russia to align itself with a polity from across an ocean rather than the one right next door -- or for that matter lead China to align itself with an entity half the world away?

None of this makes sense right now; in fact it strikes me as just plain lazy writing. When you write stuff like this the very least you should do is offer an explanation for why things are the way they are, and I'm just not seeing it.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Czernobog »

Just a note: this isn't meant to be 100% plausible, or even 50%. In fact, it's more like 25% plausible. As for explanations, they will come later. But anyway, presenting...

Military of the United States of North America

The military of the USNA is a highly advanced and efficient machine, which is described in more detail below.

The Continental Army

The Continental Army is the land arm of the USNA's military, and is highly advanced. The average soldier has a fully-enclosed battle suit, with armour incorporating advanced polyfibers and non-Newtonian fluids that can reliably prevent the penetration of 50. cal bullets (of course, the soldier inside is often injured). Inside the helmet is a Heads-Up-Display that is linked with the soldier's weapon and also sensors that monitor his health, allowing it to display the amount of ammunition he has and how injured he is. It can also display enemies, potential hazards, maps of the surrounding terrain and so forth.

Image
A soldier of the Continental Army, without helmet.

The Continental Army's equipment is below:

M-156 Gyrojet Rifle: The M-156 fires explosive, mass-reactive gyrojet missiles at high velocity, which detonate inside enemies or obstacles. It incorporates an infrared/night-vision scope with an integral laser range finder and an X-ray display (that is, it can see enemies through walls).

Eliphas-pattern Main Battle Tank The Eliphas-pattern tank is named after General Alexian Eliphas, renowned for breaking the North Korean lines at the Battle of Pyongyang in the War of Korean Unification. It is a modular design, able to mount a Gatling-cannon, a Featherston-pattern maser beam projector, or a railgun on its turret. It is a rugged and reliable vehicle, with fusion cells giving it essentially unlimited range and next-generation engines giving it a maximum speed (on road) of 350 miles an hour.

Bradley-pattern APC The Bradley-pattern APC is a rugged, reliable vehicle, named after James Daniel Bradley who reclaimed most of Canada in World War Three. It incorporates fusion cells, but lacks the Eliphas' engines, forcing it to follow up, transporting the infantry to garrison areas captured by the Eliphas.

More to be added...

United States Navy

Below are listed the ships of the United States Navy:

Lexington-class Supercarrier

The Lexington-class is a supercarrier designed solely for the purpose of strategic bombing. To aid in this, it carries 30 Shining Star fighters for interception and escort purposes, as well as 52 B-99 Devastator bombers, each capable of carrying 8 tactical or 4 strategic fusion bombs, as well as 25,000 pounds of conventional ordnance. There are only three ships of the Dies Irae-class - Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill, each being rightfully feared.

Liberator-class Naval Overmatch Battleship

The doctrine of the Naval Overmatch Battleship was developed after World War Three and the Soviet victories in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Soviets built immense 'floating fortresses' that were able to wipe out entire fleets from beyond the horizon with their missile batteries, and were impossible to take on at close distance or with submarines due to their sheer size and the ridiculous number of guns that they carried. However, these were vulnerable to air assault and the sheer cost of building them was, some say, a clear factor in their defeat. The doctrine of the Naval Overmatch Battleship was refined in the 2090s, and after fifteen years the Liberator, first and only of its class, was completed. The Liberator is a great ship - larger even than the European Alliance's Marianne, another Naval Overmatch Battleship. With a truly ridiculous number of guns (both normal and anti-aircraft), SAM to deter attack and immense numbers of rockets (sufficient to annihilate entire navies, and capable of being nuclear-tipped) the Peacebringer is a symbol of the might of the USNA, and its presence in a port is enough to bring entire towns out to look at its deadly beauty.

More to be added...

The United States Aerospace Force

Below are listed the planes of the United States Aerospace Force:

Shining Star Fighter

The Shining Star is the premier fighter in the USNA's aerospace force. Fusion-powered, space and hypersonic capable, it is a good fighter in every way. However, what makes it unique is the lack of a pilot. The Shining Star is instead guided by a psuedo-sapient AI, and merely has to be given a set of objectives, and given time (usually a few nanoseconds) to figure out how to perform them, and then attack. This makes it far more deadly and expendable, and often Shining Stars are coordinated by a central computer back at base, changing primary, secondary and tertiary objectives as the mission continues.

B-99 Devastator Bomber

The Devastator is the mainstay of the USASF's Strategic Aerospace Force, and for good reason. It has space and hypersonic capacity, and is powered by a fusion reactor, capable of carrying 25,000 pounds of conventional ordnance, as well as 8 tactical or 4 strategic fusion bombs. It lacks the Shining Star's psuedo-sapient AI, and as thus still needs to have a pilot.

United States Spacefleet

Below are listed the ships of the United States Spacefleet:

Lady Liberty-class

A great veteran, the Lady Liberty-class is a thirty year old spaceship class, due to be decommissioned and placed in mothballs any time soon. There are talks about making her a museum ship, but no-one knows what will truly happen to her when she is decommissioned.

United States-class

The United States-class is a new class of spaceship, and is renowned for its immense size and new armament. Its manifold weapons include a fusion cannon, a new weapon developed by USNA scientists, channelling the power of a fusion explosion into a beam using a series of magnetic fields and causing absolute devastation wherever it is targeted.

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps have become the 'special forces' of the USNA's military, designed for raids and surgical strikes deep into enemy territory. To aid in this, they have special, highly-experimental powered exoskeletal suits, in varying marks and models, that enhance their speed and fighting ability, while also coming with integral weapons systems.

Image
Two test subjects for the Mark 3 X-25 Powered Exoskeletal Suit

These suits are optimised to increase the wearer's speed, strength and stealth. They are exceedingly useful for the USMC, in that they enable wearer to survive things that would kill somebody not wearing them. Also useful to the USMC is insertion from orbiting spaceships, something that has enabled them to deliver the ultimate surprise on the enemy.

To be continued...
Last edited by Czernobog on Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:39 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Ah, Naval Overmatch. You seem to be borrowing stuff from O1World, not that it's a problem.

These are nice toys to blow stuff up, and hopefully should you write what the Russkies or the Europeans have, they'll present a different variety of weapons that'll make them stand apart from the Murricans.

I also see the effort put into the thing, as seen by its length, and that's a great thing. It'd really be great if you could make your other stuff similarly detailed and content-full since this Murrican Military post makes many of your previous posts practically microscopic in comparison.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Magister Militum »

Alright, now I won't get into the issue with the USNA on account of Siege nailing it right on the head, but I do have to point out the bizarre nature of America's naming schemes. Unless the USN is going through a massive Classical Antiquity fetish (which isn't that implausible, as history has shown us), there is no real reason why they would name their ships like that. Yeah, I know that naming ships after states or politicians is boring, but people tend to remain ignorant of the fact that the US Navy gives some very good names for its minesweepers (eg: the Avenger, Guardian, Aggressive, and, my favorites, Impervious and Champion). You can do what I do for the USSN in The Eternal Game and name your largest ships in this style, as it certainly makes more sense than the Dies Irae-class, for example.

Alternatively, you can use the more traditional naming conventions for your carriers (famous places and ships, like Lexington or Alliance) and leave the others for your Naval Overmatch Battleships. The same can apply for your US Spacefleet as well.

EDIT:
This goes back to the introductory post as well, which claims that China is allied with Europe and Russia with America. Why on Earth woud this be the case? For heaven's sake, Russia and Europe share a land border. What could possibly lead Russia to align itself with a polity from across an ocean rather than the one right next door -- or for that matter lead China to align itself with an entity half the world away?
And why should something like a land border be such a major factor? If there are major economic, military, or political factors involved that would make such an alliance attractive, then why should a mere land border override all those other considerations?

That, and I believe that it is a reference to RedImperator's The Humanist Inheritance, which had such a system of alliances.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Between the weirdo latin-names for American war machines that Kamin wants, and the downright generic names like those Militum suggested, I really am unsure about these naming conventions.

I mean, naming American ships and tanks 'Dies Irae' or something is kind of like having the Russians name their ships and tanks 'Le Madame Pompadour' or 'Falun Gong' or 'Mobutu' or 'Kilamanjaro' or something. It's about as weird as Californians, like those beach guys in Los Angeles and dudes in San Francisco, calling themselves Byzantine and acting like Greco-Romans and stuff. :P

Then again, those American-names Militum suggested are kind of boring too. (Sorry, Militum.) :P
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Invictus »

I don't have much to add at the moment, but President Alfred F. Jones?
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Czernobog »

Invictus wrote:I don't have much to add at the moment, but President Alfred F. Jones?
I was not aware of that.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Magister Militum »

Shroom Man 777 wrote:Between the weirdo latin-names for American war machines that Kamin wants, and the downright generic names like those Militum suggested, I really am unsure about these naming conventions.

I mean, naming American ships and tanks 'Dies Irae' or something is kind of like having the Russians name their ships and tanks 'Le Madame Pompadour' or 'Falun Gong' or 'Mobutu' or 'Kilamanjaro' or something. It's about as weird as Californians, like those beach guys in Los Angeles and dudes in San Francisco, calling themselves Byzantine and acting like Greco-Romans and stuff. :P

Then again, those American-names Militum suggested are kind of boring too. (Sorry, Militum.) :P
I fail to see how any of the names I suggested are somehow generic or remotely boring. They're certaintly make more sense than Kamin's current names when looked in context.

Besides, I see Kamin has taken my advice and made a few changes to his warship names, so you end up losing, little man. :D
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Well, they do make more sense than warships named Sanguinius or Angron or something. I personally would name my supercarrier Flattop or Murderous von Schrom and my submarines the Shamoo and the Gay Pride.

Imagine an enemy carrier group getting its shit ruined by nuclear torpedoes launched by the Gay Pride :lol:

Oh yeah, animal names also make good ship names. The USS Octopus and the SSN Starfish and the Naval Submersible Fortress Sea Slug.

Then again, I might not be the best judge. In SDNWorld I named my hospital ships with names like... Marine Mastectomy and Hydrodynamic Hysterectomy and Central Sea Colonoscopy and shit. :mrgreen:
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Czernobog »

The European Alliance

Currency: Euro.
Governmental type: Federal Republic.
Short form/colloquial: The Alliance/The Euro Bloc
Head of State: President.
Current Head of State: President Konrad Hartmann
Population: 750,000,000
Nationality: European

History

The European Alliance was founded in the 2060's, as a counter to the Soviet military build up beyond the De Gaulle Line, a military defence line built from the Estonian border to the Sea of Azov. It was a direct evolution of the European Union, under which Europe had become increasingly federalised, a movement that proved controversial when Greece dropped out in 2055. According to the treaty that set it up, Europe's various militaries were to be placed under a joint strategic command, and Europe was to be made into a 'superstate' with the various governments taking orders from Brussels, a clause that proved to be the cause of the United Kingdom leaving the alliance.

In the 2070's, the worst fears of the European Alliance were confirmed, as the New Soviet Union attacked Sweden, Finland and Norway, crushing them in three months of Blitzkrieg warfare. The heavily fortified De Gaulle line was ignored, even as Denmark was crushed under the Soviet war machine. Then, in winter 2075, the Soviets launched a massive offensive at the De Gaulle line, three million men breaking through it, like a tide overwhelming a dam, to ravage and rampage through Europe. The offensive continued to rampage in Europe in 2076-77, crushing Poland and marching to Berlin, as the Soviets invaded Turkey through Georgia.

However, the Soviets were fighting a three-front war - making massive gains in Europe at the expense of being bogged down in China and Canada. Eventually, the momentum of their conquest meant that their offensives were slowed down and their garrisons thinned out, and so the European revenge came in Operation Firebird, liberating the pockets of resistance in Germany and Austria, as well as driving the Soviets back to the Russian border.

Taking Moscow by force was not an option, and so the city was simply firebombed into oblivion by the Europeans, nuclear weapons being not an option owing to fear of retaliation. Every significant Russian city was simply bombed into rubble over the course of six months, killing millions of Russians and destroying the Soviets' industrial capacity. But the self-proclaimed Tsar of all Russia and People's Chief Commissar, Vladimir Romanov, refused to surrender, ranting madly right as the European troops marched into Moscow, before killing himself with a pistol as he finally realised that resistance was, indeed, futile.

The surrender of the New Soviet Union was conducted by Alexei Nikolaivitch, the People's Commissar of the Glorious Soviet Military. It was later dissolved and replaced with the Russian Federal Union, which has lasted to this day.

To this day, the European Alliance has never forgotten the horrors of the Third World War - it explains why they passed up the opportunity to ally with Russia and instead allied with China, one of its historical enemies, to which the USNA responded by allying with Russia.

Military and Technology

The European Alliance's technology, military and otherwise, is not as homogeneous as that of the USNA, but is dependent on the technology of the individual states, although they are technically under a single military command. This means that providing the given supplies for a force composed from two or more states' militaries is a logistical nightmare, resulting in the fact that many military operations are conducted by the military of just one state, which can lead to a lack of required forces for success.

The military forces of the European Alliance are divided into the forces of the states that form it up - which often have separate armies, air forces, and so forth. They are technically under the command of the European Chief General Staff (which technically leads the European Air Force, the European Navy, the European Army, the European Starfleet and the European Marine Corps) but more often they go their own way.

Even so, the European Alliance has a great deal of technology, such as the Marianne and the Bismarck, its two Naval Overmatch Battleships, and the forces of the European Starfleet, second only to the USNA's.

Politics, Culture and Economy

There are a multitude of political parties in the European Alliance, owing to the fact that each state forming it up is technically still independent, even though in practice they take their orders from Brussels. However, the main ones are the European Allied Front (progressive) and the European National Front (conservative).

The economy of the European Alliance is free-market capitalism, like the USNA, but, however, certain restrictions and legislations have been passed.

European culture is more liberal than the USNA, but not by much.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

You know when they firebombed cities like Tokyo and Dresden, each of those firebombings actually killed just as many or even more people than those killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Or maybe it is a randome altarnate realty that nations won't use nuclear weapons to bomb the enemy to rubble when the enemy is... uhh... bombing them to rubble.

lol

EDIT:

Why did the Soviets attack both Europe and Canada? What could be their compelling reason? Because of hurr Soviets evil lol? :lol: lol :lol: lol

Oh right, their leader was a frothing madman who ranted madly and grinned evilly. :mrgreen:

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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Czernobog »

Weapons of the World

Fusion Cannons

The fusion cannon is the pinnacle of North American engineering, working off of magnetic field principles. In short, extremely volatile supercooled plasma is heated up by an ionising laser and released out of the barrel of the main gun at about twice the speed of sound, protected by contact with the air by precisely-defined magnetic fields. When it strikes the target, it detonates, with about the same effect as a rocket-propelled grenade. Needless to say, little can survive it. Being bulky as it is, the fusion cannon is often used on tanks and other such vehicles, particularly the North American Fairfax-pattern Superheavy Battle Tank, although infantry and rifle versions exist, but they are not as powerful.

Larger fusion cannons, such as those on the United States-class of Space Battleship, channel the energy of runaway fusion reactions to create even more powerful explosions, in the maximum case capable of flattening entire cities.

Tesla Cannons

The Tesla Cannon is a product of European engineering. It works by using a particle beam in a revolving field matrix, and then using a Tesla Coil to fire electricity through it. The result is that the weapon creates an uncontrollable web of deadly lightning, composed of many strands, seeking out anything conductive, and deadly to the touch. Thus, the weapon is indiscriminate in what it targets, and cannot be aimed well - pointing it in the direction of the enemy is your best bet for survival. As a direct result of this, the weapon is still in development stages and is used rarely, if at all, in the field.

Rail and Gauss Weapons

Rail and gauss weapons have existed for 50 years in some form or another, although it took a long time for them to be scaled down for the rifle and pistol variants we see today, and even longer to become something other than a novelty or an experiment.

Lasers

Lasers are the most common energy weapon in the world, being cheaper and more efficient to make than other energy weapons. However, they are not miniaturised as easily, and are thus harder to make into an infantry-capable form, a thing most of the world's major powers have given up on.

Maser Cannons

Maser Cannons fire a beam of microwaves, superheating targets to the point of incineration and/or explosive vaporisation. They are not to be confused with maser bombs, which fire lethal maser beams in all directions, and are more effective the hotter the target is.

Gunpowder Weapons

Obsolete in the face of the rail/gauss gun, gunpowder weapons only persist for one reason - they're cheap and easy to make. This cheapness enables them to easily get into the hands of warlords in the failed states, and into militaries of the lesser independent powers.
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Siege »

Kamin997 wrote:(...) the De Gaulle Line, a military defence line built from the Estonian border to the Sea of Azov (...)
Why on Earth would a defensive line in Eastern Europe be named after a French general and president? Moreover, it is extremely ironic that they'd call it so, since De Gaulle was forced to flee to Britain after a certain defensive line named after a certain French minister of defense failed spectacularly.

Come to think of it, defensive lines are not something of the 21st century, much less the 22nd. Mobile warfare and precision weapons renders such fortifications basically useless.
It was a direct evolution of the European Union, under which Europe had become increasingly federalised, a movement that proved controversial when Greece dropped out in 2055.
Why the hell Greece, of all possible contenders? They receive tons of benefits from their EU membership, and have practically nothing to lose. What the hell happened to Greece in the next 50 years that they'd be the first to drop out, faster than say France or Ireland or Britain?
In the 2070's, the worst fears of the European Alliance were confirmed, as the New Soviet Union attacked Sweden, Finland and Norway, crushing them in three months of Blitzkrieg warfare.
I ask again: what the fuck happened to NATO? Why wasn't this grounds for the immediate nuking of Russia- I mean, the 'new Soviet Union'?
The heavily fortified De Gaulle line was ignored, even as Denmark was crushed under the Soviet war machine.
How the hell did they manage that?! How did they get across the Kattegat or the Skagerrak without getting toasted? You can't just drive from Sweden to Denmark, don't you know?
(...) liberating the pockets of resistance in Germany and Austria (...)
If there were only 'pockets of resistance' left in Germany, then where the hell was the rest of the European army?
(...) nuclear weapons being not an option owing to fear of retaliation.
Oh bollocks. You mean they can bomb every Russian city to cinders and the Russians still won't deploy their nukes? Nonsense. They'd be used the minute European forces make it across the border, just like the French and British would rain their nukes down upon the Russians the minute they tried anything funny. They have to; nukes don't work as a deterrent ever again when you don't use them the moment you're supposed to, i.e. when the commies come across the border.
Every significant Russian city was simply bombed into rubble over the course of six months, killing millions of Russians and destroying the Soviets' industrial capacity.
Where the hell did Europe get the strategic bombers required to bomb every significant Russian city into rubble? PS: the Russians maintain what is probably the largest, most advanced and comprehensive air defense grid in the world.
But the self-proclaimed Tsar of all Russia and People's Chief Commissar, Vladimir Romanov (...)
Oh please. What is this, Red Alert 2?
To this day, the European Alliance has never forgotten the horrors of the Third World War - it explains why they passed up the opportunity to ally with Russia and instead allied with China, one of its historical enemies, to which the USNA responded by allying with Russia.
China is not a 'historical enemy' of Europe. Moreover, the USNA had no issue allying with Russia even though the Russians 'rampaged' through Canada much like they did through Europe? Why is that? And why would they ally with Russia anyway? What do they need Russia for?
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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Siege wrote:
But the self-proclaimed Tsar of all Russia and People's Chief Commissar, Vladimir Romanov (...)
Oh please. What is this, Red Alert 2?
Why Mister SiegeTank, whatever do you mean? :P

The New Soviet Union's army in Canada, or in Europe, must be led by an awesome commander who swims in a bathtub with French Quebecois and/or Scandinavian bikini chicks while briefing his 'Comrade General'. ;)

Seriously.

Shit, man, Red Alert 2 was awesome.

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Re: The Drums of War

Post by Destructionator »

Siege wrote:
Kamin997 wrote:(...) the De Gaulle Line, a military defence line built from the Estonian border to the Sea of Azov (...)
Why on Earth would a defensive line in Eastern Europe be named after a French general and president? Moreover, it is extremely ironic that they'd call it so, since De Gaulle was forced to flee to Britain after a certain defensive line named after a certain French minister of defense failed spectacularly.
The double irony there is De Gaulle was opposed to the idea of giant defence lines - he was an early proponent of highly mobile mechanized warfare himself before and into the war.
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