So it was Toledo. Huh.
Their representative has explained the situation to you, and in a few hours' time, the switch will be made public. How do you respond?
The more openly Toledo acts, the more they bind themselves to us.
Victoria are the kind of people to bear a grudge and to act on it; see what they did during the Pacific War. Toledo jumping the VAF base would attract major reprisals in the event of a Victorian victory, but if they openly help in destroying the remnants of the Victorian field army, they are welded to us for a generation.
Because if Victoria ever get the upper hand over them ever again, they'll destroy the city and massacre the population in retaliation.
So after this?
Expect an application for an alliance or even outright accession to the Commonwealth.
Especially since they're going to need food aid after several weeks of Victorian foraging during the planting season.
Furthermore, if Toledo deploy two divisions of roughly 10-15k each in the Victorian rear, in combination with our own 3 divisions of 45k total, it brings us up to numerical parity or even superiority over the remnants of the Victorian army, which should drastically drop our casualty rates. And act as a further morale malus to the Vics.
And then there are the widerscale implications.
It means the Victorians will be more paranoid about their local allies turning coat, which means they have to keep forces back to guard their rear areas, and harsher treatment of collaborators, including disarmament when they move in.
The sort of thing that drives people away. Not that they need much encouragement.
Our willingness to accept turncoats also drives a propaganda stake into the heart of Victoria diplomatic strategy.
Kinda hard to villify Hellfire Burns as coming to destroy your homes when he accepts somewhere like Toledo peacing out from the Victorian war effort.
I will point out, though, that these are militia. Part time soldiers. Well trained parttimers, but still parttimers. They are acting in defence of their homes, and comparatively few of them have any interest in a professional military career. So don't expect them to suddenly inflate our military numbers except in defence.
We want more soldiers, we're going to have to recruit them.
[]Plan Sticking The Boot In
-[ ] Toledo's aid is welcome. They have made mistakes, but they would not be the first to ally with or abet the Victorians out of fear. After all, had you not acted as swiftly as you did, Detroit would currently be an enemy stronghold. You will accept Toledo's aid. They can find their redemption in the thickest and hardest parts of the battle.
-[ ] Yes. Your pilots have fought in counter-insurgency operations for literal
decades. They have a lot of institutional expertise and knowledge, and have dealt with anti-aircraft weapons before. Their aid will be invaluable, and you trust them. A twenty-five plane air wing is better than nothing.
REASONS
-Toledo fighting and bleeding to wreck the Vics makes it easier to sell their flipping sides as genuine, both at home and to Detroit.
And is a propaganda victory abroad, which is critical to any nation looking to expand peacefully. Plus the firepower advantage of adding another 20 to 30k Quality 2 troops to this particular battle will drastically reduce our casualties.
-We actually need some experience with combined arms. Naval + air + land.
The more vectors of simultaneous attack there are, the less any given military arm or force suffers casuaties.
I would not risk the CAF normally.
But with the VAF confirmed grounded, Victorian supply issues beginning to bite properly, and the Toledo Militia jumping them from behind, this is pretty much as good as it gets.
Plus, the benefits of aerial reconaissance in directing artillery fire are pretty fucking big.
