Original Post
- Location
- United Kingdom
They are both surrounded by carefully picked, or carefully installed, allies. Some are more willing or capable than others, some still cling onto their own dreams of power, some labour secretly and diligently on plans that threaten to throw the world once again into flames.
Tension fills the air, and as the atom transforms the world and the empires of old die, it is up to you, the players, to carefully forge a new world. Reform or preserve the social and economic order of your countries, seek to avenge or forgive old resentments, forge new international bonds, and guarantee yourself a place in history without setting off a chain of events that unleashes powers that ultimately serve only to destroy civilisation as it is known today.
Brief Version
Please try to read the full post, but here's an abbreviation of the key points:1) Game starts June 6th, 1950. Turns are 6 months. Initial mini will be about clashes in Korea. Scale of those clashes is up to players involved.
2) Sign up for up to three countries.
3) Send two orders for normal countries, three orders for GP+ countries. Try to use one order on spy craft or external influence. Everyone sends war plans for wars. I strongly encourage you to send technological progress reports along with your orders.
4) Stats are incredibly simple and will not affect the game as much as your past actions and updates do.
5) Don't send orders and you may be kicked out depending on the situation.
6) Order deadlines will be posted in IC/OOC threads and on Discord.
GP+ countries:
These are the 'big players' for now:
USA, USSR, China, France, United Kingdom
I'd ideally like to have them, and North Korea, filled before the game starts. I know that currently a lot of Americans are going through finals etc so if you do sign up for these countries, just make sure you can:
- Send orders by the end of this week (Friday 12th/Saturday 13th)
- Send orders for a potential Korea mini by Wednesday this week.
If you do sign up for one of these countries, I'd like it if you remained active in the diplomatic sphere of the game. Whereas I will not enforce anyone to do any sort of IC post, as these countries it might be necessary if you wish to play them properly, especially the US and USSR.
Note on the Korean War
It is up to the players involved on how this conflict turns out, but I would strongly recommend not ignoring it entirely. No matter the orders sent, due to the tension in the region, some level of clashes will occur, and you may look either too hawkish or weak depending on how you decide to react. While preserving peace is an option for everyone involved in the peninsula, it might not be your best bet if the other side decides peace is not for them after all.
Sign Ups
Please sign up for a maximum of three countries. Sign ups will be highly arbitrary, and positions of importance will be given to those who I believe will be initially reliable. I will initially only hand out a few countries and then as I get used to the workload, broaden this, so please do not be upset if you are not initially given a state – I will go back to old sign ups after a few updates. That's always the plan.
The initial countries I'd really like to fill out are:
USA, USSR, China, France, United Kingdom and North Korea.
Apart from that, your likelihood of being accepted increases if you sign up for states that are relevant in this period, so keep that in mind. You can always change your sign up, just make a new post and let me know.
For now, all countries are to be treated equally, I may accept 'IC only' countries or countries with less orders later.
Orders
Each turn covers 6 months, please write your orders accordingly.
Each country gets 2 orders. Each GP+ country gets an extra order. I highly suggest that you use at least one order for internal security, espionage or influencing foreign states. This game will be won by influencing, diplomatically and covertly, other countries and players, not by increasing your statistics the most.
In addition, given that this was a time of spectacular breakthroughs in science and technology, I encourage each country to send me a 'technological progress' report with each set of orders. In this, you can either say what your country is aiming to develop, has (historically) developed or is attempting to import or roll out. Please consider the size and capabilities of your country when doing this. If you're importing something sensitive from another country, please make sure you ask them and have them send me a message if it's something like importing nuclear reactor components or missile systems.
Please don't use this to state that as Czechoslovakia you have developed the S300 in 1952, as that will be ignored, and you will be mocked. You can use it to for example state that you are going to attempt to develop a technology your country wasn't historically good at. For big countries this would be something akin to the US trying to beat the USSR into orbit, and for small ones, something like the Belgians setting up a small but highly advanced computer industry to try and punch above their weight. Good 'technological progress' sections will make it into a section of the update.
Be creative, not greedy. Creativity and good research will both be very strongly rewarded.
Statistics
I am not a fan of people spending the entire game building tractor plants to increase some arbitrary statistic. So, I am keeping them very simple, and this includes the army too. If you want to increase the size or modernity of your army, tell me about it in your orders/tech reports, and then I will tell you in the update whether this worked and how well it has worked. The same goes for attempts at growing your economy or changing your society. There will be no Gender Equality % statistic, but there will be updates telling you that in your ICs and orders you can now assume your country is ahead or behind in matters like gender equality.
The fog of war is real, and David can always defeat Goliath, which is why I want to avoid having concrete army/navy/air force statistics. Going to war, be it economic or the type involving bullets, should always be a huge risk, and should not be inherently predictable. I also want wars to have deep repercussions on the world.
Statistics will be posted once the sign ups are in their final stages, as I need to know how many countries we will have & who we will have. If you have any suggestions or changes to your countries statistics, feel free to send them in one of the Discord channels.
Key Rules and regulations:
Remember, while you will not be removed from the game if your government is couped/removed, you are expected to roleplay the current government of your country. This potentially means going against your own personal beliefs. - Send orders every week. If you miss orders once as a GP+ country without good reason, I may replace you. If you miss orders twice as a regular country, I may also replace you. This depends largely on your participation up to that point. I will give plenty of reminders.
- Nuclear weapons can only be used with agreement from me.
- Wars between major powers can only be declared with agreement from me, at least initially. Small conflicts between other states are permissible within historical reason.
Even if you have a strong desire to make Spain a Communist paradise as soon as possible, this will only be permitted if you do your work and gradually show me why the country would go that way. Even then, expect a lot of resistance from the existing system and stakeholders.
The Map
The map was quickly adapted from my 1900 one yesterday so let me know if you find any issues, in particular in the Pacific or South America. There's a special Discord channel for this. I am aware that some name labels are missing and all of them are ugly - this is something I plan to rework within the next few days but it shouldn't impact sign ups.
Some countries borders are just approximations. Please note Indonesia will coalesce into one entity within 2 months of the game starting so if you want to apply for Indonesia, apply for the entire thing.
The Discord & Comms
Join here: Join the Cold War 1950 Discord Server!
Roles and channels will be set up once the game gets going. Participation in the Discord is strongly encouraged, and more or less mandatory if playing as one of the GP+ states. Standard behaviour rules apply and misbehaving in the channels will get you kicked out. Criticising me and the game is fine.
For my own sanity, please post any questions publicly in the allocated channels, and as much as I tolerate each one of you and see you as the valued friends that you are, not send them via direct message unless incredibly critical.
Orders can be sent via either Discord or private message here.
Game Pace
I am hoping to have at least one mini update a week and one turn update every 1,5 to 2,5 weeks. The game will not progress at any sort of pre-determined pace but I'd like to keep the momentum going. Please note there will be weeks where I am absent due to work - I will make sure to catch up on everything after I am back and answer any lingering questions too. Any weeks like this will be pre-announced and I will do my best to still answer any urgent questions on Discord. For the next two weeks however I should be fully available.
Have Fun
With all that said. feel free to sign up. I am looking to start selecting countries for key positions as soon as possible, and would be looking to start getting orders in this Saturday if possible and depending on the interest. I am currently not too sure how many countries I will accept - roughly around 10. Please note you stand a far better chance of getting into the game if you want to play important countries. Feel free to give reasoning in your sign up as to why you'd want to play something, feel equally free not to bother with that at all. Huge thanks to anyone that helped me with this in the last few days and huge thanks to those interested in the game, I hope I don't disappoint and we can have at least a solid 30 turns before someone starts nuclear war over 4 hectares of worthless desert.
