Sorry for the big delay in pulling together my last update. I won't bore you all with a long list of excuses...suffice to say I get pulled in a lot of different directions sometimes...often against my will. Anyway, time to respond to some recent comments:
@ Madmonkey24: Don't worry...I won't let this AAR die. I'm having WAY too much fun doing it to abandon it now. I try to update at least once a week if my time allows. Much of the recent delay can be attributed to reworking the game to veer away from the the WC I had originally planned. I've written a whole new series of events and those took time to create and test. I'm hoping the delay will be worthwhile.
@ trekaddict: I'm still a bit put off by the buggy nature of ARMA and prefer the stability of the latest Doomsday patch. I own ARMA, I've played it....but that whole ghost fleet thing is a real downer for me. At this point, I'll just wait for HOI3.
@ Kurt_Steiner: If I leave the allies and my belligerence continues to grow, the likelihood of a Soviet attack grows with it. I'll be working hard to blunt that possibility by maintaining good relations with them.
@ robou: No question it will be difficult to build a Germany scaled armor force with my current IC. Not only do I have less IC to allocate for production, I have less to expand my transport capacity which is a critical need once you get deep into Russia. Oil I'm less worried about. If I can ally with Romania I'll be in decent shape. I can also trade for oil and I'll be fostering good relations with the USA for that very reason. I'll need to find a balance in there somewhere. To attack the Soviet Union, you need armor. I can't even imagine trying without it.
@ Milites: Thanks for noticing the maps! The German maps in the last update were a gift from a friend. I completely LOVE the detailed hand drawn nature of them and really wanted to incorporate them into the AAR somehow. The fact that they're in German seems a minor issue to me. A pretty map is a pretty map no matter what language it's in (and honestly I don't think I could find maps like that in Polish from that era...not as hi-res anyway)
@ Deus Eversor: The last event was one I had always intended for this AAR, although I did modify it somewhat..particularly towards making the consequences a little stiffer for absorbing Germany. I'll be using this as a setup for a future chain of events that can create a new Polish led alliance. Tricky to make those things....it requires altering the event files for lots of other countries...not just Poland.
@ Delex: I tried to restrain myself and not simply add cores without some ethnic or historical basis. Memel is Lithuanian and my current relationship with them is sketchy at best. Rest assured it will eventually become mine....but events have not unfolded yet that give me a more valid claim there.
@ Jedrek: Actually that document (if you're referring to the formal declaration of annexation in the last update) was not signed by Piłsudski. Truth be told, I believe it's a document regarding Piłsudski's funeral...but hey...it's looked cool and at the scale I used it I thought I might get away with it....I guess not!
The German maps don't really bother me. My friend Paul gave me beautiful hi-res scans of these German maps from the 1930's and I just couldn't pass up the chance to use them. Thank you for the song! I have a different version of it...but always cool to hear alternatives.
@ canonized: If I leave the allies, the possibility of a 2 front war exists. I've been very careful to avoid this possibility in past games as either Poland or Germany. But...I'll forge some new ground (for me anyway) and invite the prospect. Should be exciting...no?
@ gooy: I have incorporated a modified version of the Bitter Peace Event very similar to the one used for Germany. I don't know about you....but watching someone conquer Russia all the way to the Pacific sounds insanely boring. Russia is GIGANTIC.
@ elbasto: It won't be possible for me to achieve full Free Market unless I cheat and I won't be doing that. I got as far as I did via the early slider influences from the UK and France early in the game. Nice as they are, the free ride is over. You can expect my government to slide gradually more right as I progress here. Poland is turning mean. As for fighters...yes...well, kind of anyway. Once I complete research in Basic Interceptors, I'll begin a serial run of those in preparation for a strong air arm in my war against the USSR.
@ Enewald: Interesting idea...but honestly I won't be doing that. I'm trying to not pile a bunch of huge advantages in Poland's favor. I'd rather earn the IC by either building it or conquering it. I will say, though, that there are more cores out there for me to gain via some future events.
and one last comment to
Ghostwriter:
I caught your post from awhile back about the plebicite idea in conquered territories. Thank you for the very thoughtful, detailed breakdown as to how that might occur! But as I indicated to Enewald, I'm trying to restrain myself and not go IC hog-wild here. So much of the fun of playing Poland is dealing with her handicaps. I might as well just play Germany if I don't want the challenge. Know what I mean?