Upcoming Mod: 'Darkest Hour Mod - Nineteen Eighty Four'

Very nice, lots of promise, hopefully it doesn't die.

You probably can keep perpetual warfare by decreasing unit build times. BTW how would you implement the Floating Fortresses?

u can probly represent them with the CV unit and just give them massive sea attack and defense. sorta like a carrier battleship hybrid

Adonnus said:

Not sure what positions in the Ministries of Oceania James Coburn or 1930's actors would have.

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I figure most people won't know these actors or (depressingly) James Coburn, so that's why I made them. I thought you were going the "made up or historically plaudible people" route for ministers

To add a bit of atmosphere an event should come up every month or so simply saying: 'Big brother is watching you'.

imo there won't be any revolt if the mod is a complete replica of the novel, cuz before the revolutionaries could get together the Miniluv had already unpersoned all of the individuals

Isn't Oceania's cabinet going to be made from Big Brother and the ministries?

I'd propose:

HoS: Big Brother - Diehard Reformer. Even though he's an elusive figure and probably doesn't exist as a person, BB is the concept of a revolutionary leader who spread out his (soul-crushing) ideology by military conquest and wants to do so for the entire world.
HoG: The Inner Party - Silent Workhorse. The IP is pretty well disguised as just a bunch of supervisors who don't really do anything beyond managing the day to day business of the ministries, it's small and doesn't use up too many resources. While living in comparative luxury, they and their upkeep do not compare to that of the RL high society.
Alternates: Miniplenty - Ambitious union boss, Miniluv - Backroom backstabber, Minitrue - Flamboyant tough guy (propaganda)
Foreign Minister: Big Brother - Ideological Crusader. See above.
Alternates: Miniluv - ironfisted brute, Minipax - general staffer
Armaments Minister: Miniplenty - Military Entrepreneur. Starving the population has its "benefits" stated in the book but if there is still any surplus most of it would go to the military. See above for the Inner Party.
Alternates: Minipax - Battlefleet proponent. Of all the known military technology of Oceania, their floating fortresses stand out as the resource hog.
Chief of Security: Miniluv - Prince of Terror. This one is obvious.
Alternatives: Minitrue - Efficient Sociopath. Obvious again.
I don't know where the Thought Police fits in between these two ministers but I think they were mostly under Miniluv.
Chief of Staff - Minipax - School of Fire Support or of Mass Combat, maybe two separate Minipax "ministers".
Minipax is the most important ministry for the purposes of a wargame, though Miniluv seems to have been the principal one in the book.
Alternates: Miniluv, Big Brother - School of Psychology.
Chief of Army - Minipax - Decisive Battle doctrine. My interpretation of the victory in Africa. Or Elastic Defense.
Chief of Air - Minipax - Army aviation or Carpet Bombing.
Chief of the Navy - Minipax - Power Projection, maybe with an alternative for decisive battle and/or base control.

Lord Finnish said:

A lot of breaks from the novel will be necessary for this mod to work.


I say we had Goldstein alive and well and have him sparking revolts in some part of Oceania, like North America.
Also, since 1984 apparently takes place after a nuclear war the IC output of each nation should be low, not to mention the crippling effect of such totalitarianism.
Oceania's unit models would be simply named "Victory [Unit] [Year]" such as Victory Tank 1984.
Probably obvious but Oceania's anthem should be the lobby music of this mod.
National bonuses: Oceania has more IC than others and is more centralized, Eurasia has more Manpower than others and Eastasia has greater unit Morale and Organization than others.
In HoI2 ideology terms Eurasia is Stalinist, Eastasia is National Socialist and Oceania is Fascist. All are full dictatorships with just changes in left/right scale.

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Mostly good ideas, but I have a few nitpicks and completions to make. First, the IC of Oceania at around 500/360 seems fine for a devastated world, considering the territories it holds. Eurasia should be about 240 base IC, Eastasia 150 base IC and the contested areas should be another 50 IC, most of it in India, but damaged to 0 at the start from constantly changing hands and from bombardment.

Also, I think you mixed up Eurasia and Eastasia. China (Eastasia's core domain) is the world's population center, while in WWII, the point of divergence from where the dictatorships emerged, the strongest military traditions were the German and post-Stalingrad the Soviet/Russian, hence Eurasia should have the best quality ground forces and Eastasia should rely on numbers and militia.

Ideologies: IMO Eastasia should be National Socialist, and Eurasia and Oceania both Stalinist. Alternatively all 3 could be Stalinist. Events could shift relationships around in a heavy-handed manner to represent the doublethink based propaganda. "We have always been at war with X."



Adonnus: If you want Australia to appear under Liberate Nation you must remove Oceania cores and claims on it.

If you need any events, scenario manipulation or what have you, tell me here or in a PM and I'll see what I can do (events especially shouldn't be a problem). I barely ever thought of making an 1984 mod but I'll definitely help out in one if I'm wanted.

Just tell me what you'd like. I've taken potshots at the tech tree too.

Can't wait to see what you've cooked up for Eurasia and Eastasia.

How about rockets?

Ghery said:

How about rockets?

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Make them relatively cheaper when compared to the core game. In the book, London is bombarded by a few rockets (variants of the V2, presumably) 24/7/365.

Rotten Venetic said:

Isn't Oceania's cabinet going to be made from Big Brother and the ministries?

Also, I think you mixed up Eurasia and Eastasia. China (Eastasia's core domain) is the world's population center, while in WWII, the point of divergence from where the dictatorships emerged, the strongest military traditions were the German and post-Stalingrad the Soviet/Russian, hence Eurasia should have the best quality ground forces and Eastasia should rely on numbers and militia.

Ideologies: IMO Eastasia should be National Socialist, and Eurasia and Oceania both Stalinist. Alternatively all 3 could be Stalinist. Events could shift relationships around in a heavy-handed manner to represent the doublethink based propaganda. "We have always been at war with X."

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Actually, China's population in WWII was less than Europe combined due to the constant warfare the predated WWII. It exploded post-war (Cold War era). Asia also had a really strong military tradition during WWII. A very very large percentage of China's population was in de facto mobilization while Japan was essentially a military dictatorship. Probably not as high in organization (doctrine), but morale shouldn't be too off.

Benefits:
Oceania: +IC, Okay Manpower, -Resources (sufficient food, but shortage of CG due to lack of resources/rares). Ideology: Doublethink (Stalinist)
Eurasia: -IC (war from WWII), Good Manpower, Okay Resources (tons of food/farmland/oil, lack of rares). Ideology: Fascist or National Socialist.
Eastasoa: Okay IC (industry not that wartorn, most of the fighting was in countryside), Few Manpower, Tons of resources (tons of rares, okay oil, tons of coal/steel, lack of agriculture/food if the population rebounds, but enough for current lack of manpower population). Ideology: Paternal Autocrat (best description of general eastern cultural views).

Aha. Missed that in the OP. Got some sick ideas for land doctrines tho

Remember to never use nuclear weapons. In the book, all three states had a mutual agreement not to use them because of the risk of the destruction of the super-states and of their policy of constant war.

That goes for the early game. Agreements like that can be broken at a moment's notice, and nukes would make a fine mid to late game addition to the horror of the 1984-verse. Anyway, I've finished a first draft of the Eastasian land doctrine tech tree, with 14 techs. Be advised, it is intended to be disturbing and disgusting, and may not be fully in accord with the forum rules. It has a nuke related component, yes, but that can be taken out if need be.

And especially some later techs push it away from the constant balanced war policy. In theory, at least.

I still feel like the Eastasian manpower would have collapsed, especially if there was war for another 40 years.