Update 5
Peace broke out again - and if it were to us, it could prevail for quite some time! Our initial plan to prepare for Germany has been undone. We now need to get back on track.
What's happening in the world? Well, let's see...
Nations declaring independence and wars are going on. It can be only helpful for France that Germany is distracted with a colonial war in the far East.
But let's focus on old Yurope. We NEED a strong partner. To achieve this, we are giving all blueprints we have to Sicily. We also support them with resources.
In June '38 4 new factories are finished. Again, France's IC increases and makes her more productive than ever before.
Now that's a decent move of Sicily. They're giving Grenoble and Nice back to where they belong - France. Without hesitation we accept this deal (should we give them Sardinia?).
We plant our first spy into Germany. If the information is close to being accurate, the situation is better than I actually had feared. They definitely have a stronger military than us, but except for their superior navy, I don't think they would be able to overrun France.
Vietnam didn't exist for long. Just a few months after their declaration of independence they had been annexed by Germany again.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic...
At least we know what other nation we have to cope with in that region of the world. Mexico might become a 3rd power over there, after USA and Canada. We're quite liked by the Mexicans, the Americans and Canadians hate us (NO MA'AM's commandment number 2: "It is wrong to be French").
You don't have to head too far away to see action in the world. Russia is rather active in her former provinces. She declares war on Azerbaijan, obviously Persia declares war on Russia as they also have territorial demands there.
And now, it is getting really interesting.
Austria declares war on Lithuania. OK, that doesn't sound too interesting, I know, but bear in which military pacts are triggered here.
Well, I was celebrating this for myself. A war between the former allies in WWI could only mean good for France. They would weaken themselves and before they would know, Sicily marches into Austria and the Balkan, and France reclaims both the Rheinland and Elsaß.
But look at this...
Only THREE hours after the declaration, peace was declared between all involved nations. The status quo remains, and we couldn't profit from this situation at all. Maybe Otto I. just misclicked "declare war" instead of "influence nation"? I mean, at age 91 he is not the youngest after all
With the development of a new light carrier technology, we are ordering 3 of these little beauties to improve our navy.
Talking about beauties, just a few days later, France's new love was finished.
Some things are happening to Germany. They want to repopulate Livland and make it culturally German for all times.
We are changing our goals concerning foreign politics. France abandons her strategy of influencing Russia's politics and then hoping they will be friendly towards us. A government that right-winged will never ally with us. They'd probably rather team up with our ultimate foe! It is up to us, to wake the Russian people up and help them take control of their own politics!
Due to our new goals and our constant lack of money, we need to change our production towards consumer goods. Russia is VERY hard to infiltrate with spies, even though we have a 20% chance, it takes about 5-6 attempts to plant a spy every time. Also, see how well Sicily is doing. At a nice 81 IC output, they should very soon be quite strong. Maybe they will build 2 more factories and get another tech team.
In November '39, we finally saved enough money and start our coup campaign in Russia. Unlucky, our attempt failed
But we have to keep on trying!
The roaring 30s are coming to an end. Shortly before that happens, we have a massive run of upgrades done. Also, Russia annexes Mongolia.
At the beginning of 1940, the Elsaß-questions pops up again. We send the ultimatum to the other side of the border...
Germany tells us that they are ready to fight for the Elsaß and not give it up peacefully, to whom it rightfully belongs. Unfortunately, we have to step back. We sent them the ultimatum but didn't have the power to back our demands. Internationally we made fools of ourselves. Our isolationist level has increased again. It really hurt, but it was in the best interest for our peoples.
Goals for the next year(s):
- organise/enlarge our army
- help the Russian socialists gain power
- reoccupy our rightful Elsaß