AoD - Harry Turtledove's Settling Accounts

[unmerged(189717)]

Harry Turtledove's Settling Accounts

Did you ever wonder what would have happened if the Confederate States won the American Civil War? And if the United States joined the Central Powers in the Great War, whereas the Confederates fought with Britain and France?

Well, have a look at this mod. It's based on the Timeline-191 series by alternate history author Harry Turtledove and covers the events of the Settling Accounts sub-series.

The original mod was created by HMS Enterprize, so credits go to him. I converted the mod to Arsenal of Democracy and gave it a huge update.

Download v1.0beta here!



Background story

Twenty years after the United States lost the Civil War, the Confederates purchase two Mexican provinces in order to gain access to the Pacific. Provoked and still frustrated, the United States start another war called the Second Mexican War - and lose again. After that, the USA extend their military budget, introduce conscription and, most important, join the German Empire and her allies.
Another three decades later, Archduke Franz Ferdinand is killed by Serbian nationalists and a conflict later know as the Great War starts. After three years of bloody trench warfare, the newly invented barrels (know as tanks in our timeline) enable a breakthrough: The United States lead by Theodore Roosevelt beat the CSA and her Canadian allies, inherit Canada Kentucky, Sequoyah, parts of Virginia and Texas and regain their proud. Germany kicks France out of the war, Russia nearly loses the Russian Civil War against communist rebels and Britain is beat, though not knocked flat.
The frustrated Confederates elect Jake Featherston, leader of the radical Freedom Party, as President in 1934. France is turned into a monarchy by Action française. Britain, lead by Winston Churchill and Oswald Mosley, is drifting towards absolutism. Russia's poorly equipped but gigantic army is gearing up for war. Who will win this time?


What does v1.0beta include?
Hundreds of event have been added, but there are still some balance issues.

How do I install this mod?
The mod is for AoD1.04. The installations requires nothing more that deleting some folders and copy the mod into your AoD folder. A readme.txt with all details is included in the zip folder.

Can I still play AoD vanilla if AoD - Settling Accounts is installed?
You can't, that's why I recommend to create a separate installation for this mod.

Wow, did you do that all by yourself?
No, the original mod was created for HoI2 Armaggedon by HMS Enterprize, but I changed a lot of stuff, added new graphics.


Special thanks to HMS Enterprize for creating the original concept of this great mod!

Download old v0.1beta here
Download old v0.5beta here

 

[unmerged(189717)]

The Confederate States lost the Great War and suffered hard - will they have their revenge?

Imperial Germany has dominated Europe since 1917 - maybe too long?

After the Great War, United States occupied Canada and created the Republic of Québec.

The Ottoman Empire rules the Middle East.

The Kingdom of Poland and the Ukraine are results of the Great War, but they are drifting away from their German overlords towards the Russian Empire.

The CSA is ruled by the radical Freedom Party and their leader Jake Featherston.

Wilhelm II stills sits on the Kaiserthron.

Mexico never turned into a democracy.

The Central Powers snatched half of Africa after their victory in the Great War.

There is the Spanish Civil War - between nationalists and monarchists!

Japan wants to expand, just like in our timeline.

South America - room for conflict too.

Action française turned France into a monarchy.

Choose your destiny!

Italy - great visions and crappy equipment, as usual

 

[unmerged(189717)]

Things to do:

- probably create new skins (I'd need help with that)
- create event chain for a South American war
- maybe lower colonial release dissent
- more event for Deseret
- add Indian War of Independence
- add events for CSA and CAN to puppet the new North American revolters
- add war entry and surrender events for Italy
- surrender event chain for Austria-Hungary
- surrender events for Japan

 

[TheBob]

Good work.

 

[unmerged(189717)]

Good work.

Thanks for the feedback, Bob. I think I'll be able to release the next version (which includes the events) within a week.

 

[hansnery]

Alternate history is always cool, will be downloading soon.

 

[unmerged(189717)]

Alternate history is always cool, will be downloading soon.

Thank you. Please give me some feedback. During the last days, I rewrote the events for the Spanish Civil War, created more than 50 new event picture and wrote a new capitulation event for the Sino-Japanese war.

 

[FOARP]

Glad to see someone doing this, as it was my favourite mod in HOI2. Things which worked in HOI2 which might be worth thinking about in this mod:

- Fixed German units and large fortifications along the French border and in the major cities (particularly Hamburg), Germany would always collapse without them.

- Some adjustments to the AI to make France and the UK concentrate more on Germany.

- China surrender/revolt events - Japan should never have a totally firm grip on the place, and if the Entente is defeated there should definitely be consequences for Japan in China.

- A Russian civil war event - German victory over Russia should not result in an unrealistic Bitter Peace-type event given the more moderate nature of the Kaiser's government. Having Russia collapse into civil war seems like a realistic consequence for

- A Central American unification event, communist victory in the Mexican war should have consequences, the unification of Central America (Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras) under the communists seemed like a cool idea for showing this.

- Imperial collapse events for the Anglo-French.

- It was always too easy to defeat the USA playing as the CSA, some kind of "calling up the reserves" event to add strength to them, as well as events in which major northern cities (Chicago, Detroit, New York, and, of course, Pittsburgh) are turned into fortresses with fixed garrisons when the CSA reaches an adjacent province might be a good idea.

I did write out events for some of these back in 2008, particularly the locked garrisons/fortifications in Germany proved to be very effective in making the game closer to the book and you should definitely consider it. The civil war events are especially useful for producing communist states, something missing in the original which meant that the game lacked a Comintern faction for the player to face in a post-war confrontation.

 

[FOARP]

"You can't, that's why I recommend to create a separate installation for this mod."

Does JSGME not work with AoD?

 

[unmerged(189717)]

Does JSGME not work with AoD?

AFAIK, it does.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll fortify Germany heavier and I think I'll write some AI-only events that give the AI some units once a key province is in danger. I know, many players don't like that, but this mod is already heavily scripted anyway.

I already wrote a new Chinese surrender event: Japan can create Northern China (with own building AI, ministers, leaders, tech teams and pictures) as a puppet and will get the Chinese coast. You can choose the Warlord or full annexation option too, but expect high partisan activity or a revolt once things go rougher in the Pacific.

 

[FOARP]

Like the re-vamped Spanish Civil War - is the monarchist side Carlist? Using the Carlist flag to represent the monarchists might be a good way to avoid using the red-and-gold flag for both sides.

 

[unmerged(189717)]

Like the re-vamped Spanish Civil War - is the monarchist side Carlist? Using the Carlist flag to represent the monarchists might be a good way to avoid using the red-and-gold flag for both sides.

Actually, both flags are different ... but I know what you mean. AFAIK, the monarchists are the supporters of King Alfons XIII, who lost the throne in 1931 in our timeline, so they are Bourbonists (if that term even exists).

 

[FOARP]

"this mod is already heavily scripted anyway"

Yup, basically it has to be to give the player enough of a challenge. Still, fighting the Confederates all the way back into North Dakota, until they were within one province of linking up with the Canadians coming west out of Ontario and cutting the USA in half, and then turning the tide and driving Featherston's boys back where they came from, was simply the most enjoyable game of HOI I've ever played. If this mod can deliver the same kind of nail-biting combat as the original Settling Accounts mod I will be very happy.

Essentially scripting is great if it adds to the challenge of the game without railroading the player. Events which add to the strength of a losing side are a good example of this, as are "Enemy at the gates" events (i.e., events creating fortifications and locked units in threatened cities) which mean that no major city will fall to the player without a tough fight.

 

[unmerged(189717)]

The download link no longer works for me. Anybody else with that problem?

I uploaded the file again here, but I get the same filefront error (-1).

 

[strits1945]

The download link no longer works for me. Anybody else with that problem?

I uploaded the file again here, but I get the same filefront error (-1).

-Link on your first post did not work
-Your repost link worked

 

[unmerged(189717)]

-Link on your first post did not work
-Your repost link worked

Thanks. For me, both links work now. I won't edit the post above in case the upper link is broken again.

 

[unmerged(189717)]

Version 0.5beta can be downloaded now!
You can find the download link in the first post.

Please try it and give me feedback. Unfortunately, I don't have access to AoD right now (I'm not at home and just have my laptop here) so I can't do all the beta testing by myself.

 

[Yaromir]

Ok, I played for a couple of hours.

1. Descriptions are missing for some countries in scenario select.
2. Looks quite barren for Russia event/story wise. No events at all. I guess I should have tried CSA instead? (Keiserreich has very rich events, I became spoiled?)
3. Russia starts with a large Peace-Time penalty despite being almost entirely Authoritarian
4. In 1941 AH simply declared war on me (Russia) for no reason.

 

[unmerged(189717)]

1. Descriptions are missing for some countries in scenario select.

That's right.

2. Looks quite barren for Russia event/story wise. No events at all. I guess I should have tried CSA instead? (Keiserreich has very rich events, I became spoiled?)

I think you are (Kaiserreich has millions of events ). Please note that I did write some new events and reworked old ones, but didn't have enough time to create that much new stuff. If you have nay ideas, don't hesitate to post them.

3. Russia starts with a large Peace-Time penalty despite being almost entirely Authoritarian

True, but I think the original author of this mod (HMS Enterprize) included this to prevent Germany from collapsing too early.

4. In 1941 AH simply declared war on me (Russia) for no reason.

That's weird. I'll have a look at that. Event-wise, JAP, CSA and FRA should start the war.


That you very much for testing this mod. I hope you aren't too disappointed. You may want to try out CSA - they have more events (more like Germany in AoDvanilla.

 

[Yaromir]

That's weird. I'll have a look at that. Event-wise, JAP, CSA and FRA should start the war.

There was no event (I checked the log), AH just declared war. We didn't even have a common border. Then Germany basicly blitzed all the way to Moscow with battles only lasting couple of hours. Low GDE?

Also, abrupt nature of the war meant no "Gearing for War" events (do they exist?).

That you very much for testing this mod. I hope you aren't too disappointed.

Why would I be disappointed, it says "beta"

A friend of mine love Turtledove's books, so I thought I'd look at it.

I don't know if this mod geared towards playing only certain countries (and Russia isn't one of them).

I will try CSA this weekend (150 IC, yikes)