A CSA (Combined Syndicates of America) Kaiserreich 1.3 final AAR.
The year is 1936, and the state of the union in the United States of America is not strong. The failing economy and social stagnation has created a radicalized population in America. The old parties of the Democrats and the Republics struggle to maintain their traditional power base among increasing numbers of two new power factions. On one side are the Syndicalists: advocating outright revolution and overthrow of the government in a manner similar to what was accomplished in the Commune of France and the Union of Britain, based mostly in the industrialized Chicago/Michigan area. On the other side was the America First Union Party, a Populist movement advocating tight economic controls to improve the welfare of the people without social revolution, wrapped in a package of 'plain common sense', based primarily in the more traditional Southern United States.
President Herbert Hoover had decided to uphold the tradition of two-term presidency and not seek a third term. His vice president, Charles Curtis, was guaranteed the nomination and would run as the Republican candidate, supported by the few Americans pleased by, or at least indifferent to, the Hoover presidency. The democrats offered John Nance Garner, a conservative Texan Democrat, with the logic that Southerners might be persuaded to vote for him and remove support from the America First Union Party candidate.
Representing America First was its founder, Southern politician Huey Long.
Representing the Syndicalists was journalist-turned-politician John 'Jack' Reed.
What would follow in the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November would be an election that shook the world.
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This is my very first AAR, so I'm not sure how good it will be or even if I will see it through to proper completion, but hopefully it will be entertaining for those who read it.
As a short intro for those who don't know: Kaiserreich is a mod for HoI2, and now Darkest Hour, based on an alternate-history in which the Central Powers won WWI. The United States remained neutral and became politically and economically isolated by a world that was now comprised of the German Empire, new revolutionary Syndicalist governments, and the remnants of the traditional British Empire and its allies. For this AAR, this will be half story based, and half gameplay based. Where appropriate I will include story elements, but to explain why I made 'this choice' instead of 'that choice' I will rely on gameplay explanations.
The AAR will start in 1936 as the United States of America, and continue until the American Civil War breaks out and the Combined Syndicates of America nation is now playable. This might not be 'fair' because I start playing as a nation I later have to destroy, but it's preferable to playing an isolated nation like Tibet and just letting the clock run, with the possibility that the AI will make strange event choices.
Reasons to play as the CSA:
1. The AI usually cannot win the ACW as the CSA. They let the USA take Detroit or Chicago early and then never recover. Playing as the CSA and winning the ACW proves we are smarter than the AI. :happy:
2. Good tech teams, ministers, leaders, and a nice developed string of events. CSA's tech teams are not top-tier, but they are adequate and will allow us to maintain pace with the rest of the world in every field except perhaps the navy. The developers really put some work into being able to play the CSA after winning the war.
3. Once the ACW is won, you are basically King of the Syndicalists. You will have the highest IC of all nations, enough resources to run them all by yourself, and the potential to dominate the world under the Syndicalist banner. The alliance may be led by the Commune of France, but you will be the real power.
Here is a list of goals I will use for this AAR:
1. We will win the American Civil War (of course!), including absorbing the Pacific States of America.
2. We will prepare for war with Mexico (probably, if they are not Syndicalist), and Canada (definitely).
3. We will help the Commune of France win their war against Germany and the other Central Powers.
4. We will turn our attention to either Central/South America or the Entente in Australia, India, North Africa, and the Caribbean.
5. Not World Conquest, but World Revolution. To bring as many countries into the Internationale alliance faction as possible. (Presumably by conquering them, then releasing puppets.) We will not leave the alliance with Commune of France and then invade Europe, for example.
6. Nuclear weapons will be pursued, but hopefully not necessary.
Here is a list of events that I will have no direct control over, but which I hope will happen through the power of random chance and luck:
1. We hope as many countries go Syndicalist on their own as possible, especially Soviet Russia. More syndicalist countries means more troops and free resources will be sent to us when the ACW is going on. An extra militia or infantry can make all the difference.
2. We will hope Canada will not seize New England during the ACW. And we ESPECIALLY hope that Canada will not just declare war on us when it breaks out! (In fact, if this happens I may be forced to reload/restart. It's too easy for Canada to just run into Detroit and Chicago and destroy your IC base while your army is wiping up the other factions.)
3. We will hope events which benefit the Central Powers and the Entente don't happen. For example, we hope Bill C-7 will fail, we hope the Germans will be overwhelmed with dissent and lose their holdings in Asia, etc. etc.
4. We will hope that France won't declare war on Germany until 1939, or that the Entente won't go to war with the Syndicalists before then either. (There are a few event chains which bring about early conflict against the great powers, and they generally mean the CSA won't have time to build up any forces to contribute, and in fact may bring the Canadians knocking on our door before we secure the United States.)
Normal difficultly and aggression, if any cheats are used it will be the nofog one to show fighting between other countries, and possibly acceptall because sometimes events fire which leave the game with unrealistic borders which will need to be corrected through territory negotiating. Full IC and Tech Team Takeover is off.
I hope to make a pleasing AAR for you all to read.
