The Red Star

[Dodge]

1984
- USSR surprises the world by declaring it already have strategic defense capabilities, and demonstrated by shooting one of its missile down from space using particle beams.
- USSR also claims to have anti-satellite capabilities, by targetting an old satellite from land vehicles.
- When asked how many missiles can it intercept, Stukov answered "Enough"

1985
- USA secretly tries to capture one of USSR's defense satellites, using the space shuttle Columbia. USSR ground anti-sat weapon fired upon the Columbia shuttle killing all aboard as they were trying to capture the weapons satellite. It issued a statement that targetting its "Strategic weapons" is intolerable and will be met with deadly force.

- USA went to Defcon 5 full alert and was minutes from launching its nuclear weapons. USSR issues a statement, revealing that it has many defenses against ballistic nuclear missiles and an exchange is likely to be extremely lopsided, the USA backs down at the last minute.

1986
- more countries defect to HRL at perceived weakness of the USA
- USSR contemplating about purchasing Alaska
- Second Oil War began as USSR and other oil producing nations (Iraq,Venezuela) stops producing oil for the West.
- USA comes out of the oil embargo surprisingly well due to investment in fracking shale oil technologies.

1987
- Soviet Union declares Seward's Purchase null and void, invades Alaska. USA launches first flight of nuclear missiles, but they were shot down by orbital particle cannons. Radiation fallout affects the midwest regions of USA, making it uninhabitable for decades.
- Soviet warns USA against further escalation, sends Tu-160 Blackjacks to fly towards continental USA, and also reveal many Oscar class SSBNs parked near the US west coast. It also put its railroad based strategic forces on hair trigger alert.
- After long deliberation the USA backed down, vice president Bush tried to steal launch codes and start a nuclear war, but was arrested by secret service.
- Canada panics and calls for a snap election, many vote socialist parties.
- USSR paid $8 million rubles for Alaska.
- NYSE stock market crashed

1988
- Soviet and oil producing nations increase production, oil price drop to <$10 per barrel, destroying the shale oil/fracking economy.
- Texas seceded from the Union, was immediately recognised by the HRL

1989
- United States passed the secession act, and was broke up into 5 states - Norwest (Washington), Republic of California, Texas, Southern United States and Allied States of America (Northeast New England area)
- California became a member of HRL
- The Northwest and California lost direct link with Southern and North East USA (but can reach via Texas) due to radioactive Midwest in between.
- All former states of USA except Allied States and Southern United States de-nuclearise

1990
- Saddam Hussein "Lion of Babylon" was assassinated. His sons were found unfit to rule and a military committee government was formed.
- Southern United States experience large scale African-American riots, led by the Black Panthers movement

 

[stnylan]

Well things aren't going too well if one is not red, are they.

 

[Macavity116]

Like a hurricane, the Red Storm advances.

I've never played Hearts of Iron before. Can you really get away with conquering so much territory like that?!

 

[Dodge]

the Hearts of Iron AI would lob nukes like crazy, this story AI is not as nearly genocidal

 

[Dodge]

An explanation of various entities/organisations
Comintern - association of communist states, must be communist or socialist to join. Exceptions - Tito's Yugoslavia, was communist but not part of Comintern
Comecon - economic association, must be member of Comintern to join in eg China
Warsaw Pact - military alliance, can be joined by any country eg Portugal, Spain
Human Revolutionary League - a dispute resolution organisation, can be joined by any nation not part of United Nations, doesn't have to be communist. eg most African and South East Asian states. Can be a precursor to Comintern
USSR - a confederation of states, tightly integrated. Must be contiguous on the same continent
- eg Mongolia

 

[Dodge]

Well things aren't going too well if one is not red, are they.

well the game is based on Shared burden

 

[Dodge]

1991
- ethnic tension continues to rise in the Southern United States, armed clashes became common
- Allied States of America slashes defense budget to a bare minimum, mothballing much of the fleet, and selling some to Texas.
- Romanian president Ceausescu steps down
- Indian prime minister Rajiv assassinated
- Serbia and Croatia go to war, HRL deliberates and USSR bombs both of them

1992
- Mass riots in Charlottesville
- Arkansas politician William Clinton comes in, exhorting tolerance and control
- HRL decides on an action plan and timetable for aiding Africa

1993
- In SUS there was open warfare between KKK and Black Panthers, the army did nothing
- Eurostar, the new speed rail was launched, goes from Paris to Moscow
- Single Market came in force for all Comecon member states
- Talks of an unified HRL passport that allows holder to travel to everywhere
- Oslo Accords signed, for climate change

1994
- Internet becomes common, the USSR opens its cold war networks for all comers
- Glonass system becomes commercial
- Haiti and Dominican Republic forms an unified country

1995
- Kobe earthquake, USSR sends volunteers, rescue teams
- USSR negotiate with Turkey regarding fate of the Kurds

1996
- First cloned sheep by Scottish team of scientists
- Violence in Zaire, USSR sends several divisions of VDV to take control of situation
- Zaire becomes socialist

1997
- Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car accident. KGB denies involvement

1998
- Clinton becomes president of the SUS
- Bernie Sanders make a bid for president of ASA
- Northern Ireland radicals sign a cease-fire with UK
- Death of Ted Hughes
- USSR prepares invasion of Iran

1999
- USSR invades Iran, holds Khamenai prisoner
- Iran becomes Persian SFR in USSR
- USSR abolishes other currencies in Europe, ruble becomes standard in all European Comecon members

2000
- Backlog of war criminals in Africa becomes great, Judges strike in protest
- Mir station was enlarged once again
- Human genome project is announced

2001
- The former USA member states finally join the HRL
- due to economic woes
- The UN is abolished

2002
- Ruble becomes legal tender from Mongolia to Germany
- African Union formed, it became its own state with passports and armies
- All citizens of African descent are free to move and work within African continent

2003
- Stukov steps down from General Secretary of USSR, spends time writes memoir
- Putin becomes General Secretary
- Concorde retires, MiG bureau buys Concorde documentation to study
- USSR increases consumer goods production dramatically and cuts defense spending
- Smartphones become popular

2004
- Rogue launch of space vehicle in Cape Canaveral, disgruntled ex-capitalists leave Earth for better pastures
- Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece

2005
- Huge tsunami in Indian ocean, funds for climate change increased
- New Orleans damaged, estimated to cost 14.4Billion USD, or 12.1 Billion roubles.

2006
- Largest hydroelectric dam constructed in China

2007
- Terrorists attack Mumbai
- USSR negotiates with Pakistan, promises aid
- Pakistan to hold elections
- KGB guards presidential hopeful Benazir Bhutto, foils assassination attempt

2008
- Olympic games in Beijing, Usain Bolt crowned the fastest man on Earth
- Overproduction of consumer goods led to wastage and complacency, and Comecon production targets were scaled back
- USSR reveals it uses sophisticate algorithm to predict consumption and set targets
- Obama becomes president of ASA. SUS riots.

2009
- Steve Jobs enters USSR on Californian visa for cancer treatments

2010
- Eruption of volcano in Iceland block air traffic
- Overproduction curtailed
- Myanmer joins HRL after Aung San Suu Kyi released from house arrest.

2011
- Egypt reforms after general strike, the President steps down
- Japan's nuclear station nearly melt down, was saved by satellite warning system

2012
- all nations have joined the Human Revolutionary League
- World government is proposed
- Delegates are flocking to Moscow
- Many meetings start to happen

 

[stnylan]

well the game is based on Shared burden

If I do a Shared Burden AAR I think I am going to do it based on the Scandinavian social model, if only because I think it fits the fanatic egalitarian

2012 and the world is nearly one.

 

[Dodge]

If I do a Shared Burden AAR I think I am going to do it based on the Scandinavian social model, if only because I think it fits the fanatic egalitarian

2012 and the world is nearly one.

oh yeah, I think its just the way it introduces itself to aliens that scares me: "We pursue absolute equality, don't try to stop us" that reminds me of the Soviets.

 

[Dodge]

2003 September 15th, Day of Returning
Dark side of the Moon

"The repairs to the Ambassador has completed, my friends, " said the Engineer.

"What is the plan? " said the Navigator

"We should stop over at Alpha Centauri first, we'll fire a Red Mercury missile to the star, causing it to go supernova. This should send a signal to other Civilisation ships within the galaxy." The Engineer answered cheerfully.

"Right, we can't do that here because of life on Earth, understood." The Navigator grasped the detail of the problem.

"How about Earth, you think it will hold up?" He asked

"We have withdrawn all the more advanced factories and fabricators from Siberia," said the Radical,

"they have been replaced with more primitive factories, however output is not affected." The abundance shall last, he thought, giving the nascent world government more time.

"And what does our friend Elemano think of this?"

"We have given him de-ageing treatments, he no longer have to feel its adverse effects, " the Radical said. "We should thank him, without him the plan could not have succeeded".

"And he's going to come with us? to visit our worlds?" The Navigator said. It's not usually done, but in this case everyone agreed to make an exception.

"Sure, we've left a synth decoy on the planet, everyone still assumes that he retired somewhere writing his memoirs." The Historian added.

several moments later:
"Preparing the Psi-drive" The Engineer said.
"Counting down 10...9...8...7...6...5...4....3.2...1..engage!"
The battlecruiser roars into action, after been silent for just over a century. To the stars and beyond!

 

[stnylan]

Well that is interesting. Trying to make a first contact

 

[Dodge]

Announcing that restriction of movement of labour is a conspiracy by the capitalists to push down labour costs, Putin announced the gradual introduction of the HRL passport - move anywhere, work anywhere - as long as work can be found. It was later shortened to the Human Passport.
The natural barriers exist, of course, language being the primary one. An attempt was made to standardise language schools worldwide, conforming to a single curriculum for each language. Later on, the program extended to all education beyond simply language, and sciences and mathematics followed a single path. Of course, paths for more talented individuals exist, in selective classes.

The purpose of the exam system is to build an education based on merit and ignore the archaic institutions that focused on birthright and so-called 'intangible' educations. For example, Moscow State University opened branches in many European cities, providing an alternative to the elitist institutions of old. Instead of playing polo and rowing regatta the students focused on quantum physics and molecular chemistry. More equality was seen as a fundamental good. Small cliques are strongly discouraged.

Massive aid was given to the least advanced regions of humanity, increasing their life standard to about 0.80 HDI on average. The world is classified into 10 regional strata, from 0 - least advanced to 10- most advanced. The most advanced regions have an obligation to help the less advanced strata. Clean water, sanitation, are no longer a dream for most of humanity. Scientists stopped their latest research on weapons of war to help disseminate essential life science for the masses. In fact the budget for research has been cut while budgets for applying existing knowledge soared. By 2030 most of the Earth reached a 'reasonable' state of living, and areas hostile to human life were vacated as there were no national borders anymore.

Equality came at a cost, and accumulation of personal wealth became very frowned upon. Estate taxes were hiked to unheard of levels, and methods and vehicles to escape from the tax were curtailed, in particular non-profits, trusts and foundations. The law was fundamentally changed. Public domain became extremely important and to prevent misuse they came under close scrutiny. Anti-corruption drive is still regularly occurring.

The ability to halt scientific advancement and speed up existing application became a hallmark for the extremely egalitarian-minded government. To prevent academic fraud funding was scarce and difficult to obtain, and much rested on the reproducibility of each paper. The citation game became worthless if results cannot be repeated and Comecon policy favoured transfer of knowledge to less educated nations/regions. If the poor and the people cannot use the research, then what good is it?

By 2023 when a new General Secretary of USSR was elected, the 21st five-year-plan started, aiming for universal literacy and numeracy in all school-aged children. Subsidises were made for adult education in literacy and numeracy as well.

Civic advances aside, the Union did not forget that it was the investment in space (and help from a mysterious source) that enabled it to defeat its enemies on Earth. Space investments were not reduced but doubled. Former scientists from NASA were recruited after that agency became defunct with the dissolution of the United States. Although some refused cooperation with the Soviet Union due to the Columbia shuttle incident, most wanted a chance to work with the most advanced space technologies. Unlike the NASA the Soviets had many space bureaus all competing with each other, and many designs of rockets were used. What they excelled at was space station building, and a large dock was planned at the Lagrangian point L1 between Earth and the Sun.

By 2050 the System Station was complete and further space missions are launched from there instead of the Earth, saving enormous costs.

 

[Dodge]

in the early 50's the System Station enabled large manned explorations of Mars and the Jovian moons. 4 of the moons are deemed potentially habitable, while Mars terraforming is almost a certain plan. Theoretical science calls for a 'terraforming liquid' which can act as a catalyst to transform the surface of Mars and give it an atmosphere, everything else then follows.

The Jovian moons are more complicated, requiring a device known as the core ignitor to make them spin at a greater, accelerated pace. The distance involved would also complicate logistics, and bigger and greater payload space crafts are constructed. Ganymede, Callisto and Europa missions landed on the moons, whilst Io was molten and only a flyby mission was conducted. Skylabs were constructed that study the surface of the moons, and they were unmanned in the 50'. It's not until the 70's that the mission became manned. The missions directly called for longevity research as the distance traversed is too great and would take much of a person's lifetime.

The missions were a success and led to further missions afield, to Saturn and the outer gas giants. A curious finding was that there seems to be a way to stabilise the upper layer of the gas giants, bringing forth the possibility of colony in the clouds. This would go a long way in gaining knowledge about the gas giants and gather valuable volatile gases, which could be used in industries. There was also a plan to use the gas giant's upper layer as hydroponic gardens, although on a truly gigantic scale. Such endeavours would have to wait till technology have caught up with the human imagination

 

[Dodge]

Looks like the new patch is released, had to disable some mods

 

[volksmarschall]

So very novel; indeed, ingenious. Loved your first few posts! Will have to catch up as time permits. Keep it up.

Cheers!

 

[Dodge]

So very novel; indeed, ingenious. Loved your first few posts! Will have to catch up as time permits. Keep it up.

Cheers!

thanks! was playing a hearts of iron game at the same time and thought of this

 

[stnylan]

Yes with the likelihood of several more patches incoming I think playing with mods is going to have its ups and downs

So truly starting to step into space, albeit still bound by the gravity of Sol.

 

[Dodge]

2117: as the new bicentennial dawns upon the USS, a bold new plan was made for the Sol system, the system that the civilisation calls itself home. It had some broad, dashing strokes that would brighten up the future of humanity.
The luna colony:

The moon is to become a fully-fledged colony, which will pay for itself with its abundance Helium-3 deposits. The current base of operations would be enlarged and eventually an atmosphere to be installed on the moon. The moon will then be terraformed with Earth plants and animals, becoming another SFR of the union.

Venus is another planned colony under the audacious minds of the 17th Politburo. The noxioius atmosphere is to be cleansed using Terraforming gases and the planet irrigated, using water harvested from the asteroids of the Martian and Jovian belts. As the resources required to terraform the planet is mainly acquired outside of the solar system this will drive new exploration and discovery efforts towards the Kuiper belts and even beyond.

Mars is to be colonised as soon as practible with its existing ice caps providing the ocean needed for lifeforms to take off, after an atmosphere is established.

The many moons of Jupiter shall be colonised except for Io which is a molten world. The Jovian upper layers contain many of the exotic gases that we need to terraform the rest of the solar system. Already a feasibility study is commissioned to harvest those gases

Mercury is too close to the sun to colonised but its resources shall be strip mined to provide the alloy forges of Earth and other planets. A giant mining contraption is being planned and many engineers are working on this as the 17th Politburo deliberates.

Saturn will be an experiment to stablise the upper layers of a gas giant and convert it to hydroponic farms. Its moon titan proved to be valuable as a colony and a staging point.

Lastly Neptune will be converted too, should Saturn prove to be of use. Its moon Triton is also going to be terraformed, there are no shortage of living space for humans within the solar system.

To make the above plans a reality enormous amounts of resources are needed, and it would be required to venture outside the solar system to gather them. The Politburo is quite conservative inside the solar system and believed in a gradual construction plan, but is quite aggressive outside of the solar system as claimed star systems may come under fire from hostile alien civilisations, and it must be prepared to defend against them

 

[Dodge]

Under the planetay government that is the Union of Socialist Systems, the implicit meaning is that the executive government will expand ever outwards, to other star systems. Life on Earth is without worker's alienation and drudgery, however still not perfect. Robots have replaced most of the manual labour, and are now encroaching on simple clerk work. Employment is universally assigned using a series of metrics and tests while at school and is not easily changed. Only talented will go on to higher learning under auspices of the state, and other avenues of learning can be prohibitively expensive. Primary and secondary schools are completely funded by the state, including school excursions to other cities or even regional capitals. Gynmasiums are common for those who wanted to join the work force earlier, for what is more glorious than taking up the hammer of the workers? For example, those students who've decided to become a nurse would attend a nurse school instead of normal secondary school, and spend 4-5 years honing their skills in nursing. To be a doctor is even more difficult, eschews middle-school altogether and spend 10 years from teens to early twenties in a medical school. Dropouts are factored in the system, however it would be reduced by big data and psychometric testing. For skilled factory workers the path is through reduced high schooling and more time spent as 'apprentice', and this makes up the majority of the workforce.

The Soviet system supports universal welfare by handing out universal nutrition vouchers (ie food stamps) that is designed for optimal functioning of the body and mind. However blackmarket exchanges are rife as people exchange surplus food stamps for other goods. Consumer goods also operate a voucher system, with essentials provided monthly and big items occassionally handed out. Any additional items not supply by the state can be purchased in a store. Money still exists, in the form of universal credits or (UCs) pronouced 'youks'. It was decided that it gave people meaning for their work performed and shall stay. Wages are extremely equalised, or 'shaped' according to a formula. The Politburo member doesn't necessarily earn more than a well-compensated plumber. Because the power differential is factored into the wage account. A boss with many underlings reporting to him is deemed more powerful and influential and thus paid less in UCs than the average worker. Thus was true equality established. Checks and balances exist everywhere, and monitoring system is most severe for grafts or other crimes afforded by power.

The political system had become much more democratic over the past but still centralised, voting is allowed again, although each citizen need to be educated on how to vote and how to maximise their own interests by voting. Essentially a watered down politics course. Under 20s cannot vote at all. Because the government covers the entire Earth, everyone is a citizen and is enfranchised. Except for serious offenders, such as murderers, whose voting rights would be suspended for many years. The entire planet falls under the unicameral congress called the Party Congress, and other party can exist besides the Communist party, they just have fewer members. Factional struggle inside Communist party is encouraged and is a way to ensure competition of ideas. The Politburo need to be passed with 2/3 majority by the Party Congress, and General Secretary is elected by the people directly, sometimes with over 50 candidates.

The politicians usually comes from a scientific, military or previous career politician background. Populism doesn't exist, as no one would vote for a reality TV star or a sports star in this system. The candidate must be serious. As private enterprise comprise a smaller part of the economy than public (government owned) enterprises CEOs usually do not get elected neither. People tend to be frugal and would not use up their savings, and are routinely taxed by the government. The government places most of the funds received into space exploration and further education. The stockmarket exist but is a shadow of its former self, as people are generally risk-averse

 

[stnylan]

I would not be surprised to discover despite the theory of this system that certain individuals end up rather more on top than they should.