Uranium for Uruguay

[stnylan]

So form-bound we are in 1944. Let us look at North America.

So evidently Mexico joined the Allies at some point … Newfoundland has fallen - overall the Americans are making some progress but this war has been ongoing for four months or something by now. It all seems very slow progress. Oh, what’s this?

So Brazil is getting frisky. Mmm, not just Brazil, but the UK is going all 1812.

We have a couple of interesting developments ourselves as well.

The thing is, form-bound, world tension remains a miserable 70%.

And this doesn’t help much. I mean, apart from the fact the Russian’s can’t actually get anywhere near Iraq.

Back to the main war, and it appears there is something of a counter-attack going on in New England, but in Mexico things aren’t so positive for the Allies.

Form-bound, there is something we can do. Lend-lease! But which side … well, the Allies. Given Brazil being in the Allies that only seems wise. Let’s start by offloading all our old equipment to Mexico - they probably need the most help.

The British Raj have landed in Palawan … interesting.

Mostly though the lines seem fairly static, though the Americans are slowly wrapping up Quebec and Montreal. The Mexicans are fighting nearly - let us give them some more equipment.

Before the year is out … look. Alas, look also at the War Tension.

I really wish we could see what was happening on these fronts - just take a look, it seems like the Allied casualties are spread all over pretty much. Those Americans are surely bleeding.

 

[Specialist290]

The Bomb cometh! Praise the Atom!

The Americans appear to have miscalculated quite direly here. I imagine they were expecting Canada to topple like a house of cards and give them a secure North American hegemony -- instead, they appear to have been drawn into a two-front war that has left them woefully overstretched.

"Mexican Opposition" -- I suspect a coup or a revolution of some sort. That might also explain why they jumped onto the Allies; perhaps someone in the new regime owes MI6 a favor or two...

 

[Tom D.]

America will fall to the Allies, with or without the help of an atom bomb of Uruguay. I'm sure though if you wait long enough it'll be possible.

 

[markkur]

Conversation just overheard somewhere near Jack's Fork:

"C'mon boys...we can take ''em!"

"But we are fighting the whole dang world!"

"Nah, the Aussies and the Dutch are not exactly for us but they are not against us neither."

"Well in that case...bring the rascals on!"

 

[El Pip]

Tension isn't rising, so Uruguay will not be able to nuke anyone, Germany is united and democratic, the Soviets haven't eaten anyone and the US is about to be annexed by the civilised world. This could be one of the most positive and 'better than OTL' AARs I've ever read.

 

[stnylan]

The Bomb cometh! Praise the Atom!

The Americans appear to have miscalculated quite direly here. I imagine they were expecting Canada to topple like a house of cards and give them a secure North American hegemony -- instead, they appear to have been drawn into a two-front war that has left them woefully overstretched.

"Mexican Opposition" -- I suspect a coup or a revolution of some sort. That might also explain why they jumped onto the Allies; perhaps someone in the new regime owes MI6 a favor or two...

Or possibly just old fashioned diplomatic influence - in effect same thing has happened to Brazil in that both have turned Democratic.

America will fall to the Allies, with or without the help of an atom bomb of Uruguay. I'm sure though if you wait long enough it'll be possible.

I think the Democracy vs Democracy war is not being handled well by the WT mechanic, let us just put it that way.

Conversation just overheard somewhere near Jack's Fork:

"C'mon boys...we can take ''em!"

"But we are fighting the whole dang world!"

"Nah, the Aussies and the Dutch are not exactly for us but they are not against us neither."

"Well in that case...bring the rascals on!"

Hehe, something like that I am sure

Tension isn't rising, so Uruguay will not be able to nuke anyone, Germany is united and democratic, the Soviets haven't eaten anyone and the US is about to be annexed by the civilised world. This could be one of the most positive and 'better than OTL' AARs I've ever read.

I know - disgusting, isn't it?

 

[stnylan]

Form-bound, we go into 1945 and I am increasingly worried we shall sit out this entire game. We have atomics now - well, an atomic - but no way of using it. Should I have ignored my instruction form-bound? Should I have gone interventionist? Well, I do not know. Too late to worry about it now. Let us see how things are going.

Well the casualty figures aren’t as dramatically lopsided as some of the previous wars, but the USA is hurting most in both wars … and look at the possible forces. To be sure the USA probably has millions of men yet to recruit, but look at that imbalance of forces in the field. I cannot blame Australia and the Netherlands for staying out of fighting the Allies.

Speaking of which, it seems the British are invading Luzon.

Matters in the mainland appear to have dramatically altered too - the Canadians have lost nearly all their Eastern holdings, but England appears to be trying to recreate the Thirteen Colonies don’t you think? I hope you know what those were, well, some of you are bound to know.

Fast forward six weeks and things don’t look all that different, except that the death toll continues to rise.

Another two months and I remain impressed by the Mexican tenacity - though once again they look to being forced back. The British appear to have consolidated, but Canada is looking increasingly about the break. If it wasn’t for Colombia…

So now the Russians declare war on someone they can actually attack.

Now I have some decent encryption let us check some intelligence reports

It could just be me form-bound, but I thought traditionally the USA was meant to have an impressive navy.

At least we have the best rockets.

I know I have been neglecting the Pacific form-bound, but honestly not much is happening - take a look. The British have a slice of northern Luzon, and apart from a few minor islands here and there nothing else is happening.

I mean compare to the American theatre where the Allies appear to have made a serious offensive on the Eastern seaboard.

Someone else the Russians can actually attack!

The Allies have pretty much have restored the Thirteen Colonies now - no more times for jokes.

It appears the British are now allowing the French to take the lead in the Philippines - and see, Japan is doing something.

And there goes the American’s puppet.

And so goes the Afghans too - brought into the error of communism. But the Iranians are holding up remarkably well considering how long the Soviets have been at them.

Ultimately I don’t think we can say that 1945 was boring form-bound, can we?

 

[Nikolai]

It seems it can go both ways in North America. Gains and losses by both sides.

 

[Idhrendur]

I go out of town for a week, and look at all the updates I've had to read at once!

 

[stnylan]

It seems it can go both ways in North America. Gains and losses by both sides.

Yes, though I think the Yanks have their backs up ... the Allied coalition is massive compared to them, and they have that extra war going on against Japan as well.

I go out of town for a week, and look at all the updates I've had to read at once!

Well, this has turned out to essentially be an observer game - though the performance of the game has noticeably slowed for this war. I think the game is struggling with so many relatively large nations invovled in wars now.

 

[Bullfilter]

Well, strategically (and bearing in mind I’m not familiar with HOI4, just 3), I’d take the US north-and-central eastern seaboard over Canada any time. I stress to any Canadian friends I’m not talking about aesthetics here - like Uruguay I will remain entirely neutral in that matter.

A question on both game mechanics and game objectives: if things can’t get to the point of using a nuke in war, are you able to do a live test? Maybe on the least-valuable province you own (have to be sacrifices for the broader good).

In narrative terms, it can be just as effective in establishing proof of a deterrent as actually using in on someone else. Seems to be making a splash for Kim Jong-Un at the moment!

 

[El Pip]

With the Phillipines gone I think things are looking bad for the US, you would hope those forces are now freed up to hit the US West Coast (unless the HOI4 AI is as strategically inept as the HOI3 flavour). Even if it's a relatively small Japanese/British/French invasion force that lands in California it doesn't appear the US has any spare forces to deal with it, not without weakening somewhere else.

Beyond that I'm still in awe at a world where Lord Halifax becomes a hero of the British Empire for handily winning the war in Europe and then re-establishing the 13 Colonies and British North America. Truly anything is possible.

 

[Nuada Airgetlám]

The sun isn't setting on this British Empire for a while.

 

[stnylan]

Had a lot on my plate recently, so just haven't had the energy to update. I am hoping to get some progress on that tonight (indeed, I intend to start writing the next update after this comment).

Well, strategically (and bearing in mind I’m not familiar with HOI4, just 3), I’d take the US north-and-central eastern seaboard over Canada any time. I stress to any Canadian friends I’m not talking about aesthetics here - like Uruguay I will remain entirely neutral in that matter.

A question on both game mechanics and game objectives: if things can’t get to the point of using a nuke in war, are you able to do a live test? Maybe on the least-valuable province you own (have to be sacrifices for the broader good).

In narrative terms, it can be just as effective in establishing proof of a deterrent as actually using in on someone else. Seems to be making a splash for Kim Jong-Un at the moment!

Alas no live-test capacity if I can't get into a war.

As for America - the loss of the East Coast has to be hurting the USA in terms of industrial capacity especially. Pop to some extent as well but not as much.

With the Phillipines gone I think things are looking bad for the US, you would hope those forces are now freed up to hit the US West Coast (unless the HOI4 AI is as strategically inept as the HOI3 flavour). Even if it's a relatively small Japanese/British/French invasion force that lands in California it doesn't appear the US has any spare forces to deal with it, not without weakening somewhere else.

Beyond that I'm still in awe at a world where Lord Halifax becomes a hero of the British Empire for handily winning the war in Europe and then re-establishing the 13 Colonies and British North America. Truly anything is possible.

I know about Lord Halifax - it is quite remarkable!

I have not shown it because I didn't have screenshots, but there have been occasional landings on the Western coast - indeed for about a month San Diego fell to a British invasion. Seattle too was taken at one point. The Brazillians also had a presence at one point - really Brazil seriously has been taking a major part in the whole affair. So whilst there has clearly been some regularly AI ineptitude (which, to be fair, I find remarkably easy to explain away given what real-life humans have managed to do from time to time) there have been some decent attempts as well.

The sun isn't setting on this British Empire for a while.

In this timeline definitely not!

 

[stnylan]

So form-bound let us just recap where we are, the start of 1946. The Allies are just re-crossing the St Lawrence and pushing up against the Appalachians - and in the south-west into Texas. Meantime the Americans are still advancing against the central Canadian states and are making a new offensive into Mexico. In Europe - I believe I forgot to mention it by the Soviets ceded most of Poland to the new German Republic, still honouring the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact I guess. Yugoslavia holds onto all of its gains. Iran is still resisting against Russia, and Iraq too, though surely both must fall.

It does look like the Japanese have finally done something - an invasion of New Guinea.

I wonder - shall we check the casualty figures?

Now I could be wrong form-bound, but doesn’t it look like the Americans are getting rather close to surrendering.

Well now it does look like the Allies are making a serious push along the front - and isn’t that an attack towards Cleveland taking place?

Well so it is - also it seems like the USA is burning through its manpower. Well, it makes sense. More than five million dead … and the Allies can throw more and more into the fray. Ah, Ottawa is liberated as Cleveland falls.

Really American I don’t think the conquest of Baja California precisely offsets the loss of Ohio.

Well the Iranians and Iraqis fought longer than I would have thought likely, but those conflicts were only ever going to end one way.

I do despair of the Americans form-bound - now they have let San Diego fall to Mexican amphibious assault.

And now they have been forced to implement even more severe conscription measures.

As we move towards the end of the year Indiana falls and Detroit is imperilled.

And that’s it - the fall of Detroit was the fall of America - the UAW will be pleased.

And you know what form-bound - we can join the Allies! Though I don’t think very much of the peace treaty I must say. Far too restrained - but Japan takes Alaska. Some weirdness happens though in that the USA then re-enters the war against Japan. These humans are crazy. And it looks like a new war might be in the offing.

Finland folds somewhat later than usual - but look at my quartet of submarines!

And that war … soon I hope we will get a chance to test the Uruguayan Uranium Delivery Service!

But … nothing. Nothing is happening form-bound! Oh the war in the Pacific sort-of continues in a most desultory fashion, but nothing. The Allies and the Comintern just stare at each other. World Tension drops below 100% again and I can’t even try a phony justification.

I am so sorry form-bound, but it is now the end of 1948 and we failed. Five bombs, and not one tested. Lots of lovely bombers, and not one used. I only hope my mentor is not disappointed. Can you feel it form-bound, we are being called back - do not depart from me now. We must go back.

 

[markkur]

Well this whole effort was out of the blue and it ended in the same fashion, with blue America now down & out. In-game...losing over a million-men in the far-east didn't help at home.

I enjoyed the unusual story very much and had a peek into HoI4. Congrats on reaching your goal but not having to use it. We have all heard the old adage; "Discretion is the better part of...er, sanity."

Bravo!

Wait! You're fading from view.

 

[ThaHoward]

Just nuke someone for lols?

 

[Nikolai]

So it ended. But it was a good read! Thanks for doing it, my friend.

 

[stnylan]

Well this whole effort was out of the blue and it ended in the same fashion, with blue America now down & out. In-game...losing over a million-men in the far-east didn't help at home.

I enjoyed the unusual story very much and had a peek into HoI4. Congrats on reaching your goal but not having to use it. We have all heard the old adage; "Discretion is the better part of...er, sanity."

Bravo!

Wait! You're fading from view.

Even thought I effectively ended up not doing anything I have to say the way the world turned out made it nevertheless an enjoyable game. However, if my knowledge of game mechanics had been a mite better I would have started justifying as soon as I could on the off-chance of dragging the Allies into a war with either China or Russia.

Just nuke someone for lols?

Hehe, but alas I can't. Neutrality focus (and therefore democracy) and a low WT world means one does very little.

So it ended. But it was a good read! Thanks for doing it, my friend.

Thank you

 

[Bullfilter]

Well, I give the form-free a fighting draw on this one. The strange events of the world may have precluded you launching a vicious, unwarranted and devastating nuclear attack that would have murdered vast quantities of electronic sim-form-bound - a tragedy no doubt - but you showed that Uruguay could indeed develop them. And a nice little flotilla of increasingly sophisticated subs. Huzzah!

Given vast economic resources were not enough to save the US in the end (and the crazy decision to somehow declare war on the Allies sealed their fate), the Uruguayan nuclear deterrent plus isolation and a lack of any credible threat was clearly a more effective defence!

Thank you for this short, sharp and strange excursion.