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Gort posted:You can't just say that and not post a picture. 
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Jun 11, 2014 11:51
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 11:36 |
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...OK, the rest of Secret Denmark just isn't happening. For now, though, enjoy part one of an estimated three part bonus series: East vs West, a brief look. I don't want to do a full Let's Play of East vs West because Paradox doesn't want people to do those, but I don't think anyone would be hurt by a brief look at how the game progresses over the course of a few years. I intentionally picked the last start date, the 1979 campaign, to make sure that I have the least possible East vs West to cover. East vs West Chapter I: Before the Storm: Iraq 1979-1980 Pleased to meet you, Ambassador. Oh, no, you don't need to call me Mr. President, Saddam will do fine. I'm new to this job myself, you know. I spent the last three years as second-in-command of this country under my uncle, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, but this past summer he...seemed more than ready for retirement, and I took the lead in encouraging him to step down for health reasons. Believe me, he's far healthier in retirement than he would have been if he had insisted on holding onto the reins of power. Ah, 1979 has been a year of transition for so many countries in this area of the world.  First Communists take over Afghanistan, then the Communists start shooting at each other. Have you heard the rumblings, my friend? The entire Islamic world lives in fascinated anticipation. The USSR prepares itself to put down Amin's regime as "the wrong sort of communist."   NATO's leaders don't care, of course.  They did send out the Americans to feebly warn Brezhnev not to act, but everyone knows that if you want a message to be taken seriously, Rome must say it, not Washington.  It would be a dangerous move for the Soviets to go charging blindly into Afghanistan, but having one of the world's preeminent superpowers tied down and distracted does have its advantages, which brings me to a related topic...oh, domestic policy? You wish to discuss that first, before the business of the day?  I had my problems with the government I inherited from uncle Bakr, I've made some changes since then:  We're on a war footing and we've extended some base degree of tolerance to the Shia, a concession you'll understand better if you understand with whom we're preparing to fight.  Can you believe the nerve of that old man? The "guardianship of the jurist," indeed! When has Islam allowed the ulema to rule? It's a radical break with tradition and it's an abomination not fit for the 20th century. Luckily, both the USA and the USSR agree that Khomeini is a bizarre Medieval throwback, and so they aren't going to react as harshly as they might to my plans.  Behold the Shatt-al-Arab, the lifeblood of my people. This tiny waterway, ending at the obscure port of Umm Qasr, is the only way my people's oil wealth can be brought to market. The oil-rich lands of Khuzestan in Iran are filled with Arabs who likely are sick of the idea of following a mad Persian cleric, and seizing that approach would greatly increase our force projection on the Persian Gulf, perhaps even permitting Iraq a modern navy.  Also, ever since Qasim rightly declared Kuwait Iraq's 19th province, Kuwait, the cork in the bottle that is Iraq, must go. Qasim was right about a fair amount of things, too bad he was a narcissistic pig and had to be taken out. Have you heard that I was injured in the assassination attempt on that old washed-up failure? The first of many sacrifices I made for this beautiful country.  You know, the entire African continent doesn't need to inform me when Ethiopia and Eritrea war on each other.   If we sign these meaningless treaties, will Rome and Moscow turn a blind eye to removing their mutual enemy in Tehran? Good.  War Games before the war, purges after the war.   Looks like the UN is too distracted to do much about this, either.  Syria? A disgrace to the Ba'athist name. Did you know that Hafez al-Assad actually expelled Michel Aflaq from Syria? How could someone claim to be a Ba'athist and then disrespect Aflaq like that? Today, Aflaq lives happily in Baghdad, the true homeland of Ba'athism. I don't think about Assad much, in fact, I've forgotten what he looks like.  Someday, Iraq will make this list, and you can tell your children that you were present at the birth of the greatest Arab empire since the days of Harun al-Rashid. The World, 1980 
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Jun 21, 2014 06:47
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I can just feel the gravitas dripping off that post.
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Jun 21, 2014 07:04
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JT Jag posted:I can just feel the gravitas dripping off that post. I'm trying to make a point with these: my biggest problem with East vs West is that you can do whatever you want to without the USA or USSR noticing or paying much mind. In real life, the upstart Saddam Hussein wrecked his country in a bloody decade-long stalemate against Iran, then annexed Kuwait in what should have been a fait accompli and was utterly wrecked by a massive US-led coalition including almost all of his neighbors and was forced to accept a sort of half-sovereignty with no-fly-zones and periodic bombings for the rest of his reign. In this LP, I'm expecting that no one will stop me from accomplishing Saddam Hussein's entire wishlist.
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Jun 21, 2014 07:20
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Mm, yes, the United Arab Republic of 1979. 
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Jun 21, 2014 09:38
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Please tell me you can form Babylon.
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Jun 21, 2014 11:46
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Why are Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe-Rhodesia two separate things here.
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Jun 21, 2014 13:10
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Patter Song posted:I'm trying to make a point with these: my biggest problem with East vs West is that you can do whatever you want to without the USA or USSR noticing or paying much mind. In real life, the upstart Saddam Hussein wrecked his country in a bloody decade-long stalemate against Iran, then annexed Kuwait in what should have been a fait accompli and was utterly wrecked by a massive US-led coalition including almost all of his neighbors and was forced to accept a sort of half-sovereignty with no-fly-zones and periodic bombings for the rest of his reign. In this LP, I'm expecting that no one will stop me from accomplishing Saddam Hussein's entire wishlist. You're absolutely correct, unless your experience is very different than mine. I did basically the opposite of what you're doing and started as Iran and completely annexed Iraq in one war and I never heard a peep from the US or the USSR. My favorite thing about the game is probably how there's no impediment to changing your government and social policies. That same game I turned Iran into secular democracy with full civil liberties in an instant with a series of button clicks, no resistance from any part of the populace, nothing at all, just "oh by the way, I'm turning the entire government upside down. Cool? Cool." I love this loving game 
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Jun 21, 2014 14:03
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ZearothK posted:Please tell me you can form Babylon. There's an Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan flag but I don't know if I'm eligible or if you have to be a monarchy. The game doesn't really put a priority on accessibility.
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Jun 21, 2014 20:34
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 Update tomorrow. EDIT: As far as I can tell it's literally impossible to lose a war in East vs West unless you're actively trying to. Patter Song fucked around with this message at 05:59 on Jun 30, 2014 |
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Jun 30, 2014 05:15
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Patter Song posted:
...wait. Ethiopia called a vote to embargo arms sales to itself, then voted against it?
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Jun 30, 2014 07:38
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Syless posted:...wait. Ethiopia called a vote to embargo arms sales to itself, then voted against it? Let's be fair, they MAY have abstained.
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Jun 30, 2014 08:36
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Syless posted:...wait. Ethiopia called a vote to embargo arms sales to itself, then voted against it? Mengitsu was a crazy mofo. EDIT: Actually wait, that's the imperial flag. HIM Haile Selassie never got deposed...?
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Jun 30, 2014 13:19
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It seems from my limited time playing that the vast majority of UN proposals are one of the member nations proposing action against itself and then realizing what the hell it's doing and voting against the motion. In my Iran game one of the Chinese cliques proposed an embargo on itself like 4 times and then voted against the proposal every time.
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Jun 30, 2014 19:14
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"Secretary-General, I propose that we immediately embargo China." "...Ambassador...you're from China." "I AM!? Holy poo poo, uh, uh, I oppose the embargo then!" That's how I picture all of these embargo requests going down.
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Jun 30, 2014 19:22
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I just realized the Congo's borders are from the 1960 Congo crisis. I doubt they would be the same 19 years later.
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Jul 1, 2014 00:40
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Iraq Chapter II: The Iran-Iraq War (January 1980-October 1980)  In short, Mr. Director, Khoemeini is a clear and present danger to the region. The cities of Najaf and Karbala hold special significance to the followers of Shia Islam, and appear to be holy sites of some sort. Hussein was buried in one of them...no, not related to Saddam. Yes, Mr. Director, I know you have very little patience for Islamic theology. Anyway, my advice is to let the people in Rome know that NATO should have no objection to whatever Saddam has planned towards the Iranian radicals.   No, Mr. Director, Saddam isn't playing ball with us on that front. The Iraqis have called for embargoes on all of our allies at the UN, but clearly it's meant as a symbolic gesture, there's no chance of any of them actually passing.  It's not like he spares the Communists from his embargo talks, anyway.   Saddam has clear plans for aggressive action.   Similarly, we should covertly support South Africa, but not intervene too directly in this crisis.  I know you're concerned about the Soviet expeditionary force, but invading Angola would be dangerous, sir.   It would involve war with half of Africa for no obvious gain.  ...Of course, if that's what President Carter wants, that's what we'll do. I'd be happy to assign one of our men to liaise with the Pentagon about this project. (Invading Angola, what are those lunatics thinking...)  Of course, covertly supporting the Eritreans will continue to be a mainstay of our policy.   The Khuzestan region of Iran is filled with Sunni Arabs who may be sympathetic to Saddam and are definitely skeptical of Khoemeini, and it contains quite a bit of oil and strategic Persian Gulf coastline...oh, sorry, you wanted the maps of the beaches of Luanda. The Angola War is your next briefing, sir.   The entire Asian continent is abuzz about these events, after all.  The Iran Iraq war is the bloodiest conflict of our times.  I was under the impression that Khoemeini's formidable rhetorical powers would inspire a blind fanaticism that would lead teenagers to clear mindfields by blindly running into them, but instead the Iranians have turned and ran almost without a fight.  Our South African allies are holding up well on their war, sir, maybe we really don't need to invade Angola to support them? What? OK, I'll stick to my briefing.  Tabriz has fallen. Tabriz is the historic capital of the Azerbaijani people, a Turkic nation now bisected between Persian and Soviet rule. The Azerb...Sorry, sir, one-page summary, I understand. Oil. Oil and ethnic tension.  The Iranians do fight when their backs are against the wall.  It's still not enough, though.   Tehran has fallen and the Iranians are retreating rather than using their numerical superiority to counterattack.  The Persians are on their last legs.  I never would have expected this campaign to only last two months, sir. You'll have to send Saddam a congratulatory bottle of cognac, I hear it's his favorite.   Peace has returned to the Middle East (ignore that Israel is completely occupied by Palestinian Nationalists).  The question arises: Will Saddam keep Persia, or will he install a puppet regime friendly to both us and them? Thread question: do I release Iran? If I don't release Iran, rebels will utterly demolish me, if I do I'll lose most of the financial benefits of Iran's sweet sweet oil but I'll have a massive attack dog. Patter Song fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 12, 2014 06:13
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Finders, keepers. The Iranians weren't using their country anyway.
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Jul 12, 2014 06:24
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No option to partition them or something? Then keep it, everyone knows that Iran is part of Iraq's national patrimony. After all, their names are almost the same.
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Jul 12, 2014 06:28
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Well will you keep the Arab provinces? I say we keep those and then set up a friendly government in Persia. I'm sure we have a man we can put in... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masoud_Rajavi (I know that this will not happen most likely)
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Jul 12, 2014 06:29
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LordGugs posted:Well will you keep the Arab provinces? I say we keep those and then set up a friendly government in Persia. I'm sure we have a man we can put in... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masoud_Rajavi (I know that this will not happen most likely) The game wasn't nice enough to give us cores on Khuzestan, so, no, I'd give the whole thing away. I also can't pick who the new head of Iran is, other than that he'll share Saddam's ideology (which the MeK certainly doesn't).
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Jul 12, 2014 07:04
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Keep
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Jul 12, 2014 08:04
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neo-neo-Babylonia
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Jul 12, 2014 09:40
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I like how random as poo poo half these flags are.
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Jul 12, 2014 14:50
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quote:Macao? East Turkestan? Siberia? What the eff is going on here? Where the hell are all these countries? Turkmenistan is definitely not on the map. Also, is there a Palestinian state extant somewhere? Because from the looks of it Israel still holds the West Bank and Gaza (even if the entirety of Israel is occupied by rebels?) Also, keep Iran, because this game actually gives you this option in the 20th century.
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Jul 12, 2014 16:31
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MinistryofLard posted:Macao? East Turkestan? Siberia? EvW fires the war/peace events for every possible tag on a continent, not just existing ones. Patter was showing off some of the funnier ones.
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Jul 12, 2014 16:40
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Hey, they fought you more than the Iraqis fought me. We had exactly one battle at the outset of the war and then a million zero-casualty battles until Iraq had Iranian soldiers to their front and flanks and the Syrian border at their backs. I don't know why that's even possible but it's maybe the worst decision in a game full of them. I mean I guess presumably it's some quirk of the combat system that they would have tried fixing if they didn't get canceled, but still. Also, Keep Iran, because
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Jul 12, 2014 21:03
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I say mod in a decision and partition it into Azerbaijan, Persia, Baluchistan, and Luristan, annex the Arabic and Kurdish territories into your own country, with cores on Khuzestan.
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Jul 12, 2014 23:52
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Sergg posted:I say mod in a decision and partition it into Azerbaijan, Persia, Baluchistan, and Luristan, annex the Arabic and Kurdish territories into your own country, with cores on Khuzestan. I don't think it's possible to mod EvW seeing as it's a leaked release and no official modding tools exist.
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Jul 12, 2014 23:58
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Blackunknown posted:I don't think it's possible to mod EvW seeing as it's a leaked release and no official modding tools exist. It's totally possible to mod EvW. I'm also not inclined to personally individually add cores to, like, 40 provinces.
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Jul 13, 2014 00:00
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Blackunknown posted:I don't think it's possible to mod EvW seeing as it's a leaked release and no official modding tools exist. It's a Paradox game. Got a text editor? Boom, there's your modding tools.
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Jul 13, 2014 00:01
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Yeah, anyone can mod EvW, it's just worth pointing out that Persia is 190+ provinces and individually going through them to assign the proper revolter cores is going to be waaaaay too much effort.
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Jul 13, 2014 00:13
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So, I've been exploring some game mechanics with the guys on Skype tonight, and I think I finally figured out how East vs West determines your prestige. Tell me if you notice the pattern here. Countries are ranked from most to least prestigious.
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Jul 13, 2014 05:18
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Patter Song posted:So, I've been exploring some game mechanics with the guys on Skype tonight, and I think I finally figured out how East vs West determines your prestige. This is my new favorite part about EvW. This is amazing. Edit: I can only assume Prestige is based on how many books on the nation in question get sold yearly, and people in the East vs West world just purchase books based on the title's placement in the alphabet. Perfectly rational. GSD fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 05:20
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East vs. West for 2014 GOTY.
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Jul 13, 2014 05:23
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quote:[12:08:00 AM] Patter Song: Seriously, guess East vs West is the greatest.
Rogue0071 fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 05:31
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I wonder if the gaps are some currently unused tags?
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Jul 13, 2014 05:35
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I would really, really like to know the root cause for that bug.
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Jul 13, 2014 05:57
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Sindai posted:I would really, really like to know the root cause for that bug. They probably had it assign starting prestige as a for loop from start to finish w/countries, just as a placeholder until they developed a better system.
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Jul 13, 2014 06:10
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 11:36 |
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This is the greatest Paradox game ever.
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Jul 13, 2014 06:24
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