I really like the opening. It’s sharp and you make a reference to a wonderful game with the first few words. Brilliant!
Games about politics are very few, whether CoG or otherwise and I’m very interested to see where this will go. Just recently got to playing HoI4 and was struck by the empty hole of politics in the game(which no doubt will be filled by DLC and expansions).
I also wanted to know if the MC has a choice to be the voice of reason in these communist/fascist? Or will being extreme the way to go? Also, the two openings are identical - you’ve mentioned main quests a la Mass Effect. Will the main quest be the same for both factions? Of course, writing distinct stories for both starting points will be a very arduous exercise.
@cilvercat
Thank you for your kind words! I played the hearts of iron games in the past and one Of the things that frustrated me was how small a role politics played in them.
In UWS you will be able to choose a more moderate or more extreme options for both parties. The main tasks will be to an extent symmetrical, for example the next chapter’s main task will be about street violence for both sides, the following chapter will be both parties’ response to the government finance bill. It would be too much work to make it all different but also I’ve got worked out a sort of fictional timeline of events and each party will react to them and be a part of them. Plus, like in divided we fall I think it’s quite interesting to view the same event from two contrasting perspectives
I’m from Canada obviously. I’ve studied Canadian politics in university as well as being an ardent political news junkie.
I won’t argue that the Liberals and the PQ were not both corrupt. They were. That doesn’t make the PQ not a socialist party. Their positions have essentially been those of the NDP elsewhere in the country forever. The nationalization, subsidization of various local interests,cozy relationships with the unions, huge government high taxes its all really left wing. It’s the reason Quebec’s debt to GDP ration is over 50%. Gilles Duceppe was a freaking Maoist before he joined the Bloc Quebecois.
From everything I read the CAQ ran as a conservativish party and was essentially a rebranding of the ADQ.
@chrisbat
Another point of order: there is a difference between Social Democrats and outright Socialists, namely in the fact that the former are willing to work with democratic institutions on a long-term basis for the purpose of pursuing socialist policy endgoals (often with the intent of undercutting actual socialists), and the latter will only do so (as Democratic Socialists) to usher in a new stateform capable of acting as a redistributive body with total, or near-total control. The fact that Duceppe later had to repudiate his early Maoism to rise within the Bloc (which once again, isn’t necessarily the same as the PQ) kind of implies that said level of left-fanaticism isn’t acceptable, even in the mainstream of Quebec separatism.
As for Quebec’s rather disastrous financial situation, I think we can fully blame that on the PQ’s attempt to follow the NDP’s policy of “spend money on the everything” without realising that only works for the NDP because they will never be in a position to actually draft a federal budget.
My only quibble would be that I consider there to be no real distinction between social democrats and socialists. Anyone advocating for non-democratic methods is generally referred to as a full blown communist.
Isn’t it rather the other way around? I mean the US is an illegal secessionist movement/government, after all.
Though of course the southern states should rightfully belong to Mexico, in that case.
True, though I hope that not all paths just lead to an inevitable Fascist victory.
Just because the Fascist side won the Spanish civil war does not mean this world is ours. That is why he is setting it in fictional Moravia - which is still hard for me to see as I should but remember in Austria prior to WW1 the intellectuals were very strong and on their way towards creating demo-socialistic political machines… darn assasinations ruin every well laid plan.
Edit @idonotlikeusernames - Worse comes to worse, we can always implement the Dutch drug regime schedule 50 years earlier and subvert everyone in the EU area before the second war happens in the first place… right?
Nearly two decades of liberal and conservative governments and a vichy “new left” “labour” party preventing the other left wing parties from getting anything done means that some US states, of all frigging places have now leapt ahead of us in sensible drug policies and another one of their states, Oregon now has an improved version of our euthanasia legislation.
Though the thought is nonetheless appreciated, though marihuana, for all its other benefits (and drawbacks) is a downer, to make an artificially brighter 1930’s in Europe, we’d need an upper, with no more side-effects…hmm…
@chrisbat
I think it is very important to make the distinction that Social Democrats want to preserve democracy, while most Socialists wish to use democratic processes to transform democracy.
@Eiwynn
Only if the United States acknowledges its one true and lawful sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
I thought that in Canada she’s the lawful sovereign as Queen of Canada and the United Kingdom now, formally has very little to do with that, so that even if they had a socialist revolution that deposes the monarchy there tomorrow, she’d actually still be Queen of Canada.
@kai229 thanks for this, is that in the choosing background part by any chance?
Unfortunately I can’t fix it for a while as I’m on holiday but on the positive side I have a chance to do some writing!
Yeah, picked New Order, picked the working class background and got that error. Thanks for another great game by the way, it’s turning out really nice!
What about having two or three chapter being asymetrical and the rest symetrical, that way each party deals with two problems specifics to them while no giving you too much work as the other chapters will have parties dealing with same problems.
Sorry for bothering you with more questions concerning “world building”, I’m almost starting a PHD in Ancient History but I really enjoy this period of human history, the history nerd in me just can’t control himself when it comes to games like this
So here it goes.
The Unions. Is the labour movement radicalized? Which ideologies are dominant? Which parties? Are there anarcho-communists? Are there fascist and christian unions? What is the legislation concerning Unions and strikes? Do you plan on giving unions a pivotal role in the evolution of the political situation?
Have you decided yet what will be the dominant electorate of each party?
Concerning the Solidarity party’s economy projects. The majority of the party is pro-nationalization (state control) or pro-collectivization (unions and cooperatives’ control)? As the game goes along will there be formed different factions inside the party and will we need to side with one of them?
Thanks for your time and my apologies for so many questions. Sorry if I made some mistakes in the orthographic or syntactic department. As you probably already noticed English isn’t my first language.
@CaesarCzech don’t worry, the deeper into the game you get, the less symmetrical it is, after an election there are so many permutations… @ruhenri
Not at all, that sounds great, what are you going to be studying? Also, it’s fun doing this world building lark!
the union movement is pretty tame on the whole, and most unions are affiliated to the social democrats. There are a small number that have adopted a more radical agenda and affiliated with solidarity. The fascists despise the unions and want a corporative state however there is a Christian union affiliated to national bloc which is rather small and generally used as a scab union by employers. The 1919 constitution grants the unions considerable freedom and there are fe restrictions on their activities. This is something the right hopes to change. I wouldn’t say that the unions are front and centre of the situation, they generally follow the lead of their affiliated party
by this I presume you mean who votes for each party? National bloc attracts the support of the upper classes and wealthy but also of middle class conservatives and the rural peasantry. Centre’s voters are middle class liberals and intellectuals as well as a few businessmen. The social democrats and solidarity battle it out for the urban working classes. New orders main demographic is the petit bourgeoisie; small business owners and the lower middle class. Their aim is to break beyond this and attract traditional conservatives who vote national bloc and make inroads into the working class.
solidarity is officially pro collectivisation and workers control whereas the social democrats are pro nationalisation. There will be splits within solidarity as the game goes on over strategy and you will have to decide who to back
Not a problem, your English is excellent, I didn’t realise it wasn’t your first language until you said so!
You really though about all of this. Great info. I look forward too see how your fantastic project goes. Given that Divided We Fall was a good game, I’m sure this one will be great. (one note, my opinion matter little, but I really like the name of this game).
P.S. As I have done during my masters degree, I will be studying Ancient Rome, my (incipient) research during the masters degree focused on omens, religious and cultural mentality and collective memory (in the late-Republican and Early-Imperial period). Thanks for your kind remarks concerning my English.
whistling in the wind
