@Dinh AaronMkI second this, though it might take one heck of a long time to do properly. Not to mention the non-American states that have funny borders in our timeline.

Ah, Victoria II, how I have missed you. I miss unifying Germany early and dominating the world. Good times.

@ONL

The obvious fix for this would be to call in everyone again to mark specifically where on the map their borders are and fill it in as we go.

Per Victoria 2: I've been thinking of and meaning to do a Spanish game where I try to rebuild the borders of the Spanish colonial Empire. But I've been lazy in doing that.

@Dinh AaronMkSo first send it to one player, then just pass it around until it's all filled in? Might work.

With or without the Pop Demand mod? Once I went over to playing it modded, I couldn't go back. And regarding Spain, good luck. From what I remember, they have a tough early-game period, and you'll probably drop out of Great Power Status quickly.

Now that would actually be an interesting nation to have in this RP, a imperialistic Spain who tries to take back South America since the US can't protect them.

@Dinh AaronMkSo first send it to one player, then just pass it around until it's all filled in? Might work.

More like reference spam everyone to remind them this is still a thing and lay the map out in that post. Keep repeating until everyone that matters does it. No need to pass it around imo.

With or without the Pop Demand mod? Once I went over to playing it modded, I couldn't go back. And regarding Spain, good luck. From what I remember, they have a tough early-game period, and you'll probably drop out of Great Power Status quickly.

Now that would actually be an interesting nation to have in this RP, a imperialistic Spain who tries to take back South America since the US can't protect them.

I don't think I ever played the game modded. I don't think I ever played any Paradox game modded, outside of CK2 conversions for EU4.

And I played Spain once to figure out what happens when the government looses the revolution they start in. It's very hard to not win that imo, and anyone can beat it easily. I actively had to restrain myself from attacking the absolute-monarchists rolling around.

Of course, when you lose that you do drop out of GP status. But I'm fairly certain if you do win you can maintain GP status pretty easily, or the AI has never had trouble with that in my experience. And when key nations for this conquest are as small as they are, it's an extra prestige boon when you do win to maintain being a great power. At some point I could arguably end up with enough of an economic and tax base to keep and hold a large-ish army. Enough of one to keep me relevant.

I'll just need to keep le spooky blue blob satisfied.

@Dinh AaronMkThen it seems like it's easier to remain a GP in vanilla VicII than in the modded version. What did you end up doing with Portugal? Did you manage to form a United Kingdom of Iberia and kick out the British from Gibraltar?

Ah, the Blue Blob, always the grand enemy. Until the Great Grey Blob appears, then you've got a problem.

@DoctoryzerBy no means meant as bum your nation, but I noticed that you stated "Though with states like Japan, who has seen weakening since the depression, and without a U.S. trading with them and a crippled world, the idea of Japanese imperialism is a thing of the past.". Though in real life Japan was hit really hard by the Depression, they still continued their imperialistic ambitions, and would have done so even more with the fall of the US. Why, you might ask? Because with a crippled economy, they had more the reason to let the military fix the problem, which is why they invaded China so many times and then the European colonies in 1941. They needed those external markets and resources under control if they couldn't buy it cheaply on the global market, so in my opinion they would have clung even tighter to their "colonies".

Phew, that was a lot of ranting, really sorry about that. I just wanted to get it out of my system after having thought about it. Have a still good day.

@ONL

A minor part of just doing that so that I can group Taiwan with the TROC, but I would think, with a extreme depression; even Japan would be crippled to the point where they would have issues dealing with imperial ambitions if food is scarce, jobs laid off to make the materials needed to create the war machine. If even the stronger powers like the USA collapsed, then most likely Japan would deal with serious problems; as the Japanese relied heavily on US Trade for the raw materials like steel, iron, and oil.

@DoctoryzerBut there lies the problem, Japan is in no position to simply shut itself in and try to deal with it's domestic issues while letting go of, say Korea and Machuria; the Japanese home-islands possess nowhere near enough resources to sustain the kind of growth they experienced after the Meji-Restoration and subsequent westerizations, and certainly not a Japan in 1937. Especially with a collapsed US and cut off from the American steel, iron and oil, they would be forced to expand their territories. But that only leads to them needing more resources to protect said territories, which leads them to expand to get said resources and etc. etc. But this is all my opinion, and I fully understand your reasoning for this, and I'm looking forward to seeing more North Korea...I mean China!

And besides, having a Japan that is in dire need of resources gives me as a Pacific state an ace in any dealings I'll have with the Japanese, so I won't complain ^^

And (sorry to start a sentence with AND twice...I hate myself) now that I've re-read my very solid and factual source of history(aka Wikipedia) that Japan actually did very well during the Depression. Japan is awesome, even for killing people.

A US breakdown also puts some very tempting territories up for grabs by the Japanese. Hawaii for example was a very strategic piece of territory, even after annexation by the US. Although American ownership of the Hawaiian islands may have dampened and settled the issues with the British and the Japanese for a while, with the full force of the US having departed from the world as a whole that leaves Hawaii up for grabs, and Japan would certainly be gunning for ownership of that. It may not be an economic salve for Japan, but it would be a military advantage.

We can also go around to discuss World War 2 industrialization. While Roosevelt's New Deal started to make the Depression better by putting money into the hands of otherwise young and unemployed workers, going to war was a quick reboot for American industry and got everyone back to work; including women. While a series of minor conflicts may imply a debt, over the long term for Japan it might force their industry to rebound as they begin producing industrial goods on a larger scale and getting their own people to work, thus giving them money to spend on the Japanese economy, and getting wheels turning again. And even outside of China there's plenty of punching-bag nations for a country with as well a developed navy as Japan's to invade. The Philippines, Indonesia, Indochina, and very possibly clear to New Zealand and Australia if they feel ambitious.

I think there'd even be known oil reserves in or around Malaysia if they can kick out the British.

And the benefit of the world being in depression as it is, is that a lot of everything is cheap which is why no one is really producing anymore because it's not worth the effort to drill for oil when it's sold for ten cents a gallon; while oil producers may be suffering chronic shrinkage to compensate, a nation like Japan could still buy it from other producers at low prices if they're willing to suffer short-term debt.

And while it would make sense for Japan to continue to hole Manchuria and Northern China as they did, I suppose it's inevitable if the KMT got their shit together and decided to not just play a guerrilla war to stretch the Japanese thin. The game under Chiang kai-Shek was to keep pulling the Japanese thin until the entire Imperial Army was forced to post sentries at every culvert and any one of the thousands of bridges that could fall in their territory, by which point the Japanese could no longer advance and it was just then a series of poking and prodding until most of them are chewed up and they were forced back out, slowly.

@ONL

You do have, extremely valid points; but it could lead to interesting RP; with Japan now fighting to retake control over regions like Manchuria and Korea. Then possibly the people begin rising up; tired of the poverty issues that they actually did deal with, to establish a more, 'democratic' based nation, but that is just my speculation.

@Dinh AaronMkDon't say that, I want to keep my Hawaiian pineapples. And the security of all Americans living there of course...sure...But it would for sure put Japan in a situation that they'll need to attack the European/American possessions a lot earlier. Let's see what KingTip says once that matter arises, I'd prefer to have Japan as an ally rather than an enemy. Or are you just trying to have the Dustbowl States stab me in the back?

@DoctoryzerWho do you mean by "the people"? The Japanese populace? Machurians and Taiwanese?

@Dinh AaronMkDon't say that, I want to keep my Hawaiian pineapples. And the security of all Americans living there of course...sure...But it would for sure put Japan in a situation that they'll need to attack the European/American possessions a lot earlier. Let's see what KingTip says once that matter arises, I'd prefer to have Japan as an ally rather than an enemy. Or are you just trying to have the Dustbowl States stab me in the back?

There's really no one stopping anyone from doing anything with the US dead in the water. And really, I'd argue that the Pacific States wouldn't be in any condition to deploy a naval response force to a Japanese invasion. A lot of what the US Navy had to offer was set up or an fit for a nation with as large an infrastructure as it had. Large battle-tubs like Battleships are only really major sea-power platforms, as well as aircraft carriers. Their intensive resource and manpower demands means that they'd be all too expensive for any US rump-state to use.

Not to mention the Republican Party at the time was a very much anti-military party and advocated a small army, and at the time after the First World War, with the War to End all Wars having been fought, the incentive for the US to have an army would have shrunk and all that's left of any military infrastructure is skeletal. And it'd be hard for any rump-state to validate any sort of military expansion under present conditions.

As per Japanese democracy: probably won't happen. It took two nukes and US military occupation to convince the Japanese to see their Emperor as anything but a living God. When the Meiji Emperor himself was visited by former president Ulysses S. Grant and they had a personal discussion man-to-man there was a plot by fanatics to assassinate Grant for polluting the Emperor with his presence, this of course failed but it existed all the same. And the Japanese deploying Nazi-tier campaign propaganda to affirm this means that it's not likely at all. If that were the case then the Chinese should see through our RP Chinese regime's attempts to cover up their weaknesses and they too will fall apart.

This is likely to be what happens should anyone try to advocate for progressive policies:

<Snipped quote by ONL>

There's really no one stopping anyone from doing anything with the US dead in the water. And really, I'd argue that the Pacific States wouldn't be in any condition to deploy a naval response force to a Japanese invasion. A lot of what the US Navy had to offer was set up or an fit for a nation with as large an infrastructure as it had. Large battle-tubs like Battleships are only really major sea-power platforms, as well as aircraft carriers. Their intensive resource and manpower demands means that they'd be all too expensive for any US rump-state to use.

Not to mention the Republican Party at the time was a very much anti-military party and advocated a small army, and at the time after the First World War, with the War to End all Wars having been fought, the incentive for the US to have an army would have shrunk and all that's left of any military infrastructure is skeletal. And it'd be hard for any rump-state to validate any sort of military expansion under present conditions.

Oh I'm not trying to imply otherwise, I'm well aware of the accute shortage of industry and manpower needed to build up and sustain anything the size of the American Navy. And I'm for certain having no plans for meeting the Japanese Imperial Navy head-on (exactly why I'd like them as an ally rather than an enemy). I'm simply saying that if push comes to shove, I can't see me just letting Japan take Hawaii without me putting up a fight.

@ONL

It could be argued too that the Japanese may see little value with allying with the Pacific States. Not only is the remnants of the US relatively weak, Japanese intelligence may suggest that any one of us may be a roadblock in the way to Pacific ambitions. It would be more likely they seek an alliance with Mexico on the promise they get California back.

And Hawaii'd have enough Japanese migrant workers that holding the islands won't be an issue.

@Dinh AaronMkOkay, now you're just tempting faith into dooming my and my Pacific republic. Then again, what else could one except from a bunch of socialists and Trotsky's in the middle of nowhere?

Hey guys but I am afraid I have to back out of the RP. A personal thing in RL came up and thus I wont be able to fit this RP into my schedule. Good luck to you guys and the RP.

Japan really was a power house, but I also was similar going with a better relationship; based on the relationship of China and the original 1911-1926 government; both were close allies and economically supported each other until Chiang began the second republic, and the Japanese seeing him as inferior. But no, the Japanese people did actaully, not have the best of lives due to all the focus was on the military. People blindly also obeyed the Emperor, who himself became a puppet of the military.

I am so so so sorry about not getting a post up. There's been a lot going on and I have hardly slept anymore than 5 hours in the last 2 days. Once I get some sleep I promise I will be getting a post up for India.

While re-reading all of the other nation's info thus far I must say I am really excited to see what happens in the U.S. Who knows, we may even see some Indian advisers in the land of cotton...

My post is coming up as well. I just have to finish it up before posting it.

Literally all these people who somehow can't spend an hour or two to write.

Sorry for my delay. I was watching the DNC last night.

EDIT: I have posted. Y'all should spend some time to make a post as well.