BMN/FasterThanRaito's Hoi4/Paradox inspired maps

[FasterThanRaito]

The rise of the Omani Caliphate began with the simple decision for the then sultanate to not give up sovereignty over zanzibar. From there, interests in east Africa and the Indian ocean grew. Oman rushed to capture the makran territories before the British could. However the British did take over Punjab, forcing Oman to look in other directions. Oman was able to incorporate local soldiers into the army, inflating it rapidly, allowing Oman to move from one conquest to the next. Soon, the needs for military reform trickled down into general societal reform.
Oman became a Westernized Nation, and took control over Egypt after it broke free from Ottoman control. With the resources and manpower of Egypt available, the Omani Sultan was taken to Cairo and declared Caliph. The Ottoman Empire was quick to respond, but after a series of costly wars, Oman proved its superiority and right to rule the Middle East.

From there, European Africa and India was liberated, taking advantages of the Revolutions and Great Wars that the European powers inflicted on themselves. That should have been lesson enough, but then Oman became a Great Power, and asserted itself on the world stage, which meant intervening in those European Great Wars. After 1900, each decade saw a massive conflict between Germany and its neighbors that saw millions of deaths. After the the third such war ended in 1934, the people of the caliphate used their increased voting rights to demand that the government adhere to a more pacifistic policy, in line with the "religion of peace" that Islam idealized in the minds of these modernists.

Therefore, further plans for expansion and conflict were shelved, and the caliphate was merely an observer to the round of wars of the 1940's that saw the Soviets expand their control over the fringes of Europe, and the Japanese conquest of China. Now, only the Ma Clique stand for an independent China. When the decade of the 1950's comes with it's own cycle of violence, will their common Islamic and geopolitical interests be enough to convince the Caliphate to protect them from the encroaching enemies of liberty?
Will the Europeans learn to set aside their grievances once and for all?
Only God knows...

 

[Whiteshore]

Maybe you could do a "Democratic Germany, Showa Restoration Japan, and Fascist America with all Dominions seeking independence (with Canada and South Africa being Fascist, Australia being independent democratic, India and New Zealand being Communist), and Poland being into the ideal of an Intermarium" scenario next?

 

[FasterThanRaito]

Try a US Global Hegemony scenario. I've seen that tree, but never tried it ...

Maybe you could do a "Democratic Germany, Showa Restoration Japan, and Fascist America with all Dominions seeking independence (with Canada and South Africa being Fascist, Australia being independent democratic, India and New Zealand being Communist), and Poland being into the ideal of an Intermarium" scenario next?

Global Hegemony was very interesting, as it gives endless free events to takeover all American countries and colonies around the world.


Unfortunately, before the USA could embark on global manifest destiny to rule the world, much of the world was united under a victorious fascist britain. Democratic Germany was taken over and neutralized, and the Soviets were ground down. The resulting alliance was so strong that efforts to take the war beyond south america was laborious.

However, with the introduction of nuclear weapons, the USA managed to strike the snake's head, and successfully invaded the British islands. However, this exhausted the naval and air forces of the USA, which would take too much time to recover strength to continue to subdue the rest of the Allies. Plans of invading Japan also had to be shelved. However, the fear of nuclear weapons has brought the French to the table, creating a chance at a peaceful resolution to the current frozen conflict. Now that London is occupied, what will happen to the British Empire (plus other unwilling "allies" such as the Scandinavians and Russians), is the question that will determine the fate of this new peace.

 

[FasterThanRaito]

Another American playthrough? I know, but I originally wanted this to be the US global hegemony playthrough, but since it was converted from vic2 I couldn't get the national focuses to work properly, so I gave up and did that one from a vanilla start.
So instead, I went with New England.

Ever since the end of the World Wars, which saw the destruction of Eastern Europe and Eastern China, the world was largely peaceful, aside from some mishaps in the Balkans and and Mexican Civil War, New England guarded itself. After impressive industrial and technological expansion, New England was looking to expand territory and population to fit the growing economic needs of the state, so for the fun of it they violated their own neutrality to invade canada, incorporating them easily enough.

 

[FasterThanRaito]

At first, the Carlists took over the crumbling Spanish Empire, however they couldn't reform the country and instead attempted to distract the public with colonial ventures, taking over parts of Asia, Africa, and re-asserting dominance over the South American Cone. Spain settled the lands that could not be controlled by the unstable Argentine Confederation, which was eventually absorbed wholesale into the colonial administration.

However, this could only last so long, in the wave of unrest the swept Europe in 1848, both France and Spain were toppled by liberal revolutions, and became allied republics. Together, they launched interventions against the Ottomans, resulting in what some cynically called the 10th Crusade, which saw the liberation of the Holy Land. Officially, this is the victory of a secular France, not a Christian power. Unofficially, this has cemented France's position in the Mediterranean and Catholic sphere, allowing a smoother integration of the Italian provinces annexed after a failed Italian experiment at independence against their previous Austrian rulers.

Although the Northern European Powers of Sweden/Scandinavia, Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom were able to avoid revolutions, their liberalization and democratization meant that their constitutional monarchies were fairly progressive and peaceful, engaging in hostilities mostly only with Russia, particularly after it succumbed to communist revolution, engaging a multinational intervention. Although the British and Germans wanted the relatives of Queen Victoria back on the throne, the Tsarist royal family had already been executed, therefore rather than impose more foreign monarchs on the country, it remained a republic.

After the intervention in communist Russia, Germany, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom were weakened and off-balance. Amidst a polical crisis between the Netherlands and Belgium, France saw this opportunity to retake Alsace-Loraine. Spain gave aid to France, however due to technological advancements in warfare, the first world war was shockingly bloody. Thankfully it was a short war, as the United Kingdom remained neutral instead of helping Germany, while the US intervened on the side of France.

Due to the economic, political, and cultural shocks of the war, Spanish upper and middle classes began turning the country towards autarchy. In 1920 there was a coup, and the industrialist corporatists took control of the government with the help of ultranationalists. Although it officially remained a republic, it was a defacto dictatorship, as voting rights were suppressed and censorship was introduced. Over the next decade, anti-capitalist and pro-democracy riots and rebellions were widespread. However, thanks to its massive colonial recruitment, there was enough manpower to pacify the country, entrenching the new system.

Instead of liberalization, Japanese monarchy went in a different direction. A series of wars saw the suppression of southern rebellions, yet the ruling Tokugawa dynasty was toppled, replaced by a new Shogunate that better represented the interests of the new rising plutocrat class. Their desire for industrialization led to the colonization and exploitation of parts of Asia, notably Korea and Manchuria. However, inroads to China have ceased now that that the Chinese Revolution is coming to an end, with the KMT solidifying the North. As of yet, the Chinese do not see Japan as a great threat, ever since the Sichuan rebels were used as a Spanish proxy to partition the country into a conservative North and Radical South.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire has persisted through the troubled first half of the 20th century, thanks to its stable democratic neighbors ensuring peace in the region. Not since the days of ancient Rome has Europe been so cooperative. Still, points of contention remain, where great power rivalries still carry influence over disputes, such as the situation between the Kingdom of Greece (Athens) and the Kingdom of Greece (Heraklion).

 

[FasterThanRaito]

Cooking a new democracy is a challenge when the rest of the world is boiling hot. Various regional conflicts of fascist aggression against neighbors merge into a cataclysmic global struggle between the Allies and Nazbols. However, not all communists are authoritarians, American and India manage to find themselves on the side of freedom against tyranny. First to fall are the European fascists. They are followed by the Soviets, then the infamous Kwangtung Army that ravaged East Asia until the Japanese government subdued the uprising with Allied help. Finally, the Second Confederacy and Mexico fall after a long and bitter struggle in America.

Having sustained massive casualties, the european democracies are not in a position to enforce their occupation over the vastness of Russia. Instead, America steps in, having an ideological foot in the door thanks to the success of the local asian communists.

Though the main wars are done, there is still much tension over whether or not China will resume the civil war... and how much foreign intervention there might be. The world doesn't want another world war...

 

[FasterThanRaito]

The Shadow returned to Middle Earth, the rebuiding of Barad-Dur marking the beginning of the end...
However, Sauron's long absence from Middle Earth had allowed the leaderless Orc populations to learn self-direction and self-reliance. When Sauron's agents assumed control over the hordes of Mordor, the common orcs chafed under the new abusive system.
It began with the workers of Morder beginning to petition for better treatment standards in the great industrial, infrastructure, and defense projects of the Dark Lands, the greatest being the Barad-Dur Worker's Union.
This escalated into union-busting crackdowns and further resistance between the Orcs and Sauron's enforcers.
Meanwhile, the One Ring had been found, lying dormant in the Shire. The Elves were divided on the issue of the Ring. Some suggested supporting a Fellowship to oversee the destruction of Sauron's Final Weapon. However, there were others who finally saw an opportunity to reverse a tragic situation.
For ages, Elvish civilization had been in decline. Birthrates were dangerously low, leading to the inexorable demographic replacement of the Elvish race by the vulgar race of Men. Men had no appreciation for true civilization, their culture a gross corruption of Elvish culture. Should the Elves allow their genocidal disappearance to continue, the brightest lights and most beautiful of people would be lost forever. This was no mere accident, but a conspiracy perpetrated by the Istari, the Wizards. Secretive and elusive, they sought to pacify the elves into irrelevance, purposefully ushering in the Age of Men.
In order to right this wrong, a coalition of Lorien and Imladris elves convinced Galadriel to seize the ring and wield absolute military power to destroy the human kingdoms that encroached on their borders.

Events in Mordor escalated with the March on Barad-Dur, which resulted in the summary expulsion of Sauron's agents. Lacking physical support, Sauron withered, a mere spirit in search of the Ring. The orcs were free at last and set up a new government for their people. Although no longer guided by Sauron's plans of conquest, the orcs prepared for a defensive war, should the newly expanionist elves prove hostile to orcs.
With the threat of Mordor gone, the leadership of Gondor faced a crisis of legitimacy. The urban peoples of Gondor's cities, no longer accepting military aristocratic ruler, overthrew the Stewardship, and established a liberal republic. The allied peoples in Arnor followed suit.
Then, the Elves struck. They invaded Rohan, which called on Gondor for help. Men were united in common defense. The elves saw how the various realms of men cooperated and surmised they were coordinated by the wizards Saruman and Gandalf. They hated this betrayal and grew paranoid of the other races they deemed inferior and degenerate, such as Dwarves and Orcs. Their pogroms on the two lesser races lead to the Kingdom of Erebor and the Free Councils to intervene on behalf of their kin.
The alliance between men, dwarves, and orcs overcame elvish military superiority through sheer force of numbers. Millions perished in the trenches of the lorien fields and mirkwood forests.

Ultimately, freedom would prevail, and the Orcs would allow the Fellowship safe passage to Mount Doom, where Sauron and his corrupting influence were destroyed forever.
From then on, Orcs and Men lived as neighbors in peace and equality.

 

[Whiteshore]

What about you do a Kaiserreich scenario where you play as a SPD-led Germany facing Totalism to your West and Savinkovism to your East?

 

[Temeraire]

Wait, there’s a LotR HOI4 mod? How is it?

 

[FasterThanRaito]

Wait, there’s a LotR HOI4 mod? How is it?

it's functional, but very unpolished. National focuses are there, but the techs and equipment are all the same as vanilla

 

[Alex1guy]

it's functional, but very unpolished. National focuses are there, but the techs and equipment are all the same as vanilla

You have my sword... and my bow... And my M1Garand!

 

[FasterThanRaito]

What about you do a Kaiserreich scenario where you play as a SPD-led Germany facing Totalism to your West and Savinkovism to your East?

This was my first time with KR. Due to computer reasons, I hadn't been able to get into mods for a while, but now here I am.
"West" is a bit vague, so set all of Western Europe to go totalist where possible.

Germany is in a tough spot, having not managed peace very well since the end of the War. The Economic situation is slow, but Germany was able to consistently increase industrial output to rival that of even the USA. This would later be important. The German Army was a small core of well-trained elite soldiers. However, violence started breaking out in Eastern Europe and Asia.
Some notable conflicts were the Austrian/Balkan wars, where Serbia and Romania beat up Bulgaria while Hungary and Poland allied to beat Austria, then Serbia and Romania invaded Hungary, establishing Yugoslavia and Greater Romania.

In the West, syndicalism not only expanded into Italy and Holland and even Switzerland, but many turned full Totalist. The inclusion of the swiss into the Internationale was an important shift the strategic situation, though the overconfident German high command ignored this development, which would become important later... After a tense few years, German intellenge agency suddenly realized that France had built up a massive army and was preparing to demand Alsace-Lorraine!
Germany quickly attempted to mobilize. The huge industrial might of the country meant the economy could be re-tooled to military production, allowing many men to be armed properly.
The border with France was already heavily fortified from the last War, but there were additional fronts to manage between the Ukraine - Belorussian border and the French - Belgian border. Two full armies were committed to the defense of Belgium. However, right after the French declaration of war, unexpected events took Germany by surprise.
First, the Germans had entirely underestimated the Swiss, not fortifying the border beyond the peacetime border police. Although the swiss army was small, they allowed the Italians and French to pour units through the mountain passes, where they flooded into Germany. Wuttenburg was overrun before emergency reserve forces could be called up to plug the gaps in the frontline.
Second, the Belgians had just demanded independence, which was not granted, so when the war came they revolted, with a Internationale-backed syndicalist government. The very forts that were meant to protect Germany from the West were now handed over by the Belgians to the French, cutting off half of the German armies from retreating East!
This thinning of the German army not only stretched the lines, claiming all reserves, but diverted attention towards this important battle, away from the final blow...
Third, the British navy overpowered the underfunded Kreigsmarine and were able to land invasion forces in Hanover. They swept unopposed through Northern Germany, even reaching Berlin, which went an emergency evacuation. This evacuation was not ultimately necessary, since fresh armies were able to push the British back into the sea.
However, this temporary chaos in the capital gave Poland its chance to issue germany an ultimatum for territories. With all armies busy protecting home territory in the south, west, and north, nothing could be spared to guard the border on the east, so the Posen Corridor and Silesia were surrendered without a fight. However, the treacherous Poles soon pressed the advantage, and having secured the border regions, used them to stage a surprise invasion of Germany!
However, this delay caused by the territory surrender allowed three new armies to be mobilized, one of which was Germany's first Panzer army. Generously provided with heavy equipment, they easily crushed the Polish army, and rescued the stragglers of the Army that had been cut off fighting Ukraine. They drove from Warsaw to Kiev, eliminating the Eastern Front.
Then, they turned West. In southern Germany and Alsace-Lorraine, the fighting had ground down to immobile trench warfare. To get around the lines, the Germans declared war on Holland, and drove the Panzers around through the north of Belgium, along the Channel coast, and then down to Paris. The French Armies were trapped in the eastern part of Lorraine, while German armies flooded the rest of France. Once the field armies of the Internationale were bottled up in the Swiss Alps where they could help no one, France capitulated. Italy and Switzerland soon followed.
The German air force quickly established air superiority over Britain, and the navy was driven out of the Channel. Although the German navy was too wrecked for a major amphibious assault, massive airdrops were considered, especially since the majority of the British army was destroyed in France, so occupying England would be as simple as arriving there.
Seeing the writing on the wall, the British wished to end the war before the Germans could help the Canadians beat their navy, and so offered terms. The war was over.

While all this had been happening, the Russians were resurging into an ultranationalist empire. They issued ultimatums to Germany, but Germany managed to bluff its way out while occupied with the West, so Russia turned East and busied itself with taking over Asia from the Japanese.
The American Civil War concluded with the beatdown of the Syndicalist rebellion, and resumption of democracy.
With the end of radical syndicalism, the only form of leftism that remains is the moderate social democracy in Europe. Africa is dominated by colonial empires, South America by various autocrats, and Asia by worse.
Of note, the Entente had evolved into a veritable monarchist alliance, with the Kingdom of Canada, having missed the opportunity to reclaim Britain, settling into hemispheric hegemony. They are allied with Carlist Spain, which defeated the anarchists, along with the Third French Empire under Napoleon IV.

 

[wolfhound817]

Millennium Dawn, Palau-Liberal

 

[Whiteshore]

Another Kaiserreich game as Federalist Liangguang v.s Manchu Restoration Qing.

 

[FasterThanRaito]

Millennium Dawn, Palau-Liberal

Behold! this totally not boring not irrelevant tiny island nation.
With a population of 20,000 on this isolated resourceless island, this country had no industrial power, no military, and no scientific advancement.
The ten years of 2017-2027 were spent reforming the internal government, preparing the country for democratic elections. Curroption was annihilated, because why not. There were economic ups and downs, depending on how many fish were selling at the market.

However, when Trump's military posturing got out of hand, a Chinese warship was attacked in the South China Seas, sparking the Sino-American War.
The initial stages of the war consisted of China launching reprisal attacks on American bases in the pacific, taking over the micronesian neighbors of Palau.
Palau was spared direct involvement in the conflict, however the Chinese did send agents who attempted to bribe a large minority of the population to instigate a coup. This was probably because China was concerned Palau might join the rest of Micronesia as a base for American ops in the region. However, they very much overestimated Palau's willingness to get smacked around in a global war with zero recruitable soldiers.
So instead, the Palau government re-bribed these malcontents to go protest about the environment or something, distracting them from pro-Chinese communist agitation. Eventually the Chinese agents gave up on the coup and concentrated on beach tourism.

When elections finally happened in 2022, conservatives won. In 2026, the liberals won, and so Palau was a democracy run by liberals. yay.

Seriously. What were you expecting?

 

[dianaswordofsappho]

How about Communist Canada?

 

[wolfhound817]

Seriously. What were you expecting?

Palau World Conquest....

I am very disappointed

 

[Scipio Africanus Major]

Divergences of Darkness ?

 

[Whiteshore]

Equestria at War - Harmonic Feathisia with Duchess Gabriella as Regent of the Griffonian Empire and Gerlach marrying Gabriella.

 

[FasterThanRaito]

Another Kaiserreich game as Federalist Liangguang v.s Manchu Restoration Qing.

From the dramatic Qing Dynasty collapse, Guangdong has come far. The unstable League of Eight Provinces in southern China fell apart, but Guangxi and Guangdong remained united under Liangguang. However, not all was smooth. The South was fairly undeveloped, and although there were good merchant establishments ready to translate into economic success, especially once the trading ports were seized from the Legation Cities internal collapse.
The leftist nationalists caused a stir, including some homegrown rebellions that saw a brief civil war between the two guangs. After that, the KMT was defeated in the East, so the South took up the mantle as unifiers of China under the Federalists. Anhui answered the call from central China, but Yunnan refused, thinking this new alliance was weak, they attacked. After a short but bloody battle, Yunnan was incorporated into the growing movement for the reunification of China.

Liangguang moved to continue annexing provinces, however they ran into the Qing remnant, which was attempting the same, but was facing trouble with the Fengtian Clique. So, Lianguang seized the opportunity and handily defeated the attempted Qing restorers. All that remained was Tibet, Mongolia, Xinjiang, Manchuria, and the Eastern Provinces, which had united under a successful Nanjing warlord. This war was long and costly, however the South had much more industry, and thus could keep pace with the horrendous losses as they chipped away at the Eastern territory. At this momment, the Japanese, by diplomacy or subterfuge or perhaps even force, had suddenly taken the Fengtian Clique as a subsidiary client state. After the successful invasion of Indochina, and the annexation of Burma by Japanese-allied Siam, Japanese troops were surrounding China on all sides...

Invasion would begin soon, so the Chinese committed to a long-term strategy that would see short-term concessions. First, relations with Japan were repaired by shipping vast amounts of resources, in the form of captured military hardware that the army was not using, fuel, and ships. Thanks to these gifts, enough Japanese officials opposed war with Liangguang and instead, when they both found themselves at war with Germany's colonies, invited China into their Co-Prosperity Sphere alliance, even though they had already set up their own Provisional Government of China in the North. In order to extend the Alliance after the defeat of Germany, Liangguang invaded Tibet and Mongolia while they prepared themselves for the final showdown with Japan.

Luckily, Russia had completed its conquests in Europe and Central Asia, and now was looking to recover the Transamur territory occupied by Japan. China left the alliance, and invaded Manchuria, along with the rest of Japan's allies in South East Asia. This was made easy when the Indian Empire joined Russia and China.

Once the Japanese were kicked out of Korea, they had no choice but to surrender. The United Provinces of China was proclaimed amidst this glorious victory.