NS Military Realism Consultancy Thread Mk X Purps Safe Space

[Purpelia]

I am not arguing that smart people inevitably produce success. I am arguing that dumb people inevitably produce failure.

I am a top x percentile writer in the English language but that does not mean I will become a famous novelist even if I try. I can be fairly sure that someone in the bottom x percentile at writing English will not become a famous novelist.

The previous posters were doubting that Africans are any dumber than anyone else. The example of North Korea is to show that an intelligent society looks very much different to a stupid society even if wealth and outward success are held constant.

I'm curious; how is a country structured around a cult of personality and living in willful ignorance of the outside world considered "intelligent" in any sense of that word whatsoever?

Because that sort of system requires quite an upkeep. Democracy is easy. You just take a couple oligarchs and tell them to play musical chairs for the masses. And when it's done half of them get to sit in government and the other half also get to sit in government. Everybody wins.

Maintaining a cult of personality on the other hand is difficult. It requires being able to carefully maintain loyalties, keep track of a lot of minions and make sure that you keep competent people in leadership positions but only give them as little power as you have to lest they get uppity. And that's just the HR side of things.

So yes, any fool can set up a democracy. Dictatorships, especially stable ones are hard.

[Allanea]

The previous posters were doubting that Africans are any dumber than anyone else. The example of North Korea is to show that an intelligent society looks very much different to a stupid society even if wealth and outward success are held constant.

Yes, it's a good example, but I question that Zimbabwe's superiority to North Korea is do any inherent superiority of Africans to Koreans.

[Husseinarti]

oh fucking jesus i had to read through everything a few times because i seriously thought i was in the RWDT with all this dumb talk

this is fucking realism and whatever get race shit out.

god its so dumb.

[Gallia-]

Yes it belongs in the Police Thread if anything.

[Kassaran]

Well, some good news, it appears that the players who was taking China, isn't anymore. An update to the map has shown they rescinded their reservation and as such I'm going to be taking China of the year 1800. What do now? I have one third of the global population and a stagnating empire that needs to likely get bigger or die, I have the means to, right? What caused china of the mid and late 1800's to go downhill and how do I not?

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Well, some good news, it appears that the players who was taking China, isn't anymore. An update to the map has shown they rescinded their reservation and as such I'm going to be taking China of the year 1800. What do now? I have one third of the global population and a stagnating empire that needs to likely get bigger or die, I have the means to, right? What caused china of the mid and late 1800's to go downhill and how do I not?

At least 1,000 years of arch-conservatism and splendid isolation.

[Gallia-]

It's more like 500 TBF. 1,000 is closer to Russia. If Song had annexed Liao, it could have been the first coal powered industrial civilization.

e: Oh wait the big battle that Song lost was closer to 1,000 than 500.

[Kassaran]

Unfortunately, I don't have those advantages, but it is my best bet right now to take some of the advice on current actions I can take in order to ensure the immediate return of the Chinese to the top.

Hang on, lemme stop and redefine that for those of you about to say: lolz get Europeened.

No. That isn't going to happen as I am rewriting a portion of immediate Chinese history to the context of the year 1800 to put China in the position of being a Constitutional Monarchy. I don't care, read the spoiler if you care so much about history you actually want to read into the rewrite itself, it's an admitted fever dream of an alt-history, but its there nevertheless and I don't come to you all for historical lessons. I come here to provide information on forces and to seek advice and consultation on what military actions I can take from my current position to ensure the longevity of my chosen nation-state.

My intention is to stop the rampant corruption first and foremost by changing the ten years directly prior to the implementation of my own government. First off, by changing the very history of a major player in the situation behind the political state of China by 1800. Heshen.

There are some people who argue he might not have been corrupt, but simply too powerful to be allowed to let live under the context of the prior emperor's favoritism. If that becomes the case, Heshens prosecution goes south and is called out by members of the Imperial court as planned by an aging Heshen. In a move designed to mostly keep himself alive, Heshen declares the Emperor to have fallen from favor and to be no longer within the mandates he was instated under kicking off a civil war in China years before it likely should have happened.

By 1800, Loyalist forces are under increasing strain to maintain a front against Rebels born of the millions of peasants that have been subjected to sub-par living standards and countless natural disasters under the disastrous policies of Peking. Meeting with Heshen, the defacto leader of rebel opposition from almost all fronts, a new government is put in place subjecting the Emperor to now be held in an active government position, but under restrictive powers keeping him from being able to try court members without evidence and provocation. A lot of other policies, yada-yada and now Constitutional Monarchy with, while albeit a still potent Royal proponent, has now begun to fall to the control of the elites in Chinese society. Cue purging of corrupted officials from the years of oversight on the behalf of China's previous emperor Qianlong's own oversight due to attentions to Heshen.

Heshen never had the original power to begin instating purges himself and favor with the Qianlong emperor had always been conditional, so he'd never had what he needed to cite evidence of treason to the Empire without a solidification of his own power in the empire. By the end of 1800 however, that all changed and hence the purges begin to reinstate Chinese military competence, government accountability, and most importantly to secure his own power alongside his retainers over the Imperial state. With these changes to Chinese history, and the abdication of the imperial throne under the pretext of imminent rebel takeover and potential total rebellion within even the most loyal of states within the Chinese empire, I understand I'm foregoing a lot here in the way of historical background and whatnot, and understand it's not all that realistic given whatever cultural background, but for that we're going to say story first, details later.

The Situation
The year is 1800, Europe has yet to begin colonization, America is having to deal with a unified native front from another player and the Chinese have become a Constitutional Monarchy. Under the assumption that corruption is still riddling the Chinese command structure for everything including the military, purges are being incited. Chinese command structure will likely be taking heavy hits as Imperial judges under the control of Heshen and his subordinates are going to be directly responsible for the trying and summary sentencing of the officials found or deemed as corrupt. There will likely be heavy losses under such purges and likewise the civil war has inflicted casualties upon the population and the farmland, most directly that in the outlying areas of the Imperial capital in Peking.

The Problem
Chinese military strength is, sub par, to say the most. Corruption which riddled its command structure has lead to incompetent military commanders and to the benefit of the people this has mostly been dealt with through the Civil War in the 1790's (very few competent loyalist commanders survived the hordes of peasant armies that surged forth from the agricultural lands beyond the immediate range of the Imperial capital). Under-equipped and trained in outdated techniques regarding the usage of firearms, China needs to re-mobilize its military force and prepare to begin massive-scale land warfare again, as well as to build up its naval power to defend itself against a growing European threat. As of right now, the Imperial Green Standard Army lies in tatters, having born the brunt of rebel forces while the Imperial Army of the Eight Banners took significantly less losses, but still lies without competent leadership. The Imperial Royal Guard under the command of Heshen's more military-minded subordinates is just about the only competent military leadership that there is, but there are no assurances that even they can foresee what the future of warfare might be. All that is known, is that if rebel forces using similar tactics can outmatch the Imperial Armies, standard or bannered, then new tactics, strategies, and most importantly equipment is likely needed to suppress further rebellions in the future, because in spite of the outcome of the war, most of the lower caste of Chinese society sees that the Emperor now no longer is invincible and very much pliable under duress.

The Solutions
This is where I need you all. I need to find a way to modernize my military forces, most likely by seeking eastern European military advice and by procuring some of the firearms of the time. how can I also industrialize my nation through the determination that industrialization is what I need. Operating under the assumption that I've determined through observation of Britain that industrialization can benefit the Chinese Empire and allow it to dominate global trade ever more so, do I know where the coal lies or how to obtain it? What do I need to learn through outside intervention in order to enable China to rapidly mobilize and modernize to begin becoming a colonial power on the scale of what Britain was?

Comments
Yes, I understand I'm trying to pull off a lot in a little bit of time. Yes I understand it is likely not realistic and that flies in starch contrast with the nature of this thread. This isn't my concern, my concern are the strategies and tactics and equipment I need to look into developing if not outright obtaining in order to make Chinese military supremacy a thing before Europe beats me to the punch, and begins punching. Already the Dutch are colonizing southern India and South Africa, so I'm looking at foreign invasion already given enough time. I don't need the catchall solutions, I need the fast and immediate solutions to give myself the best chance at defeating invading militaries and navies. What can I learn by observing foreign powers at this time to take back and begin implementing in China to rapidly strengthen the very much hollowed out and weakened core military forces? No, invasion and colonization by them isn't an acceptable answer.

[Crookfur]

Unfortunately, I don't have those advantages, but it is my best bet right now to take some of the advice on current actions I can take in order to ensure the immediate return of the Chinese to the top.

Hang on, lemme stop and redefine that for those of you about to say: lolz get Europeened.

No. That isn't going to happen as I am rewriting a portion of immediate Chinese history to the context of the year 1800 to put China in the position of being a Constitutional Monarchy. I don't care, read the spoiler if you care so much about history you actually want to read into the rewrite itself, it's an admitted fever dream of an alt-history, but its there nevertheless and I don't come to you all for historical lessons. I come here to provide information on forces and to seek advice and consultation on what military actions I can take from my current position to ensure the longevity of my chosen nation-state.

My intention is to stop the rampant corruption first and foremost by changing the ten years directly prior to the implementation of my own government. First off, by changing the very history of a major player in the situation behind the political state of China by 1800. Heshen.

There are some people who argue he might not have been corrupt, but simply too powerful to be allowed to let live under the context of the prior emperor's favoritism. If that becomes the case, Heshens prosecution goes south and is called out by members of the Imperial court as planned by an aging Heshen. In a move designed to mostly keep himself alive, Heshen declares the Emperor to have fallen from favor and to be no longer within the mandates he was instated under kicking off a civil war in China years before it likely should have happened.

By 1800, Loyalist forces are under increasing strain to maintain a front against Rebels born of the millions of peasants that have been subjected to sub-par living standards and countless natural disasters under the disastrous policies of Peking. Meeting with Heshen, the defacto leader of rebel opposition from almost all fronts, a new government is put in place subjecting the Emperor to now be held in an active government position, but under restrictive powers keeping him from being able to try court members without evidence and provocation. A lot of other policies, yada-yada and now Constitutional Monarchy with, while albeit a still potent Royal proponent, has now begun to fall to the control of the elites in Chinese society. Cue purging of corrupted officials from the years of oversight on the behalf of China's previous emperor Qianlong's own oversight due to attentions to Heshen.

Heshen never had the original power to begin instating purges himself and favor with the Qianlong emperor had always been conditional, so he'd never had what he needed to cite evidence of treason to the Empire without a solidification of his own power in the empire. By the end of 1800 however, that all changed and hence the purges begin to reinstate Chinese military competence, government accountability, and most importantly to secure his own power alongside his retainers over the Imperial state. With these changes to Chinese history, and the abdication of the imperial throne under the pretext of imminent rebel takeover and potential total rebellion within even the most loyal of states within the Chinese empire, I understand I'm foregoing a lot here in the way of historical background and whatnot, and understand it's not all that realistic given whatever cultural background, but for that we're going to say story first, details later.

The Situation
The year is 1800, Europe has yet to begin colonization, America is having to deal with a unified native front from another player and the Chinese have become a Constitutional Monarchy. Under the assumption that corruption is still riddling the Chinese command structure for everything including the military, purges are being incited. Chinese command structure will likely be taking heavy hits as Imperial judges under the control of Heshen and his subordinates are going to be directly responsible for the trying and summary sentencing of the officials found or deemed as corrupt. There will likely be heavy losses under such purges and likewise the civil war has inflicted casualties upon the population and the farmland, most directly that in the outlying areas of the Imperial capital in Peking.

The Problem
Chinese military strength is, sub par, to say the most. Corruption which riddled its command structure has lead to incompetent military commanders and to the benefit of the people this has mostly been dealt with through the Civil War in the 1790's (very few competent loyalist commanders survived the hordes of peasant armies that surged forth from the agricultural lands beyond the immediate range of the Imperial capital). Under-equipped and trained in outdated techniques regarding the usage of firearms, China needs to re-mobilize its military force and prepare to begin massive-scale land warfare again, as well as to build up its naval power to defend itself against a growing European threat. As of right now, the Imperial Green Standard Army lies in tatters, having born the brunt of rebel forces while the Imperial Army of the Eight Banners took significantly less losses, but still lies without competent leadership. The Imperial Royal Guard under the command of Heshen's more military-minded subordinates is just about the only competent military leadership that there is, but there are no assurances that even they can foresee what the future of warfare might be. All that is known, is that if rebel forces using similar tactics can outmatch the Imperial Armies, standard or bannered, then new tactics, strategies, and most importantly equipment is likely needed to suppress further rebellions in the future, because in spite of the outcome of the war, most of the lower caste of Chinese society sees that the Emperor now no longer is invincible and very much pliable under duress.

The Solutions
This is where I need you all. I need to find a way to modernize my military forces, most likely by seeking eastern European military advice and by procuring some of the firearms of the time. how can I also industrialize my nation through the determination that industrialization is what I need. Operating under the assumption that I've determined through observation of Britain that industrialization can benefit the Chinese Empire and allow it to dominate global trade ever more so, do I know where the coal lies or how to obtain it? What do I need to learn through outside intervention in order to enable China to rapidly mobilize and modernize to begin becoming a colonial power on the scale of what Britain was?

Comments
Yes, I understand I'm trying to pull off a lot in a little bit of time. Yes I understand it is likely not realistic and that flies in starch contrast with the nature of this thread. This isn't my concern, my concern are the strategies and tactics and equipment I need to look into developing if not outright obtaining in order to make Chinese military supremacy a thing before Europe beats me to the punch, and begins punching. Already the Dutch are colonizing southern India and South Africa, so I'm looking at foreign invasion already given enough time. I don't need the catchall solutions, I need the fast and immediate solutions to give myself the best chance at defeating invading militaries and navies. What can I learn by observing foreign powers at this time to take back and begin implementing in China to rapidly strengthen the very much hollowed out and weakened core military forces? No, invasion and colonization by them isn't an acceptable answer.

One thing might be to admit that the foreigners have stuff you want other than gold and just generally don't be a complete dick about trade.

Allow the westerners to buy tea and spices and pay with manufacturered goods so allowing you to get all of the muskets at very cheap prices and suddenly the westerners don't have any real reason to fuck with you or desperatly try to force opium on you.

[Kassaran]

Alright, so first thing in the solutions bar:


1) Increased external trade.

Justification: Lowered prices for modern goods which help me set up a base of understanding as to the importance of firearms in modern 19th century warfare. Tea is a high-price commodity and high-value, but Chinese entrance into the market could signal an end to the need for European powers to try and procure it from elsewhere? Additional benefits include lowered tensions between the East and the West including, but not limited to, forestalling the need for the West to begin aggressive campaigning of opium to peasants and military action in my territorial waters.

[Allanea]

It's arguable that the ban on Opium was not so much due to any social problems caused by drugs (opium was, of course, consumed in the West too), but by China's seeking excuses to cut off foreign influence. (It coincided with mass-murders of Christians, for instance).

Sadly, 'free trade' is easier said than done.

Even today it's difficult to implement.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Unfortunately your scenario is so invested in the Western European mentality that it is unsalvageable. Constitutional Monarchy is an essential European idea that does not meld at all with the Confucian ideology of respecting seniority, Mandate of Heaven and the Godlike aspect of Chinese Emperors. What would most certainly happen in your scenario is instead of a Constitutional Monarchy because the Emperor lost respect is that the entire dynasty collapses in outright civil war and the subsequent replacement by another Imperial dynasty because the public no longer believes that it is holding the Mandate of Heaven as it has happened without exception throughout 4000 years of history.

Also, you don't amass 15 times the yearly revenue of the entire Qing Dynasty (200-400 billion $) without being amazingly corrupt.

[Questers]

Existing situation

A Questarian Division (as it is now) consists of three Brigades, each with four battlegroups of mixed composition, so that in total the Brigade has 6 companies of armour and 6 companies of armoured infantry. The Brigade commands sufficient CSS so that Brigade assets do not require Divisional services (other than in very long range communications) and the Brigade also has its own 155mm SP weapons, distinct to the Divisional rocket artillery and heavier SP guns. The Brigades fight around the Division's supply circle as the Division funnels supplies to the Brigades and supports them with its Divisional artillery, reconnaissance, EW and attack helicopters.

Concept

From the Large Division creating a Small Corps, consisting of Mechanised Brigades with 9 companies of armour and 3 companies of armoured infantry, and Infantry Brigades with 9 companies of mechanised infantry and 3 companies of tanks. Not sure in what ratio these would exist - perhaps there would be different types of Corps. Corps would contain the logistics, artillery, and CSS elements, so the Brigades could be smaller and more mobile - they would pretty much just be combat troops plus pioneers.

Benefits

Armoured troops for exploitation, infantry for breakthrough, split into more distinct formations with high granularity in the role (9/3 companies vs 6/6). "Lighter" Brigades which can move more freely over terrain as a result of their smaller train, but with train assets still in relative proximity. High level of centralisation with artillery fire since it's all at the Corps level (other than like, 120-mm mortars maybe). It doesn't make sense for the tanks to have so many SP guns following them into the exploitation, but it does make sense for the infantry to be able to mass artillery on the breakthrough.

Downsides

The Brigades themselves would have to have very good communications otherwise they could be destroyed in detail by a Division. They would not be able to wander too far from the Corps or they'd outrun the Corps supply routes and the Corps itself would need very good route security. The Corps (32,500~) would be much larger than the Division (19,000~) but much smaller than the current corps (75,000), and perhaps this is too small for a XXX unit.

Big sperg meta level: the Combined Forces would have to find more qualified general officers and expand its communications capabilities. This might be hard!

[Tekeristan]

Unfortunately your scenario is so invested in the Western European mentality that it is unsalvageable. Constitutional Monarchy is an essential European idea that does not meld at all with the Confucian ideology of respecting seniority, Mandate of Heaven and the Godlike aspect of Chinese Emperors. What would most certainly happen in your scenario is instead of a Constitutional Monarchy because the Emperor lost respect is that the entire dynasty collapses in outright civil war and the subsequent replacement by another Imperial dynasty because the public no longer believes that it is holding the Mandate of Heaven as it has happened without exception throughout 4000 years of history.

Also, you don't amass 15 times the yearly revenue of the entire Qing Dynasty (200-400 billion $) without being amazingly corrupt.

I'd personally say, rather than trying to ravage one's self into a position of global dominance, to just go ham.
A good story and twisting developments is fun. I need to get into such more.

[The Akasha Colony]

Well, some good news, it appears that the players who was taking China, isn't anymore. An update to the map has shown they rescinded their reservation and as such I'm going to be taking China of the year 1800. What do now? I have one third of the global population and a stagnating empire that needs to likely get bigger or die, I have the means to, right? What caused china of the mid and late 1800's to go downhill and how do I not?

The problem is that China was never a seriously unified state, politically, ethnically, or culturally. Especially not when the Manchus were in charge. This meant that any efforts to reform the government were halting, disjointed, and inconsistent. Which is obvious from the way the Qing attempted to modernize, by spinning of independent forces like the Beiyang Fleet.

-snip-

There was already a previous discussion about why Qing China failed to modernize compared to Japan. And it was already pointed out that the biggest problems are structural: the way the Qing empire was based on the dominance of a tiny minority (the Manchus ruling the Han Chinese), the entrenched interests of the scholar-bureaucrats in maintaining their position, and the multi-ethnic and hierarchical nature of the empire made it extremely difficult to control and modernize in a thorough way. And the Qing elite had no reason to think they needed to modernize until the Europeans came over and beat them up, since for thousands of years before that China had been the Middle Kingdom, the center of the world and better than everyone else.

Unfortunately, none of your proposals deal with the root of the problem. Corruption is a distraction, a symptom of the problem and not a cause. A bunch of officers stealing from the treasury is not the reason Qing China failed to modernize. You can drum out and execute officers and bureaucrats at a rate that would make Stalin blush, but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem regarding the domination of a minority ethnic group and the inherent conflict of interest between the scholar-bureaucrats (who run the government and want to preserve their power and status) and the needs of a full government reform wherein most of the old ruling class will probably lose their positions.

In fact, the best long-run option at this point is to probably let the Qing dynasty fall and replace it wholesale with a Han Chinese ruling elite. Which is basically what happened historically except it took several decades from the fall of the Qing dynasty to the firm establishment of Han rule under the communist regime.

[Allanea]

The essential problem with any alternate-history story, RP, or worldbuild is simply this:

It's difficult to differentiate between what could have hypothetically been done, in the era, with the technology of the time - given the knowledge we have now - and what could have actually been done with the ideas and culture people in the era actually had.

At one point, I was involved in a Bronze Age RP with other people, one of them being a vast fan of rail roads.

I roleplayed something that as an expy of pre-Temple era Jews.

This guy had found out that ancient Egyptians had primitive steam engines, and has found somewhere some article that some Egyptian Temple had some moving engine that rolled back and forth along a wooden 'route' prepared for it, along a length of like 15 meters.

From this he derived a justification of a railroad - a railroad! assembled using nothing but Bronze age tech. It was of course terrible and had limited payload capacity, but it was a railroad binding the edges of his 'far-flung Empire'.

Now I suspect that a time traveler, were they flung into Ancient Egypt, could have somehow explained to people in the era how to build something like that (if they'd have somehow gotten the EGyptians to listen to them somehow). If you had your consciousness transplanted into the body of a Roman Emperor or whatever, and somehow could avoid being caught out as an impostor, you could probably do any number of awesome things.

But, and this is important, none of these things were actually done, even though they were of course kind of sort of possible, because for cultural reasons nobody had thought of them. Even when ideas had been thought of (like free trade, which was about as an idea at least since the Scottish Enlightenment), it took literally generations for it to catch on even partly (and the Europeans were obsessed with colonialism for generations after having been called out on the vast stupidity of the idea dozens of times by thinkers).

What you're suggesting is the policy equivalent of 'well, we can build some rails using wood rails in 2000 BC', and very technically you can, just like you can technically assemble a BT-7 using 1925 armored technology, or have the British at the Somme armed with Fedorov Avtomats.

[Dostanuot Loj]

Last night I remembered ADATS.
How could I forget it?

Anyway, this seems even more in keeping with my realignment of Sumer.

I think merging the SHORAD SAM and tank destroyer roles together would be a wonderful idea. It of course handicaps both roles, which is good for my intentions with Sumer, and yet still provides me with some interestingly adequate work here. So i am thinking that the best place to put this may in fact be as a divisional resource.

So tie the ADATS batteries into the division's air defense regiment.

So in theory the division will control these assets, but in practice they will be broken down to the brigades and, ultimately, the regimental combat teams, with none left at divisional level. Regiments will therefore get a battery of ADATS alongside their more organic battery of Gepards. Brigades will retain one battery of ADATS as well as a battery of Otomatics. Division may retain a battery of Otomatics, I have not decided.

Air defense assets for the division will thus have a layered approach, and much of it will be pushed forward. MANPADS, SPAAGs, ADATS, and Otomatics. Systems like Patriot will be deployed in the corps level, creating an umbrella.

Thus the regimental commander will have at his/her immediate disposal usually: 4 Gepards, 4 ADATS, and 12-15 MANPADS teams.

Oh yes, and I'm throwing Otomatic in there too. Corps will have something like Patriot to cover the divisions in a larger area. Divisions should get another missile system in there for divisional assets, somewhere between ADATS and Patriot, but not sure which yet. Maybe something like the Japanese Type 03.

[Gallia-]

Unfortunately your scenario is so invested in the Western European mentality that it is unsalvageable. Constitutional Monarchy is an essential European idea that does not meld at all with the Confucian ideology of respecting seniority, Mandate of Heaven and the Godlike aspect of Chinese Emperors. What would most certainly happen in your scenario is instead of a Constitutional Monarchy because the Emperor lost respect is that the entire dynasty collapses in outright civil war and the subsequent replacement by another Imperial dynasty because the public no longer believes that it is holding the Mandate of Heaven as it has happened without exception throughout 4000 years of history.

Also, you don't amass 15 times the yearly revenue of the entire Qing Dynasty (200-400 billion $) without being amazingly corrupt.

I don't necessarily disagree, in the sense that Qing is doomed and can't be fixed without following the causal chain all the way back to the source, but...

Dynastic cycles are a folk history invention on par with the dark ages or the Martian face at Cydonia. They don't exist; because they're just people seeking superficial patterns to explain things that are actually unique. History rhymes but it doesn't repeat is as true for dynastic cycles as it is for any other cyclic theory of history. Or history in general. All historical situations are unique and can't necessarily be predicted beforehand (unless you have a computer so powerful it can run history in faster than real-time; since history isn't actually the entire universe this is actually possible if you approximate things like cosmic rays and ancient light), so pretty much all cyclical histories are bankrupt in that sense.

The other common thread is that they all seek to boil something highly complex and mostly forgotten down to a few pithy quips without any rigorous data analysis [because the necessary data has been irretrievably lost in almost all cases] and they never really explain anything except in vague statements that are highly attributable to many situations but not applicable to those same situations because the factors of each new situation is wholly unique (in some fashion). Whatever keeps the Song Dynasty alive will not save the Qing, perhaps because the Qing would never exist if the Song survived.

What you should be looking at is the reasons why and when dynastic cycle theory began, what initial conditions created it, and what actions reinforced it later on. If you can explain what causes the dynastic cycle's conditions to be created and perpetuated, perhaps through mathematics or perhaps through more qualitative data, you can also alter these conditions and break the cycle.

That said, dynastic cycles have been a huge barrier for actual political-historical Sinologists for decades. We've only recently, within the past 30 years, been able to look past it and see what really causes the collapse of Chinese dynasties. Usually it's something like "too big".

After all, the ROC has managed to successfully break the dynastic cycle, which really proves it isn't fundamental to how people work. So it relies on a fundamental process to perpetuate itself, IOW it isn't a true root cause.

But other than that you're right. Chinese wouldn't have the requisite philosophical-historical background to implement a constitutional monarchy solution, even if it would work, because it is totally outside their experience.

[Dostanuot Loj]

Existing situation

A Questarian Division (as it is now) consists of three Brigades, each with four battlegroups of mixed composition, so that in total the Brigade has 6 companies of armour and 6 companies of armoured infantry. The Brigade commands sufficient CSS so that Brigade assets do not require Divisional services (other than in very long range communications) and the Brigade also has its own 155mm SP weapons, distinct to the Divisional rocket artillery and heavier SP guns. The Brigades fight around the Division's supply circle as the Division funnels supplies to the Brigades and supports them with its Divisional artillery, reconnaissance, EW and attack helicopters.

Concept

From the Large Division creating a Small Corps, consisting of Mechanised Brigades with 9 companies of armour and 3 companies of armoured infantry, and Infantry Brigades with 9 companies of mechanised infantry and 3 companies of tanks. Not sure in what ratio these would exist - perhaps there would be different types of Corps. Corps would contain the logistics, artillery, and CSS elements, so the Brigades could be smaller and more mobile - they would pretty much just be combat troops plus pioneers.

Benefits

Armoured troops for exploitation, infantry for breakthrough, split into more distinct formations with high granularity in the role (9/3 companies vs 6/6). "Lighter" Brigades which can move more freely over terrain as a result of their smaller train, but with train assets still in relative proximity. High level of centralisation with artillery fire since it's all at the Corps level (other than like, 120-mm mortars maybe). It doesn't make sense for the tanks to have so many SP guns following them into the exploitation, but it does make sense for the infantry to be able to mass artillery on the breakthrough.

Downsides

The Brigades themselves would have to have very good communications otherwise they could be destroyed in detail by a Division. They would not be able to wander too far from the Corps or they'd outrun the Corps supply routes and the Corps itself would need very good route security. The Corps (32,500~) would be much larger than the Division (19,000~) but much smaller than the current corps (75,000), and perhaps this is too small for a XXX unit.

Big sperg meta level: the Combined Forces would have to find more qualified general officers and expand its communications capabilities. This might be hard!

I proposed a brigidization like this a year or two ago here and generally got told it was stupid because divisions were the best. Although my brigades were more sufficiently self-supporting.

Of course that leads to my opinion: I like it. But I have to ask what your primary reasoning for the move is? What is this shift supposed to attain, or allow to attain?

[Austrasien]

Wouldn't three battlegroups be preferable?

Four precludes the formation of a balanced battlegroup.

[Questers]

Wouldn't three battlegroups be preferable?

Four precludes the formation of a balanced battlegroup.

The original design is two infantry battalions of 3 companies each and an armoured regiment of 6 companies, with an additional battlegroup headquarters, so it can be as balanced or unbalanced as the brigade commander wants.

[Kazarogkai]

Wouldn't three battlegroups be preferable?

Four precludes the formation of a balanced battlegroup.

One can be kept in reserve possibly.

[Austrasien]

Wouldn't three battlegroups be preferable?

Four precludes the formation of a balanced battlegroup.

The original design is two infantry battalions of 3 companies each and an armoured regiment of 6 companies, with an additional battlegroup headquarters, so it can be as balanced or unbalanced as the brigade commander wants.

What made Questers move to the forefront of radical combined arms innovation?

[Austrasien]

The essential problem with any alternate-history story, RP, or worldbuild is simply this:

It's difficult to differentiate between what could have hypothetically been done, in the era, with the technology of the time - given the knowledge we have now - and what could have actually been done with the ideas and culture people in the era actually had.

y e s

In principle people could probably have begun generating electricity sometime in the bronze age and had they managed to "connect the dots" they would have had a runaway industrial revolution (even if they didn't discover the use of coal yet! Hydropower alone would have been revolutionary) as small amounts of electricity could be used to make better magnets, which would allow the generation of more electricity, which would have allowed the creation of simple electrical tools (the Egyptians already knew about lathes, and the lathe is the mother of machine tools)...

[Purpelia]

It's random question time, this time with atoms!

Different cultures at different times have had very different general approaches to atomic war.
As a demonstrative example western culture tends to treat atomic war as essentially a really bad environmental disaster. What I mean by this is that its role in stories, be that video games or books or movies tends to be that of something that happened in the past and changed the world forever. And the stories than follow the standard post-disaster / post apocalyptic scenario. The whole thing can probably be traced back to the biblical end times and subsequent salvation of man kind. And this cultural trends seeps over into the realm of military and politics with nations constructing elaborate plans on how to survive post atomic war.

Contrastingly Purpelian culture sees atomic war as essentially THE end of the world. When it comes to cultural symbolism atomic war has essentially usurped the concept of Ragnarok, the ultimate end all conflict in which all that lives dies and the world ends forever. So in Purpelian works of art the post apocalyptic genre is essentially nonexistent. When atomic war is the subject it essentially takes the role of the villain. A looming almost Lovecraftian presence which, depending on the tone of the work may even be unstoppable and inevitable. And on the more sober front this cultural trend can be said to have contributed to the Purpelian atomic policy which can be best summed up as: "Second strike only, immediate massive retaliation, exclusively counter value" or in layman's terms "If the bombs start dropping we are already dead so there is no point attacking the enemy military. Just focus on completely destroying their nation in revenge."

So what about your nation and culture? How do your people see the specter of atomic war?