AMW Big Discussion Thread

[Beth Gellert]

My thoughts on this are a lot like those expressed by Spyr, but coloured by the level to which activity has fallen and for how long it has been in this slump. Which is to say that I think I'm prepared to make the exception that proves the rule on NPCs if it'll get things going again. Regardless of whether it's a success or a flop, I think we should stick to not even registering that other NPCs even exist as countries.

Thinking about it, I have some doubts as to the wisdom of using 'Yemen' rather than some original AMW replacement based on Yemen, Somalia, and whatever else we come up with. Apart from anything, it seems we ought to take every opportunity to further AMW's distinctness. It's already established that this isn't actually going to be identical to how Yemen is.

On Africa... it's now completely empty and an entirely blank canvas, I think, with the exception of British Egypt and Sudan.

[Spyr]

The Holy League and its innumerable imperial ventures were left behind with the old AMW, so Africa in AMW's current incarnation has been spared a bath of VX and napalm.

[The Crooked Beat]

I'll certainly have to second Spyr's misgivings with regards to bringing NPC nations into RP. Our previous experiences with exactly that were, for the most part, not successful, and often downright disastrous, as was the case with the Holy League's war in Africa, something that, the more I think about it, should never have been allowed to go forward in the first place. Of course, I'd equally have to agree with BG in that, given our present level of activity, using an NPC to kick-start an RP may not be a bad idea at all, as long as we go about it carefully and conscientiously, avoiding above all the influence of simplistic racial rhetoric and arrogant triumphalism in our out-of-character reading of the actual situation. As long as we can all sign off on this beforehand, we might as well give it a go. I also really like BG's suggestion that we maybe switch Yemen out for something original, maybe the Zaburite Kingdom of Hadram, or whatever name strikes our fancy, perhaps peopled by Coptic Christians and animists or descendants of ancient Greeks...no doubt I'm getting very far ahead of myself.

Maybe we ought to start with a list of this prospective state's basic characteristics, its demographics, government, economy and the like, so we can all see more or less what we have to work with.

I'd venture to assume that this state is fragmented and underdeveloped, with a wrecked economy and a government incapable of fully asserting its authority and power. We might also imagine that the people living in this country are, like Yemenis in real life, independent-minded and intolerant of foreign interventions, many of them intolerant of their own government at that, and that any invasion force will face significant public resistance and skepticism. The same might well also apply to home-grown, foreign-backed reform movements and the national government itself. If this gets underway, Parsistan would probably start out as a significant sponsor of domestic reformers.

This reminds me very much of Kilean's 'Rock the Casbah' thread from way back when. That was quite an RP.

Anyway, I've once again got far ahead of myself. In short, I commend Somewhereistonia for this excellent idea and give it my tentative support, provided we proceed with sufficient caution. On one hand, time is of the essence, and I'm sure we're all eager to jump into something eventful, but it is equally important that we do this right.

[Nascent]

I believe I used to be in AMW with this nation, although I may be wrong and it may have been with an even earlier nation, but I would be interested in rejoining the ranks of AMW players once more. And as Im mighty tired and dont think I would be able to make it through the four pages of text I SHOULD read before I hit post, I am going to take the chance for right now and say that unless someone else has claimed it, I would be interested in playing as just the area of Alaska. I dont know if the current national boundaries would need to remain in effect to start out, but if not I think I could come up with a nice little backstory as to why Alaska either wants, or has broken away from good ole US of A.

The only problem I could see with me being part of this group, and I will let the established members pass final judgement on whether or not this will be too major an obstacle, but due to the work I do, there will be a two week period of time where I will not be able to post very often, if at all. This usually happens every month, so if the powers that be should decide it would be in the best interest of the group to deny my request to join then that is fine. However I think it would be super awesome if I could write in here.

[Somewhereistonia]

Of course, I'd equally have to agree with BG in that, given our present level of activity, using an NPC to kick-start an RP may not be a bad idea at all, as long as we go about it carefully and conscientiously, avoiding above all the influence of simplistic racial rhetoric and arrogant triumphalism in our out-of-character reading of the actual situation. As long as we can all sign off on this beforehand, we might as well give it a go. I also really like BG's suggestion that we maybe switch Yemen out for something original, maybe the Zaburite Kingdom of Hadram, or whatever name strikes our fancy, perhaps peopled by Coptic Christians and animists or descendants of ancient Greeks...no doubt I'm getting very far ahead of myself.

I like the suggestion of descendants of ancient Greeks and after thinking about it, having a bit more of an original twist would be good. It would certainly make playing it as a colony more interesting. I think I will leave the final decision of who these people are up to BG if he is still happy with rping as then prior to and during the invasion. Of course, we need to have a potential terrorist group or something to be blamed or actually be to blame for whatever incident it turns out to be to spark this off in India.

I agree with the NPC rule, and I wouldn't have suggested this if it wasn't for the lack of any sort of activity. Going about this carefully is a must if we are to keep this rule intact for the future.

Maybe we ought to start with a list of this prospective state's basic characteristics, its demographics, government, economy and the like, so we can all see more or less what we have to work with.

I'd venture to assume that this state is fragmented and underdeveloped, with a wrecked economy and a government incapable of fully asserting its authority and power. We might also imagine that the people living in this country are, like Yemenis in real life, independent-minded and intolerant of foreign interventions, many of them intolerant of their own government at that, and that any invasion force will face significant public resistance and skepticism. The same might well also apply to home-grown, foreign-backed reform movements and the national government itself. If this gets underway, Parsistan would probably start out as a significant sponsor of domestic reformers.

That actually sounds like a good place to start from for the people. Whilst more detail will probably be needed to ensure that we all have the same idea of who the people are and what they are like. I'll go and set up a suggestion thread for this on the AMW forum in a bit to help create this.


Nascent: I am fairly new to AMW and so I have no knowledge of your presence. I do know however that Alaska is part of the USQ and it is quite strategic potentially because of its closeness to Kiev. I imagine that Q will want to keep this as part of his claim. Was there any particular reason that you wanted Alaska? I should mention that there is no USA in AMW.

About the time thing, I would be happy to allow you to join as a fairly minor state (as Alaska would be) as AMW generally isn't the fastest moving (especially now). If you were a major power then the disruption of this would probably lead to a loss of interest in the big threads as your input would probably be required to some extent.

[Nascent]

Nascent: I am fairly new to AMW and so I have no knowledge of your presence. I do know however that Alaska is part of the USQ and it is quite strategic potentially because of its closeness to Kiev. I imagine that Q will want to keep this as part of his claim. Was there any particular reason that you wanted Alaska? I should mention that there is no USA in AMW.

About the time thing, I would be happy to allow you to join as a fairly minor state (as Alaska would be) as AMW generally isn't the fastest moving (especially now). If you were a major power then the disruption of this would probably lead to a loss of interest in the big threads as your input would probably be required to some extent.

Well I do not expect anyone to recognize my name so theres no worries there. However I was just thinking that I could pull Alaska kind of into a situation like Kurdistan is in in Iraq currently. Obviously the oil and strategic importance being the major reason why the owning country wishes to keep it and the general dissent against something the government did, like ban the making of snow angels or something, to be the reason Alaska would want to go its own direction.

[Somewhereistonia]

You would have to ask Q as it is part of his claim but I think it would be better if you claimed somewhere else. I can't really see Alaska rebelling without a lot suddenly changing from Q's claim. Unlike Texas etc it is a major strategic point. There is also a fairly empty world map with most of Asia, Africa and central America free with a dash of Europe as well.

I'm not sure that you really need Alaska to be a rebellious state. How about looking at something in China or possibly a breakaway from S. America's new empire in Panama or something. You would have to talk to Tana... I can't think of the name off hand but you would need to talk to him about that.

Everyone else: http://z7.invisionfree.invalid.com/A_Modern_Wor ... wtopic=151 <-lets talk about Yemen, or is it New Selucis or Sab'ya? Who knows?

[Cassanos]

To avoid complications with another AMW nation, you could also claim a certain territorym (say, Tunesia, Sweden, Kazakhstan or whatnot), and RP your very own civil war and breakaway, or have it already happened and play only part of the territory.

[Spyr]

As a proponent of a more diverse political landscape in AMW's North America, the idea of a breakaway Alaska certainly has some appeal, but (as has been said above) Alaska lies within Quinntonia's current claim and his approval would be the most important part of any new claim there.

If you wanted to avoid the hassle of convincing an established AMWer to give up a slice of their pie, as it were, a different location might make things easier. As mentioned, there are a lot of open spaces waiting for new players... Africa, Asia, & South America all have room for a new state (Europe does as well, though it'd be a bit more of a squeeze). If you set up somewhere in Africa, you might run into problems with isolation, as the continent is rather short on players... if you wanted to make sure you got a chance to be involved in important events, current/upcoming RP is occurring in South America (the long-awaited opening up of the isolated Inka), the Arabian peninsula/Gulf of Aden (international intervention in Yemen), and on the borders of India (which, at some point in the near future, may fall into civil war).

*Wanders off imagining British support for the breakaway Secular Republic of Alaska as the straw which breaks the Anglo-Quinntonian alliance*

[The United Taifas]

Failing all else, Greenland (likely under some original name, such as Nascent) could be attached to and then secede from the US or another country, perhaps Britain or even Russia, after development of gold/ruby/copper/uranium/platinum/titanium/aluminium or other mineral extraction infrastructure begins to generate major revenue. Granted, it's only about 10% of the population of Alaska, I think, but fifty or sixty thousand residents at least makes it bigger than the European microstates in reality, and some of the Pacific island nations, and they manage to function.

If Nascent doesn't mind what continent he's on, or what sort of environment he's in, I could probably be convinced to revisit that Maghreb idea, with Al'Andalus ruling over an empire somewhere in North Africa that rebels due to anything from opposition to the Sultan's hereditary premiership to the Andalusian exploitation of gas/oil/phosphate resources or whatever else it may be. Depending what sort of nation Nascent wants to play, it could also be as simple as cultural differences, with the Moorish Andalusians dominating whatever other ethnicities Nascent may have in his nation. Either the fairly socially liberal Andalusians may be regarded as not sufficiently pious by a Muslim populace, or as too Muslim by a non-Muslim populace, for example.

I suppose from my point of view it'd enable me to justify a stronger Andalusian state that has spent several years siphoning off the resources of the Maghreb and directing it into A) development of a powerful military deterrent to the Romans and B) all those nice palaces and public gardens that my nation is supposed to be full of. Accordingly, we'd be very much alarmed to see Nascent's country break away, leaving us struggling to pay for Emirati opulence and hundreds of fighter jets.

[Somewhereistonia]

So, we are about to start fighting a war in the middle east, should we continue where we left off with NATO to go with it?

[Somewhereistonia]

First of all, BUMP for sign-ups.

Second, I have contacted Skeelzania on irc; for ease on explaining here is what he said when asked whether he had completely given up:

<Skeelzania> I'm afraid so. Wasn't a smart move on my part. I'm starting university in a few weeks, and am already ramping back elsewhere.
<Skeelzania> Sorry about it.
<Skeelzania> Let me know if anyone would like the password to that, now or anytime down the road. I'll try to keep SKZ active during school so TGs will reach me.

So, Skeelzania is definitely out, but he will give his Japan to anyone willing to rp it. It's sad to see him go but he has explained things. Hopefully someone else can come along to give Dra-pol a history with.

[Beth Gellert]

Ah. Shame, really. Thanks for finding out.

I'm almost tempted to drop BG for something that would solve the long-standing problem in that part of the world, but that'd probably leave more geopolitical holes. Sigh.

[Gurguvungunit]

Rather too bad about Skeelzania.

Nascent: This has come up before a few times, and between Quinn's sporadic activity and his previously stated disinterest in breaking up the contiguous North American bloc that he controls, I don't think you'll have much luck with Alaska. On the other hand, Spyr raises an interesting point: Greenland was historically controlled by the United States for a short time during the Second World War, and it might provide an interesting dynamic for us to work with. If Greenland chose to secede from the United States and was a liberal democracy, preferably a secular, free market one, Britain would support it doing so. Now, I'm not trying to tell you how to play your nation, and if you have something else in mind politically I very much hope you'll stick by it regardless of my support. However, this would indeed allow me to develop something I've been thinking about; to wit: the breakdown of relations between the US and Britain.

The downside is that Quinntonia's activity is sporadic, and we've heard very little from him. Which is a shame, since he's a big nation, but obviously real life comes first. It would be unfortunate to tie your claim so much to Quinn's activity, so unless we get information that he'll be able to post regularly for a bit, this would probably all be a bad idea.

Which, I suppose, is a long way of saying very little. This is characteristic of AMW, so I hope you don't mind.

[Somewhereistonia]

Before anyone panics, only Somewhereistonia moved to rushmore. The Democratic Federation of Baltic States is still in AMW.

[Somewhereistonia]

So, Q left. This leaves a pretty huge hole in the middle of every rp line I've been involved with so far in AMW.

One suggestion is that Canada becomes part of British Empire (again), whilst this makes them a larger power, they can then have the strength to ward off Kiev is Spyr is onside. This causes very little disturbance to history of AMW in general, and it still leaves the sizable US as claimable land, which, hopefully will be claimed in chunks rather than a whole.

Other than that, we just have to push the USQ's involvement under the rug and hope it isn't too noticeable that they were there before.

[Spyr]

Indeed, Q's departure is a great loss, and in a sense he's irreplaceable... his knowledge of theology allowed a properly nuanced portrayal of a devout Christian state, while his established reputation in AMW and pre-AMW RP meant he could be trusted with the significant responsibility that is a power analogous to the United States of America. I'm loathe to see the reins of a comparable power passed on to someone else.
That itself ought not be fatal to us, and the silver lining may be the emergence of a more diverse political landscape in North America, with a larger number of states and the intrigues/rivalries such would bring.

We ought probably consider a few things while we have the chance:

First, the fact that we won't have a United States to play important roles in our nation's histories. I don't think that will necessarily change most of the major events (ex: WWII will be Nazi Germany vs. Anglo-Kiev Alliance with bonus Pacific skirmishes rather than the industrial might of the US smacking down Japan while supplying free Europe... certainly it will have been more draining on the winners, but not fatally so, and lack of Marshall funds is even better to explain France and Spain jumping into bed with Rome). The nature of the Cold War may be somewhat different if leadership of the West was in London rather than Washington, perhaps a more specific 'secular democracy vs. theocratic autocracy' clash of ideologies.

Second, the problem of Quinntonian presence in current RP. Here our slow pace may well be a blessing in disguise... I shudder to think of the mess we'd be in if we'd accumulated months of multiple-posts-per-day RP before this came about. But the USQ has certainly played a major role in RP (Bermuda comes to mind immediately) and those RPs will need to either be revised or discarded in its absence.

The third problem which may come up is uncertainty over availability of US military hardware... makes me glad Spyr favoured British rifles and German tank guns ^_^.

[Somewhereistonia]

I'm in agreement in the first point, perhaps this stretching of resources could have caused the early ceasefire with this new Japan that you and Dra-pol have been working on. So the 'east' becomes left to its own devices early on in the war without the US intervention, whilst Kiev perhaps plays a more important role in defeating the axis powers in Europe.

The second problem is not such a huge one other than in the instance of the NATO thread. Without the USQ this simply becomes a European alliance. Maybe now we can take the chance to come up with a more original AMW name for this alliance, and perhaps open the door to Spyr to create a more diverse landscape (as the British Empire extends around there anyway, there's no need for it to be exclusively a European alliance).

As for military hardware, does anyone actively use this? I was going to recieve aid in the form of aircraft and ships from the USQ, but this was never finalised. BG, Britain, Spyr, Kiev, Germany etc all for the most part manufacture their own equipment. Even I make my own rifles and much of my other equipment is either Kievan or German. Perhaps the stuff that Germany/Cassanos uses, notably aircraft wise, they could have designed it together ICly, as opposed to the aircraft being US designed. Perhaps Britain, needing a larger military that it does irl would be more focused on developing new planes etc so that it could also play its part in developing what would be Quinntonian technology.

[Cassanos]

The sudden lack of a Quinntonian backup poses a serious problem for me, but it's not without its opportunities.

and lack of Marshall funds is even better to explain France and Spain jumping into bed with Rome).

The Wirtschaftswunder was made possible largely by US funding, thus, Germany would probably have taken more time to recover economically. However, given that the European power were probably a lot more strained in terms of economy, the classic German strength in exports may have led to another way to thrive once again.
As we see, the economy can be dealt with. I worry rather more about the implications for the German political and societal system. The economic recovery and strict US-led programmes to purge Nazism both secured a strong German democracy. So maybe, without the US, either Britain has to jump in or there is simply more internal disagreement on democracy, i.e. a somewhat stronger 'revanchist' establishment. I won't play anything close to a revived Nazi Germany, but maybe nationalist parties have only quite recently been reined in and/or banned and find acceptance in some 5-10% of the population, rather than being a tiny though loud minority of maybe 1-2% overall.
We'll see.
The loss of eighteen Quinntonian divisions in central Europe is a blow, though the allied forces ought to be strong enough to deter an attack. Maybe Germany and Cassanos will work to acquire their own (small)nuclear arsenal, since there are no Quinntonian bombs ready to be deployed by their systems.

The second problem is not such a huge one other than in the instance of the NATO thread. Without the USQ this simply becomes a European alliance. Maybe now we can take the chance to come up with a more original AMW name for this alliance, and perhaps open the door to Spyr to create a more diverse landscape (as the British Empire extends around there anyway, there's no need for it to be exclusively a European alliance).

My thoughts exactly. I have always toyed around with the idea of a formal alliance with Spyr leading to a breakup with Q. Now, the German and Cassanotian social democrats and greens are probably inclined to ally with their foes' foe, especially since Spyr appears to be reasonably social democratic in an old-fashioned way.

As for military hardware, does anyone actively use this? I was going to recieve aid in the form of aircraft and ships from the USQ, but this was never finalised. BG, Britain, Spyr, Kiev, Germany etc all for the most part manufacture their own equipment. Even I make my own rifles and much of my other equipment is either Kievan or German. Perhaps the stuff that Germany/Cassanos uses, notably aircraft wise, they could have designed it together ICly, as opposed to the aircraft being US designe

Well, aircraft-wise, the mainstays of Germano-Cassanotian airpower are the Typhoon, Tornado and MiG-29, all of which have been developed without Quinntonian involvement. Air-to-air-missiles equivalent to the AMRAAM could surely have been developed jointly by Germany and Britain.
Germany uses the C-130, C-5 and A-10 Thunderbolt II, but none of these aircraft is anywhere beyond the limits of allied technological capabilities, the same goes for the Apache gunships.

/EDIT: @Spyr: Speaking of military hardware, just send me the list and we'll see .

[Gurguvungunit]

One suggestion is that Canada becomes part of British Empire (again), whilst this makes them a larger power, they can then have the strength to ward off Kiev is Spyr is onside. This causes very little disturbance to history of AMW in general, and it still leaves the sizable US as claimable land, which, hopefully will be claimed in chunks rather than a whole.

Glee!

No, to be perfectly honest I really don't care. While it might be nice to have Canada, it wouldn't affect my RPs, so it would probably be best to leave it open for another claimant. I mean, I would like it, but that's not really the point; it wouldn't allow me to do anything that I can't already, would be one more responsibility, and would take up a huge chunk of land that someone else might want. If for some reason it becomes necessary for me to RP having the Dominion of Canada, it's easy enough to retcon into place since it's never come up in RP, but until then I'd like to hold off.

For the NATO thread, I don't even know if we'll have to RP anything changing at all, since I don't think Quinn's presence was mentioned outright. If it was, it's a simple matter of editing down some lines of text. It also removes a (minor) stumbling block to negotiations, meaning that we could finish them within a week of RL time on the optimistic side. At any rate, it makes things slightly easier.

The biggest problem (IC) is the balance of power. The monarchists just became the largest power bloc, so I'll have to up my military spending. Britain is pretty good at that historically, and the British seem to be all right with a lower standard of living to compensate for the fact that they're basically fighting Totalitarian Power A all on their own. So I think I can squeeze out six or ten more divisions and maybe another few submarines out of my military-industrial-complex. It won't make up for Quinn, but it might help a little. We're still fine on nuclear deterrent, since Australia is amongst the largest suppliers of uranium worldwide, and I own it. I suppose I should do a little work on my nuclear armaments and doctrine, but that can wait since we've got our little agreement about nukes.

Certainly, this will allow us to get some new players in, a number of whom have been interested in claiming part of the US. Hopefully, we can get a more balkanized America that will be home to all sorts of petty nationalist conflicts, giving us a truly bizarre world. Indeed, the thought of Louisiana and Georgia going at it for the rights to this salt flat or that marsh is... delightful. Failing something that weird, we could at least get some diversity in North America which, for all Quinn's creativity, has been a little lacking.

[Dra-pol]

Thus far in AMW the new-generation monarchists, Rome and Kyiv, haven't been particularly aggressive in recent decades, have they? Sometimes I've thought that maybe Vec might like us to believe that they're not aggressive at all, but then they did invade Greece...

Really, though, Britain with the economies of Australia and to a lesser degree Singapore, Ireland, and New Zealand integrated plus the oil, manpower, and location of Egypt and Sudan, and all the other little outposts around the world -be it Bermuda, the Falklands, Gibraltar, or the BIOT- remaining more active, is already in the same power-range as either one of the big monarchist pair. In reality, the British Empire's economy, without considering India, would be worth over four trillion dollars (we're going to need to stop refering to prices in Quinntonian dollars, though! Ugh!) and Kyiv's less than three. Granted, things aren't the same here... but if anything they're worse for Kyiv, due to the absence of Pacific ports and cities. And if the US never rose, perhaps Manchester is still the engine of the world, and an industrial powerhouse like you can't even imagine, unless Gurg's silly free-market policies have swapped real economic strength and security for some shares and notes to throw at the advancing Legions, of course, in which case I suppose the capitalist democracies are asking for it =P

The monarchists might represent the most powerful single bloc, if they are indeed a really united front when it counts, but it's not like they're superpowering it up over everyone. The BDR has an eighty-odd billion 'dollar' defence budget, the CPRD has two million soldiers standing ready, Spyr has more people than either Rome or Kyiv, as do the British Empire, and India, and Kyiv is no longer the only major petrochemical power active (that is, if we consider Britain at best a minor petro power with the North Sea, Egypto-Sudan, and Australian reserves) since Parsistan came on the scene.

A long-winded way of saying that I'm not presently worried about major geopolitical imbalances. Even without formal alliances, war in Europe would surely put Britain and Germany on the same side, and if that wasn't enough, you'd be stupid to bet against an opportunistic Geletian invasion of Greece and/or Pridnestrovie. If they just dove into war now, without a lot of international groundwork, I think the monarchists would eventually lose, hard.

If we get activity levels up a bit, this could all be interesting, again. C'mon new Great Game, I want to see Tsarists and British/Indians eyeballing one another in Parsistani government chambers. In fact, c'mon weakling states in Q's place and the Scramble for America! (Might be nice if we could convince folk to call it Quinntonia instead of America, anyway, and say that the Quinn in question was a wealthy British patron of some early mapping expedition, regardless of what country or countries may come to be on the landmass, just as a little token, and one of our obligatory pieces-of-flair =) )

On nuclear affairs, also interesting. At the moment the use by the Empire of Yashima of a tactical nuclear device against the Drapoel People's Army in the late C20th (80s or 90s, not yet worked-out for sure) stands as the first in AMW history, so we could even say that there's been no nuclear arms race until relatively recently, and nobody really appreciated the power and impact of the weapon until the Glorious Reunification War, or whatever you dirty foreigners call it. In which case presumably Germany-Cassanos and possibly Beddgelert (depending on timing) would probably look like giant army bases dissuading Tsarist hordes, I suppose. Hum. Oh well, anyway, I'm just rambling to kill time before beer, and I think it's showing, so, er [flees]

[Spyr]

Indeed, the balance of power is unlikely to suffer much vis-a-vis Kiev and Rome... Spyr alone is larger than the Kievens both in terms of population and economy by a not-insignificant margin. If anything, the balance might shift the other way without the USQ, freeing those standing against the feudalists of the need to worry overmuch about offending any brothers in faith. At best, it will leave monarchist economies outpaced by their rivals only two or three times rather than nine or ten.

As for a list of military hardware... I'm still struggling with that one. Will probably have to finish editing my notes on Spyr's domestic equipment so I know what we DONT need, and perhaps what we have that might appeal to the Anglo-German arms market. Without Northrop, Ratheon, et al. there may well be greater Asia-Europe arms trading than one would ever see in RL.

[Nova Gaul]

Hey y’all. I again. Quinn’s departure, for all intents and purposes a bulkhead if not the bulkhead of AMW, really raises some serious questions. Not only will we all I am sure be sorry to see him leave us, but what becomes of the Americas? And, as has been pointed out, what becomes of world power balances in the wake of this?

This is a fascinating question. And I believe it interesting enough for me to chime in on.

Now, you all know that for many reasons I loved my AMW France. New Spain has been cool, and farrrrrr more realistic, which is nice. But it lacks a certain something, namely an active world in which to participate.

Had a few drinks, and may be off topic, but my point here is the US’s future will be a major thing for AMW, and specifically how it is drawn out.

And I would caution one thing: it must be handled very carefully. To split it up leaves NPC problems no matter which way you cut it. To leave it together a new player is needed, and that player will have to fill pretty big boots. Or, what seems the simplest and least complicated option, simply place the USQ on auto-pilot as of now. A NPC country with Quinn’s background.

And for example, regarding an absence of the USQ, when Quinn was around Nueva Espana would not have dreamed of invading that backwards Inca country. Now, the question would be put in a different and I must say more fascinating light.

That last comment came from Dra-pols comment about increased activity in the Western Hemisphere.

Look forward to seeing resolution on this major matter.

EDIT: And depending on what happens with the USQ, that may very well throw New Spain's lot in with the Monarchist powers in a not so small way, as the only thing in the way previous to that was New Spains interlated economy w/USQ. Well, that and questions of Roman hegemony in the face of perfectly legitimate French and, especially in NE's interest, the Spanish Bourbons, royal houses. Damned Italians!

That is another point I forgot. There is perhaps no country in AMW so dependant on what happens to the US as New Spain. The entire future of my nation more or less depends on it, one way or the other. For example, if the USQ didnt exist, or was radically altered, would I assume I simply had an equal amount of trade with Rome and Kiev? Or, to my mind problematically considering my past NPC blunders in Africa, and NPC troubles in general, do I just assume trade goes on with the USQ uninterrupted? That would be my preference, considering that Carlos II would like nothing better to see his Spanish cousins in power in Madrid, and as a consequence really has a sort of loathing for the European power of Rome, and a marked inferiority complex thereof.

[Nova Gaul]

Excuse me loquaciousness this evening, I had another idea. It is pretty wild, but I guarantee it would go a long way towards adding some awesomeness to AMW…and, also, solving New Spain’s dilemma from lack of USQ.

Let me preface it by saying I in no way, shape, or form am trying to negate what Quinntonia was and is. I will remember it always fondly in my records and memory, just as I remember AMW France and Roycelandia. It is just an idea in keeping with AMW’s reboot, call it the last update file.

Revert the United States to its geographic limitations pre Louisiana Purchase while keeping all technological development and populations in place. The Eastern Seaboard would an independent Anglo-leaning culture, maybe even something like the original Thirteen Colonies? California, Arizona, and New Mexico would belong to New Spain. Texas would be independent, and the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest would be unincorporated lands, perhaps with fiercely independent and armed Indian tribes ( he he, a chance even for BG to turns the Red Men Red, to turn the Mohicans into Marxists and have them burn down Spanish-New Spanish missions ), maybe even with a Spyrian colony in Seattle? The central portions of the U.S. would belong to Rome I suppose by default and we’ll assume Napoleon never sold them.

This would certainly require some tweaking of backstories, however maybe we could each do a brief synopsis of our nation in the updated AMW for some board or other, and include the information pertinent to the USQ there.

EDIT: Heh, I am getting excited about AMW again for some reason...odd....one more thing at any rate.

If Quinn is going he had one sticking point that I would like changed for AMW, and I think it may be another awesome plotline: I want the Pope to become involved in AMW. Not the real Pope, but a new one maybe we can elect as an RP. Could be awesome, sort of Middle Ages for us AMW Catholic countries. After all, with some of the world'd most Catholic countries ruled by absolute monarchs who support the Church with dutious force, it is only natural you would have a more entrenched and far powerful Papacy. More to the point, I want to be that AMW Pope. At least, to be him if my candidate comes through in the prospective RP. Acutally, that could be cool, and the election of a new Pope might be the perfect introduction to explore the new Post-Pre-Post Colonial America. And also, non-Catholic nations would have to send ambassadors to Rome and such. I am even sure there may be a few Catholic Cardinals left throughout the U.K.. Lets get going on this guys!

[Somewhereistonia]

Excuse me loquaciousness this evening, I had another idea. It is pretty wild, but I guarantee it would go a long way towards adding some awesomeness to AMW…and, also, solving New Spain’s dilemma from lack of USQ.

Let me preface it by saying I in no way, shape, or form am trying to negate what Quinntonia was and is. I will remember it always fondly in my records and memory, just as I remember AMW France and Roycelandia. It is just an idea in keeping with AMW’s reboot, call it the last update file.

Revert the United States to its geographic limitations pre Louisiana Purchase while keeping all technological development and populations in place. The Eastern Seaboard would an independent Anglo-leaning culture, maybe even something like the original Thirteen Colonies? California, Arizona, and New Mexico would belong to New Spain. Texas would be independent, and the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest would be unincorporated lands, perhaps with fiercely independent and armed Indian tribes ( he he, a chance even for BG to turns the Red Men Red, to turn the Mohicans into Marxists and have them burn down Spanish-New Spanish missions ), maybe even with a Spyrian colony in Seattle? The central portions of the U.S. would belong to Rome I suppose by default and we’ll assume Napoleon never sold them.

This would certainly require some tweaking of backstories, however maybe we could each do a brief synopsis of our nation in the updated AMW for some board or other, and include the information pertinent to the USQ there.

The problem with this really is is instantly takes up the popular US space, whilst leaving little to nothing for new players. It also generally sticks very close to historical groupings and isn't really original as such. It would be much better for it to be an open area for new claims than to just become a bit lump to be divided amongst current members, the majority of whom might not be too bothered about roleplaying as them.

There is also the problem of who would rp for Texas etc. If it was current people then these new states would be liable to be forgotten about.

EDIT: I missed your first post due to the new page. Cleary the loss of the USQ leaves a bit of a hole for you. Trade-wise you can probably assume that you would be trading with some number of as yet unnamed nations. So perhaps you would be trading with some groups in America, but you can never really be sure, if that makes sense. For alliances, well you would probably have to choose, but I would be very hesitant of making the popular region of the US an NPC for the sake of an alliance which won't be roleplayed. There were already suggestions of the USQ being split up as it was to allow for new members and to make it less of a power block. Having it an an NPC that takes up this space counters most of the principles of AMW post reboot.