Part 1

Look, it's North America, minus Canada and Mexico and all those other unimportant third world countries and dominions that aren't worth squat and wouldn't bother to interfere with or care about any American Civil War. If you haven't guessed, this is where all the strategic level decision happen; you make your war from here, buy units, sell units, repair units, peak at what's available, et cetera. Without a proper diplomacy mode, however, you can't really set up alliances or protect yourself too well from your opponents.


The European Union:

The breakup of the U.S. compounded the growing instability in the world due to the loss of such a large and prolific goods market. In a rush vote, the E.U. sent in a "peacekeeping" force to reestablish the union of states before the chaos spreading across America spread into the rest of the world. The E.U. peacekeeping force now resides in a single territory made up of parts or all of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, but American resentment has grown since the E.U. decided to expand its role in the war. None of the units employed by the E.U. are the same as the American units, though their purposes are little different.

Pros:
1. While you might get bored of fighting the generic units of the other factions, at least you wont get bored of fighting them and fighting with them.
2. Their special unit is a heavy tank that isn't as good as some of the other heavy tanks, but isn't quite as bad either; it's perfectly average.
3. Even their special powers are average.
4. Start with more money than anyone else.
5. The EU contains France, and France is pretty much like a less powerful version of America, which means Americans ought to like the EU.
6. Blue is a pleasing primary colour.

Cons:
1. It might be called a Goliath Engineer Tank, but the bastard doesn't clear mines or do anything special. They start with one province.
2. You might have more money than everyone else but you're bloody surrounded, are stuck with one region, and are going to have a hard fight any way you swing it.


California Commonwealth:

The California Commonwealth is primarily made of the former states of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. Though wealthy in natural resources, the population is mostly clustered on the Pacific coast. Californians are viewed by the rest of the country as shallow, but with an eye for color; however, they are also creative and resourceful, dangerous as enemies and not hesitant to employ rather controversial tactics, such as the Jackson flamethrower tank.

Pros:
1. Excellent position to start in.
2. A focus on disrupting communications and doing high-tech things.
3. Their Jackson flamethrower tanks absolutely destroy infantry and buildings, which is good if you're the bad guy but bad if you're the good guy.

Cons:
1. Orange is a fucking heinous colour any unless someone posts a quick way to assign it a different one, I'm not going to be playing with them.
2. Their Jackson flamethrower tanks absolutely destroy infantry and buildings, which is bad if you're playing as a good guy but good if you're the bad guy.
3. Jackson flamethrower tanks are ass against everything else.
4. Their special powers aren't all that great compared to some of the other faction's.


The Confederacy:

The Confederacy is made up of the former states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky. To the Confederacy, the war is an attack on tradition, and the acts of all other factions are treasonous. Though viewed by the rest of the factions as backwards and stubborn, the Confederacy is actually quite progressive, employing highly advanced armaments like the energy-focused Lee tank, and has little in common with the first Confederacy, apart from geography.

Pros:
1. Focuses more on bioweaponry, nanotechnology, and assorted things of that nature.
2. Their special unit is a tank that is fairly average all around, but slightly better at killing other vehicles (I think).

Cons:
1. Some hillbillies from Kentucky, dressed in green and red, left home to fight in Canada but they went home dead.
2. Their starting sectors are a little poor.
3. Their special abilities are pretty neat, but are more of a support thing than an outright force in their own right.


The Great Plains Federation:

Made up of all or parts of the former states of Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, the farmers and herders of the Great Plains banded together in an attempt to preserve the integrity of the U.S. heartlands. Though generally viewed as ultra-conservative dirt farmers with a stubborn streak a mile wide, the members of the Federation are generally more tolerated and tolerant than any other faction, as they were often familiar with or members of them. The Great Plains faction's special unit is the FCS Grant 400mm self-propelled howitzer.

Pros:
1. Their special unit is a heavy artillery piece that makes blowing things up from a distance easy. Naturally, this makes it easier if you're trying to be a bad guy.
2. Their special abilities are a mix of the Confederacy's and the New England Alliance's, which means they're better than average and focused more on attacking.

Cons:
1. It's entirely possible, that at the very start, you can get attacked four times in a row and crushed given you're touching four other empires.
2. You have no special tanks.
3. Harder to be a good guy.
4. Yellow's ugly, but tolerable.


The New England Alliance:

The NEA is made up of parts or all of the former states of New York, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Members of the Alliance are driven and feel a strong sense of purpose in the war. Though only comprised of three territories, the NEA has one of the highest population densities in America, and possesses a lot of industry, producing such powerful units as the Bragg rocket tank. Prior to the succession, New Englanders felt that they were not given a strong enough vote.

Pros:
1. Their colour isn't too fugly.
2. The FCS Bragg, their special unit, is probably one of the best heavy tanks in the game.
3. The only civilized part of America, as far as I'm concerned.
4. Good starting position.
5. Good special powers all around.

Cons:
1. Three enemies right next to you.
2. The problem with defending a town like New York City or Boston, is that wherever a shell lands, you're probably blowing up something you'd rather you didn't.


Pacifica:

Made up of parts or all of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, Pacifica came into being when refugees from San Francisco were forced from their homes by Californian militia. With nowhere else to turn, the region formed a defensive pact. Pacificans are often viewed as tree-hugging technophiles with no grasp on reality. However, the Pacificans see the war as a struggle against aggression and have put their technology to use in units like the Stuart gatling tank, preparing themselves to fight to the end.

Pros:
1. Great special powers.
2. Your special unit, a heavy tank, is fast as all Hell and can zip around doing feats of amazing daring.

Cons:
1. 3 enemies that can strike all but one of your territories in a go.
2. Your special unit, a heavy tank, isn't really that heavy and doesn't do as much damage as the others. Probably the third best tank in the game, though.


The Republic of Texas:

Some people argue that the Republic was just an excuse away from forming since Texas joined the union. Made up of parts or all of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri, the Republic is ferociously independent and a step away from anarchy. Though regarded as beer-swilling cowboys and gun toting rabble, Texans are also known to live by no-nonsense rules and take a dim view of traitors and bureaucrats. Texans are surprisingly advanced as far as technology goes, employing such weapons as the monstrous Hood plasma-cannon tank and experimental cybernetic infantry.

Pros:
1. Their heavy tank is probably the best anti-vehicle tank in the game.
2. Red is pleasing on the eyes.
3. Special powers are above average, but not great.
4. Texas may be barbarian territory, sure, it's just that you can't help but love the accent anyway.

Con:
1. There's a great Victoria LP about Texas already.
2. Their heavy tank is all but useless on the offense, since it's so damned slow.


MOTHER RUSSIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't care if the game refers to them as Russia, I call them the Soviet Union; they have the best units in the game, with their standard units being much better than all the other standard units, but they have no special units. Which is okay, since all their units are special.

Pros:
1. MOTHER RUSSIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Sexy hats.
3. Great units.
4. Great powers.
5. Sexy accents.

Cons:
1. You can't play as them.
2. I don't like vodka.



NOTES:

1. While I've played this game before, I haven't played it much and am probably not very good at it.
2. Because of that, I don't know if we should play on normal or hard difficulty mode (easy is off the table).
3. There are two sets of special powers per faction, and they depend on your standing with the public; the "bad guy" powers are usually better and are easier to get than the good guy powers.
4. If you're playing as a good guy, you tend to get freebie partisan units at the start of battle that make good scouts and fodder.
5. Your goodness/badness rating depends, almost entirely, how how much browning you cause (collateral damage is what I think America uses). Given that this game is about taking and holding cities, it's pretty easy to slide down the bad scale of things without even trying to.

Shall we begin? Good.

I think I might play through the tutorial, next, to show you the general principles of the game (I'm not sure if I ought to do that or just jump into the game and show you from there). In the meantime, you gentle folks ought to decide which faction we should lead to victory, and which territory we ought to attack; you'll have better details in the future but this is the only way to get the LP off the ground with decent speed. There will be no saving and reloading except for when it's time to quit. If our faction is conquered and we're driven to extinction, the LP will conclude and that will be that.

So, who do you want to be? Which region do you want to attack first? Should we aim to be good or bad or neutral? Which difficulty level?