This Week in Alternate Histories - February 17 to 23

Here is something new. A quick review of events that took place from February 17 to 23 at some point in the history of a number of the alternate timelines I've created so far. Not sure if I'll do this every week. Let me know what you think.

February 17: 2002 - French Foreign Legion is deployed to Algeria to hunt down Al-Qaeda operatives in that region. It is the beginning of yet another long and costly French occupation of that land. [Alpha-007]

February 18: 1916 - Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke (Moltke the Younger) dies of heart failure at the age of 67. He was the architect of German successes against Russia in the early days of war before his retirement due to failing health. [Alpha-012]

February 19: 2693 BC (2714 GC) - Lophrotus warlord, Lethclyda, commands a fleet of large war canoes across the sea to sack the coastal capital of Văn Lang in what would be known as Indochina in other timelines. The death toll to the humans is large and most of the settlement is put to the torch. Weeks later the new capital of Văn Lang would be established further inland for protection. [Beta-002]

February 20: 2004 (2575 AUC) - The main generator of the Roman Luna Colony Alpha suffers a critical failure. Safety protocols keep the reactor from melting down. Rapid response from nearby colonies help keep the death toll at only six with over a hundred in need of medical attention for excessive radiation exposure. [Alpha-005]

February 21: 1859 - Oregon is admitted to the United States of America as a state. They choose to be a free state and elect John Whiteaker, a Democrat, as governor. [Beta-001]

February 22: 1894 - The Governor of Texas, James S. Hogg, is shot and killed during a misunderstanding as he was poaching on government land. [Alpha-008]

February 23: 1916 - Portugal refuses British demands that they seize over 70 German vessels that are in Portuguese ports. This leads to a sharp decline in relations between the two nations. [Alpha-001]

NOTES
Some wikipedia articles for further information:
*Moltke the Younger (source for image)
*Văn Lang - ancient civilization
*James S. Hogg (source for image)

Kingdom of Alaska

I was going to post a couple of things this weekend but something came up. That something was a computer game called Victoria II. I installed it Friday night and spent most of the weekend playing around with it to learn tactics. First I tried it as the Zulu and after conquering the Orange Free State and nearly completing my conquest of the Transvaal the UK declared war on me. I abandoned that game.

My second attempt was playing as The Kingdom of Alaska. In order to play that nation I had to start as Russia, I released all of the 15 nations they could release. I released The Kingdom of Alaska last and opted to play it. Needless to say it was a somewhat boring game. I started with a population of less than two thousand and never got much above 5 thousand. Thus I had no military. It did give me a chance to learn how the technology developments worked even if I could not exploit them. I also had fun watching the AI nations fight with each other. Here is a brief report of the state of the world in 1936:

Over the century of game time I more than tripled my land area ---- however it was all just more tundra. Despite various plagues over the years decimating me I ended up having a higher population (thanks to the territorial additions). I started with 6,390 people (of who 1,590 were able bodied men) and ended with 22,270 people (5,560 able bodied men).

I also managed to hold an overall ranking among nations of 17th place at the end. At one point I was as high as 11th, that allowed me to colonize the rest of the tundra around me.

Since that experimental game I've tried a few other nation:
*New England: going with my theme of breaking a small nation off a great power to start. Put this one on pause after reaching Great Power status and accidentally getting into a war with France.
*Afghanistan: conquered two additional nations and took Zanzibar from Oman. Promptly lost Zanzibar to Portugal (and let me tell you those guys lost a lot of troops invading coastal Afghanistan and fighting my allies and myself before they won). Lots of rebel uprisings and government changes - Modernization looks impossible.
*Russia: Started by focusing on North America. Conquered Haiti as a staging ground to invade Mexico. Got numerous territories in southern Mexico and the Panama canal zone. When African colonization opened up I got over half the available territory! This game is on pause as I consider invading the USA!
*Zulu (second attempt): another underdog game. I conquered the Orange Free State and Transvaal having to free one of my starting territories to reduce infamy. Took Zanzibar from Oman. Just modernized --- after all of the rest of Africa has been colonized. Now seeking weak, friendless nations to conquer. (I'm having some weird bug in this game where my entire military completely vanishes despite full funding. Weird.)

That's a lot of game time - but it is a new game for me so I have a lot to explore. Still, I'll have to cut back on it a bit the next few weeks. I have a lot of projects I want to get done this summer.

In any case Victoria II overall seems like a great game. Looks like it has great re-play value. Well worth the money it cost.