Steve
Great to hear you are progressing with a test campaign, what did you settle on for a scenario?
Any chance you could drop a few example ship designs, am dying to see the impact of all of your changes!
I have been doing some writing up, although not much. Here is the starting blurb I came up with:
In late 1940 the Third Reich directly controlled much of Europe and was either allied or had friendly relations with the remaining independent European powers, with the exception of the United Kingdom. Plans to invade the UK had been abandoned after the Battle of Britain and Germany turned its gaze on the Soviet Union. Japan was heavily engaged in its Chinese war and the United States remained an isolationist power. The Soviet Union was recovering from the purges of the late 1930s and had recently fought a costly but successful war with Finland.
On November 1st 1940, the Swedish scientist Niels Bohr published a paper describing a new theoretical field of physics, quickly dubbed as Trans-Newtonian, which would transform the world, opening up new manufacturing processes and allowing weapons of incredible power. Scientists around the world initially dismissed the claims as fantasy, especially the existence of the so-called Trans-Newtonian minerals which Bohr asserted could be mined from the core of the planet. Albert Einstein, normally an academic opponent of Bohr in debates on classical physics vs. quantum physics, declared his support for Bohr's theories and suddenly every nation in the world began to take notice. Within months, the theories were accepted as facts and work began on extracting the new minerals and converting factories to use the newly discovered technologies.
All the major powers realised that once new Trans-Newtonian weapons were available, continuation of the war in Europe could lead to the destruction of the entire planet. A peace conference was held in Geneva and a non-aggression pact was signed between the British Empire and the Third Reich. Germany remained in control of much of Europe and those European countries that had not been conquered, such as Italy and Spain, soon fell under strong German influence. In the Far East, Japan concentrated on conquering China as quickly as possible. Plans for a strike against the USA were abandoned as Japan's lack of natural resources were no longer an issue. The UK quickly transformed its own industry and began building up the industrial potential of the major Commonwealth countries, such as Canada, Australia and India. The USA, conscious of its limited population compared to the other major powers, began to emerge from isolation and sought to build alliances with other nations in the New World, such as Brazil and Mexico.
By the end of 1945, the world was split into five major power blocs; the Commonwealth, the United States, The Empire of Japan, the Soviet Union and the Third Reich. All their industry was fully converted to the new Trans-Newtonian technology. While it remained obvious to the leaders of the great powers that an all-out world war would result in nothing less than mutual destruction, they all had a new goal in mind - the conquest of space. Almost simultaneously, the five great powers turned their eyes toward the heavens, in search of new resources and new worlds to conquer.
CommonwealthAustralia, Burma, Canada, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Malaya, Malta, Nepal, Newfoundland, New Zealand, New Guinea, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom
Population: 525m
Wealth and Industrial Percentage: 75%
Third ReichAlbania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Ruanda-Urundi, Spain, Turkey, Yugoslavia
Population: 360m
Wealth and Industrial Percentage: 100%
United StatesBrazil, Cuba, Mexico, Philippines, United States
Population: 210m
Wealth and Industrial Percentage: 150%
Empire of JapanChina, Dutch East Indies, French Indochina, Japan, Portuguese Timor, Korea, South Pacific Mandate
Population 700m
Wealth and Industrial Percentage: 25%
Soviet UnionEstonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Soviet Union
Population 180m
Wealth and Industrial Percentage: 100%
All nations start with no shipyards, 30 research labs, and 50,000 research points that may only be spent on Construction/Production techs. The UK and USA are Friendly, as are the Third Reich and the Empire of Japan. All other relationships are neutral.
(I guess I should really start a thread in fiction)