Steam and Steel: AltHist. Victorian STGOD

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-09-09 06:52pm

I must say, I'm a bit puzzled by the chain of very large islands which extends north of Madagascar, since I'm pretty sure they don't exist.

Also, after studying this map I would like to add to New Germania Agalega, Tomelin, Reunion, Mauritius, St. Brandon, and Rodriguez as trading outposts/coaling stations. Info on New Germania to be posted later today.

It would be interesting to see who, if anyone, is going to take the British Indian Ocean territory. Perhaps a royal navy commodore with delusions of grandeur?

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2006-09-09 06:53pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I must say, I'm a bit puzzled by the chain of very large islands which extends north of Madagascar, since I'm pretty sure they don't exist.

I blame Tesla.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2006-09-09 07:03pm

SirNitram wrote:As I recall, it's not what you would call lots of useful land, unless your idea of 'useful' is 'TMA-0'.

My concern wasn't that you'd be too strong--quite the opposite. An empire stretching from Zululand to the Horn is going to stretch 3500 km across varied terrain and dozens of tribal boundaries with very poor lines of communication. With that length and terrain the "massive network of fortresses" facing the Kaliphate referenced in your history would have cost probably several dozen times as much to construct as the Maginot line and thus would have been completely unfeasible. Moreover, if the native population of all the colonial territories is rising up as in the description of the game, your white-dominated administration would spend all it's time trying to survive (probably by maintaining a crushingly large military force to keep down native revolts across your huge, badly-laid out empire, since there's no infrastructure on which to shuttle your men across the whole place).

Moreover, the vast majority of your territories woud never have come under colonial control in this timeline (Kenya, Tanzania, and Italian Somaliland all date from the 1880s Scramble for Africa, which considering the wars probably never happened) and thus it wouldn't be physically possible for you to have purchased them. At best they would be under chaotic native administration and you have to take them by storm, and at worst the coasts of Tanzania and Kenya would be under the organized control of the Sultan of Zanzibar and pretty much unassailable. The most logical places for your nation to be located would be Mozambique (which was under Portugeuse control and could be purchased) or Somalia, which was basically under nobody's control much as it is today and would have been relatively easy pickings.

Jalinth · Post by **Jalinth** » 2006-09-09 09:14pm

Adrian Laguna wrote: National description says it streches from Perth to Tasmania. The map stops just north of Perth.
.

My description states the colony was around Melbourne originally before relocating involuntary to what we'd call Perth. I was writing to explain why my colony wasn't actually "off map" - on the south or east coast of Australia, which I'd personally consider to be more "prime" territory than the west coast. I made reference to a nasty but relatively non-expansionistic Maori Empire to explain this as well why the area Adelaide and east is verbotten.

I've essentially agreed to split the available part of Australia with Beowulf. As English colonies (at least initially), we should be able to get along. Especially given some of the other characters that inhabit our bit of the world.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-09-09 09:17pm

Upon further researching of the history of Madagascar, this STGOD is kicking in before the French conquest, so the official trade languages of New Germania will be german and english.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2006-09-10 03:40am

Exiled to Kamchatka, a technical genius (Mathamatics/Electrical Engineering) The mysterious leader of the "Tranquility" organization seeks the overthrow of the Czars as well as the crippling of governments of the world.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2006-09-10 03:43am

The Omani Republican Army
A History

The Battle of Jabal Shams

With the destruction of the Sa'id monarchy and the virtual annihilation of their army at the battle of Jabal Shams, the germ of Oman's first modern, Westernized military force was destroyed. Though trained by British advisors and equipped with British weapons, the Sultanate's army was inexperienced and had only weak command due to the nepotism of the Sa'id regime. The forces of the Imamate faction were primitive by comparison, but they relied on tried and tested irregular tactics of ambuscade assaults, and were hardened by regular tribal conflicts and struggles against Wahabbists further into the Arabian interior.

In June of 1875, the Imamate irregulars had moved out of the interior towards the coast and captured several towns sufficient to sever the coast road between Muscat and Sohar, the most important city in the northern Al Batinah district. To meet this threat, the Sultan dispatched the four regiments (about 10,000 men) of his new model army to secure Sohar and eliminate or drive off the Imamate force. The Imamate irregulars, about 12,000 strong, met these adversaries in the coastal plain just Southeast of As Suwayq and launched an assault but was beaten back with casualties by the rapid fire of the Sultanate's Martini-Snider breach-loaders and field guns. The force split, with the main body of about 9,000 men retreating South in the direction of Nizwa and the center of the Imamate's territory, while about 2,000 fled along the coast road in attempt to draw off pursuit. The Sultanate forces ignored the smaller force and pursued the larger body into the Jebel Akhdar mountains of Oman, the highest landform in the Arabian peninsula.

The commander of the force, the Sultan's brother Abdul Aziz, perhaps hoped to win glory and even depose his brother on the throne by crushing the larger rebel force. The operation proceeded as a normal pursuit through June 9-12, but on the 12th the Imamate rebels attempted a dawn assault on Abdul Aziz's camp but we again repulsed by accurate rifle and artillery fire. The rebels then raced ahead to the foothills of Jebel Shams, the highest mountain in Arabia, and changed tactics. 5,000 of them dismounted their horses to prepare defenses along the foot of the moutain, while the remaining 4,000 remained farther behind and harried the Sultanate troops as they advanced into the highlands. These raiding attacks paused during the night of June 12-13 but continued as Abdul Aziz neared Jebel Sham; his troops were increasingly tired by the long march and growing short of water, and had begun to lose their order to the rough terrain and incessant cavalry attacks. Moreover, the terrain inhibited the movement of their artillery and Abdul Aziz was forced to advance ahead of it, leaving about 1,000 soldiers to guard it from raids.

His remaining 8,000 men reached the Jebel Shams in the high heat of the afternoon and met the fresh troops of the rebels. As they took fire from the rebel muzzle-loaded rifles and found themselves incapable of taking the heights against this opposition, the Sultanate forces' morale evaporated. The arrival of the 4,000 rebel cavalrymen in their rear broke the battle beyond salvage, and the Sultanate army routed and fled down the mountain. The rebel infantry remounted their horses and pursued, riding down thousands of Sultanate soldiers, including Abdul Aziz.

As night fell on the evening of June 13 circa 4,000 surviving Sultanate infantry met their artillery with news of the rout. In the absence of unified command left by Abdul Aziz's capture and execution, about half the Sultanate force continued to flee into the night while 2,000 men decided to stay with the artillery.

The force that continued to flee into the night lost any semblance of order, and left the Jebel Akhdar on June 14 only the meet the 2,000 rebel cavalry that had moved off along coast road on June 8, which annihilated them in detail. The artillery force still in the highlands mounted a defense, but without sufficient infantry to secure its flanks it fell to a cavalry envelopment and was overrun, with the rebels capturing all the artillery. With this, Sultan Turki al Sa'id was left with only untrained and minimally equipped recruits to stave off the rebels, and his defeat was a foregone conclusion.

The Saga of the Advisors and the Foundation of the Modern Republican Military

At its foundation, the army of the Islamic Republic of Oman tended to be composed of those same irregular cavalry that had won the civil war against the Al Sa'idi. With the European Wars in full swing and Oman so isolated from the conflict there was no real possibility of importing foreign advisors to improve the organizational state of the military, although new weapons imported via Boer South Africa were able to raise the technical sophistication somewhat. An accident of history was responsible for the modernization of the Omani army.

From the 1840s onward the Ottoman Empire had made a regular practice of importing advisors from Prussia, France, and Britain, who advised primarily in the modernization of the Empire's forces. With the advent of the Wars, this took on a new dimension; the traditional antagonism between the Ottoman Empire and Russia could be better exploited if the Ottomans were stronger. Hence, Prussia and Britain doubled and trebled their advisory missions, while France (often a nominal ally of Russia) withdrew its citizens.

In the event, these efforts were for naught; even as the Al Sa'id dynasty fell, the Ottomans were facing their own insoluble problems. Russian attacks, Balkan nationalist revolts, and the emergence of the Kaliphate fell like hammer blows and the Ottoman Empire disintegrated. Bodies of Prussian and British advisors based at Ankara and Samsum, respectively, were helpless as the Ottoman collapse carried on around them. Finally, as the Kaliphate established control over the area and began actively persecuting both Westerners and Westernizers, they met at Diyarbakr and made the decision to flee. The only path open to them was Southeast through Mesopotamia, as Kaliphate and Russian forces were hunting them from every other direction of the compass.

Led by Colonel Gunther Schulman of the Prussian mission, they marched and boated with some 15,000 Turkish Nizamis ("new order" soldiers) under their training, who had also become potential targets down the Tigris, fighting a number of victorious running battles against disorganized Kaliphate irregulars, until by December 1878 they had reached Kuwait on the Persian Gulf, where they hoped to escape back to Europe via the British naval base. On arrival, however, they found that the base had been abandoned by the British navy and they found themselves surrounded in the port city by a large Kaliphate army. They were only rescued by the timely arrival of Omani naval vessels, which sailed nearly to the point of running aground to fire their cannons into the thick of the Kaliphate forces, inflicting severe losses and disorganization.

As the Islamic Republic fo Oman was then (and is now, though the last open war was concluded in 1886) hostile to the Kaliphate, Schulman's force was offered safe passage to Muscat and thence to Europe, which was accepted. His army (much reduced by its travails to just less than 8,000 men) boarded the transports and reached Muscat in February 1879. The Turkish soldiers, encouraged by the Islamic Republic's classically Ibadist policy of moderate Islam and toleration of religious minorities, chose to stay. A portion of the advisors chose to return to their homelands to fight (and mostly perish) in the European Wars; still others became citizens of New Germania or Luminiferia, but Schulman and many others remained in Muscat to train the modern Omani military.

The Omani Republican Army

A large part of the Omani Army remains primitive to this day, while other portions are much the equal of any force in the region.

The irregular forces are organized under the rubric of the Omani Islamic Guards, and are composed of both infantry and cavalry branches. They are equipped with a mix of different small arms ranging from muzzle-loaders to modern Lee-Matrah bolt-actions, but with only negligible artillery and no machineguns. The primary purpose of this militia force is keeping order and offering occasional flank support to the main army, as well as guerilla campaigns and raiding in the relative wasteland of interior Arabia.

The more modern part of the army is styled the Omani Republican Army. It is better equipped, with regularized uniforms and weaponry. Omani soldiers wear drab khaki uniforms and helmets of pith or cork wrapped in a keffiyah (or sometimes only the keffiyah). Most units are equipped with Krag-Jorgensen bolt action rifles, though some have already recieved the newer Lee-Matrah Rifles.

[The Lee-Matrah is a homebrewed adaptation of the Lee-Metford rifle, which was licensed for production in Oman but found wanting after the adoption of smokeless powder. The Metford barrel was designed to operate with black powder and its rifling was subjected to rapid wear when used with cordite, although the Lee action and magazine were sound. The barrel was therefore redesigned by local gunsmiths and put into production at the Matrah Arsenal. The Lee-Matrah is an excellent modern long rifle, accurate to 1000 meters and, thanks to the Lee action, faster firing than most other bolt actions.]

Apart from the rifles, the Omani Republican Army also deploys Maxim machineguns on artillery carriages, together with modern Prussian-designed field and infantry guns. The large majority of the army is leg infantry, but a substantial force of dragoons is maintained for operations requiring more mobility, such as policing the large desert border with the Kaliphate. Though small in size, the Omani Republican Army is the best equipped and most disciplined army in the Arab world, and has proven able to more than hold its own against the limited but still massive forces that the Kaliphate can bring to bear in Southern Arabia.

The Marine Corps

The Omani Marine corps (a subordinate part of the navy) is equipped with much the same weaponry as the Republican Army, except that it is lighter for shipboard deployment and mobility. They wear a dark blue uniform with a green and white checked keffiyah. The Marine Corps is trained for and acts mainly in operations in littoral waters, using sea transport to "leapfrog" advances by the army or cut off enemy supply. These tactics were used to great effect against Kaliphate forces in Dhofar and the Trucial States where the desert terrain and lack of logistical organization prevented the Kaliphate from bringing full force to bear against Oman, though they still had great numerical superiority. Oman used the Marines Corps to sever their supply lines and compel them to maintain strong forces in garrison duties, which allowed the army to overcome its numerical deficit and capture Abu Dhabi.

[Given it's logistical difficulties in fighting Oman, the Khaliphate prefers to maintain it's forces closer to it's supply depots in Basra and Sanaa in Yemen.]

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2006-09-10 03:54am

Vanas wrote:It's certainly getting busy around here. Dahak, we might want to have a little chat regarding the straits inbetween us.

You mean the Sunda Strait?
It's a very nice, very thin strait and an important shipping channel, a bit like the Strait of Malacca.
Of course, it would be lined with some forts and protection from them bad pirates.

Oh, and btw for Thirdfain: Did this timeline have the Krakatoa explosion 7 years before the current starting time? That would have pretty much upset the whole region.

Raesene · Post by **Raesene** » 2006-09-10 04:12am

I hereby claim the islands north of madagascar for the ex-Austrian Archduke Franz Martin von Habsburg as the 'Habsburg Islands'

(if this chain is already claimed and I missed this post, sorry - please suggest another territory)

as former venetian trading post they were aquired by France when Napoleon conquered Venice, captured by the Royal Navy during their Indian Ocean campaign and handed over to Austria-Hungary when Prince Metternich insisted on getting all venetian territories.

Used as penal colony at first like Australia, the first settlers were mostly political opponents who could choose between fortress arrest or a life in exile.

At the same time, lots of people found the idea of settling in a colony challenging and went voluntarily, either as farm-owners, workers or businessmen.

The new settlers at first treated the native popoulation asobstackle, but the arrival of the new governor-general, Franz-Karl von Habsburg and his wife Sophie. Recognizing the need for good relations, they granted the few native tribes slowly the same rights the settlers and reconized them as one more folk of the multiethnical Autro-Hungarian empire.
This eliminated the previous habit of contracts achived at gunpoint.
While several influential settlers opposed this, they saw reason when the incidence of sabotage and sneak attacks on expeditions was reduced to nearly zero.
When the resources of (enter whatever can be found on these islands) were discovered, the influx of settlers and businesses rose to new heights.
(Enter infrastructure to harvest/mine/prouce ressources) emerged all over the islands, Harbors and small dockyards were constructed to connect the islands with each other and the motherland.
The merchant fleet expanded, and together with it the imperial and royal Austrian navy, which kept as strong force there as protective squadron.
Cruisers regularly patrol the surrounding area, while torpedo boats are ready for inshore patrol and coastal defence.

(fleet list will follow)

Army presence was kept strong, with garrison infantry units (part austro-hungarian, part local militia) on all major islands and police detachments on the minor ones.

more details to come, hope I can join !

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-09-10 04:53am

The Glorious Sultanate of the Maldives welcomes their fellow commercially minded friends to their waters.

Leader: Sultan Wazi Mal-Ahiri
Government: Sultanate with extensive local councils who have direct right of appeal to the Sultan
Population: ~300,000 across several major islands
Military: Not much at the moment (anyone want to have me as a protectorate?)

Vanas · Post by **Vanas** » 2006-09-10 01:21pm

Dahak wrote:You mean the Sunda Strait?
It's a very nice, very thin strait and an important shipping channel, a bit like the Strait of Malacca.
Of course, it would be lined with some forts and protection from them bad pirates.

There's an island slap bang in the middle of it (un-named in my Google Earth, oddly), that'd be a lovely place for a fort. Might want to work out the ownership rights there.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2006-09-10 01:40pm

Vanas wrote:
Dahak wrote:You mean the Sunda Strait?
It's a very nice, very thin strait and an important shipping channel, a bit like the Strait of Malacca.
Of course, it would be lined with some forts and protection from them bad pirates.
There's an island slap bang in the middle of it (un-named in my Google Earth, oddly), that'd be a lovely place for a fort. Might want to work out the ownership rights there.

That island seems to be Sangiang. It's uninhabited and volcanic, like most of the islands in the region. I don't know if there ever has been a fort on it or it should, given the small distances involved of the strait at that point. But in any case, I'd call it mine

Vanas · Post by **Vanas** » 2006-09-10 01:48pm

As you wish. I'll just cannon up the nearest side of my island. Or, devise some kind of submerged metal ball holding lots of TNT and set to go off if the wiring around it is effected by the magnetic field of passing ships. However, such a device may be pure science fiction.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2006-09-10 02:44pm

Vanas wrote:As you wish. I'll just cannon up the nearest side of my island. Or, devise some kind of submerged metal ball holding lots of TNT and set to go off if the wiring around it is effected by the magnetic field of passing ships. However, such a device may be pure science fiction.

The magnetic trigger would be a new one but "naval torpedoes" of various types have been used since the Napoleonic Wars, and passive mines with contact or remote triggers were used in the American Civil War. Of course, mining the Sunda Strait would be stupid, restrict traffic, and piss a lot of people off.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2006-09-10 02:46pm

After some thought, Pablo is right, and I should withdraw the borders(Just clue me into which region would be most logical; my knowledge of East Africa is minimal.).

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2006-09-10 03:12pm

SirNitram wrote:After some thought, Pablo is right, and I should withdraw the borders(Just clue me into which region would be most logical; my knowledge of East Africa is minimal.).

As I said, Mozambique was already colonized by the Portugeuse at game start, so that area is ready for you to move in. The area around the Horn of Africa is basically rudderless and could be seized without too much difficulty. Then as now, the richest and best developed area (relative to the rest of East Africa

) is the coast of Tanzania and Kenya, including Zanzibar, Mombasa, and Dar es Salaam.

That would theoretically be under the control of the Sultan of Zanzibar, but an idea occurs to me. The Sultan of Zanzibar could have invited Western advisors into his country, especially after 1875 and the fall of the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman (the Sultans of Zanzibar and Oman were brothers, though enemies). Maybe these advisors could have turned on their host and cooperated with the Swahili locals to overthrow the Sultan and establish Luminiferia; this would put you in position in the richest part of East Africa, with support from the native populace. On the other hand, I'd have to warn you that this would put you on a collision course with my Oman because they historically would claim those same areas--if you care about that.

Vanas · Post by **Vanas** » 2006-09-10 03:19pm

Pablo Sanchez wrote:Of course, mining the Sunda Strait would be stupid, restrict traffic, and piss a lot of people off.

But possible. And that's the key thing. That's diplomacy, right?

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2006-09-10 03:25pm

Game Mechanics

Points

Points represent your naiton's industrial capability. Each nation will start the game with 4,000 points worth of warships, soldiers, and fortresses.

3-Month System

Every three months, players can spend points on new construction. Due to the fluid nature of time in STGODs, three months in-game could take only a couple of days in realtime, or could take weeks.

Each three months, you get 10% of your current total in points to spend- at the start of the game, you get 400 points to spend per 3 months, for instance, though this number can be increased by re-investment, conquest, and economic prosperity.

Spending Points

Re-Investment
Required Resources:Coal, Steel, Food, Cotton.
-bonus- Rare Metals necessary for research

Each point spent in re-investment multiplies itself by 125%- if you spend 40 points on re-investment, you'll have 10 more points to spend next period.
If you have rare metals, then points spent on re-investment also net you a chance of gaining some technological advantage. However, this is random- you may not recieve any advantage at all.

Shipbuilding:
Required resources:
Armoured Warships: Coal, Iron, Sulfur
Unarmoured Warships: Coal, Sulfur

Buying a warship is a 2-step process. First, you buy the hull mass- the maximum for a warship is 15,000 tonnes. (This can change with the advent of better technology)

Each point nets you 100 tonnes of hull mass.

Second, you buy capability. There are five categories of capability:
Protection
Speed
Firepower
Maneuver
Torpedo Protection

Keep in mind that your spending is relative- putting 150 points into firepower and 0 into anything else doesn't mean your ship can't move- it just means that it's completely optimized for firepower, and is extremely slow, unmaneuverable, and lightly protected. This is most important when building the smallest vessels- a torpedo boat might cost 2 points- you'd only be able to boost 1 of the 5 stats. Spending it on firepower would mean it's still a fast, nasty torpedo boat- but with an extra torpedo tube as opposed to a larger engine.

You have as many points to spend on these 5 categories as you spent on hull mass.

For example:
300 pts
"NGR Nossa Senhora de India"
Battleship
15,000 tonnes: 150
Armament: 4x12-inch guns
12x6-inch guns
4x 37mm quick-firers
4x gatlings
4 torpedo tubes
Prot: 30
Speed: 30
Fire: 60
Maneuver: 20
T. Prot: 10

For example:
2 pts
"TB-22"
Torpedo Boat
100 tonnes
3x torpedo tubes,
2x gatlings
Speed: 1

-specifics later-

Raising Armies
Required resources: Cotton, Food, Sulfur
Cannon/Machine Guns: Iron, Coal

You recieve 200 men per point spent, or 50 men mounted on horse, further points can be used to increase capability up to 3 times their cost, or up to six times their cost if they have modern artillery.

For example:
300 points
"1. Divisao de Guarda Real"
-10,000 men-
Top quality troops, armed with Armamento Estado bolt-action rifles and trained to the highest standard. A mix of European and Cavalheiros (civilized) Indian troops, Royal Guards are equipped with horse-drawn Maxims and field guns.
(requires access to iron, coal, cotton, food, an sulfur.)

Building Fortresses

Required resources:
Coal, Sulfur.

The more points spent on a fortress, the larger and more durable it is.

-All "super-tech" requires access to rare metals.-

Disclaimer

This is ALL up for negotiation. If anyone has suggestions, criticisms, ideas- this is a good time for them. I'm new at this, and some help and criticism would be appreciated. Unless y'all think it's perfect?

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2006-09-10 03:25pm

Vanas wrote:
Pablo Sanchez wrote:Of course, mining the Sunda Strait would be stupid, restrict traffic, and piss a lot of people off.
But possible. And that's the key thing. That's diplomacy, right?

More like threatening people. Your nation has borders with the two most important straits of that area. The Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait. Mining that would piss of a lot of people, yes. A lot of people who could take that as a hostile intent and start working against you, a.k.a. ganging up on you. So I would use such threats only as a last resort

Vanas · Post by **Vanas** » 2006-09-10 03:26pm

In-game, my nation wouldn't dream of even making such threats. The fact of the matter remains, however.

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2006-09-10 04:02pm

Vanas wrote:In-game, my nation wouldn't dream of even making such threats. The fact of the matter remains, however.

Wow, spoken like a true diplomate. Both threatening, yet smary and open. *jots down notes*

EDIT:
So we start with 4000 points to spend? I don't suppose we have 'prices' on things? Ships? Fortress? Size of Fortresses? I do have some rather grand ideas.

Thirdfain · Post by **Thirdfain** » 2006-09-10 04:38pm

There we are!

I need to go now!

Straha · Post by **Straha** » 2006-09-10 04:50pm

I have a history worked out, I think I'll be able to post it tonight.

I'm just extending my claims slightly, along with all of New Guinea I'm also claiming most of the Pulau Islands. I'd give a complete list but I'm not going to type the entire list up, but essentially if it's north of Timor and east of Sulawesi I lay claim to it.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2006-09-10 04:55pm

Does anyone terribly miss Bali? It is so close to Java, it might just be part of my nation...

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2006-09-10 05:01pm

I would imagine that, as of now, all really small islands are simply 'Neutral' and its a casae of first come first serve. I know theres many tiny islands I want, but won't claim just yet without forces.