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Let whatever happens happen for now

1 (50%)

Redo the 90s as they happened in real-life as closely as possible

0 (0%)

Gulf War escalates into World War III including limited nuke exchange

0 (0%)

Centralist (Ultranationalist) coup in the Soviet Union

0 (0%)

Try to rebuild the Millennium Cold War scenario

0 (0%)

1995 Norwegian rocket incident leads to limited nuke exchange

1 (50%)

Total Members Voted: 2

[King Zultan]

Strange to see that much capitalism in the USSR.

[Lenzar]

Nice. Soviet Union couped or occupied by you?
[/quote]

It was couped, by another country - I can't remember which but they certainly weren't capitalist!

[Tok'ra Operative]

Thread Reopened
Okay since the deleted posts from my botched Let's Play have been removed entirely, I have decided to reopen the thread effective immediately. However I got a lot on my plate right now so I will still be taking a break so it is best someone else take the helm - looking at you, Lenzar. And chances are I won't be returning until I actually have uploaded a scenario such as Millennial Cold War OR Centralist USSR and Iraqi invasion of Israel. As such this means I will be playing "off the grid" in order to build the scenario in question.

[Tok'ra Operative]

Let's Play Shadow President

Okay I have decided to give Shadow President another go after first playing off the grid until I had something of note and/or concrete. It is now February 27, 1991 and the United Nations Coalition (United States, France, United Kingdom, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia) had just liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation following a 100 hour ground war (much like in real-life). So unlike my previous Let's Plays, I have decided against allowing Iraq to establish its hegemony and eventually threaten Israel. However Iraq still is set to invade Jordan in March and if successful they would be in a position to threaten Israel despite losing Kuwait and failing to take Saudi Arabia. So behind door #1 I am able to warn Iraq off and prevent Jordan from being invaded at all so history continues similar to real-life. Well at least until the time the Soviet Union collapsed in real-life since this game doesn't take that into account - most I could do to simulate this is to make the Soviet Union "Democratic Nationalist" and rename it the Commonwealth of Independent States or Russian Commonwealth. Behind door #2 however, I am unable to stop Iraq from invading Jordan so the Gulf War goes into continuation mode with the Coalition once again having to face down the Iraqis. If Saddam Hussein actually does decide to break the ceasefire so blatantly, then its safe to say all bets are off for him and the only thing in his future is assassination, coup, or even a military invasion. I will need to use diplomacy to get Jordan to join the Coalition so the others will come to their aid though doing so would also cause Israel to defend them which may place helping Israel to takeover Iraq on the table. Also I increased economic ties with Japan and gave them Most Favored Nation status to eliminate my spending deficit in order to prevent this LP from suffering the same fate as the last one. France, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were also given MFN because they joined the Coalition.

2/27/1991

General Status

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Key Maps

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Important Historical Events 6/1/1990 - 2/27/1991

Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

United Nations Coalition

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Iraqi Invasion of Saudi Arabia

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Iraqi Scud Missile Attack Against Israel

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Desert Storm Ground War - Liberation of Kuwait

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Important note: If this relatively new Let's Play does not bring this thread back to life I will start up a new thread from scratch and continue this new Let's Play there.

[EuchreJack]

Things seem to be going well.

[King Zultan]

Looks like everything is going to plan so far.

[Tok'ra Operative]

Let's Play Shadow President

Further Iraqi Aggression Prevented
As expected, Iraq actually almost broke the ceasefire by fixing to invading Jordan in a likely move to gain land access to Israel which would have been very bad. However I was able to prevent the invasion from happening at all by filing a protest with the United Nations thereby convincing Saddam Hussein to back down and respect the will of the international community. With the ceasefire preserved, most Coalition forces withdrew from the Gulf with the exception of a sizable number of American, British, and French forces to defend against another Iraqi invasion as well as to enforce the No-Fly Zones established within northern and southern Iraq.

Iraqi Invasion of Jordan prevented

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Gulf War Ceasefire Troop Deployments

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U.S. National Budget
It looks like my current Let's Play Shadow President has already diverged into the realm of alternate history. Even though the Gulf War proceeded relatively similar to real-life, another factor however didn't - the U.S. national budget. In real-life President Bush signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 on November 5, 1990 which among other things raised taxes thereby breaking his campaign promise "read my lips: no new taxes" in order to eliminate the national spending deficit. In the alternate history the current LP is set in, the bill in its real-life format would've been unnecessary because significantly increasing ties with Japan back in June 1990 eliminated the spending deficit without the need to increase taxes. I was able to further increase my surplus by giving most favored nation status to Japan (as well as France, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia) in December 1990. So while Bush paid for breaking his promise by losing the 1992 election, I think its safe to say I won't suffer the same fate barring some unforeseen circumstance affecting my ratings at the last moment. With an income surplus of over $200 billion I have more room to make changes to the budget and have enough of a safety to block all trade with the Soviet Union should the need arise without bringing back the spending deficit.

Relevant Wikipedia links

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_my_lips:_no_new_taxes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnibus_Budget_Reconciliation_Act_of_1990

Budget: Before, During, and After

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Tok'ra Operative]

I have decided to upload a new poll for my current session of Let's Play Shadow President which currently includes 6 questions for now and I also have them listed below. If anyone has any suggestions for additional questions, either post it here or message it to me and I will be sure to add it. Thanks!

1: Let whatever happens happen for now
2: Redo the 90s as they happened in real-life as closely as possible
3: Gulf War escalates into World War III including limited nuke exchange
4: Centralist (Ultranationalist) coup in the Soviet Union
5: Try to rebuild the Millennium Cold War scenario
6: 1995 Norwegian rocket incident leads to limited nuke exchange

[King Zultan]

Numbers six certainly would be an interesting thing to happen.

[Tok'ra Operative]

Numbers six certainly would be an interesting thing to happen.

Most definitely. And the ideology and status of the Soviet Union would not necessarily have butterflied the Norwegian rocket launch since it was done in the name of science and not military testing. And it does set a plausible scenario for the Russians to launch only one missile. The U.S. naturally would be in the right to retaliate in kind using one missile as well. From there the player would have two choices - follow up with more nuke strikes, a ground invasion of Russia, or attempt to restore peace with the Soviet Union. The scenario can start off just before the Russian launch, after said launch, or after the U.S. has also launched. Since events are a bit unstable during the first two the third option would probably be the most likely used.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident

[King Zultan]

After reading through the whole thing, I can see how that could have gone really poorly.

Also I could see that as a good starting place for a scenario.

[EuchreJack]

Hm, do I prefer things to flow naturally, or to watch the results of numerous hackjobs? Hm.
Both have entertainment value

[Tok'ra Operative]

Hm, do I prefer things to flow naturally, or to watch the results of numerous hackjobs? Hm.
Both have entertainment value

Fortunately I save very often. While there are only 9 save game slots, I just back them up into another folder (just the saved games and the save game text file) so I can technically build a scenario off of any of them. Naturally I only choose noteworthy saves for scenarios such as the start of a world war, the beginning of the year 2000, etc.

[King Zultan]

Hopefully you've got those backed up in a safe place so they survive in case your computer does something untoward.

[Tok'ra Operative]

Soviet Hardliners Overthrow Gorbachev!
The world was taken by surprise on the evening of August 18th, 1991 when Hardliners of the Soviet Communist Party seized power in Moscow and placed Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev under house arrest. This sets the stage of a potential civil war in the Soviet Union which is already threatening to happen due to ethnic tensions surfacing in the Caucasus. Prior to the coup, communism had declined significantly and even the Soviet Union was gradually beginning to democratize thanks to glasnost and perestroika with ethics having improved to the point that common Soviet citizens were enjoying even more and more freedom. However the coup led by the State Committee on the State of Emergency, aka the Gang of Eight, have not only reversed course against Gorbachev's reforms but have also reduced ethics to levels not seen since the time of Stalin. The United States is considering a range of options including condemnation of the coup leaders, economic sanctions against the Soviet Union should the coup persist into September if not right away, and potentially even a military solution though the chances of that last one are minimal.

1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt

General Status and Maps

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August Coup News Video

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https://youtu.be/4KRTPh1PAek