You've met the four people destined to break each others heads open to feast in on the nutritious goo inside, now lets take a look at the three people still sane enough not to lock themselves into this colossal fuck-fest... the great powers, ladies and gentlemen.
The USA. (USA! USA!)
The USA doesn't really need to join a faction to break heads. Playing the US brings exactly the sorts of advantages you'd expect. The US has a massive amount of leadership, giving them almost total freedom in what they choose to research, an industrial base which almost surpasses Germany while running a total civilian economy, an already advanced industrial and reseach tech base, a frankly stupid amount of resources of all kinds flowing in to the stockpiles, and enough ships, troops and planes to probably crush Japan and Germany on its lonesome, albeit with some trouble near the start. This gives the US the biggest potential for freedom; the US can do whatever the hell it pleases and nobody is going to be able to resist the onslaught... and if by sheer incompetence the player does somehow get its invasion, er, liberation force slaughtered on distant shores, nobody is going to be able to invade the states bar some kind of malevolent divine intervention.
That said the US navy is sorta dated, along with their entire line of military technology, meaning the US has a lot of catching up to do. The US is also, like the UK, hamstringed by its peaceful laws which forbid economic mobilisation and drafting, limiting troop construction and officer recruitment. The US needs to get its neutrality down as soon as possible so it can start punching faces in.
Historically the US was instrumental in keeping the battered Brits from being completely overwhelmed due to their supplies of equipment and supplies to the home islands during the battle of Britain. US intervention in the war might not have gone any further, despite Roosevelts pleas to the contrary, until the day of infamy on the seventh of December, 1941, where the Japanese, desperate for dominance in the pacific, launched a foolhardy assault on Pearl Harbour in an attempt to destroy the US Pacific carriers and remove US influence over their conquest of China and the rest of the far east. Germany promptly declared war, and the US was left with an important choice; do they go after the immediate threat of the Japanese, or hold them off while the Germans are confronted. Roosevelt ultimately decided that the Germans, while a less immediate threat to the US, were the greater threat, and the rest is history. It wasn't until 1944 that the US managed to get ashore, however, and it took another year of hard fighting before the allied charge finally tore down the western half of the Nazi empire, the allies bemusedly finding that the USSR had occupied the other half and, frankly, weren't budging. It would take another 45 years of war, tension, frantic negotiating and propaganda spreading, and the threat of a nuclear apocalypse, for the US to finally triumph in the struggle to liberate eastern Europe, and Russia itself, from the most appalling corruption of Marxs ideals the world has ever suffered through. That said, the US emerged from the ruins as the country least affected by the horrors of the second world war, and combined with its own nascent industrial might, the US would emerge as the most powerful nation on earth, a position only challenged by the USSR, and more recently, the Peoples Republic of China. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Japanese, already flattened in short order at the battle of Midway, held out for another four grim years before the loss of the entirety of their island chains and the threat of nuclear oblivion forced a surrender on the 2nd of September, 1945.
Possible Goals:
Whoo, where to begin.
The US really doesn't have any limits on what it can or cannot do; world conquest, however out of character and gamey it might be, is easily on the cards. But first of all lets look at what the default objectives of any US player will be; defeat the Axis, either as early as possible or by getting involved at the historical dates.
ASAP.
For those looking for a more historically plausible objective, but who don't want to be slaves to history, the destruction of Germany and Japan is obviously going to be on the cards. The US can probably achieve this most easily by getting involved in the 1939 fighting; Germany normally triumphs over France but skilled players have been known to stop Germany while playing as France; the USA should have little problems overcoming the Germans. Joining the allies formally is optional, but obviously historical. Hopefully the US will manage this before the Japanese come rolling over the horizon; a swift player of the US may even overwhelm Germany at such a rate that the US army can turn right around and strike the Japanese first as soon as neutrality allows, possibly at their home islands before the Japanese army can even mount an effective response!
Historical
For those less inclined to break from what happened in reality, the US will spend most of its time sitting on its hands until 1941 and Pearl Harbour. Some involvement in Europe will be done involving events, but mostly the US will have to sit around and let the Germans and Italians, not to mention the Japanese in China, have a free hand. After that, the US will have to make the all-important decision on who to turn the big guns on first; the Germans or the Japanese? The British may already have collapsed by this point; they will have to be liberated, but the fact is that the Americans will be fighting in two directions at once against the two strongest factions in the game. If the USSR falls, the once impregnable position of the US will for once begin to look doubtful...
Regardless of when the US defeated the Axis, if the USSR is still around the US will probably want to go after them as well. Or maybe not, an Axis defeat may be all the victory the US asks for... especially if Eastern Europe hasn't been cut in half yet. This may be an easy fight to pick if Japan and Germany have fallen in short order; the fall of the USSR may resemble more of a swift execution rather than any sort of fair fight. If the US had to crawl onto the European continent after years of battling an axis juggernaut at the height of its power, standing alone against both, the USSR may be the greatest threat to world peace of all...
Bat-shit Insane; US world conquest for the historically irreverent.
If you're going to go off the rails of reality and just want to play out your little world domination fantasies you've always had since you were a small, malevolent fledgling Evil Overlord, there's no better nation to play than the states. We'll begin by annexing Canada and the New world shall we? Choose your targets early and start sending out spies to ramp up the threat levels to stupid levels; tell the world how dangerous those Mexican immigrants really are! Only solution is to make them all good old Americans! Once the US has gone thoroughly off the cliffs of sanity, the fun can begin. Its still probably worth sparing the Canucks in time to neutralise the Germans, and then the Japanese, as ascribed in the quick resolution to the historical goals of the US; they're you're biggest threats. After that you can either round on your one-time allies, or just flatten the USSR. Once you've neutralised two of the big factions all on your lonesome, the USSR really isn't going to be much of a threat to your star-spangled, globe-spanning world empire, and even the British Empire and Commonwealth will look positively titchy. I always wanted my own Shiny New Australia...
Japan. The other genocidal empire of the story.
Japan is on the opposite end of the power spectrum, but still has enough power to go for world domination if it is so desired; they don't have to join the Axis, and indeed, joining the Germans and inheriting their enemies may be more trouble than its worth. Japan really only has two concerns anyway; they want to annihilate the Chinese and batter the USA...
...ah.
Yeah, good luck with that. The Japanese may want to hold off on their historical blunder.
Japan has a few advantages. For starters, they are indisputably the kings of the aircraft carrier. Wise Japanese commanders will ensure that the situation stays that way. The Japanese generally have up-to-date infantry and a solid navy that is more than enough for their needs in the Chinese theatre. While they can't match the UK or US in leadership, it easily rivals the USSR and the Japanese can develop some pretty scary toys if they wish. Not tanks though... half the front is mountains, the other half jungle and anything else is underwater; WHY WOULD YOU USE TANKS?! Invest that technology in the airforce instead; the Japanese don't start with any armour on their planes (as was historical) and a wise taisho will remind his superiors that a man who died with honour is still a man who died.
More seriously, Japan has to fight China and probably the US as well, unless Pearl Harbour can be averted (haven't played that part through yet.) The Japanese lack rare earths, but they can't buy in enough to stave off the inevitable supply failures, and they are bleeding oil; this means that they will have to ration fuel, or else invest heavily in energy conversion technologies. The Japanese may want to ignore the US altogether and go after British India instead, if they can push to the middle east, a wealth of oil awaits them.
Historically, Japan barely managed to subdue China, and, under embargo from the US for their atrocities in the region, launched a hopeless war against the fledgling superpower even their own commanders knew they couldn't win. Admiral Yamamoto may not have actually said his famous Awakening the Sleeping Giant quote, but he certainly knew what was about to happen. The Japanese collapsed in short order, only lasting six months until the US smashed them at the disastrous naval battle of Midway. The Japanese clung on for another four grim years until Hiroshima and Nagasaki spelt an end to both the Japanese empire and the ideology that had sprung it on the world.
Possible Objectives.
Japan will have to confront China; it is China that has the rare earths Japan needs to keep its industries running. Swift victory here will be crucial. Beyond that the Japanese will need to decide if they want to ally with Germany; they need not join the Axis and may even decide that German ambitions get in the way of their own. Beyond China, the Japanese have a number of options.
Headlong Into The Eagles Jaws; A Re-run of Pearl Harbour.
Depending on game events, this may be inevitable, so the Japanese must be prepared for it. Japan attacking the US either before or on the day of Pearl Harbour. This will be a hard fight as the Japanese are completely outclassed by US industry and leadership. They have a more modern navy, but the US will probably start to build a better one and the sheer gulf in the two nations leadership scores will mean that the Japanese must crush the US navy more or less immediately to have any hope of surviving the inevitable US backlash. That said, to win the Japanese don't need to annex the US. They only need to shut them up on US shores. After that, they will need to keep any constructed US naval forces under blockade and being sunk, the Japanese will still face the threat of being driven off by a reconstructed US fleet. Invading the US is probably untenable, unless the Japanese can get a foothold in the New World. In any case, this is the one occasion where the Japanese need to join the Axis; the US needs something to take its attention off of the Japanese, and a mad dictator with a stupid fashion sense rampaging around Europe and slightly beyond is a fairly spectacular distraction.
Britain Called It Wants Its Jewelry Back; Pinching India.
The US are not likely to join the allies immediately, and in this window of opportunity the Japanese have a massive chance. If they can get Britains threat level up and can attack it before the US comes on side, they can quickly snatch up Britains colonial possessions; the Royal Navy is rather underwhelming in these parts, and far away from their strongholds in the mediterranean; backstabbing the British and Netherlanders, and annexing the commonwealth countries, will make the passage to the middle-east clear. If Japan could seize these supplies before the Italians or Germans can, Japan will no longer have any resource problems. Japan may need to consider fighting the Germans and Italians as well if Japan has been beaten there; joining the axis is not a recommended move here for this reason.
Sit Tight and Hope.
Japan may simply decide that enough is enough and that they don't actually want or need to fight any more. In this case, Japans job will simply be to keep out of trouble and avoid the wrath of the nearby warring parties. Japan may ironically want to throw its hands in with the Soviets; a powerful German empire right on the border is not in Japans long term survival interests given Hitlers racial policies! Beyond that, Japan will have to avoid getting into a tussle with the US; improving relations with the allies (and sidestepping the whole "oppressed Chinese" thing) will probably prove essential. Japans goals will be the defensive ones of prevent threats from forming on its borders, rather than the more proactive approach of outright conquest.
Beyond.
If Japan has chosen to shut up the US fleet in its harbours, they still need to deal with a few things. If they have the resources, conquering India before the Germans or Italians get there or the British rally is a must; the middle east and Persia are also tasty prizes for the oil there, but that is a steep race if the Japanese have already had to fight a colossal fight against the US. Once these regions are secured, the Japanese may have enough resources and industrial might to think about challenging the US, especially if the Germans are keeping them wrapped up. The Japanese may need to fulfil their end of the bargain and reinforce flagging German lines by attacking the Soviets in the east, ensuring Stalins downfall. Sadly for Japan, the Germans will probably not be sharing the spoils. If the Germans are safe, and Japans immediate needs are finally saited, the long, grim task of annihilating the land of the free and home of the brave can begin. Japan may have sidestepped this landmine, in fact, a smart Japanese leader may have influenced the US (or used spies to undermine their government) to ensure that it is disarmed beforehand; the Japanese goal here will simply be to secure their new position.
If Japan has stayed quiet, the rest of the game will be a fairly quiet defensive one as Japan holds its ill-gotten gains. A war with Germany will upset this, and Japan still has to face the fact that it is extremely likely that unless the allies triumph, Japan will probably have at least one mega-empire sitting on the Chinese border... making Japans possessions look rather less impressive.
Italy. (Why are we here?! It hot and I'm scared! Fuck you Mussolini, I want to go home!)
(Historically, Italian morale was not very high, and Mussolini was extremely unpopular. Nonetheless, individually Italian soldiers did fight well; in Ethiopia some of the toughest fighting British soldiers faced was against Italian forces in Ethiopia. Italys soldiers weren't the problem; Italys leadership, however, was. So the pizza gag was probably uncalled for.)
Italy is the weakest of the great powers, and I use the term "great" here with some reserve, because Italy is, frankly, not exactly what one would call a superpower. The only reason it is likely to conquer anything at all is because it is in southern Europe and is right next to North Africa; Britain tends to guard the area lightly and the French will probably get knocked out the war early on leaving the Italians to hoover up. The Italians in all my games have proven to be exactly as incompetent as they were historically, if not more. That said, I have seen them eat North Africa a number of times; you'd be surprised how poor the AI is at holding British possessions; the Germans regularly pull off Operation Sea Lion, the plans for invading Britain. At least it has lots of metal to trade with...
Problem is, and here come the many disadvantages, nobody wants metal! Metal is in very low demand, and Italy won't be able to sell much of its surplus. Italy also suffers from having abysmal base industry for a nation claiming to be one of the dominant powers in the world. Its borders are spread out; once Ethiopia is crushed the Italians will have a border spanning thousands of miles; and there are a lot of Brits and French in East Africa, to say nothing of the South Africans! And Italy has an abysmal navy; it would do well to ensure that any troops it needs are positioned in North or East Africa prior to the war, because the Royal Navy is going to make lunch of Italy. Italy does at least have some decent infantry, but like France they suffer in the leadership department, and Italy probably isn't going to be researching anything it needs fast.
Overall; poor, backward, and with delusions of grandeur, just like history. This should be fun... Dwarf Fortress style that is.
Historically, Italy was the Butt-Monkey of the war, its troops getting sent into sorrier and sorrier situations. Even the Ethiopians managed to put up a titanic three month struggle as the supposedly superior Italian troops faced steep resistance against the Ethiopian army. Italy promptly humiliated itself in southern France, French troops slaughtering the Italian attackers while being themselves overrun by the powerful Germans... and the allies were far from done with the poor Italians. Mussolini, apparently unable to take a sane decision, decided to invade Greece; who promptly dealt the Italians a Crack Defeat, forcing Hitler to divert crucial forces away from his plans in the east to bail the Italians out of trouble. The British practically drove over the Italian advance into North Africa; trails of surrendering men were seen in a scenario reminiscent of the Red Army and its initial performance in Barbarossa. The Germans tried to bail them out again but this time the Brits, later reinforced by American forces, just held the line at el-Alamein, and this time there was no saving Mussolini. In September 3rd 1943, Allied troops made landfall in Italy, and grimly pressed home to Rome. Italy suffered the humiliation of German occupation as the Germans tried to hold the southern flank of their alliance. Seeing the inevitable, Mussolini tried to escape, but he was captured by partisans who promptly strung him and his mistress up; a sorry end to one of the most pathetic figures in world history.
Possible Goals.
Italy is all about positioning; having none of the strength of the major players, the Italians are all about making easy steals. The Italians will need to deal with their resource problems, particularly their energy deficit, and will want to invest in an infantry heavy army. They also need to deal with their naval problem at some point, but the British can be allowed to rule the waves for now as long as the Italians have stationed enough forces in North Africa to ensure that the British can be quickly overrun there. Securing Ethiopia and seizing the Sudan are more difficult, but manageable goals; the Italians are far from weak in the sector.
Beyond that, Italy will want to seize as much of the Balkans as possible. Seizing Yugoslavia will prevent it falling into German hands, while Italy may want to put Greece on hold while it snatches Bulgaria. Turkey is not that powerful and securing its European territories will allow Italy to widen its front against Greece; this may let the Italians surround and destroy the Greek army, avoiding the battering they recieved historically. With luck, the Italians can seize the whole of the Balkans and north Africa, not to mention Turkey, and be on time to help the Germans seize the Soviet Union. The Italians will have gone from laughing stock to global empire in seconds, and India will be within reach. If the Germans have taken Britain Ireland and Spain may well be a possibility, and I doubt anyone will miss Vichy France... Roma Invicta!
However, being the weaker half of a troubled alliance Italy is dependent on the Germans holding; if the Germans collapse early, Italy is finished. Luckily this rarely happens, but if it does, Italy will have to change its colonial policy to one of grim reinforcement of its northern ally. If Germany falls it is all over, at least until Italy has stolen enough territory to pose a serious challenge of its own. The Italians will want to involve themselves in Barbarossa; true, there is nothing in it for them directly, but again, it is all about saving the Germans, and preventing Barbarossa from becoming a bridge too far for the Axis. Italys colonial ambitions for Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) are dependent on Hitlers ambitions for a thousand year reich...
Thats all the great powers. I'll have the regional powers up tomorrow, with a bit of luck, unless votes start pouring in or I get bored and just go Japan, our current requested faction.
