Frequently Asked Questions

About the Premise

What is the Point of Divergence?
Our main PoD is from 1935, when Konrad Zuse, in a stroke of luck, accidentally invents the MOSFET transistor, approximately 20 years sooner than IRL. Our secondary PoD is in 1943, where the assassination attempt against Hitler during his flight back from Smolensk succeeds, which causes the Third Reich to fall into civil war, requiring the Allies to make use of interim transitional governments much more.
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How did the USSR survive?
In 1969, the assassination attempt against Brezhnev that happened IRL happens to succeed, and because of the assassin's admiration for Suslov, the reformers that helped Brezhnev get into power use this to their advantage to sideline the hardliner factions within the party and manage to take power themselves, with Alexei Kosygin becoming leader of the USSR. He uses this position to pass the 1965 Liberman reforms that he drew up years prior and this starts a trend of economic reforms over his premiership that transition the USSR into a quasi-market system, referred to as the Soviet Market System. Other reforms would happen later as well, but Kosygin's premiership is regarded as an economic turning point for the USSR.
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What happened with Japan during WW2?
Following the German Collapse, Japan came to see itself standing alone essentially against the world, so its government scrambled to establish a conditional surrender with the Americans. Japan was allowed to keep its Emperor, its island territory of Taiwan, and its military in exchange for a full withdrawal from the other Asian territories it had conquered from the Allies, as well as Manchuria and Korea. This means that the atomic bomb was never used in the 1940s.
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How did the Space Race play out?
In this timeline, it wasn't as much of a race as it was IRL. It started with the British achieving the first man in space in 1957 through the Megaroc project, followed by the Soviets managing to put Sputnik into orbit. After a series of other "firsts" to do with space travel, eventually the Soviets were able to lead the first successful mission to land a man on the Moon in 1969, due to the internal and external issues the US faced at the time. During this time, Britain was testing out a lot of new potential space-travel technologies, such as Project MUSTARD, but didn't possess the capability to attempt a lunar landing. Later, during the 1980s, the US rebounded and, through significant funding of NASA, proposed the Apollo-Soyuz Mission to cool Cold War tensions with the Soviets, where two astronauts and two cosmonauts shook hands in space. During this decade, NASA was also able to land and establish their own lunar base, Jamestown Lunar Base, so as to discover and begin mining and processing operations of ice and helium-3 that the Soviets had proved existed on the moon with their own lunar base, Zvezda.\nOver time, due to thawing relationships between the two powers in regards to space exploration and enterprise, the spirit of competition developed into one of détente and collaboration. This collaboration saw the building of the International Space Station, and the internationalisation of the Jamestown and Zvezda research bases, opening them up to use by other agencies such as Jaxa and ECSA. By the start of 2021, the first truly international expedition to establish a Martian colony is on its way, with a manned crew of astronauts and cosmonauts from NASA, ECSA, and Interkosmos.
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What is the general level of technology in Twilight of the Anthropocene?
Usually it is 20 to 40 years ahead of our current timeline with regards to a number of fields. Some examples include, the internet being developed in the 70s, a human genome project equivalent was mapped out in the 80s with a discovery similar to CRISPR-Cas9 happening in the 90s, a widespread adoption of robotics in developed countries and the establishment of permanent colonies on the Moon, Mars and Venus.\nNot all fields are as advanced obviously, as Nuclear Fusion for example, still remember out of reach despite recent progress.
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Minutia and Regional Details

What happened during the Vietnam War? How come Vietnam is still split?
Most of the progress of the Vietnam War occurs the same as IRL until early 1967, where Barry Goldwater - with advice and support from fellow hawkish generals, and his VP, Curtis LeMay - decides to drop a tactical nuclear bomb on the Mu Gia Pass to try and significantly hamper the ability for the Viet Cong to supply along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This is not as successful as he wants, and so later, in November 1967, he orders another bomb be dropped on Hanoi to take out the North Vietnamese government. Unfortunately for Goldwater, this order is discovered by a Soviet spy who passes it to the Soviets. With this information, the Soviets prepare anti-air positions surrounding Hanoi and manage to shoot the plane down. The plane falls out of the sky and crashes west of Hanoi, the nuke detonating, destroying large portions of Hanoi and killing several government officials. This extreme escalation in proportional fighting causes international outrage and the USSR is able to show its evidence that this was an authorised attack from the Oval Office. Goldwater and LeMay would later both be killed in a bombing attack by an American assassin in April 1968.
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How did Biafra win the war against Nigeria?
During the war, in January 1968, French intelligence agents working covertly in Nigeria discover a plan by the commander Yakubu Gowon to starve out Igbo civilians by cutting off food supplies and taking Port Harcourt. As a result of this, both Biafran and foreign troops prioritise the southern flank making sure to keep its logistics paths secure. The war would end up being decided at the Battle of the Benue, after which Nigeria would concede Biafran independence. This would come as a big blow to the UK's and USSR's prestige as these parties had been key backers of the Federal Government. There would also be four more "wars" between the two nations over the decades.
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Do you make up people for leaders, ministers and generals?
No.
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What happened with Australia? What's with the massive lake?
A different Governor-General in 1974 means no constitutional crisis and Labor manages to achieve a supermajority government. An idea floating in Australian politics for decades was to create an inland lake through dams and canals. ITTL, this is successfully passed under the Labor government as a method to create jobs and spur on the economy. It worked. In subsequent years, the town of Alice Springs has exploded in size, becoming a tourism and inter-state shipping hub due to its close position to the new lake's shoreline.
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Did 9/11 or the War on Terror Occur?
No, due a number of factors, such as the existence of the USA backed nation of Durranistan,a fundamentally different approach to US and Soviet foreign policy in the Middle East than OTL, a socialist revolution in Iran and more, the conditions for 9/11 never emerged. While islamic fundamentalist groups still exist, they are more divided and exist only as violent annoyances confined to remote and unstable parts of Asia and Africa.
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Gameplay and Quirks of the Mod

How do you train units in the mod?
Mobilization is handled by two decisions in the decision tab which exist for all countries (except Seychelles): \"Mobilize the Population\" and \"Mobilize the Economy\". Do both decisions, and then wait for a decision called "Mobilize for War" to appear. Enact that one.\n You can now train units and edit templates.
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What DLC should TotA be played with?
You should generally avoid most DLC. Together for Victory and WTT are the only ones I *recommend* using in case you want extra flavor, but we generally do not test with DLC or make stuff with DLC in mind.
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