Apologies for my French; it's been about seven years since my last High School
class, and things like verb conjugation and noun gender are fading
into the dim past... (8-)
Anyways, this does raise an interesting FT Universe campaign idea; how about
a independent Quebecois colony? It seems that in the FT Universe,
FTL is cheap, thus it's relatively easy to setup your own colony when you
disagree with the established powers. I mean, we're talking about the Vatican
supporting a small fleet of starships, and various other forms of power
projection, when it right now supports a company (battalion?) of mostly
ceremonial Swiss guards.
Hmmm, now I'm really curious as to the nuts and bolts of the FT Universe. I've
seen some WWW sites on the whole thing (there's one that's running a campaign
PBeM, if I remember correctly), but I'm wondering how things fit together
given the fleet sizes as given the Fleet Book? Jon, when you came up with the
ship numbers, did you just put things down that sounded good, or do you have a
'secret file' (tm) with a fully functional, detailed Universe, that you're
afraid to put out because the rule munchkins will
jump on it and declare it holy? (Man, how's that for a run-on
sentence.)
I'll shut up now; I think this is barely on-topic, and I should get back
to
work. Working on cgi scripts will do this to your brain. (8-)
Thanks,
J.
> You wrote:
> Anyways, this does raise an interesting FT Universe campaign idea; how
Heh. They keep applying to become part of France and keep getting rejected
'coz they speak French poorly. The NAC won't have anything to do with them,
and they end up the pariahs of the universe. Not a bad idea.:)
IIRC from the various published histories, the USA suffered economically
from about 50 years of on-again, off-again regional wars, pretty much
worldwide. The domination of Asia by China was pretty much the nail in the
coffin. The collapse of the US economy precipitated various unpleasantness in
the USA, including the terrorist bombing of the White House, killing the
President (who was also the last one). In the ensuing chaos, the Chairman of
the Joint Cheifs of Staff declares a military interim government. Many states
reject this, and the 2nd American Civil War ensues. The UN turns Milgov (to
borrow a Twilight 2000 word) down when asked for assistance (who are they
gonna send, the Pakis?). Milgov turns to Britain & Canada. They graciously
agree to assist, and it takes *7 years* to pacify all of North America.
Probably 7 long, hard years. With as much nastiness as that would generate,
keeping some good hardened garrison troops in Quebec would not be a problem. I
think the Quebecois 'movement' might still exist, but offworld at best. As for
how well the old USA and UK units combined, after the
Pacification, Amalgamation (into the AC) and the ensuing 15-year War of
the
Americas, and then the 2-year lightning campaign into South America 25
years later, I think that most differences would be past. As for the odd
foreign contingent (ex: Ghurkas), there are probably some surviving in the
NAC, descendants of those who were used during the Pacification. They probably
put the Ghurkas in the American South as 'peacekeepers'. I would. The
atmosphere of the early development of the AC (later NAC) is that a weary and
shattered USA is all too glad to join up with a prosperous and
friendly UK/Canada in an increasingly unstable & unfriendly world. It's
kind
of a refreshing change from 'US takes over the world' - although that
isn't
_too_ bad :)
> Jerry wrote:
[snip]
> Hmmm, now I'm really curious as to the nuts and bolts of the FT
No, they weren't worked out in any detail, just the sort of numbers that felt
about right for the navies involved. Remember that there are MANY other
classes in service than the few examples detailed in the FB. I set the numbers
so that navies were not TOO huge, but OTOH it would be unlikely that anyone
but the most determined powergamer would field the entire service strength of
a single class in one game!! Of course, if anyone wants to buy that many ship
minis then that's OK by us.....;)
Jon (GZG)
> I'll shut up now; I think this is barely on-topic, and I should get
- The UN turns Milgov (to borrow a Twilight 2000 word) down when
asked for
-assistance (who are they gonna send, the Pakis?). Milgov turns to
Britain
&
-Canada. They graciously agree to assist, and it takes *7 years* to
pacify all
-of North America. Probably 7 long, hard years. With as much nastiness
as
-that would generate, keeping some good hardened garrison troops in
Quebec
-would not be a problem. I think the Quebecois 'movement' might still
exist,
-but offworld at best.
On the other hand, I could definitely see, in the midst of the long
struggle, feeling the pressure of a changed-mind French Gov(still in the
EC,right? don't have the book timeline handy), and Canada forging close ties
with UK on the way to the NAC deciding they can live without the vaunted
Quebec economic base, allowing the big Q to be split off. Weirder has
happened.
On the other other hand, ;->= , I could see in the midst of the terrible
struggle, Quebec decides to incorporate the rest of Canada in a grand Arcadian
dream, and UK unable to help, with both UK and Canadian armed forces being SO
commited in the south, cutting off the UK at the 42 parallel, in a reverse of
situation George III ended up with. Not saying this is likely, just same wierd
trick of mind required as for USA taking fiefdom status. We'd have to lose a
LOT of swagger.
This future history stuff is a LOT more dicey than some folks are willing to
admit, me thinks...
Me, I'm filling the thankfully large cracks in the timeline with whatever
feels fun, sort of like the rules. Like I said before, THANKS JON T.
Now if I could just get up to the Train Cellar to see if they have those tiny
Texaco decals for my Texacan Free States ships...
The_Beast
P.S. I wasn't ignoring your Orbits post, Noah. Being simple minded, I was
waiting for a reply containing a Reader's Digest version. *blush*
> NVDoyle@aol.com wrote:
Something I forgot to mention in my response to Stuart; a way to handle the
integration would be to build large American formations (US 1st Infantry),
with British, Canadian and American Regiments (they'd probably have to back to
the US Civil War for some of these; anybody remember Stonewall
Jackson's Regiment at First Manassas? (8-) ) (I hope I got the battle
right; first one of the US Civil War, where Jackson get's his nickname...)
> PS: During one of the more recent Quebec secession 'crises', didn't
There's been some talk about it in Canadian PolSci and History courses, but
more as a 'what-if' scenario than any actual declared intent. In other
words, Urban Legend. (Though Dunnigan/Bay in 'A Quick and Dirty Guide
to War' have what I consider a really interesting scenario for a Canadian
Civil War; Ontario and West stays in Canada, Quebec goes its separate ways,
the Maritime provinces join the US, and Newfoundland petitions the
UK to rejoin as a colony. (8-) )
J.
> Jerry Han wrote:
> Something I forgot to mention in my response to Stuart; a way to
It's still on the rolls as a National guard infantry regt in teh 29th Div.
Some of them just got back from 6 months in Bosnia.
> On Fri, 03 Jul 1998 12:38:59 -0400, Jerry Han <jhan@idigital.net> wrote:
> Something I forgot to mention in my response to Stuart; a way to handle
Um, not to be pedantic or anything, but Jackson was a brigade commander at
First Manassas, not a regimental commander. It was the 1st Brigade of the Army
of the Shenandoah, consisting of the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 27th and 33rd Virginia
regiments and Pendleton's Battery. Bee, commander of the 3rd Brigade, gave
Jackson his nickname (some have suggested that the comment, "There is Jackson
standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer.
Follow me," was actually somewhat sarcastic...).
From a historical perspective, there was a joint US/Canada unit during
the war, the First Special Service Force. It was trained specifically in
mountain warfare (as well as other special forms of warfare) and was used
effectively in Italy. It was officially within the US TO&E.
> There's been some talk about it in Canadian PolSci and History courses,
Another possibility is for the West to separate into a different region. This
I think is more likely unless some fancy footwork was done. I could also see a
divided Canada muddling through long enough for a separate Quebec to drop to
near third-world status, economy wise with the country eventually
reforming.
Having seen Western antagonism towards the East, however, I think if Quebec
goes it will just be a matter of time before Canada collapses into a loose
confederation (ala the former USSR) with the smaller chunks swallowed by the
US.
> You wrote:
> It's still on the rolls as a National guard infantry regt in teh 29th
As a 29th Infantry Division trooper, yeah, that's the 116th Infantry Regiment.
Most distinguished and decorated regiment in the National
Guard. Hit the beach at Omaha, etc, etc, etc. C/1/116th did a tour in
Bosnia. I might also mention that my Batallion, the 229th Engineer Batallion
traces it's lineage back to a Civil War infantry regiment that also fought in
WWI and II. US Regiments can be old, and we are
AFAIK the only nation that re-integrated the loosing side's army after
a civil war. BTW, the oldest units in the National Guard are stationed in
Lexington and Concord and carry battle honors from same. Though the
oldest National Guard is the Virginia one--est. 1607 as the Colony of
Allan spake thusly upon matters weighty:
> From a historical perspective, there was a joint US/Canada unit during
SSF! They still exist in the Canadian Forces today, although I'm not sure how
the role has changed. I think of them as some sort of Canadian SF but then we
don't do much of that thing so they aren't too huge.
> Having seen Western antagonism towards the East, however, I think if
People who follow this logic do so for a number of reasons: 1. We have
resources 2. We might want to be part of the states (the West)
They forget that
1. The US has a lot of hidden resources - they import a lot of stuff
to preserve strategic stockpiles. 2. California and New York and Texas and the
other powerful states don't want more senators so its unlikely we'd get in as
states for the reason of dilution of political power. We might get in as
protectorates or whatever they call things like Guam.
But yes, a farmer in Montana has more in common with a farmer in Alberta that
either has with an Eastern Politico. Even in 2300.
Tom.
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