The Raj of Steam and Steel

Progress log

According to S M Stirling himself, on faceBook:

"Well, there’s the question of ‘path dependency’, so it won’t be exactly the same technology. Overall, [the world of the Peshawar Lancers reaches 1920s-era tech in] about twenty years [after the book]."

So that means the mod should take place around 2050.

• No Towers - only Kraals are permitted.
• Building system is essentially ineherited from Age of Darkness, but has the same units as Rise of the Moderns - but primitive peoples still have Warrior Halls.
• Tech are done but these are mostly rehashes of old ideas for a post-apocalyptic Steampunk world.
• Mercenaries and regulars. Regular units are few and far between. The war if The Raj of Steam and Steel takes place primarily between mercenaries.

Issues?

Mercenaries??

Temple / Sanctuary / Church: Balkans, Europeans, Jungle units.

• New skins need to be developed for the former two.

Merc Quarters:

• Arabs

Fort: Beidi / Native Americans.

• New skins will have to be developed
• Ranged units should all be removed

Architecture

What will the architecture of this world look like? clearly it won't resemble the past.

• South European: used by France, Syria, and most Latin American nations. (m)
• Indian/Angrezi: Original Indian architecture but with many European accents, this is after all the heart of the British empire. Definitely used by South Africa and Afghanistan too. (e)
• North European - used by Bavarian Germany and New Britain (n)
• Colonial - used by Russia, American Republic and California (u)
• Siam - still uses the Malay style we devised (s). Maybe use this for all African factions too.
• Japan - Korean (k)
• China - Chinese (a)
• (t) Somalia, Saudi

What's the premise?

It's 20 years since the events of The Peshawar Lancers. The world has recovered, and things are reaching pre-Fall levels. The main weapons of war continue to be 19th century vintage equipment -- leavened with armoured cars and blimps. Mechanise in order to get better units!

So,

• Continuous friction has resulted in the rise of the New Chinese Commonwealth - essentially a somewhat backward state who is at war with Dainippon..
• Democracy is pretty much gone - most nations are either military juntas (Brazil), oligarchies (China, Poland, ), theocracies (California and Syria) or absolute monarchies
• Russia has lost most of its national character thanks to the Fall. While it retains some of its units, it is more likely to rely on the use of Central Asian cavalrymen to do its bidding.

• Technology is gradually picking up, but peace and stability have meant that military technology has stagnated somewhat, because most nations are interested only in recolonisation and recovery, not attacking one another, many of the inventions of past years, so military technology is somewhat backward, because there are easier pickings.
• Most of the modern French and British empires were reconstituted, but they are more interested in redeveloping North America and Europe, not Africa.
• Egypt is the most powerful faction in Africa and all of the Islamic world, with control over Libya and Sudan, and allied with the Saudis and the Ethiopians
• A power struggle has broken the Caliphate into several parts, Caliphal Syria (linked to Russia), Persia (Britain), and the Saudi Emirate (Egypt).
• Africa is still underdeveloped but the British, Egyptians and French have made gains in West Africa, so that leaves central Africa open. So while Egypt is a very powerful and modern nation, other nations like Kongo and Somalia are still dirt poor although they have mastered the ability to build rudimentary balloons. Europeans control most of the coast except for Somalia, Ethiopia and littorial Central Africa.
• Air travel has become more prominent, global empire is based on treaties not conquest. The British are liked by most nations, especially by Chile and all African nations save Somalia and Egypt, but there is near-continuous conflict between them, Russia, and Dainippon and their buffer states.
• Japan has expanded into Alaska, the British ialong the American seaboard
• The sahara has greened slightly, so African nations aren't too bad - there is more savanna than desert in the northernmost fringes of North Africa.

So how does the mod work?

Mechanise it all -- move away from steam to oil.

Wonders?

• Replace Escorial with Sydney Opera House.
• Long Lines Building replaces the Eiffel Tower
• Imperial Airways to replace Liberty
• Replace Versailles with the Doree building
• Replace Crystal Palace with Australian Royal Exhibition Building
• Replace Leipzig Monument with Rajaibi Clock Tower

Sources

• Shikari: https://archive.bookfrom.net/harry-turtledove-s-m/page,8,254787-worlds_that_werent.html
• Peshawar: https://archive.bookfrom.net/s-m-stirling/309205-the_peshawar_lancers.html