Phases of the Twilight War
Note: This is my take and it's not the usual one. I'm not pushing my program but rather throwing this out here for anyone that might find it useful.
By definition the Twilight War is unlike any other. It goes from a state-of-the-art modern peer-to-peer conflict using all weapons possible and winds down to gangs of soldiers wandering around scavenging food and gear. There may well be phases beyond this that simply don't bear thinking about.
The reason this is important as not only will the whole concept of operations change but it will also strongly reflect the legacy equipment left around, something that impacts strongly on the game. In The Second World War Nazi Germany came up with a bewildering array of "Last Ditch" equipment that ranged from the technically advanced to the medieval. There may well be other things sometimes touched on in the game like the M16EZ, that are sprinkled in the campaign.
Some of these phases will not happen everywhere at the same time.
Note: This uses the 1st Edition timeline. (In this the Chinese start a war with the USSR and the West joins in later).
Phase One: Preceding 1995.
The March to War
This is just before the war and it's worth having because otherwise things get left out.
The history states "after a period of increasing tensions". In this stage every future belligerent nation takes stock of the unfolding situation. The USSR and the PRC have switched to full wartime economies. The West has several options but it's likely that every military of the time will defer destroying obsolescent equipment. I place this around 1987+. Plans will be created to have in place systems to rapidly restore "boneyard" and "mothball" equipment however the systems themselves will not be created but rather serious preparations for them. Military expenditure while be increased but not significantly. R&D projects will be increased. Observers will watch the fighting and note technical and doctrinal lessons being learned. Plans will be created for the TO&E of legacy units.
Game effects.
Larger numbers of pre-war equipment will be created. Some gear that is historically from post 1995 will be fast-tracked and will appear in the game earlier.
Phase Two: 1995
Eastern Engagement
The Warsaw Pact and the PRC are now serious and it's now that their modern equipment starts pouring out. The USSR starts creation in the large scale that post-Cold War history associates only with elite units: body armour, night vision gear, squad communications.
NATO starts creating large stocks of modern gear that will be shipped to the PRC next year.
Game Effects:
Apart from a higher level of equipment it is as can be expected.
Phase Three: 1996
The West gets involved.
At this point the West starts arming the PRC (who then shamelessly reverse-engineers most of it) and in a strange reversal of what has happened in the Middle East the Warsaw Pact encounters NATO equipment used by poorly-trained but enthusiastic troops. Large amounts of it are captured and shipped back for examination and the WarPact are appalled at the level of connectivity involved in these modern systems. Crash programs reverse-engineer these in an effort to incorporate them into Soviet equipment and doctrine and these are then tested against the Chinese. (Note that at this time Albania is a Chinese ally flanked by hostile nations. This does not bode well for their future in Europe)
NATO also gets direct doctrinal information on state-of-the-art WarPact gear and the rising level of experience in the Eastern European armies as they get blooded.
Game Effects:
Some late 1990s equipment is already in place due to the experience from the preceding year. I would go so far as to make gear from 2000 to 2005-ish available.
Phase Four: 1997
It All Goes South
In this part Germany partly reunifies and the Western Front opens up.
With the fighting in Germany and the US drive into Poland the fresh but un-blooded NATO troops meet Polish and Russian forces in Poland. These troops have been cycled through the Chinese Theatre and are hardened and experienced in manouevre to the extent NATO does not expect. At this point every nation on the planet starts rearming as fast as they can if they are not already well down that path. With two year's experience on the nature of the fighting advanced systems are created and shipped to the general conflict in Europe. I'm not averse to early 2000s gear appearing here, war is a huge accelerator of technology and this is largely ignored by the canon. Notably the city-fighting means you'll see things like TUSK upgrades for M1s and similar vehicles appear on all sides.
Those programs to rebuild and restore mothballed equipment swing into action. As it's bleedingly obvious that This Is It the West's total manufacturing starts churning out top-of-the-line munitions while also refurbishing everything and anything.
Game Effects:
Out-of-period equipment is put into production. Things such as weapon optics and rails become common. Legacy gear is rebuilt and upgraded to modern standards, if not for Western Theatre use then for holding the line elsewhere and to supply allied nations. All the peripheral builders of proposed but not accepted equipment also swing into action resulting in much of the small-scale stuff sold to minor countries appearing in larger quantities.
Phase Five: 1998
Is Everyone Having Fun?
This where we have a lot of to-and-froing and then it all happens as the nuclear strikes hit first tactically and strategically. Industry is smashed and if you were working in a tank factory you became reduced to hot plasma.
Only well-hidden, and rarely then, industry survives. Dispersed equipment stocks are used. The bulk of governmental effort goes into disaster relief.
Game Effects:
Production ceases. It's "make do with what you have".
Phase Five: 1999+
What Do We Do Now?
The war continues for some unknown reason, probably because no one tells everyone to stop. This is where the run-down of gear starts in earnest and quickly things like ATGMs start to dry up as they are used out-of-doctrine to hit anything that looks "blowupable". This phase I usually call "The Missile Drought" as the top of the line munitions are expended.
However, the military units are still in business and now the civilian sector (their reason for being) are ash they take over production. It's at this time we see things like rechargeable batteries and low-tech solutions being built in restored factories. The focus is on sustaining the gear they have and not creating new answers. Lower tech solutions are grafted onto high-tech equipment.
Game Effects:
It is here the GM gets a chance to shine. Repurposed and add-on equipment starts to diffuse out to the troops. Also, second-line gear kept in depots replace things like optics that are no longer produced so those Aimpoints start to disappear. Some vehicles are turned into Frankensteins as old systems are shoehorned in to replace newer, destroyed ones. We have to be careful here as older systems are invariably larger, bulkier and heavier and may not fit. It might be common to see armoured boxes welded onto the exteriors of vehicles to mount extraneous systems. Really, by the time the players get a hold of it nothing is standard. It will probably have been upgraded and then part of that in return downgraded, making for some truly unique kit.
Very advanced gear will tend to be more worn out usually as it served longer unless it's been lying under rubble for a few years. An M60A5 with a 120mm gun jammed in but all the MGs are Browning M37s isn't unusual. Maybe it only has a thermal camera for the TC but not the gunner.
Note that autocannon barrels get shot-out faster and it will be common to see worn-out cannons, especially on the more modern ones as they were in combat service longer.
Towed artillery might make a comeback. As the SPGs wear out their weapons might be removed and new mounts created or old mounts repurposed. This goes for any gun-carry vehicle.
Specialist vehicles are going to be repurposed as fighting vehicles. Having an armoured radar vehicle is pointless as is a command post vehicle if it can be used for other stuff. Some turrets can drop in on surprising vehicles or you can simply plonk a weapon on top as the much-loved ZSU-23mm gun has been everywhere. Divisional workshops are the focus of this but it gets steadily more dispersed as the units break up.
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