Twilight:2020

[Panther Al]

While back I was flipping through the various books and bemoaning the lack of some of the newer stuff out there: P90's, CV90's, and various other items. Then I recalled the little fracus in Georgia (the country) and it got me to thinking. This could be a new POD for a newer timeline including all those neat guns and tanks we all know and love. Has anyone else (other than 2013) played with a new timeline like this and based it off of the V2.2 rules?

[Panther Al]

Doing some serious thread necromancy.. <<<zombie thread!!!>>>

Did some more thinking on the whole idea, and basing off of the odds and sods I have been able to play over the past few years, and some back and forth here and via PM with various members, I present the latest rough - very rough - draft of the concepts behind the idea. So here I present some rough notes on the lead up. By all means point things out, make comments, point and laugh, whatever...


Twilight 2020 timeline rough notes.

War starts in 2016. TDM happens thanksgiving 2017. 2018 is mostly static, as military units wind up focusing on securing their positions, limited goal offenses to secure and shorten their lines. 2019 gets back to the game, summer season last season of ‘traditional’ offenses as supply reserves get milked dry.

In 2014 buildup to war begins, primarily due to Russian aggression in the region of Georgia, but since Georgia managed to join NATO in 2013, it’s avoided being invaded for now, but its position isn’t very good. Georgia uses funds from the remnants of NATO – itself having suffered defections out of the treaty organization, to rearm, mostly with cast off German Equipment that has been upgraded – namely Leopard 1’s and its associated vehicles such as the Gepard, Biber, and the ARV and AEV as well as the Marder APC, also upgraded with a 35mm Cannon that matches the ones mounted on the Gepard. But they are far from the only ones rearming. The NATO nations stop the cuts that have been widespread over the past 4 years, and start to quietly spend money on existing equipment to bring them all up to snuff while funding development of newer items. Non Aligned countries perhaps are the biggest buyers in the rearming market, and with US and Russian factories being used to supply themselves and key allies, it’s the secondary arms countries: Germany, Sweden, the UK, and Israel who become the arms factories to the world. Naturally enough, its these countries who recover the fastest from the lingering aftereffects of the great recession, being that they tend to sell military equipment to anyone that has money in hand and isn’t totally against the west. Its China that makes its big play, selling its arms to everyone that can’t afford western gear or who the west doesn’t want to sell to. Russia and the US isn’t out of the market, but they are dwarfed by the efforts of the other big 5 sellers.


The Baltics by and large have become the exclusive market for the Swedish Arms industry, led by their CV90 family, though the Germans own the Tank market here as well as nearly in toto throughout Europe. The exception to that proves to be Romania who went French in a big way. The UK proves to be popular in the Middle East, with Israel proving to be a surprise at selling remarkable numbers of Merkava’s here and there throughout the world (the biggest surprise was one that shocked the Germans to no end: When Denmark looked to form an armored Battalion everyone thought they was going back to Leopards, but they wound up buying Merkava IV’s) but their sales focus more on small arms, aircraft upgrades, and electronics. Israel’s F16I Sufa upgrade becomes very popular by most users of the F16 after the Israeli airstrikes on Iranian Nuclear targets, and in a way, gives the airframe a new lease on life by increasing the orders for new production

In the US, the 2012 Elections prove to be a surprise to many, That while some pundits felt that Obama would lose, the surprise was that an independent and not a republican managed to win election for the first time, mostly by courting those that felt that neither party had any interest in the quiet majority – and the fact that he proved to throw the old political conventions out the window (The first debate that President Eaton was in had to be tape delayed to clean up his language). This sincerity, and his background (A former Cavalry Sergeant that came from nowhere, and only was able to make a run in the first place was due to buying the right lottery ticket – he was fulfilling the dreams of most Americans, and they loved him for it) allowed him to get just enough support in the right places to squeak into victory. Once there he had a mess on his hands: He didn’t have a lot of support from either party, but his popularity, and pragmatic ability to make a deal allowed his first two years to go well for him. With the recovery of the international marketplace, and the corresponding increase in revenues, he was able to push back against the weakening of the military, but only a little at first. One of the things that got a lot of attention, both bad and good depending on who was asked, was the fact that he stuck more than just a thumb into army: He pushed hard, and made enough of a pain of himself that a deal was struck between the Army brass and him that he would get his ACR’s back the way he felt was best (At this point Swedish workers building CV90’s became very very big fans of him) and he would back off a lot. And for the most part he kept his deal: The naming of the M73 was one way the brass made sure of it. With the buildups starting in late 13, and primarily 2014, the economy really started ticking, first by exports, and then as the situation overseas started getting really dicey, the military started beefing up in a big way (For the most part, by the time 2016 rolled along and the war started the Stryker was primarily relegated to equipping ANG and USAR units, with only 3 Stryker Brigades left on active service – though these was made of the more capable Stryker III), and this resurgent manufacturing dragged the economy far enough up that he won his reelection campaign, though it was far closer than the first. Its this rebuilding of the US Military that keeps US industry from being as heavily invested in the international arms market as they would hope, though they are present.

With the exception of the ACR’s (By the time the war started there was 5, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 11th, and the 14th) the mix of armoured vehicles in the US Army wasn’t much different that in 2010: Bradleys and Abrams are the mainstays, though all the Brads both in service and in storage have been upgraded to A3’s at the least, and all the M1’s have been given both the A2SEP upgrade as well as the TUSK kit modifications. Only the Marines still uses the M1A1, though they have been upgraded with all the features of the SEP save for the CITV. The real big change to what those who looked back to the first decade of the millennium saw in the makeup of the army was the one of the times where the President stepped - if not over the line, real close to it - over the unofficial deal with the military. In 2014, The US Air Force once more started its perennial efforts to cease its CAS functions by removing the A10 from service. While this time the case was stronger than usual as the airframe was getting more than a little long in the tooth, it was felt as a violation of the Key West Accords. In an effort to cease the bickering and such that was causing no end of trouble for everyone, the president signed an executive order saying that the US Air Force was no longer responsible for CAS - And that the Army was. In addition, to support the new role Army Aviation had to handle, all A-10's, and all supporting elements was transferred to US Army Control. Once more, the Army had fixed wing aviation - and given a budget boost to support it. The rearming of the Army was finally well along by the time President Eaton's second term was finished - the rebuilt ACR's with the heavy emphasis on commonality of supply from ammo to bolts was showing to be as good, if not better, than Eaton said it would, and even the generals had to agree that some of the lessons learned in the ACR's could be adopted throughout the army - which led to problems once the war began and logistics began to fall apart. Trying to supply the right ammo at times became a serious problem: only thing that saved many units was supply officers who made sure that uppers in the old calibre (5.56) was tucked away instead of scrapped as they was replaced with the 6.8 uppers.

[copeab]

The thread title made me think it was a cross between Twilight 2000 and Cybperpunk 2020

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by copeab

The thread title made me think it was a cross between Twilight 2000 and Cybperpunk 2020

If you chose the "all night, every night and your partner will never know the difference" opition....I'm calling in a orbital strike on your location!

[95th Rifleman]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

If you chose the "all night, every night and your partner will never know the difference" opition....I'm calling in a orbital strike on your location!

Happy memories.

Had a full body borg outfitted as a hooker. Male and female bodies for full customer satifaction (the third hermathrodite body never got built unfortunately.

I bankrolled our team with that set up and did a sideline in covert runs using a spider. My humanity was crap but it was worth it.

[dragoon500ly]

It was a fun game!