Caribbean Sea Region in the Year 2000

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Maybe a border war, involving land, air, and naval elements, between Columbia and Venezuela?

How about a Spetznaz team detonating a nuclear demolition charge aboard a neutral-flagged merchantman transiting one of the major locks on the Panama Canal? It's got more flare than the standard ICBM or SLBM.

Although it's arguably right outside the Caribbean region, IIRC, there's a French rocket-launching facility in French Guyana. There's an adventure there, somewhere.

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Guiana Space Center, near Kourou, French Guiana. Depending on how things were changed by the continuing existence of the USSR, existing facilities in 2000 might include:

ELA-1: Ariane 1, 2, and 3. In our timeline, deactivated in 1989, then modified from 2001-2012 to launch Vega rockets (which it's still used for).

ELA-2: Ariane 4. Deactivated in 2003, so should be active no matter what in a T2K timeline unless it's been destroyed.

ELA-3: Ariane 5. First used in 1996.

The existing ELS facility and the under-construction ELA-4 facility wouldn't exist, since France would not be launching Soyuz rockets and Ariane 6 doesn't exist yet.

Note that a regiment of the French Foreign Legion is stationed in French Guiana (the 3eme), and space center security is one of their missions (usually occupying 2-3 of their 5 companies whenever rocket material is on site).

[Olefin]

Several things we know from the modules

Grenada - occupied by a stranded Cuban unit and also having New America building a pirate fleet nearby in the early fall of 1999 - thus the player's actions may have changed that a lot by 2000

Aruba - seen as a prize to be raided by the pirate fleet - thus most likely still has an operational oil refinery and some oil supplies in 2000

Venezuela - per canon it was nuked either by the US or the Soviets in 1997

Panama Canal - most likely still operational and occupied by remnant US forces in the V1 timeline - and got me in the V2 - i.e. in the V1 timeline it was still operational and still under US control in March of 1999 long after the nuclear phase of the war is over - the 2nd edition does not mention the canal

Cuba - 2nd edition says their ports and oil processing facilities were the subject of military action - which could have been nuclear or conventional

Trinidad and Tobago arent specifically mentioned but most likely the oil centers got hit for sure

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Olefin

Panama Canal - most likely still operational and occupied by remnant US forces in the V1 timeline - and got me in the V2 - i.e. in the V1 timeline it was still operational and still under US control in March of 1999 long after the nuclear phase of the war is over - the 2nd edition does not mention the canal

Where is that mentioned in 1st ed?

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Where is that mentioned in 1st ed?

Panama Canal being operational is in Satellite Down - the Virginia and her task force are heading for the Canal - ordered to go thru it by the USN - in March of 1999 - on the way there is when they encounter the Soviet task force of destroyers and get in the battle with them - the USN wouldnt have ordered them to use the Canal if it wasnt operational

given the date that means that it was past the nuclear phase of the war - i.e. the nukes that hit the US were in late 1997 to early 1998 - so we have canon that the Canal was still in operation by March of 1999 - thus most likely still operational in 2000 - no idea if still operational by April of 2001 which is the latest canon date - but this thread only states year 2000

[Olefin]

keep in mind that there could be a big difference between a V1 and a V2.2 game due to the timeline differences as to Panama- i.e. what the US might have deployed in Panama given the Cold War never ends versus the V2.2 timeline

also the other big question - i.e. do all the events of the V1 timeline as to modules occur in V2.2? There are big differences between the two - you only have to look at the descriptions of France and Japan and Vietnam to see that its not exactly the same between the two of them

[Raellus]

First off, the v2.2 timeline is revisionist garbage. Stick to the alternative history timeline of v1.0.

Second, damage to a stretch of canal from a relatively small-yield nuclear demolition charge could be repaired, so the Spetznaz attack that I proposed could have been carried out sometime between 1997-'98 and still have been repaired by the events of Satellite Down.

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Raellus

First off, the v2.2 timeline is revisionist garbage. Stick to the alternative history timeline of v1.0.

Second, damage to a stretch of canal from a relatively small-yield nuclear demolition charge could be repaired, so the Spetznaz attack that I proposed could have been carried out sometime between 1997-'98 and still have been repaired by the events of Satellite Down.

as to V2.2 - completely agree - big time

as to second point - heck yes - and in fact that could have been a factor in why the Soviets managed to get an invasion force into Alaska - i.e. the fact that with the canal damaged at that time the USN couldnt move units to the Pacific easily and had to do it the hard way - i.e. all the way around South America