Keep in mind that all of this is still a work in progress, and things will change. But this is also the time to provide feedback and suggestions so that they might end up in the game
We know that the Balance of Power (BoP) more or less seems to be tailor-made for Japan and its inter-service rivalry between the Army and the Navy (the rivalry ran so deep that the Army had its own little navy, and the Navy had its own little army, and neither side communicated properly with the other one), but we have decided to not use that system. We’ve instead chosen to build a brand new system from the ground up to better reflect the chaotic political situation in Japan during this time period:
The Imperial Influence doubles as both the BoP between the Army and Navy, while also allowing the Zaibatsu (large industrial conglomerates) and the Civilian Government to enter the fray and fight for the chance to influence the Emperor. Each Faction will have unique advantages and disadvantages, and they will rise and fall depending on Focuses you take, or Demands you either succeed in fulfilling or not.
Some Focuses will require a specific Faction to have a certain level of Influence for you to be able to complete it, while other focuses will get better outcomes depending on a Faction’s standing. All in all, there are four levels of Influence: Subdued, Meddling, Influential, and Dominating
Having talked about the Imperial Influence, I think it’s time to move on to the starting political beat and how to lead into historical and alt-historical political paths.
The political tree starts with the Kodoha preparing for their attempted coup d’etat, in order to replace the decadent government and return to Japanese tradition. Before they can do this however, one of their leaders needs to be let out of house arrest while his trial is happening, giving you a small buffer to prepare.
When the coup fires, the outcome you choose affects which path you go down, automatically completing the first choice of mutually exclusive political focuses, leading you down the historical, Kodoha or anti-military (which later becomes democratic or communist) paths, which all start out as locked until the attempted coup occurs.
Oh and that all is not to mention, you don’t start out as fascist when playing Japan anymore. Now instead, you are non-aligned, with prime minister Keisuke Okada at the helm. Japan will now instead become the fascist ideology when completing the focus “The Imperial Rule Assistance Association”, which will solidify totalitarian control over Japanese society, and allow for solving the stability issues the nation will now face at the start of the game, being the most unstable of all the starting major countries, due to their heavily tumultuous internal situation.
Another change for Japan is that now, instead of always having full control of when or even if to go into China, they depending on the branch they are going down might have to start a war whether they like it or not, as the Kwantung Army is always seeking new opportunities to expand their zone of control. This means that, though you can choose to delay or start it early, historical Japan cannot avoid an oncoming conflict with China.
Similarly, the navy might get some ideas once they are strong enough and give you demands of territorial expansion.
This all plays into the feeling that the Japanese politicians had historically, where the various elements within the nation all had different aspirations, and would stop at little to get their wishes fulfilled.
You do however have more options than before, as both the Northern and Southern Strike Doctrines are available to both the historical and Kodoha branches through their shared foreign politics branch. They do still have requirements of their own, such as the army or navy being stronger than a certain amount, or a certain amount of time having gone by between having started the branches, so there are still situations where doing both won’t be feasible, as was the case historically.
And with that, that’s all for now. We have talked about some of the fundamental changes that await Japan, but now it’s your turn to tell us what you think, and we’re looking forward to hearing your feedback. Matane! (see ya!)
