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No no no. To reach his level of misfortune you need to play exceptionally well as town first (let's assume that might be already completed if you actually blocked both scum from NKs) Then you need to come up with a delierate plan on how to ruin scum once and for all. Bonus points: if it involves heavy cooperation of several people. Then you need to sacrifice your life willingly for the cause of the town while doing said plan. Then everything backfires horribly in most unpredictable way because RNG (might need FRAYDO for that). And then some time later in the game you will be moved to scum when they are already hopelessly losing. Bonus points: eventually it will turn out YOU were the last scum/town-hostile player all along and the last X game days didn't ever happen. Now that I wrote is all down, damn that Jeod's "loss" looks absolutely ridiculous. XD Brings me back to that idea of having mafia achievements. This HAS TO be one of them.

In continuance of my (now fixed) discovery of terrain in CanyonRiver; Was I supposed to be able to get here? It doesn't really provide any tactical usage, sadly, but it didn't feel very intentional. Looks like I can see some end-map glitches? On that note, guess the map

Russians understand these things.

Off topic, but we have a really good topic on the matter in the C&C section of this forum. I've done some major analysis there, including the fact that in game cut scenes actually use a map that doesn't fit any time period IRL, which are completely different from the mission select maps.

I like that Orange, despite being found hostile and outright jailed, still has a 5% chance of being Town. Like maybe you jailed the wrong person.

What's left of him, anyway, with the way you go around bashing people on the head.

Hey guys. Hope no one minds me bumping this. I'm an old player, but haven't played in years, just now back on the forums after all this time. It looks like once previously someone came back in with more to add, so I don't feel like i'm sticking my neck out too far. Also, this is a loooooong post, so please bear with me, and I thank in advance anyone who actually reads all of it. The backstory and historical timeline of RA is something I've thought about a lot, in part because I once wanted to do a mod for a Paradox game way back when that would have introduced the setting (that got derailed because some people were upset we didn't have the mod finished within 3 days of starting work, but that's another story). Below I'll present my general thoughts on the matter. There are many similarities to what's been said, but I've made a few base premise assumptions that go in radically different directions, which then come back to something pretty close to the other ideas anyway. I'm not suggesting the other theories are more or less valid than mine, but I think this might bring a different perspective to the table. First Premise: I do not treat the national borders on the mission select screen as accurate. A radical idea maybe, though some have before mentioned why they are problematic. I am not throwing them out arbitrarily or without a source for replacement, though. I believe that the 'modern day' borders were added to keep things simple/for players that might not know much history, and that alternative borders were planned. There's a bit of evidence for this in one of the cutscenes. I don't have a link to it directly, but helpfully, the map is a background to this posting of one of the music files: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkREUDqb5C0 Note 1939-esque Germany, the existence of Poland at 1939 borders (importantly without Soviet claims), but the annexation of the Baltic States (and many other things). This is not a map from our timeline, as Poland was settled before the Soviets took over the Baltics, so it's not as if Westwood just grabbed a random map from right before WW2 broke out either. From this I can only conclude that at the start of the war in RA the borders were not either our timeline's pre-WW2 nor are they the modern borders plus Soviet Union as seen between missions. Something particularly important to note is Germany's annexation of Czech areas, but an independent Slovakia. This would fit well with how the starting mission select map splits Czechoslovakia between Allied and Soviet. I'll talk more about that later, but I think it might be a tiny bit more evidence for this premise. Second Premise: The Pacific War happened. I simply can't disregard the Arizona memorial in RA2. If you choose to do so I think that's a valid choice, but it's just not a choice I feel could ever jive with the timeline as I see it. However, I think I've found a way for it to fit in so it enhances the overall timeline too, so while I might seem hypocritical for insisting on adherence to this point in light of my disregard for the mission select map, there are other merits of the Pacific War's inclusion (though I'll also opine that in the case of conflicting information in that case either is valid. There isn't a case of the Arizona Memorial *not* existing to counter in this case). From here, I can now lay out the framework for the timeline as I see it. I have two other main points, but they don't affect the creation of the timeline directly. Specifically, I remember an old line from an interview that said Soviet Victory followed by a collapse/retraction after Stalin's death leads to TD, while an Allied victory leads to RA2. That's not the focus of this, however. The second point is that I'm specifically not assuming economic conditions followed the same pattern as they did in real life. Specifically, I'm going to argue that in RA the Great Depression did a double dip. The thing to note is that this isn't something caused directly by human actors in the timeline, but rather something that just happens that helps lead to RA. It's possible, all other things being equal in the timeline, that the economy does not do what I lay out, but in that case we get something other than RA. Possible alternative plausible outcomes, just not the outcome we care about. ----- So the basic setup is obvious. Einstein kills Hitler, etc. Despite focus being put in later installments on the Aliens being democratic, I think a right-wing autocratic party still comes to power in Germany, but definitely not of the Nazi bent. I think this is something that's often postulated by other people working with RA. For my purposes, the Wiemar structure survives in Germany and eventually a Right-Center Right coalition gains power long enough to reform the system to something a bit more stable. Stability eventually comes, not necessarily through any political action but simply the global economy rebounding. That is, until about 1938 or so, when the economy takes another massive nose dive. In our timeline there was a recession in 1937. Due to WW2 it's kind of forgotten now, and overall was a small speedbump due to the war, but the way economies worked back then that was basically right about on schedule. In my proposed RA timeline, delay that slightly and make it much worse and you have some good ingredients for a second round of chaos. In Europe everyone's hard hit, and while some countries like Germany, France, and the Soviet Union perhaps started rattling sabers again, the economic crash puts a damper on such thoughts outside the Soviet Sphere (due to a lack of diplomatic relations and trade, the Soviets were actually somewhat isolated from the global ebb in our timeline). Austria gets desperate and the idea of a unified Germany (which wasn't a new idea by any means) goes through, with France and the UK not wanting to protest too much seeing as they're hardly in good shape at the time. Considering 1938 was the year for that in our time line that shouldn't be too controversial a postulate, but here the driving factor is the economic situation rather than overt German expansion. The German leadership does get emboldened by this, however. The issues with Czechoslovakia go down similar to our timeline as well, except with the less extreme faction in control, appeasement actually kinda works. Over the next few years Germany gets a free hand to reshape Central Europe in return for a repeated assurance that there will be no more claim on Alsace in France and a guarantee that Poland will not be invaded, plus support if the Soviets invade Poland. Both France and Britain are more than happy to be able to focus internally on the economy and on dealing with unrest in the colonies, which is higher than in our timeline, in part due to the economy, and in part due to less international tension giving colonial powers an way to divert attention. With most powers turned inward, Italy never annexes Albania, either. Calls for Indian independence are much louder, and eventually most powers have to start work on agreements that will give eventual independence to their holdings, though not for a decade or two. The whole situation is rather reminiscent of how Irish independence went, at least in some locations, though for a time colonial powers try and promote a "commonwealth doctrine", aiming for outcomes closer to Canada instead. Overall the level of military build up is lower than in our timeline, save for the Soviet Union. The Soviets still carry out much of what they did in our timeline 1939-1940. The Baltic States are annexed, though a bit slower than happened in real life. The Winter War still happens, with the Soviets getting bogged down more than expected. Without international attention, though, the Soviets go further and install a puppet regime at the war's end, though considering what could have happened some are consoled by the fact that it wasn't full annexation. The map I referenced shows that Romania got a terrible deal as happened in our timeline, but without imminent war between the big blocs they might have gotten the shaft even harder in the RA timeline. Rather than join Germany against the Soviet Union, they could be left to hang out to dry when the Soviets retook the area that's modern day Moldova, with a puppet government installed in Romania proper after that war for good measure. That would explain Romania and Finland being in the Soviet camp at the start of the game. The other's I'll explain after shifting to the US and the Pacific for a moment. In this scenario so far, the US is weaker, both economically and militarily, than it was in our timeline. The 1938 Recession likely was a pretty big blow, probably enough to unseat whoever was President at the time in 1940 (not saying it was FDR, but not saying it wasn't. Given FDR's history, too, he might have simply not ran for a third term). America is still feeling very isolationist. There is no war in Europe to look to, and while tension in the Pacific over Japanese expansion (similar to our timeline) are rising, it doesn't get most people as wary as the threat of Germany did in our timeline. The US military of RA's 1941 would probably look a lot closer to our timelines' Great Depression era military than our timeline's 1941. This is what would give Japan enough courage to attack Pearl Harbor still, the fact that they would have a much much greater headstart over the US than in our timeline. I wouldn't mark the attack at Dec 7 still, because that's too big a coincidence, but I'd still aim for 1941. This is combined with a Molotov-Ribbentrop style deal between the Soviets and Japan (sadly I can't recall who the correct Japanese official would be at this time). In my proposed timeline so far the Soviet gains were not done with German support, but didn't cause enough tension for war, so this would be the equivalent deal to our timeline here. The Japanese goal wasn't directly rule over all of China, so there was room for some deal making. Perhaps a formal agreement over Sakhalin, formal recognition that Mongolia was in the Soviet Sphere, and Soviet (diplomatic) support for Japanese actions in Manchuria and further South in exchange for Japanese support of a Soviet invasion of Western China, obstinately to support the CCP in whatever the eventual 'endgame' was supposed to be for China. However, the Japanese plan would not come to fruition. Though initially much worse off than historically, the US manages to come back and defeat Japan without the distraction of Germany. It takes awhile to wind up, but the massive war economy from our timeline, while maybe not quite as big, does eventually develop. The Pacific War ends through direct invasion of the Japanese islands. This is important for two reasons. One: The casualties suffered make the United States VERY hesitant to join in the later European War. They must also deal with governing Japan, though to be fair they'd have to do that through other surrender methods as well. Two: The US military machine now has a maaaaasive surplus of war material. Despite not wanting boots on the ground in Europe, this stuff is just laying around and easily sold to the Allies when World War Two with the Soviets starts. German, French, and British manpower, but a Pacific War surplus gun in every hand and a Pacific War surplus chopper or two guarding every Allied base. That longbow you just ordered might have seen action on Iwo Jima. The Soviets also likely stepped in at the end to grab Manchuria and maybe North Korea. South Korea is under America jurisdiction IMO, due to RA2 factors, but Stalin definitely took a few more bites from China. This all occurs in early 1945 by my estimation, to give time for the events of WW2 proper to start in 1946. Confident that America is too busy to do anything and with Japan defeated, the Soviets can turn their attention back to Europe, letting the resumed Chinese Civil War play out mostly to its own devices. The CCP likely starts 1946 with a much stronger position than in our timeline, but the level of support for the KMT is an order of magnitude higher, both from the Allies and from an America that may be tired but is also very concerned about Soviet actions. This might catch the Soviets offguard in the end when they realize they failed to give the CCP enough support to actually finish the job. Therefore, to sum the Asian Theater during WW2, the Chinese Civil War is concurrent with the Soviet invasion of Europe and being used as a proxy, but direct involvement of any power is rare. Now back to Europe. In my timeline, Allied or Soviet Mission 1 is NOT the start of WW2. Mission 1 takes place around March of 1946. In late 1945 the Soviets start their actual invasion, invading Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. The Soviet strategy at first is simple. They are going to go for a direct knockout punch by taking out Greater Germany. However, they were concerned that they wouldn't be able to take on Germany one for one while also having to trample these border countries. Therefore they make use of the very last of suitable fall campaign season and spend the winter fortifying their supply lines. They also hope the attack into Hungary will draw troops away from Germany. It's basically a forceful feint. Then, when spring comes again, they can attack right from these forward staging grounds and take Germany quickly. Soviet Mission 1 takes place during this winter. Poland isn't Soviet aligned, it's Soviet occupied. Stalin probably doesn't need much reason to wipe out that village, but I feel it makes even more sense this way too. For the Allies part, they're in no way shape or form ready to go toe to toe with the Soviets. They need time to mobilize, time to get their own economies into gear, and time for Lend-Lease to arrive. The winter of 1945-1946 could be considered just like the "Phony War" of our WW2. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoney_War) I like this in the context of Soviet Mission 2, which has an interesting cutscene. I've heard some call it a false flag to give the Soviets a reason to declare war, but in my mind the war was already on and this was the German attempt to either gain the initiative or to slow down the Soviet move they knew was coming. The real question in this case is what happens to East Prussia. Given the fact the Czechoslovakia is cut in half on the mission select image, and I argue that in this timeline that country does not exist, but is instead split between Germany and a puppet Slovakia, I'd further wager that the Soviets limited their invasion over the winter of 45-46 to outside of Germany's borders, to avoid 'provoking' Germany. This may sound like a weird idea, given that war had already come, but perhaps up until the actual invasion of Germany the domestic support for the war in Allied nations was not high, and the Soviets were hoping to capitalize on that as a slight advantage. Maybe the big Allied nations wouldn't gear up their economy fully, or wouldn't send many troops as long as their invasion was contained in the buffer zone countries. After all, as I said above, appeasement seemed to work with Germany, maybe it'd work with the Soviets as well? Sure, the Soviets wanted to go further, but why not let the Allies dither a bit longer if they were willing. And that takes us up to Mission 1, which is really as far as I need to go. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I'd be interested to hear other thoughts. As far as events go I think this works pretty well, but I'll admit to a few holes, including the fact that I don't really explain how technology advanced faster than real life. Perhaps the 38 depression led militaries to go for quality over quantity in the West? Kind of a weak answer, but eh, better than nothing. Thanks again!