Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

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Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

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Macedonia – Macedonians, not Greeks.

Current region known as Republika Makedonija
Macedonia gained its independence peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece's objection to the new state's use of what it considered a Hellenic name and symbols delayed international recognition, which occurred under the provisional designation of "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia." In 1995, Greece lifted a 20-month trade embargo and the two countries agreed to normalize relations, but the issue of the name remained unresolved and negotiations for a solution are ongoing. Since 2004, the US and over 130 other nations have recognized Macedonia by its constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia. Ethnic Albanian grievances over perceived political and economic inequities escalated into an insurgency in 2001 that eventually led to the internationally brokered Ohrid Framework Agreement, which ended the fighting and established guidelines for constitutional amendments and the creation of new laws that enhanced the rights of minorities. Although Macedonia became an EU candidate in 2005, the country still faces challenges, including fully implementing the Framework Agreement, improving relations with Bulgaria, carrying out democratic reforms, and stimulating economic growth and development. Macedonia's membership in NATO was blocked by Greece at the Alliance's Summit of Bucharest in 2008.


May 20, 2014
SKOPJE, Macedonia – Macedonian police say they have detained 18 people following overnight riots in the country's capital of Skopje sparked by the fatal stabbing of an ethnic Macedonian teenager by a bicycle thief.
Hundreds took to the streets in an ethnic Macedonian suburb of Skopje late Monday after media reported that police were holding a member of the country's ethnic Albanian minority as a suspect.
Police said only that they had arrested a 19-year-old suspect for the slaying.
Protesters attacked shops and cars believed to belong to ethnic Albanians, burning down at least one shop. No injuries were reported, and police restored order early Tuesday.
A quarter of Macedonia's 2.1-million people are ethnic Albanians. Ethnic tensions brought Macedonia to the brink of civil war in 2001 and inter-communal relations remain uneasy.



May 28, 2014
SKOPJE, Macedonia – Lawmakers from Macedonia's center-left opposition have resigned their seats in parliament after claiming the general elections last month were unfair.
The Social Democrats, who announced the resignations Wednesday, said they would not provide replacements for the 34 seats left vacant in the 123-member parliament or participate in special elections.
The Social Democrats suffered their fourth straight election defeat to rival conservatives in snap polls in April. They claimed Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's conservatives used government influence to interfere in election campaigning, and demanded a caretaker government be formed to hold new elections. Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party rejected the claims.
International monitors said the election was adequately run, but noted they had also received reports of campaign interference.


Dec 30, 2014
A new Political party joins the fray

Today the people of Macedonia have a new political party to choose from, Macedonia Restoration Party [MRP- Aleksandar ]. They join the following parties vying for votes;
Alliance for Positive Macedonia or APM [Ljupco ZIKOV]
Citizens Option for Macedonia or GROM [Stevco JAKIMOVSKI]
Democratic Party of Albanians or DPA [Menduh THACI]
Democratic Union for Integration or DUI [Ali AHMETI]
Dosoinstvo (Diginity) [Stojance ANGELOV]
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity or VMRO-DPMNE [Nikola GRUEVSKI]
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - People's Party or VMRO-NP [Ljubco GEORGIEVSKI]
National Democratic Revival or NDR [Rufi OSMANI]
Party for a European Future or PEI [Fijat CANOSKI]
Party for Democratic Prosperity [Abdyladi VEJSELI]
Social Democratic Union of Macedonia or SDSM [Zoran ZAEV]


Not much is known about this party yet as the only information they have disseminated is to call for “the reclamation of our ancient lands”.


July 1, 2015
SKOPJE, Macedonia
The leader of the MRP, known only as Aleksandar, has been giving speeches around the country advocating the rich history of the Macedonian peoples and calling for the restoration of its greatness. Pulling at the heartstrings of many Macedonians, his speeches instill pride and a wave of nationalism is sweeping the country.

Nov 12, 2015
NATO HQ
Boulevard Leopold III, 1110 Brussels, Belgium
Today, Greece once again blocked a vote for Macedonia to enter NATO. This has further added to the tension between Greece and Macedonia.

Mar 15, 2016
SKOPJE, Macedonia
An anti-government rally in downtown Skopje today turned violent when protestors were attacked by local security forces. Witnesses say the protest was peaceful yet determined to make the government aware that the current conditions were unacceptable. With a 15% unemployment rate and wide spread rationing, of basic products including bread and in some areas water. It is estimated some 60% of the workforce has not been paid in several months and people have resorted to bartering for basic food stuffs.

Aug 1, 2016
SKOPJE, Macedonia
Today protesters and security forces clashed after a large march in Bitola was ordered to disband. The crowd surged into the local Military HQ and briefly took control. They unfurled banners calling for the current government to step down and hold nationwide elections.

Jul 14, 2017
SKOPJE, Macedonia
Martial Law was implemented today nationwide in an attempt to suppress the growing number of rallies calling for the Government to step down. With rising unemployment and growing resentment towards Greece, the MRP’s Aleksandar has been fueling a sweeping wave of Nationalism across the lands.

Aug 28, 2018
SKOPJE, Macedonia
With wide spread riots and Security Forces strained to their limits the Government agreed to hold a National Referendum and vote in a new leader. In order to ensure an accurate vote UN inspectors were allowed at polling places. In order to have time to set up polling centers nationwide and for Inspectors to get in place the date was set for 8 September 2019.

20 Sept, 2019

The final votes have been counted and the Referendum results are in. the MRP has won a sweeping victory with 78% of the votes. MRP leader Aleksandar was quoted as saying; “Today the people of Macedon made their choice and the corrupt officials in the government heard it. Soon the world will hear it also”.
Aleksandar is slated to assume office on Jan 1, 2020.
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by number47 »

Love the prologue! Can't wait for the rest :D
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by GIJoe597 »

NOTE: I was going to spend a great deal of time on a "story" as I progressed, but there is a whole lot of time where nothing happens and I got bored, so it is presented in the "raw" as it were.



Jan 1 2020

Aleksandar assumes the leadership role and inherits a terrible economy;
Inflation -9.4% (negative)
Unemployment 30.1%
Population: 2,055,496
Debt: $5,436

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RESEARCH: Start Tech Level 88
We only have one research facility and much thought is put into which technology to research. With our geographical position and potential enemies all around, we should concentrate on defense. If we cannot survive it matters not what our long term goals are.

Large Bore Artillery Rifles – This will lead to improved artillery units to bolster our valiant garrisons.

FINANCE:
Social Spending
We want our scientists to be as knowledgeable as possible; Education Spending maxed.
Our infrastructure is crumbling, we cannot hope to rebuild our economy if trucks cannot ply the roads.
Infrastructure spending moved to max.

Taxes:
We do not move these for now.


DEFENSE:
Active Staff: 5,850
Reserves: 77,000

We have 1 Land Fabrication Facility and no Air, Sea or Missile.
Light Infantry units ordered to be constructed continuously.

PRODUCTION:

Zero Petroleum capability
Zero Metal Ore capability
Zero Uranium capability
Zero Military Goods capability
Agriculture, Water, Timber, Coal, Electricity, Consumer Goods and Industry Goods are good for now.

4 Jan 2020

After running for a few days it is clear we will be bankrupt very soon. We will have to swallow a bitter pill in order to cure the disease.
Water price locked at 200% as it is the only resource which can generate trade income at this time. We will seek closer ties with Saudi Arabia by selling them water with the goal to eventually be able to get great deals on their petroleum.

A Mid-sized Military Goods plant is ordered in Skopje. This will tax us greatly as we are already in the red, but is a must if we are to defend ourselves.
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Jan 5 2020

We initiate our first trade with Saudi, they really need Fresh Water. I am not going to post every trade for water as it is likely to be an everyday event, but this first one gives you a view of what they will pay and what our Diplomatic and Civilian Ratings are.
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Feb 8 2020

We now have a surplus of Military Goods of 28 Tons.
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The Military Goods facility needs Industry Goods to produce its product, this means we now have a deficit of Industry Goods.
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The positive side is that we no longer have to purchase Military Goods from World Market and we are now in the green on a daily basis, at least for the moment.
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We again are going to bite the bullet and order construction of an Industrial Goods plant. We have one Mid-sized plant and I was tempted to just order the Large but in the end ordered one more Mid.
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One again we are in the red. It was decided to try to sell excess Coal, we considered several countries, but I the end settled with Qatar and the UK as they offered the best prices for a set amount of coal. This will be a regular event just as our water sales are.

Jan 17 2020

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Feb 12 2020

We get our first incoming trade offer; Canada offers $320.92M Ind Goods for $519.70M. Needless to say we refuse as the requested amount is more than half our treasury.

Feb 14 2020

Domestic Approval Rating is very low, 19% and falling. We our trying to convince our people that we cannot instantly correct the years and years of problems. We look at our budget and lower Sales Tax from 25% to 20%. This should make the people slightly happier as they can afford to purchase more Consumer Goods. At the same time I will bump the Consumer Goods price up just a bit so it is win win.

Feb 15 2020
We receive three offers of Military Units. The only one that looks appealing at this time if from Belarus.
I really considered the T-80s from Pakistan but they wanted more than was in my treasury.
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Feb 16 2020

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Mar 9 2020

We are still in the green and I have stopped daily trades, treasury growing and the Ind Gds plant will complete in 6 days. I have received several offers of military units but have passed on them. Some were very good offers but we have decided to do our utmost to pay down the Debt. The monthly interest payment is a burden.

Mar 15 2020
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We now have excess of everything except Petroleum and Metal Ore.

Mar 25 2020
We make our first Bond Repayment

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Jun 2 2020
Large Bore Artillery Rifles completes. Artillery Locating Radar is added.

Jun 18 2020
We paused the Large Bore Artillery Rifles in order to research Elite Forces. These units are much stronger than Light Infantry easier to hide (higher Stealth) and require half the manpower. Bottom line, double the amount of units able to field with existing manpower, harder hitting and harder to spot.


Jun 22 2020

Today we raised our Health Care spending to suggested levels. When reviewing our population’s movement I noticed an alarming trend. When you total the Deaths and the Emigration it far out paces the Immigration and Births. We are losing people, that has to stop.
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Jul 1 2020
We made our 2nd Bond Repayment, total Debt is now $4,530m

Jul 16 2020
Now this was a VERY interesting offer. Yes it was an old model, but I had no planes at all. My treasury was sitting at $958M at this time. You better believe I paused the game and went to get a sandwich as I mulled it over.
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In the end, after about an hour, I did purchase it.

Jul 18 2020
We raised Environment, Cultural, Family, and Law Enforcement to suggested levels. All part of the plan to stop the population from leaving.

As a side note, I had been purchasing all missile offers I got. One day after buying the Flanker I got an offer of 25 RGM-84D Harpoons and could not afford them. 

Aug 12 2020
By this date, we had reversed our population flow, we were now growing.

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Sep 23 2020

Another Bond Repayment. Total Debt now: $4,077M

Oct 26 2020

Another Bond Repayment: Debt Now: $3,624M
On this date we also move the final category of Social Spending, Social Assistance, to suggested levels.

Dec 22 2020

Bond Repayment x 2 Current Debt: $2,718M

Dec 30 2020

Bond Repayment x 2. Current Debt: $1,812M

By this time I was selling water to Saudi again, but only once my stock topped 200K. I would sell 100K at a time and get approx. $375M per trade.

Dec 31 2020
Tech Level advance

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Jan 1 2021
The difference one year makes.

Inflation 10.1%
Unemployment 3.3%
Population: 2,083,118
Debt: $1,812

This coming year I am considering declaring war.
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by number47 »

What are your game settings? If you are at medium V, just wait for Serbia to attack you so you won't loose world reputation. If you are on Very High V, than you are...going to start the wars by yourself.
Good job on that Flanker! Are you going to rely on domestic designs or are you going to buy desigs from other countries at some point? Are there any wars in the Balkans right now? Ah, so many questions... :D
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by GIJoe597 »

I started this at 3 am as I could not sleep and I forgot to add the settings, sorry. I was able to modify them by pressing CNTL+SHIFT+S. Resources and Initial Funds are set to Abundant and High. I "think" I left Hot Relations at Medium as it does not show in the panel below.

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Serbia is the most belligerent nation near me.

I put some thought into purchasing designs, but came to the conclusion it did not "feel" right based on the story I have in my head. Aleksandar has a goal of reclaiming his countries lands/greatness and he has a belief that every Macedonian is better than any other nationality, as such, I do not think he would use "foreign" designs. Instead he would inspire his academia to rise to the challenge. Keep in mind the original Aleksandar was tutored by Aristotle and knew the value of education.

The only wars are the posted ones, NK-SK-China. I really would have preferred to have Diplomacy on EASY as it helps the AI in wars, i.e. not as much piling on and easier to recover from diplo hits, but again, it was late and I was not at full capacity.
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by number47 »

Nothing interesting is happening or you shelved this aar? :-(
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by GIJoe597 »

Been busy lately, not had a chance to fire it up. Should have some time later in the week, hopefully.
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by paratroopc »

Howdy all,

Been playing for about a month now and really like this game. I've been playing a game as Washington State in shattered world and reading this aar came up with a question. I've noticed throughout the forums it pretty much says to get rid of any micro or mid factories and go with the large. Why did you decide to go with the mid?

Thanks
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by GIJoe597 »

Hello paratoopc, I also agree you should use the large facilities when possible, however, when playing a very small country (population wise), it is better to use small facilities until you have a larger population (workforce).

As a side note, the smaller your available workforce (unemployment nears zero), the more money the citizens demand. Simply put, if you have a lot of workers competing for jobs then you can pay them less, since you can always find someone willing to work. Once the workforce is very small, workers are having to do multiple jobs, (one person is now doing the work of three, for example) and they demand a higher wage.

In addition the small facilities build in a much faster time and use much less materials, (electricity, ore, coal etc).

Basically, everything has to be balanced for it to work as a small country. SR2020 has an underlying economy that we mostly do not see, but on the small scale it is very apparent.

The same can be said of many of the low pop states in Shattered World. :)
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by paratroopc »

Thanks,

Yeah I'm still getting the hang of the economy. So much more to pay attention to than Hearts of Iron. I look forward to reading your updates on this AAR. Playing a starting state with 6 million population has had some challenges so who knows what insight I may glean.
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by GIJoe597 »

I also enjoy HOI 3 TFH of course.

Imagine, if you will, Macedonia starts with just over 2 mill population. Having to balance your workforce with military recruitment is very challenging. :)
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by GIJoe597 »

NOTE: There is a very apparent lack of war happening around the globe, not sure what the issue is. I maybe should have set Diplo Diff to easy.


Jan 5th 2021

Syria offers me 5 T-72s. I would have liked to accept that, but they want more than I have.

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One of our neighbors has a couple of resources we are lacking. Albania has Metal Ore and Petroleum. Time to start thinking about acquiring it in the not so distant future. This would also give us a coastal region.

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The difficult part will be starting a war without any provocation and surviving the consequences. If we attack now we are very weak, on the other hand, currently Albania has no allies. If we wait too long they may acquire some. Difficult decision.

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Jan 17 2021

Iraq offers 11 old T-62s. We have no desire for them.

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The people are complaining about the price of food items. We do not have enough to feed everyone as much as they want so we have been rationing it. As we will require a robust population orders were issued to construct a new farming facility.

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Feb 22 2021

Saudi offer – not interested

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Feb 25 2021

Sudan offer – not interested

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Mar 21 2021

Yemen offer – not interested

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Apr 5 2021

Repurchased 2 more bonds today, new debt is $906M

Apr 15 2021

Iran offer - was interesting and we were eyeing those M109s but alas, coming so close to the bond payoff we lacked the funds.

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ARGH, April was a bad month. We waited too long and Albania made 4 alliances this month!

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May 22 2021

North Korea falls

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Jun 5 2021

Orders are issued to start construction of an Air fabrication facility at our existing military base. We will need an Air Force to complement our ground forces.

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After 3 days of watching the budget, we had to pause construction of the AF while letting the associated Fabrication continue.
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by number47 »

Still no attack from Serbia? Hmm, maybe they just forgot but I'm sure they'll come knocking very soon* :D

*(if this is on normal/default volatility.)
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by GIJoe597 »

I think it is med volatility as that is default. I actually have no memory of changing it. In fact I may have forgot it was even there on the bottom of launch window. I do remember setting the options along the top.


I cannot recall a way to check in game. The only option I am aware of is Control + Shift + S and it does not list volatility. Anyone know of a way?
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Re: Macedonia - Restoration of an Empire

Post by ra100 »

hello , GIJoe
you can see the volatility setting in the window before saving the game
i'm looking forward to see what happens with your future empire
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