Dev Diary #2 - 1946 📅
Hello Everyone!
What's happening / TLDR: Developer diaries introduce details of the upcoming strategy game Espiocracy. You can catch up with the first dev diary (The Vision) or find out more about the game on Steam page.
1946 is the starting year in Espiocracy. Second World War just ended and relations between two superpowers - USSR and USA - are deterioriating.
Transcription: From June 1945 to June 1946, the world has seen atomic bombings, Truman hostility towards USSR, Kennan's long telegram, Churchill iron curtain speech, capture of Alan Nunn May, elections won by communists in Czechoslovakia, and constitutional referendum won by democrats in Italy.
After defeat of the great enemy, the fate of former alliance is already decided. However, many events that led to the Cold War in the shape as we know it are still bound to happen, as the start of the Cold War is usually situated closer to 1947. This early day-one interaction is crucial element of fun in Espiocracy - imagine changing the outcome of Czechoslovak elections or Italian referendum, and turning around further history in the corresponding regions.
[h2]Simulation[/h2]
1946 is also the foundation of Espiocracy's simulation design. Most of the processes critical for the Cold War were already set in motion. Moreover, many alternative history approaches were well represented by the proximity of WW2.
The game will simulate the following historical processes, starting from 01.01.1946:
Most of them will receive dedicated dev diaries. Needless to say, all of them will be under player's influence.
[h2]Berlin Station[/h2]
There's one fascinating historical source from 1946, which sits right at the foundation of Espiocracy. It's 90-pages-long CIA report from early activities of an intelligence station in Berlin, with its author managing the station exactly since January 1946.
Berlin was a special place in the Cold War, often called the capital of spies. Its early days were even more special, due to destruction after the war, relatively unconstrained movement, and conflict between communist and liberal political parties. In this environment, covert operations should be pretty exciting - and they were! Just look at this passage about... American sabotage of Soviet uranium deposits:
Transcript: There was certain gratification in being able to pinpoint a target anywhere in the Russian Zone, and dispatch an agent to cover it almost at a moment's notice. Perhaps the classic operation of this type was the surveillance of a large cache of uranium salts at Ludwigslust, which we carried out for the Manhattan Engineering District. We could put a man into the warehouse almost at will, and from afar we watched with satisfaction the elimination of the dangerous salts by their use in tanning white leather.
Or this striking fragment about spy networks in East Germany:
Transcript: The ultimate moral, and it is a painful one, seems to be that any successful productive operation must eventually be paid for by an even greater outlay of effort in disposal and liquidation. For that reason, perhaps the most important outside development of 1947 affecting FR operations was the organization of the disposal unit at Heidelberg. Their responsibility is a heavy one, for they have to suffer dismal headaches long after the shouting and the tumult have died away.
Screenshots above refer to the first part of the gameplay in Espiocracy - major operations. Ultimately, the station report focuses on the regular espionage, which is the second part of the gameplay (a.k.a. regular activities), for instance:
Transcript: First Frankfurt requested, and then Washinghton required, that we elevate military intelligence, especially Order of Battle of the Soviet armed forces, to the highest priority, at no matter what cost to our other operations. The effect on our positive operations was of course sweeping; in some respects it was disastrous.
Declassified numbers suggest scale of these activities. There were 27-40 employees, 200-500 intelligence reports monthly, up to 125 handled agents. In addition to spying on the Red Army, the station also infiltrated German police, Soviet press in Berlin, and local interior agency. Authors stated interesting reasons behind these actions - such as ensuring there is no revival of Nazi movement and confronting Soviet intelligence services which disguised their operatives as journalists.
Among other things, early acitivity of American Berlin station directly proves that there was a lot to do already in 1946 from the perspective of an intelligence agency preparing for the Cold War.
[h2]Final Remarks[/h2]
Currently, only a single starting point - 1946 - is planned for Espiocracy. The game will cover at least the whole Cold War (to 1990), but the overall goal is historical coverage up to the last year (2020).
Short anecdote at the end of the dev diary: one of the first fully-playable prototypes was set in modern 2021, but after upgrades with historical scenarios I discovered that intelligence mechanisms provide much more fun when set in the past. If you search deep enough in Google Play Store, you might even find this prototype :)
If you're not already wishlisting Espiocracy, consider doing it:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1670650/Espiocracy/
Also, small community around Espiocracy has been just launched:
The next dev diary - "Ideologies and Views" - will be posted on 6th of August.
---
Photo credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-S74639 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
"Developing sphere of usefulness and prestige, while maintaining the passion for anonymity" - chief of CIA's Berlin station about his task
What's happening / TLDR: Developer diaries introduce details of the upcoming strategy game Espiocracy. You can catch up with the first dev diary (The Vision) or find out more about the game on Steam page.
1946 is the starting year in Espiocracy. Second World War just ended and relations between two superpowers - USSR and USA - are deterioriating.
Transcription: From June 1945 to June 1946, the world has seen atomic bombings, Truman hostility towards USSR, Kennan's long telegram, Churchill iron curtain speech, capture of Alan Nunn May, elections won by communists in Czechoslovakia, and constitutional referendum won by democrats in Italy.After defeat of the great enemy, the fate of former alliance is already decided. However, many events that led to the Cold War in the shape as we know it are still bound to happen, as the start of the Cold War is usually situated closer to 1947. This early day-one interaction is crucial element of fun in Espiocracy - imagine changing the outcome of Czechoslovak elections or Italian referendum, and turning around further history in the corresponding regions.
[h2]Simulation[/h2]
1946 is also the foundation of Espiocracy's simulation design. Most of the processes critical for the Cold War were already set in motion. Moreover, many alternative history approaches were well represented by the proximity of WW2.
The game will simulate the following historical processes, starting from 01.01.1946:
- Occupation
- Civil wars
- Trials and hunts
- Government form changes
- New countries, separations and unifications
- Large population migrations
- Nuclear research, leading to bombs and power plants
- Missile development and further space race
- Technological progress
Most of them will receive dedicated dev diaries. Needless to say, all of them will be under player's influence.
[h2]Berlin Station[/h2]
There's one fascinating historical source from 1946, which sits right at the foundation of Espiocracy. It's 90-pages-long CIA report from early activities of an intelligence station in Berlin, with its author managing the station exactly since January 1946.
Berlin was a special place in the Cold War, often called the capital of spies. Its early days were even more special, due to destruction after the war, relatively unconstrained movement, and conflict between communist and liberal political parties. In this environment, covert operations should be pretty exciting - and they were! Just look at this passage about... American sabotage of Soviet uranium deposits:
Transcript: There was certain gratification in being able to pinpoint a target anywhere in the Russian Zone, and dispatch an agent to cover it almost at a moment's notice. Perhaps the classic operation of this type was the surveillance of a large cache of uranium salts at Ludwigslust, which we carried out for the Manhattan Engineering District. We could put a man into the warehouse almost at will, and from afar we watched with satisfaction the elimination of the dangerous salts by their use in tanning white leather.Or this striking fragment about spy networks in East Germany:
Transcript: The ultimate moral, and it is a painful one, seems to be that any successful productive operation must eventually be paid for by an even greater outlay of effort in disposal and liquidation. For that reason, perhaps the most important outside development of 1947 affecting FR operations was the organization of the disposal unit at Heidelberg. Their responsibility is a heavy one, for they have to suffer dismal headaches long after the shouting and the tumult have died away.Screenshots above refer to the first part of the gameplay in Espiocracy - major operations. Ultimately, the station report focuses on the regular espionage, which is the second part of the gameplay (a.k.a. regular activities), for instance:
Transcript: First Frankfurt requested, and then Washinghton required, that we elevate military intelligence, especially Order of Battle of the Soviet armed forces, to the highest priority, at no matter what cost to our other operations. The effect on our positive operations was of course sweeping; in some respects it was disastrous.Declassified numbers suggest scale of these activities. There were 27-40 employees, 200-500 intelligence reports monthly, up to 125 handled agents. In addition to spying on the Red Army, the station also infiltrated German police, Soviet press in Berlin, and local interior agency. Authors stated interesting reasons behind these actions - such as ensuring there is no revival of Nazi movement and confronting Soviet intelligence services which disguised their operatives as journalists.
Among other things, early acitivity of American Berlin station directly proves that there was a lot to do already in 1946 from the perspective of an intelligence agency preparing for the Cold War.
[h2]Final Remarks[/h2]
Currently, only a single starting point - 1946 - is planned for Espiocracy. The game will cover at least the whole Cold War (to 1990), but the overall goal is historical coverage up to the last year (2020).
Short anecdote at the end of the dev diary: one of the first fully-playable prototypes was set in modern 2021, but after upgrades with historical scenarios I discovered that intelligence mechanisms provide much more fun when set in the past. If you search deep enough in Google Play Store, you might even find this prototype :)
If you're not already wishlisting Espiocracy, consider doing it:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1670650/Espiocracy/
Also, small community around Espiocracy has been just launched:
The next dev diary - "Ideologies and Views" - will be posted on 6th of August.
---
Photo credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-S74639 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
"Developing sphere of usefulness and prestige, while maintaining the passion for anonymity" - chief of CIA's Berlin station about his task