Dev Diary #1 Kursk S- What!? Thread - The Eastern European Powder Keg mod for Hearts of Iron IV

Hi!

I'm one of the devs over at EEPK, known as Muko. Today I will talk about the oldest nation in the mod, the Kursk Sumy Republic. Originally, the mod began as a venture focused on creating a representation of a community that me and my friends were in.

As you can see, it wasn't much back then. Kursk Sumy (or as it is affectionately known in the dev community, KKS), was really a proof of concept. At that time, (almost a year ago), Nikforovna/Stoli was the only coder, and all we did was throw stuff at him. Emboldened by this, the dev team decided to expand, by giving Kursk-Sumy some other nations to interact with, as honestly, a lone blob in a red sea can't do anything.

Very soon, it was joined by many other nations. EEPK began to take shape. Once Russia was fragmented too, and all the tags and bare bones of code placed, attention came to focus trees. Kursk Sumy was the first one to receive some form of it, although it is arguably the smallest one ingame, owing to the tiny nature of it. However, tragedy struck. One way or another, some sort of altercations occurred. Kursk Sumy was removed from the general picture. Instead it was meant to become an attachment to a larger border war between Kyiv and Russia. On a trivial note, back then, the country colors were not sorted out at all, and looked tacky. Good riddance, they have been revamped.

However, one way or another, that did not work. While this still is how the map looks like in the current public build, in the near future, it will revert back to its old borders, welcoming KKS back into the family.

Now a little about the nation itself. It is a very random and arbitrary nation once you look at the map, especially with it's choices of leadership. The nation in essence acts as a buffer zone between two natural enemies - Kyiv and the mauled, but still formidable Russia. To the north, a Falangist regime is entrenched in Bryansk, and to the south, the Novorossiyan clique. It still holds the industrially vital city of Kharkiv - eyed by almost every neighbor. However, Kursk Sumites consider it their rightful land, with such sentiments ringing across every party and every person. Taking Kharkiv brings them one step closer to restoration of a long forgotten idea - the Northern Ukrainian Confederation, centered on the historical region of Slabodzhanschina.

However, doing so will be difficult. Kursk Sumy is not a military power, and is militarily inferior to almost every surrounding nation. This is why conventional war is not something the Focus Tree will aim, but rather, to gradually weaken any potential enemy, with the end result being a set demands, or perhaps a covert attack.

But before any of this is done, the military needs to be expanded and revamped. Industrial capacity needs to be restored and expanded. The fuel crisis must be dealt with. The political situation must be addressed, as the public yearns for answers. They are prone to ideological subversion from almost any direction, this being reflected in a generous political direction which you can take.

As you can tell, the focus tree, at current, is minuscule. However, the right hand side is still under construction, and will be completed to include industrial ventures, a possible naval option if you manage to defeat the Novorossiyans in a full scale war, and a series of focuses that make the dream of a Confederation a reality.

The covert nature of the Kursk Sumites is seen in their choices. All political parties understand the current weakness of the nation, and will focus on asymmetrical warfare. Politically fueled operations that shift the strategic - not tactical balance, airborne commandos composed of fearless veterans, and a careful buildup of high quality military forces will serve to further gains in the upcoming skirmishes and provocations.

The Mayak Raids are a series of escalations of the decade long rivalry between Kursk Sumy and Novorossiya. Being the brainchild of the asymmetrical warfare doctrine, they seek, with the end result - secure the industrially vital southern flank of the Nation. The First Mayak Raid envisions a daring commando operation that will seize Novorossiyan munitions and armaments - which they will return. This soft tactical blow will serve as the testbed for the larger operation - The Second Mayak Raid. It envisions a border war, fought by crack units of the Armed Forces, which aim to squeeze the Novorossiyans and contest their claim on Kursk. However, gambles are high, as failure over the Novorossiyans may lead to the loss of Belgorod. If Belgorod is lost, this unlocks the Third Mayak Raid, in which the asymmetrical warfare principles are used in favor of an all out war, in hopes of reclaiming Kursk and Belgorod. There is a slim chance that the Novorossiyans will accede to the demands, under threat of subversion and destabilization.

In regards to the Confederation Focus tree, it is still a work in progress, being quite literally, the bare bones. It will be released in the next update however, along with another nation which you will get to play around :^).

Finally, Kursk Sumy has a set of brave, and courageous generals ready to carry out it's missions, and to lay life and limb for it.

And ofcourse, who said ragged Eastern European nations can't have an armor industry?

Thats all for today, I'll see you in another Dev Diary!

Rejected Dev Diary names:
Curb your raids
Just give all your land to Russia and Kyiv
Northern Ukrainian Confederation? What kind of salo have you been eating?
What if the 3rd Mayak raid isn't enough?

Edited by: [EEPK]Muko

hi muko