Today’s dev diary is about ICE’s main scenario. Timewise, the game takes place between 1815 and 1915, but the world in the game differs from our world in at least two very important ways.
Germany and Italy are already unified in 1815
In the main scenario, Germany and Italy already are united in 1815 in this world. Gameplay wise, this is done to make the game more balanced than real life. In our world, the United Kingdom turned out to be the top colonizer by a very wide margin, with France and the Netherlands as distant second and third place. By the time Italy and Germany are unified, the colonial game is already more than half over. Having Germany and Italy unified from the start allows more competition for colonies.
Narratively, we might say that in the world of ICE, Napoleon was more keen to support German and Italian nationalism, and formed a state for each nation. After the defeat of Napoleon, most Germany and Italians desired to remain united. The United Kingdom was supportive of this, as it would help ensure that France could not rise up and one again dominate the European continent. The new United Netherlands was also supportive of German and Italian unity. The Austrians, however, are displeased on both fronts. They would not be able to regain their territories in Northern Italy and lost influence over the Catholic German states. Russia did not care about Italy, but was concerned about a unified Germany. Austria and Russia, however, did not care to go to war with the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy.
The Western Hemisphere (and possibly Australia) are absent
This one might not be popular with many people, the Western Hemisphere (and possibly Australia) do not exist in this world! Why would I do this? For two reasons. First, the game is supposed to be about the struggle of European imperialist powers and the United States, being without serious competition in the Western Hemisphere, is pretty much bound to be the dominant economic power by 1915. This makes the balance of power in Europe ultimately a bit pointless. Moreover, America will resist European imperial activity in the whole Western Hemisphere, so that whole region is off limits for the European powers. Second, as I mentioned in the previous dev diary, I have endeavored to keep the number small in ICE, this includes keeping the number of nations and provinces small. Excluding the Western Hemisphere makes this much easier.
I do intend to create two additional scenarios, one that includes the Western Hemisphere and one that also does not begin with Germany and Italy unified. Probably only the former will be included when the game is released. These scenarios, however, will not be recommended, and the Western Hemisphere will be less detailed and have very few events (the Civil War will be included though).
Imperialism: Concert of Europe 