Smuta

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The Smuta (Russian for Time of Trouble) refers to the political situations in Russia following the end of the West Russian War. The name recalls a similar time of chaos in Russian history in the early 17th century. Similarly, Russia lays divided between various warlord states of various political stripes seeking to reunify their regions of Russia under their control.

Stages of Smuta

The Preparation Stage

In the Preparation Stage, the various warlord states will prepare for the Smuta in their focus trees intentionally or unintentionally, through building of military forces and production units, whilst balancing civillian needs.

The Smuta

Once the initial focus trees have been completed and have activated the Smuta mechanic, the different Warlord States will begin fighting through the mechanic.

Amongst the various regions, the Smuta occurs in the Far-East and Central Siberia the earliest, with it occuring in mid-1963 and ending in 1964, whilst West Siberia's Smuta starts in late-1963 and ends in mid-1964, whilst the latest is West Russia, with the Smuta officially starting in early 1964 and ending in late-1964

Regional

The CIA can begin to send aid to friendly warlords, and the HVA can begin to sabotage reunification efforts

Warlords that can be aided by the CIA if they are friendly with the Americans

WRRF (If Zhukov is the leader, the CIA can support Yakolev’s Reformists)

Komi Centre

Liberal/Conservative Vyatka

Paternalist Samara

Sverdlovsk

Tyumen

Omsk (through the illusion of a military junta)

Novosibirsk (The CIA can fund their Megacorps, and in the Battle for Central Siberia (can add more us influence while decreasing Japanese influence)

Tomsk

Magadan (can support them at the preparational and smuta stage as well as shoring up support, if Matovsky is leading Magadan, the CIA can support Petlin’s Reformists)

Buryatia

Irkutsk

All Russian Unifiers

West Russia

West Russian Revolutionary Front (P,S,R) > Soviet Union (SR, N)

(Center) Komi Republic (P,S) West Russian Republic (R) Russian Republic (SR, N)

(Leftist) Komi Republic (P,R) >

In Game

In game, Smuta refers to a gameplay mechanic available to all Russian Warlords with content other than the ones in the Southern Urals. The gameplay mechanic allows various warlord states to declare war on one another and start the process of reunifying the shattered Russian landscape.

In this mechanic, two meters are to be maintained, supply and chaos. Supply is a currency like mechanic which is required to declare war on the other warlords, and to assist in acquiring buffs such as increased breakthrough or defence for units during combat. Chaos meanwhile, affects stability and war support. Too high of Chaos may lead to severe debuffs, potentially leading to ruin.

Completing relevant focuses and decisions can help influence the mechanic.

Post-Smuta

Post Smuta, the unifier who has conquered the region will enter the Regional stage.

The Regional Unifier begins to solidify their position in their regional tree, build up military forces, boost the economy, and appeal for international recognition. It is at this stage that the US and the CIA can begin sending financial, technical and military aid to friendly warlords, whilst the German Reich and the HVA can sabotage reunification efforts. Additionally, the West Russian and West Siberian Unifier can begin the race for the Southern Urals, after completing their initial tree.

Subsequently after the two main regions have been unified (The West Russian/West Siberian and Central Siberian/Far Eastern Unifiers annexed by the other unifier, either by military force or by Diplomacy), they will enter the Superregional Stage. The 2 remaining states will either begin to arm themselves for the final showdown or through diplomacy.

Lastly, once the Russian/Siberian Unifier has annexed the other either by Military Force or By Diplomacy (if compatible), they will then finish solidifying themselves as Russia, reunifying the entire region finally.

Behind the Scenes

The dev team of TNO introduced the Smuta mechanic in the Unfinished Business update of TNO. The mechanic was introduced to work around issues that appear in the original version of the mod. That issue being that the original focus tree based method of warlords invading one another tend lead to many case of the region not unifying because two unexpected warlords were the last ones left standing.