Smuta

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.

The Smuta is Separated into 5 Stages

1. Preparation: Warlords Prepare for the Showdown 2. Smuta: Warlords Begin Fighting, The Far East Starts in Mid 1963 and Usually Ends in Early 1964, Central Siberia starts in mid 1963 and ends in either mid 1964 or late 1964, West Siberia starts in Late 1963 and ends in mid 1964, West Russia Starts in early 1964 and ends in late 1964 3. Regional: The Unifier begins to solidify their position, build up military forces, boost the economy, and appeal for international recognition, at this stage, the CIA can begin sending aid to friendly warlords and the HVA can sabotage reunification efforts, The West Russian and West Siberian Unifier after completing their initial tree, can begin the race for the urals. 4. Superregional: The West Russian/West Siberian and Central Siberian/Far Eastern Unifiers has annexed the other unifier, either by military force or by Diplomacy (if the unifier is compatible), the 2 remaining warlords will begin to arm themselves for the final showdown. 5. National: 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, if 2WRW is on, prepare for the final showdown with Germany.

All Russian Unifiers and Their Names

Key

CIA = Can be supported with the CIA

=== West Russia ===

West Russian Revolutionary Front (preparation, smuta, regional) > Soviet Union (Superregional, National) (Zhukov and Tchuvsky) (CIA)

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.

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.