ORIGINAL: Gary Childress
[center]
Just when you thought it was safe to go swimming in the Pacific! [/center]
[center]
[/center]
[center]THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, THIS MOD IS BRAVE! IT'S DARING! IT'S SIMPLE AND............................[/center]
[center]
IT'S HISTORICALLY COMPLETE DONKEY EXCREMENT![/center]
[center]THE ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF WW 2: [/center]
[center]A LONG TIME AGO... IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY...[/center]
Queen Amadala...err...The roaring twenties almost collapse into a horrific Great Depression. State socialism begins to take root in much of the civilized world and thanks to massive government intervention in the world economies, the nations of the world manage to pull out of an economic nose dive. With greatly increased spending on their war machines, an artificial boom is created in the late 1920s through 1930s, leading up to a turbulent future. Attempts are made to stem the tide of militarism but none of the participant nations are able to come to any arms limitation agreements. In 1922 The Washington Treaty falls dead on its inception. A second attempt in London in 1930 fails as well.
A new age of naval experimentalism begins to take shape. Without treaties limiting their size and guns, the line between cruisers and capital ships slowly begins to fade as newer and heavier cruisers, mounting larger and larger guns and armor begin to appear. In 1932, after reviving the German economy Hitler and the National Socialist party begin a massive rearmament of Germany. Almost immediately the Z plan is put into effect to rebuild the German navy to make it once again a contender for world domination of the ocean.
Meanwhile Japan's 8-8-8 plan takes on a life of its own with the design in 1930 of the Yamato class 18" super Battleship. A new type of warship has also begun to emerge. The aircraft carrier begins to take shape. Immediately the navies of the world begin to see its potential.
In September 1939 Germany invades Poland. The next spring, France falls. Fortunately this time the French colonies doggedly resist German occupation of their homeland and continue on helping in the Allied war effort to liberate France. The remnants of the French Navy seek shelter in the Caribbean and Pacific from the German juggernaut. Hitler wisely decides not to invade the USSR and the USSR stays neutral for the entire war. Instead Hitler decides to concentrate his efforts on conquering the oil rich Middle East. After taking Malta, and Gibraltar the Africa Corps defeat Montgomery and the 8th Army. In the ensuing rout of the British army Germany takes control of the Middle East and India. The British Isles remarkably hang on and defeat operation Sea Lion in 1940 and again in 1941. However, the British Empire is in ruins. By August 1942, all that remains of the commonwealth are the home Isles, British Africa, Australia, Canada and Malaysia.
In the fall of 1942 things quiet down as Hitler contemplates his next moves. The British are in no position to move against Fortress Europe and the Soviets seem content to sit back and watch as the Western powers destroy each other. But to play it safe Hitler diverts substantial resources from fortress France to fortify Eastern Europe to ensure Stalin’s neutrality.
Unfortunately for the Japanese, Germany’s control of the Middle East doesn’t do Japan a whole of good. China, French Indochina and British Malaysia stand in the way to stop precious German oil from reaching them and there is only one logical course of action left. The Japanese must seize control of the supply lines from the Middle East to the homeland. Everyone knows this so no one is caught off guard on December 6th 1942 when the Japanese finally declare war on the Allies and the US.
It’s December 7th 1942, Admiral, the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
[center]Plan 8-8-8 Light has been posted to my website: https://sites.google.com/site/garyswitpsite/[/center]
Plan 8-8-8 Light is simply the addition of numerous extra battleships to the stock game and was simply a quick and easy mod to incorporate some new art. Plan 8-8-8 Deluxe will feature an almost complete reworking of the entire WITP database.
CREDITS: Big B, Tomlabel and JWE are mostly to thank for the ship art in this mod, most of the ships are simply reworks of their magnificent art for AE.
Thank you Cathartes for the wonderful plane tops as well as all the stock AE plane sides (except for the Germans and Italians which are my doing). German and Italian plane sides are here thanks to all the wonderful and talented artists on the Internet who have posted their art, which I've combed through and resized and brushed up for my own uses. I wish I knew who the artists were but I have no idea. I've just collected a lot of sides in my scouring of the Internet over the years.
