NATION ROSTER
The following nations are Major Powers and some facts going with them and
their selection:
-The United States of America (#1 Army, #1 Economy, #3 Manpower, influential all over the world, Nuclear Power, de facto leader of NATO, a lot of armed citizens, also 'MURICA)
-The People's Republic of China (#2 Army, #1 Army Size, #2 Economy, #1 Manpower, huge influence, massive government control in the whole country, territorial conflict with India and Japan, Nuclear Power)
-The Russian Federation (All the resources you could ever ask for, #8 Manpower, #9 Economy, #1 Armored forces size, largest country in the world, leads CSTO, large government control over economy and the people, Nuclear Power)
-The United Kingdom (#5/6 Economy, Strategic positions all over the
world, ties to the Commonwealth of Nations, ties to the EU, many
choices to be made between the US and the EU, good resources, good
manpower, considerable naval capabilities, Nuclear Power)
-The Republic of France (#5/6 Economy, Strategic positions all over the world, ties to the EU, good naval and air forces, considerable army, Nuclear Power)
-The Federal Republic of Germany (#4 Economy, lots of manpower, ties to the EU (the Merkelreich), benefits from the European Union and its trade by far the most, can singlehandedly help Russia grow if wants to or turn towards the US or even China)
-The Commonwealth of India (#2 Manpower, one of the economic forces to come during the next decade, huge territories, surrounded by minor countries, has territorial disputes with Pakistan and China, has many problems but can solve them if done right, Nuclear Power)
-The Empire of Japan (#3 Economy, #9 Manpower, huge exports in both automotive and digital goods
(strategic resources if they still are in HoI4 maybe?) good military it pledged never to use again after World War 2, has territorial conflicts with China),
Iran (Manpower between France and Germany, weak economy, some nutball government with some nutball politics that could be pretty interesting to play and/or change) is considered as a major power by, but it ranks 27 in 2013 GDP, so it may be an overstatement to call them economically outstanding, however politically and militarily they have some tricks up their sleeves. Iran definitely will make for an interesting play with both internal and external politics.
Other possible Major Powers include Brazil, Italy, Canada, South Korea, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
The following are considered Secondary Powers (sorted after GDP (stated in brackets) as of 2013):
-Brazil (#7, the dominator of South America)
-Italy (#8)
-Canada (#11, sometimes forgotten)
-Australia (#12, economy's a good job mate (Anyone get that reference? No? Okay.))
-Spain (#13)
-South Korea (#14, South Korea best Korea)
-Mexico (#15)
-Indonesia (#16, also lots of manpower)
-Netherlands (#17)
-Turkey (#18)
-Saudi Arabia (#19, all the oil though)
-Argentina (#21)
-Sweden (#22, Paradox Interactive events included)
-Poland (#23)
-Nigeria (#26, the rising African star(?))
-Iran (#27, if not major)
-South Africa (#33)
-Israel (#37)
Thus the following non-primary non-secondary GDP #32+ nations are Potential Powers:
-Switzerland (#20)
-Belgium (#24)
-Norway (#25)
-Taiwan (#28, also an IN)
-Austria (#29)
-Thailand (#30)
-The UAE (#31)
-Colombia (#32)
Onto the Interesting Nations with the reason they are interesting, they include
-The Philippines (Many floodings and catastrophes, a considerable manpower pool, conflicts with China, alliance possibilities with Japan, the US and Russia, involvement in the ASEAN, religious and ethnic tensions and more)
-Egypt (Play the great powers off each other to the benefit of Egypt, fight the Arab Spring or go with it, secure the Halaib triangle from Sudan, deal with Israel - one way or the other)
-Greece (Debt, debt and more debt. Be wise and avoid the economic collapse of your country before it occurs - or go for the challenge and fight it off)
-Pakistan (Huge manpower, nuclear weapons, mad shiites to the west and the Kashmir conflict to the east. Will you go for China's friendship? Or do you sacrifice Afghanistan to the United States to become their ally?)
-Iraq (Yo dawg, the Americans are coming.)
-Ukraine (Yo dawg, the Russians are coming.)
-Taiwan (Yo dawg, the Chinese are coming.)
-Serbia (respectively Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro) (The formerly great Yugoslav nation is falling apart! Will you use military force to strike down resistance in Montenegro and Kosovo? Will you take action to reclaim what is rightfully under Belgrade's control? Or will you play it save and ally with Moscow or Washington? Serbia might have a weak economy, but its nationalist fever is awake.)
-Syria (Al-Assad won't resign by himself. Fight the bloody Civil War against those pesky Arab Spring revolutionaries and the threat that is the Islamic State)
-Georgia (Two secessionist movements backed by the Russians are about to destroy the integrity of the Georgian nation. Will you ally with NATO? Will the Chinese or Iran back your attack on Abkhazia and South Ossetia? Or will you sell your territory to the Russians in exchange for their friendship? Georgia is not able to stand up to Putin's legions or Obama's forces, but if you use your brain, you might find yourself dominating the caucasus and soon, the world.)
-North Korea (Our GDP may be at rank 112, 20% of our people may live in concentration camps and the world may hate us, but we are still BEST KOREA)
As you see, I did my research on the past 16 years and decided for every single country if they might be fun to play (to be honest, at stuff like Gambia I was done in 2 minutes).
International Organizations represented by custom nations
Currently the UN (in New York), the EU (in Brussels), the CoN (in London), the ASEAN (in Jakarta) and the AU (In Addis Abeba) are planned to be added as own nations that can have their own events. For that, I will create mini provinces inside the respective cities. Especially the EU will have lots of events, but so will the UN that will rock a security council event system for certain decisions the council took during that time.
Micro States
As visible from several screenshots, micro nations like Liechtenstein or Vatican City are still not represented in the game. This is okay for World War 2 of course, but I will try to make all 193 UN members, its 2 observers, and of course our favorite wannabe countries like Transnistria or Somaliland playable. Most of these countries are considered GNs however, so they will probably not be able to conquer the world until 2030, maybe they will.
