The situation in 2000
The last superpower enters the millennium with fewer friends than ever: a bloody Gulf War and Yugoslavia cost it Europe, and NATO is down to America, Britain and Canada. Clinton is leaving. Hold four elections on your own timetable, choosing every primary and every president - Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden or a dozen others - each leaving a legacy. Or let the Republic break in three, between the Union, a New Confederacy and the Free Communes of the great cities. Somewhere down the line wait a king, a tech empire, a fridge and a man called Peter Griffin.
150
85
16
286m
75%
0%
5
57
Resources
Army
40 divisions
- Armoured6
- Mechanised10
- Infantry6
- Airborne3
- Marines6
- Mountain1
- Garrison8
Navy
154 ships
- Carriers12
- Destroyers52
- Frigates35
- Submarines55
Air force
2,800 aircraft
- Fighters1,800
- Close air support400
- Strike aircraft600
The Lonely Superpower
America won the Cold War three years early: the Soviet Union collapsed in 1988. It did not win the peace. The Gulf War was supposed to take a hundred hours; it took weeks, Iraq used gas, Israel struck back, the coalition fell apart and thousands came home dead. Saddam stayed in power.
In 1993 Washington went into Yugoslavia with Britain, Canada, Turkey and Norway, over the objections of France, Germany and Italy. NATO never recovered. By 1996 the alliance was America, Britain and Canada; the Europeans have built an army of their own.
Ideologies and leaders
In power on 1 January 2000: Bill Clinton (Democratic Party). Every leader below can come to power in TND, through the elections, coups and roads of its focus tree.
Democratic
In power, 2000 Bill Clinton
Liberalism
Democratic Party
George W. Bush
Conservatism
Barack Obama
Liberalism
Donald Trump
Populism
Joe Biden
Liberalism
Al Gore
Liberalism
John McCain
Conservatism
Mitt Romney
Conservatism
Hillary Clinton
Liberalism
Joe Biden
Liberalism
The War Cabinet
Conservatism
Peter Griffin
Liberalism
Communist
Gus Hall
Marxist-Leninist
Communist Party USA
The General Assembly
Anarchist Communism
Peter Griffin
Marxism
Fascist
Pat Buchanan
Fascism
Reform Party
The Council of Governors
Fascism
Jeb Bush
Fascism
Ted Cruz
Fascism
Peter Griffin
Fascism
Non-Aligned
Ross Perot
Centrism
Reform Party
Donald I
Absolute Monarchy
Norton II
Absolute Monarchy
Elon Musk
Centrism
Sgt. Beeps
Junta
The Global Council
Oligarchy
Peter Griffin
Moderatism
The focus tree
United States's own tree has 1050 focuses. It opens with America and the World, The Army After the Gulf, The Quiet Professionals, Command of the Sea, Global Reach, Global Power, The High Ground and more. By kind: political (554), industry (260), army xp (236), historical (192). Taking every focus, one after another, would take about 68 years - the roads are exclusive, so a playthrough sees only part of it.
Drag to pan, Ctrl + scroll to zoom, click a focus for its description and rewards. Focus names in the guides below jump to it.
Loading the tree...
Path guides
How to reach each of United States's roads. The same guides are in game, as free decisions in the United States Path Guide category.
The Four Contests
How the Republic's elections work:
- Take , the first focus. It closes the road to civil war.
- Each contest starts with a focus (, , , ). None is tied to a date: call it when you like.
- Each is a race between two candidates, decided on election night: an event where you choose who wins. There are no primaries.
- Take the winner's first focus (President ...). The loser's focuses disappear.
- Finish every one of that presidency's lines, its second term included (a line that needs a war, in a tense world, is optional), and take its last focus. That opens the next contest.
The races: Gore or Bush; Obama or a Republican; Hillary Clinton or Trump; Biden or Trump.
In the second race John McCain and Mitt Romney share one Republican path. Election night says which of them won; the shared focuses are the same, and each man has a line of his own.
With historical focuses on, the AI elects Bush, Obama, Trump and then Biden.
Legacies and National Programmes
Every focus builds up a spirit, by what it is about:
A president's own focuses build that president's legacy (Legacy of Bush, Legacy of Obama and so on). It starts with the presidency's first focus and stays for good.
Every other focus builds one of four evolving spirits: The American Economy, The American Military, American Leadership and The Union at Home.
A focus that would have added a spirit of its own adds its bonuses to the same evolving spirit instead, so the row of spirits stays short.
Each focus shows what it adds. A railway focus adds infrastructure construction speed and lower supply use; a university focus adds research speed.
King Donald J. Trump (hidden)
How to crown the King:
- Elect Donald Trump in the third contest.
- Take (or, in the fourth contest, ).
- About a month later the event Articles of Impeachment fires. Choose 'Why should I leave at all?', then 'He would be a tremendous king'.
- Take . The Republic's later contests disappear.
opens the decisions that rename states. asks Denmark; gives a war goal on Canada.
Biden: the Fog, and the Finish Line (hidden)
How to reach 's hidden path:
- Elect Joe Biden in the fourth contest.
- Take .
- About a month later the event The Fog fires. Choose 'Carry on, and keep the cameras back'.
- Take . From here no focus is what its name says: each does something useful, but not what it claims.
- At the end choose: (he steps aside), or .
lifts the fog: a new portrait, very strong bonuses, and a branch that ends in .
The Second Civil War
How to break the Republic:
- Take as the first focus instead of .
- Work through the build-up to , then choose (the Confederacy) or (the Free Communes).
- The decisions of The Coming Storm open: secure the states that could go either way, and win over officers and units. Each move raises federal suspicion.
- The war starts when you take or - or at once, if suspicion reaches 100.
- When it starts you choose your side: the one you prepared, or the Union.
It is a three-way war: the Union, the Confederacy and the Free Communes all fight each other. Three or more units won over gives your side a much larger share of the armed forces.
Staying With the Union: the Second Republic and Emperor Norton (hidden)
How to reach the federal government's secret tree:
- Start the Second Civil War by either road.
- In the event The Second Civil War choose 'We stand with the Union'.
- Take . Win the war: no other American government may be left standing.
- then offers , or .
Canada and New England
About a month into the civil war Canada decides whether to occupy New England, arm the Union or stay out.
If it occupies New England, each American government chooses: war with Canada now, or later.
Later means the focus each side has for it: (Confederacy), (Communes), (Union).
The Everything Company and the Appliances (hidden)
How the tech giants take the state:
- In the economy take . The decisions of The Tech Giants open.
- Back the giants repeatedly: the six decisions that favour them, and the Silicon Valley focuses marked with the warning. Their power is shown out of 8.
- At 5 there is a warning event. At 8 the event The Platform Is the State fires: accept it.
- The political tree is locked where it stands, and appears beside the economy.
The appliances: several of Elon's focuses give the AI misgivings. Take Technoking with 5 or more and the AI may overthrow him. Then opens, and Sgt. Beeps leads the Union of Appliances.
, and five of the decisions (antitrust cases, taxes, regulation, unions, a break-up) reduce the giants' power instead.
Petoria (hidden)
Petoria has a page of its own, with this guide and its focus tree: Petoria.
Foreign Policy Choices
The choices that hide each other:
(invite new members; those who decline can be courted and asked again) or .
(mend the rift with Europe) or (work round Brussels).
or in Iraq. Russia guarantees Iraq.
(Ukraine and Romania) or with Moscow.
or .
AIPAC is a national spirit in three tiers; its two decisions raise or lower it.
Bush's Second Term or the Vice President's Doctrine
How the Vice President governs inside Bush's second term (Bush stays President throughout):
- Take , then .
- Take (Dick Cheney runs the day-to-day) instead of (Bush's own second term). The two hide each other.
- The event The Letter Under Anaesthetic fires: sign the transfer for the duration, or wait for the President to wake.
- Finish the two sides of the doctrine (the security state, and Iraq, Iran and energy), then . It finishes Bush's presidency in place of his second term.
The historical side, Bush's own agenda, is the AI's choice with historical focuses on.
Gore After 11 September: the Coalition of Law or the Green New Order
How the attacks split Gore's term:
- Let the attacks of 11 September happen. The two roads below open after them, and not before.
- From take or . They hide each other.
- Each has two arms and six short lines, and ends in a capstone. (courts and the allies, the UN and the world) and the Green New Order (energy and industry) are the same size.
Gore's legacy needs the capstone of whichever road was taken. Neither road is the historical side: the AI picks between them.
Obama's Second Term: the Grand Bargain or the Pen and the Phone
How to take the Grand Bargain:
- Re-elect Obama (Forward) as the presidency's second term.
- Take instead of (the historical side). The two hide each other.
- Its event The Speaker's Offer fires; the debt standoff brings Thirty-Five Minutes Before the Deadline.
- Finish the lines of the bargain (the budget, immigration, infrastructure and energy), then . Obama's legacy needs it, or The Mic Drop on the Pen's line.
Biden's Term or Harris Takes the Lead
How Kamala Harris comes to lead inside Biden's term (Biden stays President throughout):
- Take , then .
- Take instead of (Biden's own term). The two hide each other.
- The event The Letter From the Residence fires: the day-to-day passes to the Vice President.
- Finish the two sides of the term (opportunity and justice, or the world), then . Biden's legacy needs it, or .
Mechanics
How United States's own systems work. In game: the United States: Mechanic Guide decisions.
Legacies and National Programmes
A president's own focuses build that president's legacy (Legacy of Bush, Legacy of Obama and so on), from the presidency's first focus, for good.
Every other focus builds one of four evolving spirits: The American Economy, The American Military, American Leadership and The Union at Home. A focus that would have added a spirit of its own adds its bonuses to one of these, so the row of spirits stays short.
The Tech Giants
After the giants' power over the state is shown out of 8 in The Tech Giants decisions.
Up: Award a Federal Cloud Contract, Grant a Tax Holiday, Wave Through a Merger, Subsidise the Chip Fabs, Let Them Run the Pentagon's Software, Give Them Their Visas, and the Silicon Valley focuses marked with the warning. Each pays well now.
Down: Open an Antitrust Case, Tax Their Offshore Profits, Regulate the Platforms, Back the Warehouse Unions, Break Up a Monopoly, and the focuses and .
At 5 there is a warning; at 8 the platform becomes the state, and the political tree is locked where it stands.
The Coming Storm
On the road to the Second Civil War, after , The Coming Storm decisions let the side you prepared secure the states that could go either way and win over officers and units.
Every move raises federal suspicion; at 100 the war starts at once. Lie Low lets it cool.
The war starts with or . Three or more units won over give your side a much larger share of the armed forces. It is a three-way war: the Union, the Confederacy and the Free Communes.
AIPAC
A national spirit in three tiers: the closer the lobby, the warmer the friendship with Israel, and the more the Middle East pulls America in. Embrace the Lobby raises it; Keep the Lobby at a Distance lowers it.