The situation in 2000
When the Soviet Union fell in 1988, Kaliningrad was cut off and became a state of its own: the Amber Republic, Russian-speaking, outside the Union and the euro, between Lithuania and Poland. Berlin remembers Konigsberg; Moscow wants it back.
0
0
1
1.0m
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-
3
1
Army
4 divisions
- Mechanised1
- Infantry1
- Marines1
- Garrison1
Navy
5 ships
- Destroyers1
- Frigates3
- Submarines1
Air force
30 aircraft
- Fighters20
- Strike aircraft10
The Republic of Kaliningrad
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1988, Kaliningrad - Russia's exclave on the Baltic, cut off by an independent Lithuania - declared itself a republic of its own. The old Baltic Fleet base became a free port. Kaliningrad has since joined the European Union and the euro, and Moscow has never quite accepted that it is gone.
Ideologies and leaders
In power on 1 January 2000: Leonid Gorbenko (Independent). Every leader below can come to power in TND, through the elections, coups and roads of its focus tree.
Democratic
In power, 2000 Leonid Gorbenko
Populism
Independent
Yuri Matochkin
Liberalism
Alexander Lange
Liberalism
Non-Aligned
Vladimir Yegorov
Centrism
Georgy Boos
Oligarchy
Vladimir Valuyev
Junta
The focus tree
Kaliningrad's own tree has 158 focuses. It opens with The Exclave Economy, The Crash Reaches the Pregel, The Exclave Garrison, The Smallest State in the Baltic, The Amber Republic, The Reform Coalition and more. By kind: political (75), industry (51), historical (38), army xp (32). Taking every focus, one after another, would take about 16 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.
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Path guides
How to reach each of Kaliningrad's roads. The same guides are in game, as free decisions in the Kaliningrad Path Guide category.
The November Election
How Kaliningrad's politics begin:
- Play Gorbenko's republic, then take and . No focus is tied to a date.
- Election night is an event: (the Fleet) or the Reform Coalition. There are no primaries.
- Take the winner's first focus (, or ). The loser's road disappears.
- Each road ends in a second choice: the Fleet's Choice ( or the Fortress Exclave), or the Reformers' Choice (the Fourth Baltic Republic or ).
With historical focuses on, the AI elects the Reform Coalition and builds the Fourth Baltic Republic.
Reforming Prussia
How to reform Prussia:
- Elect the Reform Coalition, then at pick , and take its first focus.
- puts Königsberg to a vote. The reforms (Stein, the October Edict, Hardenberg, Tolerance) grow the Prussian Reforms spirit.
- Call the Russian Germans and the expellees' descendants home; rebuild the castle and refound the Albertina. can bring a Hohenzollern patron, unless he is Germany's Kaiser.
- renames the country. Then choose: (Lithuania, then an association with Germany, each decided by them; court and ask again if they refuse) or (a claim on Warmia-Masuria, then , a war).
The Fourth Baltic Republic
A European Kaliningrad:
- Elect the Reform Coalition and pick the Fourth Baltic Republic.
- Join Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the Baltic Assembly; to let us in (its leader decides).
- The road ends in .
Kaliningrad starts outside the European Union: and take it in, and the Defence Union only takes EU members.
Russia protests every step west - the republic's proclamation, joining the EU, asking the Defence Union - and may move missiles to the border or claim the exclave.
If it does, Germany chooses: guarantee Kaliningrad, send Moscow an ultimatum, strike first, or stand aside. Russia answers an ultimatum by withdrawing or by war on Kaliningrad and Germany.
Home to Russia
Back to the motherland:
- Elect and pick .
- brings in Georgy Boos. A referendum takes the republic out of the European Union.
- At the end choose: (Russia decides whether to annex us) or (we join Russia's alliance).
The Fortress Exclave
Neutral, armed and for sale:
- Elect and pick the Fortress Exclave: the fleet's admirals rule.
- Armed neutrality, the Hong Kong of the Baltic (casinos, the grey market, offshore banks), and martial law.
- is a war on Lithuania for Klaipėda. The road ends in .
Choices in the Shared Branches
The choices that exclude each other outside politics:
Energy: the Baltic Nuclear Plant at Neman, or a cable under the sea.
The army: a small professional army, or a people's militia. The arms bazaar: sell the old Soviet stockpile, or destroy it.
Outside the European Union, Kaliningrad has its own way out of the 2008 crash; inside it, the shared European Recovery branch.
Mechanics
How Kaliningrad's own systems work. In game: the Kaliningrad: Mechanic Guide decisions.
Russia's Gathering of the Lands
Russia wants back what it lost in 1988, one land at a time: Ukraine's east and Crimea, Belarus, Kaliningrad, Transnistria, Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Narva, Latgale, a corridor through Lithuania and northern Kazakhstan.
The steps, at least a year apart: Compatriots (our stability falls), the Gas Weapon (give in, or hold out and risk an Energy Crisis), Little Green Men (Russia gains claims and our state is destabilised) and finally a Referendum or Union Treaty. A referendum or union is only accepted by a land that is weak, at war with Russia or gave in to the gas weapon: keep your stability up and do not give in.
Demands: once Russia's track has reached the gas weapon it can demand one state at a time. Cede it, refuse (Russia gains a war goal) or appeal to the West, which backs you with a guarantee or makes you give way.
Russian Provocation is your shield: every Russian step raises it. At 25 the West sanctions Russia; at 50 every land Russia wants is guaranteed by the West; at 75 a Russian war lets the Defence Union or NATO intervene.
Gas: if Russia cuts you off you suffer an Energy Crisis (consumer goods up, stability and factory output down). The Energy Security decisions - Emergency Rationing, Fill the Storage, Reverse Flow From the West, An LNG Terminal, Nuclear and Coal - lift it over months. Prepare before the cut, not after.