Greater Indian Commonwealth

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

"*But I'm just a soul*

*Whose intentions are good!*

*Oh Lord*

*Please don't let me be misunderstood!*"

- *The Animals*, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
The Greater Indian Commonwealth are an Echoes faction created by Psychotic Loner. They utilize waves of general and specialized infantry supported by rough and reliable vehicles.

## Background

### Rebirth of a Nation

In 1948, India gained independence from the United Kingdom, due to extreme political and social pressure both domestically and in the subcontinent. Still allowed to be part of the Commonwealth of Nations, India was faced with an extreme situation due to the desperate poverty its population lived in, and the almost immediate splintering of the former colony two new nations; the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Pakistan. India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, faced an uphill struggle. Most pressing was the realization that communism was a dominant threat on the world's stage that would threaten India's newly won independence before it could even get off the ground. It was decided that, to prevent the nation from falling to communism, India would need to step up onto the world stage in a way few nations had ever done before.

### Kashmir Sweater

The first break for India came with the nascent Bangladeshi independence movement from Pakistan. Quietly, India supported the movement, leaving the region indebted. Though nominally independent, the leaders of Bangladesh knew that their freedom had only come from Indian money and support. Alone, it was a small gain. Yet the ever-encroaching poverty of India's booming population meant that more needed to heed India's power.

The first major break came when Pakistan claimed the Kashmir region in the northwest. Though heavily mountainous and with little in the way of actual value, India rapidly marshaled a new army and went to war. Utilizing technology that was, to be blunt, obsolete, India's sheer numbers allowed the forces of the new nation to quickly overwhelm and engulf the Pakistani army, air force, and naval bases. Realizing it was sitting on a power that was once only though available to the Soviets, the government of India quickly announced they were forming a new political bloc; the Greater Indian Commonwealth.

Other states in the region quickly fell under the sway of the Commonwealth. Sri Lanka quickly fell under the sway of the commonwealth, which claimed to be a "loose confederacy of states under the banner of economic cooperation". Though the Allies weren't fooled, they had bigger issues to face; the oncoming Second World War.

### The Lion of Ashoka Roars

The Second World War placed the new commonwealth in the good graces of the Allies. Indian troops proved invaluable at protecting key positions in the Middle East and Asia, along with containing the spread of Mao Zedong's communist forces to the south. Showing they were no supporters of Communism, the Commonwealth allowed the Allied Nations to set up bases and facilities within India to ensure a steady cooperation. It helped that many nations formerly held under British rule were also given independence shortly after, the British unable to effectively hold their colonies after such decimating conflict.The Commonwealth willingly made itself smaller compared to the Allies, knowing that its still struggling economy would need to gather more steam in order to stand a chance on the world stage.

World War III was that opportunity. With the majority of Allied Nations preoccupied fighting the Soviets in Europe, Commonwealth forces were perfectly placed when the Empire of the Rising Sun began its first push. Pushing through Burma, Vietnam, and across the islands of the Pacific, the Commonwealth's new army developed its own operational strategies. Compared to the expensive and high-tech Allied weapons, the Commonwealth settled on easily manufactured and mechanically reliable weapons and equipment. The sepoys were armed with obsolete M1 Garand rifles, their tanks a gun between two massive treads. Aircraft were kept at airfields far from the front, as mothballed ships from around the world were brought in. Casualties were heavy and in the darkest days of the war, Imperial troops literally stood at the Gates of Delhi while sepoys deployed to the frontlines immediately after parades, but the Commonwealth's government accepted the grim reality that for all the hundreds or thousands lost in each battle, they could be easily replaced.

And in the face of all this adversity, with the warriors of Japan all but poised to decapitate Delhi, the line was finally held after constant retreat and repeated defeats. The Empire had surrounded and destroyed whole corps at a time and boasted of capturing vast swathes of land in its "three point" strategy to conquer India. The Commonwealth simply called in more troops and redoubled it's production efforts What started out as the three point plan became the two point, then the one point, then holding the line, then retreating through southern Asia.

Finally, the time came to punish the Empire as it retreated across the world, and India was all too happy to loan some divisions in the assault on Tokyo. Many had been lost, but the war in Asia was over, and India stood strong.

### The Weeds Grow High

Post-war, the Commonwealth absorbed even more new members. Khalistan was "freed" to give the Sikh people a reason to not cause trouble. Nepal's surviving population was sheltered from the atomic fallout ravaging their homes. The Commonwealth even managed to negotiate a deal with the Mediterranean Syndicate not seen anywhere else. Bhutan and the Maldives quickly fell under the umbrella of the Commonwealth, and India volunteered its troops to man the scattered outposts in Tibet that would observe just what happened in China.

At this point, the Commonwealth decided to flex some of its new-found political and military muscle. Responding to requests for aid in the war against the GLA, the GIC sent its forces into Oman and Somalia to counter the lawlessness being faced. This has inadvertently drawn them into a conflict with the Arabian Coalition when India decided it would rather annex Oman than return it to their control, a war that has caused much tension within the Allied Nations. Indira Nehru, the newest prime minister and daughter of India's first ever prime minister, has so far kept the Allies from complaining too much, but there is a trade off; India is now sending her children to fight the Vietcong, with no end in sight. As a further contribution, India has sent troops into Madagascar for 'safekeeping purposes', but arrived to find the place devoid of people with strange reports of purple machines.

Desperate to gain some advantage in an ever-stranger world, India looked to the atomic hellscape of China. Volunteering mass numbers of newly-minted reservists, the Indians brought back valuable information for the Allies to analyze, including a very valuable green rock that the Atomic Chinese fought fiercely to keep from being taken away. And if they valued it, so did the Indians. In their own secret labs, Western-educated scientists looked over the crystals, and found it a source of incredible power if properly harnessed. Knowing that to hesitate could mean losing out on everything gained, the Commonwealth organized this research and started pushing forward with their greatest resource; numbers.

Ostensibly supporting Allied actions worldwide, the Commonwealth one day plans to stand as equal, not aide, to the founding Allied Nations members. With the ultimate goal of finally crushing the poverty it suffers from to a level like that of Britain and France, the Commonwealth will continue to tow the Allied line as long as it gives them the aid they need. What will happen after can only be imagined.

## Gameplay Mechanics

### Build Mechanic

The Commonwealths lack the ability to make any sort of permanent structure on the battlefield, so instead they set up canvas and balsa enclosures for all their buildings. Though vulnerable to anything, they're also easily repaired, meaning health is no more or less than normal buildings. This does mean structures can be set up quickly, but without internal wiring or support getting machinery up is a long task. This means in game that the building under construction gains its full health quickly, but it takes longer to become usable than equivalent buildings. Build radius is fairly short ranged (about the same as the Supply Radius), but expands when new buildings are built, like the Soviets.

### Power Mechanic

The simple tents of the Commonwealths means they can set up simple emergency generators running on gasoline or other normal fuels to power everything, though it’s not as good as a proper power grid. Buildings and defenses can still function without power though they will only operate at half their capability.

### Tier Mechanic

The Commonwealths tech up by upgrading their Supply Depots within range of the production structure. Not only does this allow for more advanced units, but this also increases their ability to defend themselves.

### Supply Depots

The Indian Commonwealth lacks the SPAM-based tactics of the other great powers, and cannot create ammunition and spare parts at will. While this doesn’t affect buildings, since they’re easy enough to construct, men and machines on the field need to be resupplied the old-fashioned way, through trucks and wagons. All buildings have a supply radius, but they're limited and don't go far beyond the base. The Supply Base is the only building whose radius is wide enough for offensive actions. The Commonwealth player is wise to build Supply Depots regularly across the map; otherwise, units will be at a fraction of their effectiveness. The supply radius for the Supply Depots is quite large, and can be overlapped, but they are vulnerable targets.

### Fixed-Wing Aircraft

The Commonwealths also lack VTOL facilities and technology, and still rely on old-fashioned runways. While they have become experts on making sure airplanes get to their kill boxes, planes still need to leave it to repair and rearm, and their obsolete communication equipment means that their airforce has to rely on short range radars to maintain communications. The Commonwealth lacks airpads, Instead the Radar Station and Radar Van, their equivalents of an Airpad, project a "control field" that the Commonwealth aircraft can't leave unless using their afterburners, and in the event the communication it cut off (likely by the Station/Van getting destroyed) the aircraft will fly back to base, or to the nearest Station/Van for helicopters. And instead aircraft kick on their afterburners (shown in game with contrails) and soon afterwards leave the map entirely. After a while the aircraft will return to above their base's Radar Station. The time spent away depends on the unit itself.

### Covering Fire

The Commonwealth rely more than other nations on the ability of their soldiers to work together. They do not have technologies that can zap enemies out of existence, nor do they have the near-elite troops other nations do. Instead, The Commonwealth drills their infantry to support each other in fire, and to take point when under it. Deployed infantry buff infantry around them in a small radius around them. The stat increased d on the infantry deployed.

### Electronic Warfare

The Commonwealth aren't all practical and conventional, however. Many of them are adept at misguiding the enemy by spoofing enemy radar, releasing chaff, flooding communication channels with white noise, and other electronic warfare methods. In game, it translates as to any unit engaging in Electronic Warfare causes enemy fire to scatter in a radius around them. While larger units are often still hit, this can mean the life or death of smaller units around them.

## The Frontier Corp

*"Reports coming out of the Mideast where Indian forces are stationed have shown a remarkable decrease in GLA combat capacity. This is compared to the situation in Saudi Arabia, where Peacekeeper and Coalition forces struggle to even contain the GLA. It is this evidence, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, that I feel best illustrates why the current path the Peacekeeper divisions are taking is a danger to the continued security of the free world."*

- John Boyd, testifying to the Allied Parliament Committee on Military Spending and Efficiency