Technocratic Combine/Gameplay Faction Archive

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

*"To right the unrightable wrong,*

*To be better far than you are,*

*To try when your arms are too weary,*

*To reach the unreachable star.*"

- *"The Impossible Dream"* by Richard Kiley, written for the 1965 musical *Man of La Mancha*
The **Technocratic Combine**, also known as the **Combine** or the **Technocracy**, is a faction of the **Red Alert Paradox Expanded Universe** conceived and developed by ProudAmerikan. Spreading throughout the Americas, a schism in a philanthropic organization has lead to the creation of a society dedicated to peace and the utter eradication of all who would threaten it. Fighting with equipment and technologies from the past and the future, the Combine emphasizes long ranged defensive emplacements and quagmire tactics that erode the enemy before they can reach Technocratic lines.

## At a Glance

 **Visual Themes** | Art Deco geometric designs and Streamline Moderne curvature, sun and light iconography, team color speed lines, clean and shiny materials, wood paneling, marble stones, plated metals, headlights and spotlights abound. Damaged units have gold flaking off to reveal steel underneath.

## Background

### The Society

The Columbia Future Society had existed since at least the early 1800s. "At least" is the correct term, for the Society had on record many fragments and apocryphal reports stretching from the 1700s all the way to the Dark Ages that some have said point to the existence of the Society, or at least a precursor, even then. It was an international largely philanthropic organization, one that had members in every nation in the Western World, as well in later years in other nations of the world as a whole. The nature and composition of the Society was amazing for its day, for the members that were in it cut across the complete spectrum of society. Within the halls rented out for meetings, one could see women standing equally next to men, poor tradesmen rubbing shoulders with noble sons, and Marxists conversing cordially with monarchists.

What connected each and every member of the Columbia Future Society was, and still is, a love for the world and a fervent believe that the progression of the sciences and culture would lead humankind to peace. Whether a farmer espousing views on how better machines could result in larger and more bountiful harvests, a historian pointing to the increase in living conditions for the Renaissance's technological revolution, or even a spirit medium speaking of ancient and mighty Atlantis, whose citizens lived in advanced splendor, each member of the Columbia Future Society was assured that the furtherment of science and the arts would one day lead to world peace. To that end, they incorporated members from all different parts of society and beliefs, gave away much funding to inventors, artists, and entrepreneurs, and in general sought to better humanity as much as possible. Over the years, it counted in its ranks many influential, if not world-famous, people: Alfred Nobel tested out his mining dynamite tool with Society funds, while Richard Gatling amazed the Future Society with a personal showing of the first Gatling gun. It sponsored Henry Ford's first automobile factory, and its members contributed ideas to William Smyth when the man first coined the idea of a "Technocracy". For over a century the Columbia Future Society worked in the open and the public to further its vision, of an Earth whose members lived in harmony and peace all helped along by the arts and sciences. There were setbacks and wars still, but the Society pressed onward. And in the 1940s, things seemed to be on the up and up. All over the world, Society members were reporting nothing amiss. In the United States, Society Member Henry Hauptmann was starting to engage the populace with the idea of a technocracy run by the wise, the intelligent, and the skilled. The billowing winds of Progress seemed to be only increasing, with no end in sight.

And then World War 2 happened.

After six years of some of the worst fighting Earth had seen in more than four decades, nothing in the world was like it had been before. Jet planes streaked the skies, bunkers dotted the countryside, assault rifles and rocket launchers were stored in armories, and new and deadlier tank variants were already being made obsolete by improved variants. Gone were the days of transport airships blazing trade routes in the air, replaced by enormous jet liners. Gone were the dreams of skyscrapers stretching into the air, built with steel that had all gone to the war effort. Gone were the promises of two airplanes in every home and an automat on every street corner. Where once decoration, extravagance, and creativity had ruled, now in its place there was only efficiency and the coolness of realpolitik. Even the sciences and arts the Society had held dear were changed - science was no longer a tool, a way of exploring the universe, but a weapon to be studied and bent to one's will. Art was no longer a means for expression, but a way of hiding your true purpose in camouflage, cover, or deception.

All that the Society had worked for and gone through was now gone, in less than a decade. It had happened before, but never were the Society so high before they fell. And its members, in their confusion and anger, sought someone to blame for the war that had ruined their built-up hopes and dreams. More sensible or calm people who have eventually decided that, in the grand scheme of things, the war was due to a combination of factors that came together and that likely couldn't have been prevented from eventually crashing together. But the Society's members were not presently sensible or calm. In the end, the Columbia Future Society underwent a schism. Roughly two thirds of the Society, bitter at the war for ruining their ideas for a better and peaceful world, wanted to go active - to show the world what a nation could be if its members worked in peace to further scientific progress, to show people that life could be better if only they stepped up and made it better. The other third, however, wished to try and stay as they were - strictly philanthropic, watching the nations of the world from a neutral standpoint, trying to make life better without taking sides. The sides divided themselves in two, both declaring themselves still part of the Columbia Future Society, but both at odds with each other, creating a political minefield for new members and a great bitterness for all concerned.

Henri Hauptmann sided with the activist side of the schism. A political organizer active with the Technocratic Party of the 1930s and 40s, he had seen his attempts to transform society in the United States wither and die as the woes of the Great Depression stabilized and World War 2 replace societal introspection with rampant anti-communist and anti-leftist rhetoric. As the Unionist and Federalist parties rose to power in the United States, Hauptmann turned south, working as an Allied advisor to the presidential cabinet of recently-joined Mexico. But when the schism occurred, Hauptmann realized that the troubles facing Mexico - and all of Central America, in one way or another - offered a potential solution. All he had to do was find those willing to listen, and convince the part of the Society that believed in action to do some investing...

### The Combine

(FORMATION)

As 1969 drags on, the Technocratic Combine spreads its wings. Pictures and images of the Technate pour out in magazines and brochures and on the news channel, showing gleaming skyscrapers and pneumatic tube tunnels and parks containing natural wonders never before seen by men. Powered networks span the length of Central America, giving electricity to the masses. The tools of industry and economy are built to produce and given unto the masses, giant machines and mobile factories married to equitation distribution models designed to ensure no one goes hungry, sick, or unhoused. Every week there are new papers and new patents, devices of the future to improve the home and experiments to test theories that could revolutionize biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics. Statues to Lady Knowledge, Lady Justice, and Lord Unity rise monthly, and monuments to the spirit of truth and humanity are lit up with spotlights at night. And when peace is threatened, the Humanitarian Guard is brought forth: a brilliant display of armour, technology and aesthetics mobilized in defense of the Technate and all humanity itself.

(FUTURE)

## Unique Faction Mechanics

**Tiering:**

**Specialization:** The Combine's Archives Tower can be built from the start of the game with a Refinery, and allows the Combine to specialize in one of three possible technological branches that reflects the results of Technocratic experimentation and improvisation. Only one Specialization can be chosen at a time, but they can significantly change the tactics of forces in the field!

*- Eugenics:* Biological tech that augments area control at cost of defense.

*- Rhetoric:* Psychological tech that augments morale at cost of range.

*- Metaphysics:* Weird math and strange physics that augments offense at cost of sanity.

**Technocratic Mandate:** The Technocratic Mandate is a form of thinking that tells the Combine's forces not to take one step back, for when they fall in battle they by proxy cause the world to fall. Combine units gain increased armour bonuses when stationary and increased morale when in combat.

**Trench Systems:** All Technocratic structures automatically generate a complete square of Trenches in a radius around themselves: different trench systems that overlap each other will link up into a larger system. Infantry have improved speed and count as being in Light Cover when utilizing the trench systems, conventional defenses can only be placed in the Trenches, and while they may be destroyed they cannot be demolished - friendly engineers can repair them given time.

## Units and Structures

*"It's all hearts and minds with the Technate. Everything. I saw tank drivers putting blackboards on their tank treads so children could draw chalk flowers and animals on them while they refueled. Saw soldiers clear a village of guerilla fighters by day and sit down to have a community dinner with that same village at night. Saw them drop aid packages over the MIR camps they were fighting and mount speakers on their cars to tell Inkarri suicide bombers to stop because they had families who loved them. Of all the forces gathering in the Americas...it is them I am the most worried about."*

- Allied correspondent Pratibha Joshi, after a trip to the State of Venezuala
### Buildings

All Combine buildings are Towers: huge, hulking behemoths, quite literally skyscrapers on treads. While they are slow and unarmed, they can quite easily crush infantry and smaller vehicles underneath their mighty treads if they can reach them, and cannot be crushed themselves. Towers come packed up on the field - however, once unpacked, they are immobile and cannot be packed up again.

### Defences

Defences can only be placed on Trench systems or Deco wall sections.

### Emplacements

Emplacements can be built anywhere on the field as long as you have a unit or garrisoned structure within sight range. They can be toggled between Land, Sea, and Air versions for different areas of combat

## Behind the Scenes

The Technocracy's overall design inspiration comes from Decopunk.
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