National Focus
Long-running national decisions, one at a time
A national focus is the one big thing your country is committed to right now. Each country has several focus trees to choose from, and the 1949 scenario tells specific historical stories rather than opening every possible path on day one.
How it works
Time and money
There's no upfront cost to start a focus — but every day it runs, it costs 1 political capital, and it simply pauses if you can't afford that. A short administrative measure might finish in a month; a major legislative push can take four. Once it resolves, it can shift your political direction, change how other countries see you, move relations with a whole ideological bloc, unlock technology, sway a faction, or reveal focuses that weren't visible before — and which of those happens can depend on your country's exact situation the moment it finishes.
How it works
Not every tree is always available
- Hidden trees
- Some trees aren't shown at all until the right moment — a defense-of-Formosa tree only appears once the Taiwan Strait is actually under threat.
- Locked focuses
- A tree can be visible but not yet usable, waiting on an earlier focus or event to open it up.
- Closing windows
- Trees tied to a specific historical moment close once that window has passed.
Content
What 1949 actually contains
The United States is pulled in five directions at once — domestic politics, civil rights, covert intelligence work, the alliance system, and the military-and-space race — with separate trees for the Fair Deal, the Eisenhower years, postwar recovery, European alliances, containment in Asia, the New Look defense doctrine, and a dedicated Korean War tree.
The Soviet Union starts inside a one-party state pulled between its own competing centers of power — the party apparatus, Stalinist hardliners, the security services, the military, industrial planners, and reformers — with trees for postwar reconstruction, the post-Stalin thaw, the socialist bloc, the nuclear and space race, and a fast-moving Warsaw Pact tree that only opens once NATO admits West Germany.
China, France, and a set of shared nuclear-age trees round out what's playable at the 1949 start.
Design choices
Episodes, not a full board on day one
Rather than handing you every possible path from the start, trees open and close on their own historical timing — you live through moments rather than picking from an always-open menu. The Korean War is the clearest example: for the United States it's a dedicated, time-limited tree with real branches — accept an early ceasefire, push to the Yalu and try to unify Korea, or escalate after China intervenes — and whichever you choose leaves a lasting mark on your country's politics and strategy.