USSR in BICE Mod

I’ve played the USSR in this mod for over 100–200 hours and want to highlight historical inaccuracies that reinforce myths from Nazi propaganda, Rezun/Suvorov, and 1990s liberal narratives — particularly the claim that “Stalin was worse than Hitler, killed millions out of paranoia and dementia.”

This critique focuses on historical context, not general dislike of the game or the mod team. It is not a "Why the dev hate USSR" critique. I know the game has some gameplay limitations (e.g., lack of universal manpower and officer pool mechanics), which lead the developers to use pseudo-history as a workaround. This is not a justification if you claim to be historical though.



1) Starting Policies
Starting policies which are not accurate.

War Monger

* Reflects Rezun/Suvorov’s *Icebreaker* (yes, the focus is an easter egg) narrative: Stalin planned a European war against Germany but failed because Hitler struck first.
* Historically false: the USSR sought to delay conflict via collective security with Britain, France, and Poland.
* Western inaction forced the USSR into the non-aggression pact, a defensive measure, not offensive.
* Presenting the USSR as “aggressive” misrepresents history.

Education

* Historically, the USSR spent 7–10% of GDP on education, compared to 2–4% in Germany, which is not reflected in the game.
* The mod’s depiction of lower Soviet investment misrepresents priorities. Precisely: "evil Stalin did not care about education."



2) Second Five-Year Plan

* The USSR officially fulfilled the minimal plan, while propaganda emphasized maximum achievements to boost morale — yes, they exaggerated numbers, but the achievement was real.

Game mechanics issue:

* Each region has a “chore list” (e.g., Kharkov needs 37 factories).
* Focuses may provide partial contributions (e.g., +9 factories), but the player can only take a limited number of “foreign investments” decisions (6) which limits the effect if you get 2 in Kharkov from bad "rng".
* Failing to fulfill the list triggers the “Stalin Blame Wreckers” event, killing industrial leaders Voznesensky or Kaganovich.

Historical context:

* Real-world mini-purges were based on Pripiski, i.e., directors falsifying production reports.
* Punishments occurred only for genuine sabotage including "a Pripiska," not as part of a general purge.

Suggested fix:

1. Implement three tiers of plan fulfillment: minimum, medium, maximum. Each tier provides proportional bonuses.
2. If the player uses Pripiski (cheating the plan), the mini-purge occurs at the end, reflecting historical consequences.
3. Honest plan completion grants rewards without punishing innocent leaders.
4. If the plan max is not fulfilled, you can spend PP to receive the bonuses anyway, allowing you to repeat history.

This approach aligns gameplay incentives with historical reality while maintaining challenge.



3) Purges

Historical Context

* The purges were primarily aimed at party officials and high command, not the general population. Approximately 600,000 convictions occurred, mostly party members.
* The main cause of the purges was internal and external pressure (real spies, capitalist threats, banditism, right wing terrorism /sabotage)party/army corruption amplified by fabricated evidence by figures like Yezhov; Stalin played a limited role since he was dependent on NKVD reports.
* Mini-purges and punishments for industrial or economic misreporting (Pripiski) targeted genuine sabotage, not innocent directors.
* After Beria was appointed in 1938, many of the purge excesses were curtailed.

Timeline and Leadership

* Correct sequence: Yagoda (Sep 1936) → Yezhov (1936–38) → Beria (1938–53).
* The mod misplaces leaders or attributes actions incorrectly (e.g., Beria initiating purges in 1936).

Narrative Issues in the Mod

* The mod exaggerates civilian suffering, applying stability debuffs incorrectly; the common man did not see any purges.
* Certain focuses that remove the Stalin Paranoia leader spirit make no sense:

1. Smerch is portrayed as a purge focus because Stalin is paranoid, but historically it was a military counterintelligence operation, not related to Stalin’s paranoia.
2. Total Power incorrectly frames the purge as Stalin’s plan to consolidate dictatorship, while he already held dictatorial power. A paranoid leader is unfit to rule presenting paranoia as reason is a wrong, oversimplified work around.
* Killing Trotsky in-game is misleading; it unlocks focuses that remove purge debuffs, making little sense even in the ahistorical narrative — why kill him? Cause paranoia → kills him → still paranoid.

Event Accuracy

* “Industry purge” and “food shortages” events are ahistorical:

1. No major famine occurred in 1937–38 (real famine: 1931–32).
2. Purges of military rocket research institutes (in which Korolev was sentenced) did not decimate civilian industry or research.

The two events, choices, and results are pure fantasies or manipulate real events (like kolkhoz corruption/banditism and Korolev's arrest).



4) Red Army

1. Early Red Army issues arose from sizing up, not purges.
2. Division structure (e.g., too many tanks per division) and lack of CO explain early WWII setbacks, not purges.
3. Doctrines were equal to Germany; problems were organizational due to bad decisions made, not ideology.



5) Overall Assessment

1. The mod relies on myths from Rezun, Goebbels, and 1990s liberal propaganda (the menu music comes from "WW2 in colors," a pseudo-documentary promoting British-centered events → bias alongside Nazi propaganda to discredit the USSR, e.g., 1 million rapes, Stalin killing everyone…), creating a false narrative of Stalin as a paranoid, genocidal dictator.
2. Game mechanics (RNG, officer pool, manpower pool, industry, stability debuffs) amplify pseudo-history, leading to absurd moments like Red Army generals being arrested for meme reasons (Yegorov arrest sounds straight out of the movie *The Dictator* with Aladeen).
3. Historical nuance (e.g., USSR as a peacekeeping actor, realistic army growth, accurate purge consequences) is falsified or misrepresented.

Suggested Improvements:

1. Adjust education and investment bonuses to reflect historical GDP spending.
2. Implement three-tiered Five-Year Plans (min, med, max) and reduce RNG dependence.
3. Correct purge timeline and consequences: limit civilian impact, reflect true party/high command impact.
4. Rework army composition and starting doctrine, and separate them from purge mechanics.
5. Adjust leader focus descriptions to avoid overstating Stalin’s paranoia or dictatorial overreach.



Conclusion

While the mod is detailed, and it aims for historical depth, it propagates several myths and misrepresents Soviet policies, purges, and Red Army organization. Correcting these issues would make it both more accurate and more enjoyable for historically informed players.

Thanks for reading!
P.S. I used ChatGPT to correct spelling and format, as I'm not a native speaker; the main ideas are original. Thanks for understanding.