Railroad Tycoon 3 might not be the greatest strategy game or have the best graphics but I like it. Particularly with the coast to coast expansion pack. One of the scenarios 'Alternate USA' begins in an early 20th century America were the Revolutionary War never happened. As such the continental USA is divided into 10 different nations. The player starts in the Great Plains Union in the centre and has to build relations with the other countries by building a railway to each one and then transporting a select number of a certain type of cargo to it each year. It is a hard but fun scenario. Anyway being the flag geek I am I wondered what the flags of these countries might be so I have some designs.
Great Plains Union
There is not a lot of information given about the country you start in other than its mostly agricultural. I suspect it might be predominantly of Native American origin although that might be me thinking of the Plains Nations factions from Empire Total War.
The flag is based on that of Colorado, but with an arrow head emblem in the centre
New England
New England is the nation from which most of the other nations trace their origins from. It remained loyal to the British Empire during Dixie's war of independence in the 1860s and eventually gained its own independence through diplomacy and politics.
Even though it is independent the fact that it gained its independence through diplomacy leads me to believe that New England might be a Dominion like Canada and share the British monarch as head of State so an ensign based flag is still in use. The badge with the Cross of St George and the pine tree is based on historic New England Flags.
Dixie
Originally the southern British colonies were administered from New England but they broke away in a civil war in the 1860s. They eventually gained their independence from both Britain and New England with help from France to form a country called Dixie.
Inspired by the real life US flag. At first the Dixie rebels used the New England flag but with the Union Canton replaced with stripes. As Dixie broke away from New England the shield was replaced with one solely representing Dixie. This featured the rattlesnake which was a symbol of the American colonies.
Louisiana
Originally part of Dixie the territory was given to France in exchange for French intervention in securing Dixie's independence.
As the American Revolution never happened its probably a good bet the French Revolution also never happened in this alternate history or at least happened at a different time. So the Fleur de Lys is the French element, the cross representing Catholicism and the rattle snake the historic link to Dixie.
Great Lakes Confederation
Consisting principally of German settlers who moved west after arriving in New England. These settlers founded the Ohio Territory. This territory eventually grew enough until it was offered membership in New England but instead it declared itself a republic. The other territories around the Great Lakes allied themselves with Ohio; Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota. This collection of states became the Great Lakes Confederation.
The Great Lakes flag features four bars of black, red, yellow and white representing the German origins of the citizens. The centre blue bar represents the water of the lakes with a star representing each of the republics in the confederacy.
Pacifica
Consisting of nearly all the west coast of what we would recognise as the Continental United States, Pacifica was settled by colonists moving west from New England and its the territories. During the civil war between New England and Dixie, Pacifica took advantage of New England's distraction and also declared independence. New England focused on the war with Dixie was in no position to constest this, and the game states that "its said New England's true lose in the war with Dixie was Pacifica"
Pacifica's flag is based on the current flag of California as that region makes up the majority of its territory plus who doesn't like the California flag? However as the territory of pacifica is more than California I have included the colours of the Cascadian region (I'm actually a little disapointed the game didn't use the name Cascadia for this country) as Pacifica's borders nearly matches the US part of that region.
Arizona Republic
One of the problems that Pacifica suffered from was that it had poor relations with the natives who originally occupied the land. In an attempt to pacify the region's tribes Pacifica offered the Navajo People the region of Arizona to settle if they would cease hostile resistance and encourage the other Native Nations to follow their example and lead. This the Navajo and many other tribes accepted but instead of living under Pacifica rule they declared Arizona an independent nation.
The flag is based on that of the real Navajo Nation but with the gold star of Arizona in the centre.
Roosevelt
Like Arizona, Roosevelt was initially part of Pacifica. Roosevelt is the largest of the American nations in terms of landmass consisting of all the territory west of the Great Plains Union as far as the Rocky Mountains. It borders Pacifica, the Arizona Republic, the Great Plains Union, the Great Lakes and Canada. It has a largely rural lifestyle with ranches being the main contributor to the economy. Disagreement with Pacifica over industrialisation, failure to provide protection from hostile native peoples and local government led the region to revolt. Lead by Theadore Roosevelt the rebellion was a success and Roosevelt became the nation's first president given his name to the country.
The roses in the hoist come from the Roosevelt coat of arms with the bull's head a reference to the ranch culture of the country.
Texahoma Republic
Last but not least are Spanish speaking nations to the south. First is Texahoma which mainly consists of the territory of Texas and Oklahoma. Originally settled by the Spanish the country was initially the northern province of Mexico before fighting for and winning its independence.
Florida
Florida's history is mostly that of it being contested by the Spanish, French and British, as a result its current territory is less than what it once was. Originally a Spanish colony Florida gained its independence from Spain in the 1820s with the help and leadership of Andrew Jackson.
The flag of Florida consists of the Spanish Cross of Burgundy defaced with a Sun.
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