Ural League/Gameplay

National focus tree

See: Ural League national focus tree

Endings

Once the Ural League conquers Magnitogorsk and Dirlewanger Brigade, or capitulates, its endings will trigger. The Ural League has 15 ending slides in total, divided in 5 parts.

Part I

The first slide is in the game's file, but can't seem to be triggered.

"With the destruction of the Dirlewanger Brigade-and the death of its eponymous leader-the southern bandits soon scattered. The Ural Guard would begin to regularly patrol the area, while its allies in Orenburg sought to rebuild with money, food, and a helping hand. Over time, Orsk would slowly recover to some semblence of civilization, but the scars were deep. No amount of aid seemed able to truly drag the region back to the modern era, as low as those standard may be, and the bandits never truly went away.
Years layer, the Guard would still be forced to roam the region, searching for the shattered remains of their bandit enemies and many new bandit groups that had formed in the chaos, all of whom would haunt Orsk for many years to come."

The second slide can be triggered by completing the focus Our Common Interests, with Orenburg existing:

"The Orenburg War, as the conflict would later come to be called, would become the defining moment of the Ural League. Much was sacrificed, and more brave members of the Guard and their scions gave their lives during the events than in any conflict before it. But none could say it was not worth it. In the aftermath of the battles, the soldiers of the Leauge were greeted by Orenburg as heroes. Cheering crowds heralded them down crowded avenues, as thousands celebrated their saviors. In the aftermath of the war, relations would continue to improve. Together, Orenburg and the League would bring unprecedented stability in the region unseen since before the war. Together they were stronger, and together they would help build a better Russia for all peoples. For this was the sacred mission of the Ural League, and this would be their legacy."

Whether to trigger the third slide or the 4th depends on the status of Magnitogorsk, if Magnitogorsk is still ruled by Trofim Lysenko before its defeat, the third slide will be triggered:

"The Battle of the Black Mountain would go down in history as one of Russia's greatest tales, one of bravery in the face of evil, and the dedication men have to ending injustice. Few, however, would tell tales of the countless dead the Guard found in Lysenko's laboratories, or the many rescued victims who would perish in the coming days from the terrible torture imposed on them.
While Magnitogorsk slowly moved out of the mountain's shadow, the Guard decided to raze the facilities there. When the Guard left, the mountain was at last silent, its factories wiped away from the world. Still, mothers would warn their children of what came when they misbehaved, and the mountain would forever loom over the people of the region. Years later, it would still remain abandoned, the people fearful of the spirits that doubtless haunted its halls."

But if NKVD coup happens, the 4th slide will be triggered:

"While many in the League had prayed for, and the Guard had prepared for, a final struggle to retake the Black Mountain from the madman who ruled it, this future never came.
Instead in the halls of the mountain sat the NKVD under Stepan Bunkov, Lysenko's former henchmen now watching intently over the lands of Bashkortostan.
With their grand war against the combined forces of Dirlewanger's bandity and the NKVD cleanly sidestepped, the destruction of the Black Bandits became far easier. Many lives were saved by this, but many in the League wondered if it were not better had they had their conflict. The Guard itself was furious over the war being prevented, and would be chomping at the bit for the chance to make the NKVD pay for its sins for years to come."

Part II

Next, it's time to look at the Status of the Ural Guard. In the game the Guard can be transformed into an elite unit, filled with militias, or done both. What the Guard has become in the end depends on two national focus sub-branches: Starinov's Proposal and The Militia Option.

If the Starinov's Proposal sub-branch is finished, but the The Militia Option sub-branch isn't, the 5th slide will be triggered:

"The League always needed more men. The poets and scholars that made up half of its government cried for it, begged for it.
'More!' they would shout, 'More to fill the holes in our lines! To shore up their defenses!' But the Guard was not the League. The Guard would always be the Guard, and no poet or scholar or Catholic priest could change that. Luckily for everyone, these civilians would eventually concede, and the Guard more than proved its capability in the Orenburg War.
For what use is a Ural Guardsman if he can not be worth ten others? The fallen corpses of German bandits and Russian traitors more than answered this question. They would be of no use, for Russia's elite would never be forced to face defeat."

If the The Militia Option sub-branch is finished, but the Starinov's Proposal sub-branch isn't, the 6th slide will be triggered:

"Change is something that all must come to grips with in time. For the elite soldiers of the Ural Guard, this is something they would have to learn to accept, for in the fires of the Urals, the League would be forced to evolve.
With hundreds of refugees desperately struggling through the mountains to find shelter, and with the Guard slowly becoming overwhelmed by the sheer number of foes it was being forced to face, the next step in the League's evolution was almost natural. The bodies that filled its fortress-cities would be used to defend them, and to defend others. In time, the League's protection would spread further than ever, but it would never be as effective as it once was. Veterans of the Guard would forever decry the softening of their organization. But the change always comes, in the end."

If both sub-branches are finished, the 7th slide will be triggered:

"It is good to have a strong swing, as it is good to have a deft parry. But perhaps the best solution for self defense is to have both. Ilya Starinov's reforms for the Guard to transform them into an elite unit boosted the League's clout both locally and, in the future, internationally as a group with fierce fighters capable of winning any conflict.
To have the strongest sword means to use only the best steel with the best hands, leaving an average defense for the common man. The peasant militias rose to this challenge, unifying into a popular army that, when accented with the Guard, was a force to be reckoned to this challenge, unifying into a popular army that, when accented with the Guard, was a force to be reckoned with on the Uralic Steppe. This enduring image, of the strongest hand throwing the quickest punches, remained even decades later.
If nothing else, the League's legacy of military excellence would remain."

Part III

All slides from this part triggers after Part II, so if every conditions in Part II aren't met, this part will be skipped, and the slide 11th will be triggered directly.

The key to enter this part is Ural League wins the game, but doesn't finish the focus Our Common Interests or already has Orenburg annexed. These conditions trigger the 8th slides:

"The Black Mountain now lied dormant, and the scum that was Oskar Dirlewanger now laid dead. A thousand times these victories played in the heads of the people of the League, and a thousand more deaths were imagined for Dirlewanger.
But for some reason, this victory sat hollow.
For while the main force of Dirlewanger's Brigade now lied destroyed, and while Bashkortostan tasted freedom from what Lysenko had called 'science', this victory seemed to bare no true fruit. For while the Guard would patrol Orsk in the hopes of protecting the people there, they'd find little better than they had before. With no assistance from the people of Orenburg, scions of Dirlewanger's Brigade and dozens of other bandit groups would form, and the south would forever be plagued by war."

The next two slides are triggered after the 8th has been received. The 9th is triggered by having Orenburg existed:

"Many would come to ask how the Guard could fail in such a way. Many suggested that one can not create peace at the end of a rifle barrel. While this was true, it was not the only reason that the Guard failed.
While once the League had hoped for cooperation with Orenburg, this peace would never form. The Communes had proven resistant to change, and this only worsened as time went on. For while peace was always the dream of all good peoples, it was never the reality. Orenburg and the League's relations would only further drift in time, as the League struggled to continue its mission over so wide a territory, and as Orenburg only seemed to become more and more hostile to their mission. For many, it seemed that the Southern Urals would only see yet more bloodshed in times to come."

The 10th triggers in the bad endings, where the Ural League is defeated:

"What happens to a dream deferred?
The dream of the League had been one of peace. To watch over those who could not watch over themselves, and to protect those who feared the forces of evil that stalked the lands of Russia. It was the sort of dream that could only be thought up in the combined minds of poets and soldiers, the desire to, rifle in hand, stand as the vigilant torch that forces the shadows back into their corners.
But this dream is now gone.
As dust settles on old gulags, and vultures and time pick clean the bones of heroes, Russia weeps.
For here in the Urals, the dream has died."

Part IV

The 11th-13th slides are the random ending slides, each has the same chance to trigger, and triggers after Part III.

However, there's another way to trigger the 11th slide: avoid every conditions in Part II.

The 11th slide:

"While the people of the Southern Urals celebrated the Guard's triumphant victory with song, drink, and vice, the rest of Russia could not afford such luxury.
To the east, darkness spread.
A black state was rising. One seemingly with no purpose but revenge. Slowly, like a cance spreading throughout the world, it consumed all in its quest for death. Away from it came thousands, refugees in numbers never seen before to the Guard, fleeing from a state prepared to destroy any it deemed its enemy, and enemies there were.
For many tried to stop it. And many died.
The Guard did not get to celebrate long. For a greater evil seemed to be coming. Closer. And closer."

The 12th slide:

"The League's victories in the Orenburg War would be its greatest triumph. Never before had it faced foes so great, and yet there they stood. Orsk was now free, and the people of Bashkortostan rest easy knowing that they and their children would not be taken in the night.
But in Russia, a sleeping bear stirred in its slumber, and slowly woke.
While the Guard were soldiers, they were once prisoners. Under a Union and then a Front. And to their surprise, the Russia they had escaped from was once more coming for them, approaching on the horizon like a rushing wave. Heated discussions followed, for they would not return to prison, and they would never give their leader over to those who would wish to do him harm. But this never came.
"Comrade Mendriks," General Zhukov would say, "I've come to bargain.""

The 13th slide:

"Dirlewanger was dead, Bashkortostan lay free, but all victories taste sour when they only pave the way for future conflict.
For the Guard had done its duty. It had fought to the skin of its teeth for the many it protected.
The League had struggled under the strain and come out standing tall.
But when they looked out at Russia they only saw chaos.
For there seemed to be no hope for this future. No state seemed ready to claim the mantle of the once great state, no hope was held for someone else to one day ease the League's burden. Their mission was not over, but everywhere they looked they saw only more begging for their aid.
The truth was that, for the Guard, the game was rigged from the start."

Part V

There are only two slides in the final part: the 14th is for the good ending, whilst the 15th is for the bad ending.

The 14th slide is triggered when the Ural League wins:

"The soldiers of the Ural Guard were once the finest soldiers in all of Russia.
Once.
And now they were the finest in the world.
Few soldiers had the determination they had. The training. The grit. The ability. The bravery. The integrity. The honor. The courage. The commitment.
The words to describe the Guard would go on and on in many books, in many songs, and one day, many movies. For somehow, this small band of survivors, nothing but the lost and the damned of the Russian gulags, had become a shining beacon to all of Russia. The men and women of the Guard were united in purpose and drive, and their watch over the weak would, at least for now, never end."

The 15th slide is triggered when the Ural League loses:

"Dreams may die, but legends may live. In time, the southern bandits would be forgotten to the winds of history, and in time, the Black Mountain would crumble and fade to dust, but the legend lives on. Children all along the Urals where Guardsmen once tread would play games of Guards and Killers, reenacting great battles once fought in far off villages. Elders would pass the stories of their glorious stands and noble goals to their children, and those children to their children.
But legends can not protect the innocent. Legends can not feed the starving or house the homeless. Legends may not die, but people can, and as the Southern Urals burned the legends seemed useless. In time, perhaps, some would come to carry their torch one day. For the legend lived on, but alongside it was the legend of why the Urals would forevermore live in fear."